Surfing Waves

You know those days where things just don't go according to plan?
I decided to take the 5'9 custom out, surf report was well wrong and conditions ended up being 2.6m faces. The biggest waves I've 'prone paddled' since snapping my achillies two years ago and let alone on a little board!
After putting some sun screen on, the board slipped out of my hands and fell on some rocks- great. New custom now has chips in it.

After walking to the break and seeing the size, decided to paddle out anyway.
Couldn't hold the drop on the first one but had a good ride on a solid 1.5x overhead second wave. Made a couple of sections and started getting used to a twitchy little board again.
Found the spot where the waves were breaking and then noticed a bomb set coming through. Started paddling out back as fast as I could but just couldn't out run it. A double overhead wave crashed about 1m in front of me and ripped the board out of hands.
All of a sudden i felt a sudden ping and noticed the wave had snapped the leash- while I was outback about 130m in heavy waves. Watching the board disappear with the waves.

Managed to eventually get the board back and make it back to shore, albeit stuffed.

Saw the leash and noticed it had been pulled clean out of the coupling link and didn't actually snap.
It was a far king pro leash and was pretty new as I haven't surfed basically since my injury!
Have you ever seen a leash come out of the swivel holder?! Is this a manufacturing defect?

To make it worse, I came home after that and managed to lock my house and car keys inside the house. Had to borrow a neighbours ladder to climb through a window on the second story and ended up 2hrs late to my friends stag do. Great times!

Not sure I've ever said this, but it seems like someone is suggesting you should stick to SUPing for now...

Haha I think sup leashes are even more prone to snapping. Sadly, I took the sup out the next day and rode a wave just a touch too long and ended up being pinned on a submerged reef for what seemed to be about 10 waves in a row. Almost couldn't have been caught in a worse freak place at the wrong time.my foot got pretty slashed up.

Back to the surfboard leash though. Ever seen the cord come out of the coupling like that instead of snapping? Or am I just reallllyyyyy unlucky?

We actually touched on the leash thing recently

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=33234&hilit=Silver+cord

But, yes, a swivel is a common failure point (much more so than the leash itself snapping). If it was new then probably a manufacturing fault - just was never right (bathtub curve). You could try to return it if you haven’t thrown it away in disgust.

Was that the Achilles foot? Or are you trying to even up your injuries?

benjl wrote: Ever seen the cord come out of the coupling like that instead of snapping?

Yes, and I would say that one is a manufacturing defect. Leashes rarely snap.

benjl wrote:You know those days where things just don't go according to plan?

I've had those days where everything goes wrong. Not too long ago my fin came out and I had to pack it in. On the way back to my car, I decided to walk along the base of a cliff and, stupidly, I stepped on a slick spot along a ledge. I fell on my duff and slid down a 5 foot embankment with my board sliding down next to me. Extremely kooky The worst of it was that this happened in front of about 50 people in the lineup. Still, I've had days where everything was going wrong and then got the best wave of my life. You never know what adventure awaits you down at the beach.

That's definitely surfing right- any given day can be the best or worst surfing experience!
I emailed far king and sent them the pics- they said it was a manufacturing defect and agreed to send me a replacement which is slightly thicker. Pretty awesome customer service really!

Good result I guess, given that you didn’t drown as a result of the manufacturing defect!

Definitely a perk of having a previous background in swimming and water polo!

I read that there were 71 rescues over the weekend at my local beach from swimmers being stuck in rips etc. At least surfing has taught me about the ocean and waves etc where it would've been a different story if it had happened to someone more Ametuer.
The beach I was on that day has a renowned easy-rip out back, right next to some large rocks. Once in it you basically don't have a choice but to get sucked 100m out back and then paddle hard sideways to the break.