Surfing Waves

Hi all, this is my first post on the forum. I've been surfing intermittently for about two years. I took up surfing relatively late (27). I have a 7'6 Minimal and I'm always looking to improve my surfing and ride waves better so this surf forum is awesome and its the first place I head to when I need advice or information.
I couldn't find the topic I'm going to discuss so I decided to create an account and post it.

Recently while surfing, my leash disconnected from my board and I found myself in a spot of bother. The tide was low and waves were breaking further out than usual, the waves were decent size roughly 5-6ft. I felt completely naked without my board and it was the first time I was this far out without a board in these conditions. At the time I was a bit anxious but I tried to remain as calm as possible. Waves just kept coming and I felt that I needed assistance to get back to shore. There was a younger surfer next to me, I asked her for assistance but she arrogantly declined my request for assistance and suggested I swim back even though I explained my situation. Eventually I managed to alert another nearby surfer and ,gratefully, he assisted me back to shallower water.
The most concerning thing for me was that I've surfed at the same spot on days where the surf was bigger and conditions could have been "worse" in that situation.

Things I learnt from this humbling experience :
- Always check equipment .
- Stay calm.
- Practice swimming in the ocean without a board.
- Help others in the water, especially if they need assistance.

I would like to hear if anyone has had a similar experience.

If you lose your board, the best place to be is where there are waves breaking (generally speaking - not huge waves, exposed rocky outcrops etc). You can body surf those waves to help you get in quickly. If you find yourself away from the breaking waves, I would swim towards them and then use them to get in. To be honest, unless you are struggling to stay afloat, there's not much another surfer can do to help you. All that will happen if they escort you in is that they will get a beating in the impact zone. I would help someone who looks like they're in trouble/drowning/running out of energy/stuck in a rip etc, but I'd just give advice to someone who is fine but has lost their board.

Sadly you could have been a tragedy. Happily you were not! Your board and leash are not life saving devices. You need to understand your beach or any new beach before you hit the water. Learn to read the beach , the rips, the waves on banks and have a get to safety strategy.
Without that knowledge you risk your life and somebody else's when they try to help.
The waves are your ticket to shore, how well do you swim, can you body surf. Can you identify a rip? Seriously have you ever given any thought about how you keep your self safe?
Sure offer help,where needed but the girl may not have been arrogant rather knowing she wasn't capable of effecting your rescue.
You have no idea how many rescues experienced surfers have to make of novices who think the board is a safety flotation device aided by the leash!

I applaud you for sharing your event, maybe it will help another learning surfer, to get surf fit ,and be a stronger swimmer knowing what to do.
I have given you some hard facts to face, you wisely were reviewing what happened and will be better for it.



You did one good thing you kept calm.... but going out in 6ft surf means a lot of water is moving.
BIG WARNING HERE!
If you cannot handle the swim in don't go in. ASK Yourself would you have got in if didn't get help?

Pleased you are here to share this!

Even on fairly small boards, a surfer can put you on the board and hold onto you / your legs and 'bodyboard' in on the waves. So the girl not helping you I think was in the wrong; obviously you cant expect help but it should be offered if requested. Even if paddling you in was beyond her ability, at the very least let you hold onto her board while you rest, or paddle you over to where you can bodysurf in. We should all help unless it puts us in danger. In my view.

As to experiences, I went out a few months ago with a friend and as we walked across the beach she said 'oh, my leash cord [the bit of rope that attached the leash to the board] looks a bit frayed. Might have to replace it'. First wave she was still walking in the shallows and holding the nose of the board and the wave pushed the board back and tightened the leash and... the cord snapped. Fortunately we were about 10ft from shore!

It is always good to have a 5 second auto safety check every surf - leash cord properly attached and not frayed, swivels on leash look and feel solid, ankle strap tightened firmly. Exit points from the waves identified (eg: it can often be easier to swim sideways to a spot where the waves are smaller - making sure that isnt because its a rip! - rather than just head straight to shore; or even sometimes swim to a headland).

Its actually not that common for surfers to drown, unless they suffer an injury at the same time (board to head, head to rock etc). Wetsuits offer a fair bit of bouyancy, surfers learn the waves and how surf works. People will help out.

I feel your pain.
I also learnt the hard way, I already know I am not the strongest swimmer, mix that with also being tired from the paddling I often worry about swimming back to shore if I were to lose my board.

I actually didn't realize how hard swimming back to shore would be with the waves crashing on you, that is until it happened.
about a year or two ago I was out on my 3rd surf ever and had an instructor with me, the surf was pretty big, I wouldn't even go out in in now but as I had an instructor with me I thought he knew what he was doing and I would be fine, this instructor also forgot to bring a leash so I knew I would lose my board I just wasn't expecting such a pounding.
I of course lost the board on the first wave I went for, the instructor went off after the board leaving me to swim back to shore, I don't think I have ever been so tired, I was flapping around when I was almost back to shore and I could see the instructor thinking of coming to get me but I made it in the end and took about 10 minutes to catch my breath.
I then stupidly thought I can't leave it like this as I will never surf again so got back on the board and went back out, we used the pier as a rip to get out, before even catching a wave trying to turtle roll the board flew out of my hands and I thought F**k, luckily the instructor swam and grabbed the board quickly and I just said forget it, take me back in so he came to get me on the board and took me back to shore.... well he took me to where I could stand and I started walking to shore then I took a step where all of a sudden it went deep, the rip took me back to the pier and back out to sea so the instructor had to come get me again, this put me off surfing for a while and I needed a few beers after.

I learnt a lot from this.
1. never trust a stupid surf instructor.
2. go out in smaller conditions your comfortable with.
3. get better at swimming.

I am now careful when I go out, if it gets too big and I am not comfortable I will come in, especially if there is no one else around.
As everyone will say if you can't swim back in don't go out, but there are still times I know I would struggle if it happened again.
I think the more I surf the stronger I will get and the better at swimming i'll be, although it probably doesn't work like that.

"The waves are your ticket to shore, how well do you swim, can you body surf. Can you identify a rip? Seriously have you ever given any thought about how you keep your self safe? "

I would say I'm an average swimmer. I consider myself to be fairly fit, I run often and do a lot of cardio, I havn't attempted body surfing but it is something i'm going to work on. When I made it shore I remember thinking to myself that I could have made the swim if I gave it more effort but at the time it was a completely new experience and my mind had already told my body otherwise.

"I applaud you for sharing your event, maybe it will help another learning surfer, to get surf fit ,and be a stronger swimmer knowing what to do.
I have given you some hard facts to face, you wisely were reviewing what happened and will be better for it. "

I have no shame, making mistakes is how I learn.

"You did one good thing you kept calm.... but going out in 6ft surf means a lot of water is moving.
BIG WARNING HERE!
If you cannot handle the swim in don't go in. ASK Yourself would you have got in if didn't get help? "

This will be the first thing I consider before I mission out next time. I honestly never gave much consideration to what would happen if I lost my board. For me the most important thing was always being able to get beyond the break then catch the wave.I have a better understanding of my limits now. I think surf instructors should also place a greater emphasis on safety with surfing progression.

Great answer, take some time if you can with some guys that know the beach, get them to talk you through how to read it. Get to know it under varied conditions. Go out on a smallish day where you can handle the break, try body surfing. Use flippers if need be but then learn to do it without flippers. If you have lifeguard areas do your body surfing there. If fact if there are lifeguards talk to them about the beach.
BTW body surfing is a blast.
If you can't body surf in , just head into the wave zone and let them wash you to shore. Time your breathing between wave and relax.

Most inexperienced surf bathers swim in the rip because it appears calm and get the full rescue package.

Good stuff

Stay calm....most important thing of all....

My personal philosophy about that is you should never go out surfing where you can't come back in without your board. It's part of surfing. Don't expect or rely on other surfers to save you although they might it puts them at risk and wastes their time because you didn't prepare properly for that break.

Also along this train of thought watch yourself and keep track of how tired you are getting and keep this in mind while you are surfing. So if it is a challenging day and you are starting to get tired it's time to go in. If it's an easy day and you are a little tired and don't have far to swim in then you can stay out a while longer etc..

"what to do when you lose your board"



https://youtu.be/L0giCzt7IMk

I like those guys surf videos. Probably they don't go into the risk involved in rescuing someone because they want people who need it to ask for help. Just be ready, it's going to happen so prepare yourself with the skills and mindset to surf safely. I am also curious how many of you have been out when another surfer needed help getting back to the shore? I used to surf back in the days when there were no leashes so I am inclined to go get someones board and bring it back to them (everyone did this way back when) but no surfer has ever asked me to help them get back in. I have had to help non surfers.

I wiped out in fairly huge waves 30 to 35 foot faces (close to half a mile out from the shore) and lost my board almost drowned but still made it back in by myself

I wrote this account before so copied it and pasted it here for you is is about my worst wipeout. I was surfing at Hanalei and in real good shape at the age of 20. I could hold my breath for 2 minutes easily and swim 4 laps (100 yards) in the Kapaa pool underwater with one breath. The waves were fairly large and I had my largest surfboard which was a 7 foot 2 inch Progressive Expressions single fin diamond tail board which really was too small for big waves but that I loved that board. Paddling out I couldn't tell how big it was but the current going out was strong so while the paddle was twice as far as the usual long paddle it was similar in effort required because the huge waves pushed water over the reef and it had to go back out , so it did so in a rip current right beside the waves coming in. You could just get into the current and wait and it would take out fairly quickly. I was fairly sure I had never surfed Hanalei at this size before and as I got to the outside it was huge with faces about 25 to 30 feet. It looked like the waves should be make able and there weren't a lot of people out so I was stoked. Only about 6 people out with fantastic looking waves however they were so huge it was scary and exciting. I probably wouldn't have paddled out if I knew it was this big but looking at the waves I just had to surf them.

I caught a few waves and did ok but the takeoffs were hairy. On most of the waves I would paddle and stand up and drop down about 10 or 15 feet only to start coming back up the wave as the bottom dropped of the wave and it pitched up higher and higher and steeper and steeper till I finally either came back over the back of the wave thereby missing it or the water would release it's grip on my board and I would fall with the board barely touching the water down to the bottom. I felt horrible on those waves where I was pulled up and over the back
missing the wave. I got mentally and physically all geared up for the massive drop only to have the wave pass me by, leaving me futilely standing on my board on the back side of the wave. It was such a drastic disappointment. All that fear and excitement for nothing. Taking the drop was incredibly scary. On those waves I could drop down it was almost out of my control. As I dropped I could feel my board flutter back and forth under my feet which meant it wasn't firmly in the water. Everything went into slow motion and the drop seemed to take minutes when in reality it was just a couple seconds. I could see the individual drops of water coming off the tip of my board and floating away in slow motion. When I reached the bottom the board gradually started pushing up into my feet firmly and as I started my turn at the bottom I would look up and see this massive wall of water. Now I had surfed other places this size but at Hanalei it was different. The other places I had surfed the size of the wave tapers off fairly rapidly but at Hanalei it stayed the same size for a long ways. I poured on the speed trying to get well into the wave which resulted in me going well in front of the break. I did these huge almost air drop roller coasters on each wave and it was exhilarating. I think on my first wave by the time I looked back I was 50 yards in front of the breaking portion of the wave. After a while I realized I didn't need so much speed so I tried on the next wave to slow down a bit.


That was the one that caught me off guard and broke in a section in front of me. I had to straighten out and try to ride it out. The powerful whitewater from the breaking wave came up behind me and blasted me off my board and then after a little bouncing around under water I began to be towed by my surf leash under water. The wave caught my board and pulled it dragging me by the cord under water. The board was doing what surfers call tomb stoning. It was upright and being pushed by the whitewater and thereby towing me. If you were on the shore you would see the board upright going along in front of the wave and know a surfer was on the other end. I had had this happen several times before but this time it went on for a long time. It reminded me of when I used to hang on to the handle on the towline of a ski boat in Wailua river and have it tow me behind under the water. It actually was exciting with all the water rushing past you. There was nothing I could do but wait since the force of the water did not allow me to reach down and release the ankle wrap. It must have been about 30 seconds that I was towed until the Velcro gave up it's hold on my ankle. Then I got bounced around a bit more for maybe another 30 seconds.



Finally I was able to swim the surface only to find the surface was covered with about 2 to 3 feet of foam (like a head of foam on a beer). Now I had been catching waves in the ocean for along time and never seen this situation before. My first thought was this foam would dissipate and then I would be able to breath so I waited and got hit by a couple more waves and bounced around and held under for another 20 or 30 seconds each wave. Then I realized it wasn't going away and I needed to do something. I tried to swish the foam away and could make a cone shaped temporary opening in the foam but I got hit by another wave so while I was under the water once the wave had quit bouncing me around and I could come up to the surface I let out all the air in my lungs came up to the surface swished the foam away and breathed in only to suck in foam which made me want to cough. Now I had coughed in the water before and you automatically suck in water after the cough and this is how you can drown. So I mentally fought the urge to cough and got hit by another wave.



I was concentrating so hard on not coughing that I lost track of anything else. I have no idea how long it was but I was brought back to reality when I felt something rubbing on my back. I opened my eyes and realized I was laying on my back on the bottom of the ocean in about 15 feet of water. Because my lungs were empty I had no buoyancy and had sunk to the bottom and it was the reef rubbing my back. Everything looked brown and I was surprisingly calm. I thought to myself "So this is what it's like to drown. It's not so bad." I always thought drowning would be some horrible thing with your lungs burning as you breathed in water. But this was peaceful and quiet and calm and relaxed. I just lay there looking up at the surface almost like I was drifting off to sleep. Suddenly I realized there was a dark spot on the surface of the water which represented an absence of foam. I pulled myself together and swam for that spot. My consciousness was fading fast. The ocean disappeared and all I could see was a black tunnel full of water with the dark spot of water at the end. I used every bit of remaining energy that my faltering brain could force out of my faltering tired weak body. I wanted to just stop and go to sleep. But I made it to the dark spot and got a breath of air only to be hit by another wave. But as I bounced around under the water the darkness that had overcome me lifted and I knew I wasn't going to die that day. I smiled as I was bashed around. After the wave let up I took another breath. I remember thinking "should I try to take another breath" and was hit by another wave. I resisted the urge to laugh. I was so elated and felt like a million bucks. I was visited by my old friend death once again and he had decided to let me live. I have had a number of similar nearly dying experiences in the past.

I swam in and found my board and came up on the beach. The guys who were out there had come in already and ran up to me and said "Oh Man! We thought you drowned!" I asked "did you see what happened?" They said "No. We saw your board come in without you." You can't see the surf from the beach so they couldn't see any of that just my board floating in without me. In this account I wrote that the waves were 25 to 30 feet. Not sure why I wrote that because that is what we call 15 foot waves and I had surfed that break at that size before. I think I was going to write that I had surfed it at that size before just to show this wasn't like I was surfing waves with 10 foot faces and then suddenly these huge waves but somehow got it changed for the size of the waves that day. This was maybe 17 foot waves and I asked the guys who were there how big they thought it was and they agreed it was about 17 feet.

The technique I used was similar to what those guys described I went under the waves till I was oxygenated and then let the waves catch me and push me in for a while and the bodysurfed the reforming waves and then walked once I could. Luckily my board was still headed in and didn't get caught in the rip because I wouldn't have gone out after it

Another losing board story is about one day I was surfing at the same break Hanalei and wiped out on about an 8 foot wave (around 15 foot face) my leash came off and I swam in for it. I got all the way to the inside and couldn't find it. There was another surfer paddling out and I asked him if he saw a board come in here and he answered "OH! Do you mean that white board out there?" and pointed back out to the rip. There was my board heading out to sea. It had a 100 yard or so head start on me but I was still in good shape so I swam out into the rip. By the time I caught up with it I was all the way outside at the break and paddled over rested a while and caught a wave in. What is particularly funny is that this was just after the movie "Jaws" had come out and I had just seen it 2 days before. While I was swimming I started hearing the music sound track from the scary scenes in Jaws in my head . I kept telling myself to stop that and eventually I quit hearing it It was scary enough without the soundtrack.

More recently I had my leash break and was surfing about 150 yards from shore. I was a little out of breath at first because of the wipeout but swam for my board. As I got closer to the shore the board was getting closer to the rocks on the shoreline. I swam as hard as I possibly could and made it to my board just 5 feet from the rocks and had to spend 5 or more minutes getting my breath but first I cleared the rocky area so I didn't get driven into the rocks by the waves.

last time the board separated from me , it was not a big day (3-4ft). But I was wearing a 6mm wetsuit which required extra exertion swimming back. It was extremely tiring to make it back to shore, even with the extra buoyancy of the wetsuit. You don't realize how much you depend on the board for support in the water

I'm seeing more surfers who do not use leashes at all because they interfere with their 360 turns. As you'd expect they often lose their rides so I have to keep track of where they are and paddle out of harm's way. While I'm happy to catch their boards it's kinda funny watching them SWEAR when they fall and lose them.

It depends on the situation, but in crowded spots u should always use a leash for safety of others.