Surfing Waves

What's up everyone?

In January there were some good swells and in one of them there were solid waves for like 4 or 5 days straight. First two days of the swell I had to go surf on a break that has a mushier wave, because the spot I regularly surf was very big. Even that mushier spot was heavy on the swell peak and the offshore winds made it hollower on the inside. Then in the third day I went to the break I regularly surf and a friend of mine was taking photos there. It looked like the swell faded a bit, so I picked up my board. As I was doing a quick stretch I noticed some heavier sets. I went in and could paddle out easily because the sets were spaced.

I was a bit nervous though, the sets would take a while but when they came they were strong, breaking hollow. I was a bit uncomfortable on the water, not really because of the wave height but the wave hollowness. Still have to work on my tolerance for bigger days, specially on hollow breaks. Anyways, I stayed maybe 40 minutes in the water, mostly waiting on the outside, and dropped on a right that turned into a closeout. Then found myself in the inside and decided to go back to the sand instead of paddling out again. I also almost lost the knee brace I was wearing

My friend got the pictures from that single wave I took, biggest one I've on photo:







What would you call that wave? A solid 5ft?

Yeah about 5 feet. It looked really nice where you were in the first picture but I guess not. Maybe try to do a hard projection bottom turn the next time. I like that size thrilling but not too scary.

"What's up everyone?" Well, Ian, you've post a magnificently cool photo!! Fantastic and thanks for sharing!!

Nice wave, well done

oldmansurfer wrote:Yeah about 5 feet. It looked really nice where you were in the first picture but I guess not. Maybe try to do a hard projection bottom turn the next time. I like that size thrilling but not too scary.

I think I'm still not confident trying to do a hard snap on a wave that hollow with that size, specially with my knee hurt and the chances of airdropping. Maybe some more conservative carves like cutbacks and non-critical top turns.

I guess that's normal, when we are surfing conditions close to our threshold we tend to not try more radical tricks. When I'm on slightly smaller days I'll be throwing myself more inconsequently, like "who cares if I go over the falls next to my board?"

billie_morini wrote:"What's up everyone?" Well, Ian, you've post a magnificently cool photo!! Fantastic and thanks for sharing!!

Thanks Billie! Had it here for a while but only now I could post it

dtc wrote:Nice wave, well done

Thanks man!!

Oh bummer about the knee problem. I know when I make hard backside turns that is when it scares my knees the most. I feel the stress and strain but my knee problem is mostly okay these days. Did you tear your ACL? I don't know what I did to my knee but it happened playing with my dog 15 or so years ago. Swelled up and painful and did get xrays done but they did not show the problem. Supposed to go get MRI but knee started getting better so put off that. It continued to get better with a variety of things I did or didn't do. I wasn't surfing back then had quit for a while and was getting in horrible shape which probably contributed to the knee problem. It was a motivating factor that made me decide to restart surfing.

heard that 90% of knee pain comes from hip and ankle immobility. the knee in between suffers from that
try to roll your feet more and use your hips more while walking might help

oldmansurfer wrote:Oh bummer about the knee problem. I know when I make hard backside turns that is when it scares my knees the most. I feel the stress and strain but my knee problem is mostly okay these days. Did you tear your ACL? I don't know what I did to my knee but it happened playing with my dog 15 or so years ago. Swelled up and painful and did get xrays done but they did not show the problem. Supposed to go get MRI but knee started getting better so put off that. It continued to get better with a variety of things I did or didn't do. I wasn't surfing back then had quit for a while and was getting in horrible shape which probably contributed to the knee problem. It was a motivating factor that made me decide to restart surfing.

It happened a couple of months back while surfing, I forced my knee sideways trying to snap. For 1 or 2 days I was limping, then it improved significantly. But when I tried to bend my knee fully I'd feel a tiny bit of pain. Then another day I was surfing a small day and on a hollow wave I hit the sand bottom forcing my knees to completely bend and it worsened a little bit, just before this swell. Right now it has improved again, so I think it's a matter of stretching. I don't think the injury was serious enough to tear a ligament, but I'll keep an eye and go to a doctor if I feel no improvement.

wat4zz wrote:heard that 90% of knee pain comes from hip and ankle immobility. the knee in between suffers from that
try to roll your feet more and use your hips more while walking might help

In my case it was a surfing related injury, hopefully it's just a matter of regaining mobility through stretching.

that looks double OH

I do half squats and toe raises. Originally I did this exercise where I was sitting in a chair and then brought my lower leg up so it was straight and back down. Then went to laying on my back and raising my legs one at time to as high as I could comfortably raise them. Now I do half squats where I only squat to where my upper leg is parallel to the ground. I also do toe raises where I stand on one foot then raise up on my toes and back down. I still do leg raises lying flat on my back but not for knees anymore it’s for core. You have to avoid bending your knee all the way while standing. Can bend it while not standing as long as it doesn’t hurt. I ice my knee for 15 to 20 minutes when it’s bothering me and if it’s real bad then 20 minutes ice 20 minutes break and 20 minutes ice again. Hopefully you will recover

ConcreteVitamin wrote:that looks double OH

I'd say that's about right. Here in my country we don't use the waist high, head high, overhead and double overhead names for sizes, only meters and eventually feet, hawaiian measure (from behind the wave), so it can get a little "subjective" at times. In my case I think I might downplay the wave height sometimes..

oldmansurfer wrote:I do half squats and toe raises. Originally I did this exercise where I was sitting in a chair and then brought my lower leg up so it was straight and back down. Then went to laying on my back and raising my legs one at time to as high as I could comfortably raise them. Now I do half squats where I only squat to where my upper leg is parallel to the ground. I also do toe raises where I stand on one foot then raise up on my toes and back down. I still do leg raises lying flat on my back but not for knees anymore it’s for core. You have to avoid bending your knee all the way while standing. Can bend it while not standing as long as it doesn’t hurt. I ice my knee for 15 to 20 minutes when it’s bothering me and if it’s real bad then 20 minutes ice 20 minutes break and 20 minutes ice again. Hopefully you will recover

Thanks, I'll try that! I noticed that since I started stretching until I feel something, I managed to bend my knee a little further comfortably. So hopefully with some strengthening and stretching I'll get the pain completely gone (it's very slight at the moment).

I was gonna say, looks bigger than 5 ft. to me (California scale, oldman is from Hawaii so may that's the difference ), if not quite DOH? If you were standing upright at the base of the wave, it would still be over your head for sure.

That first photo is great, even if it ended up a closeout!

steveylang wrote:I was gonna say, looks bigger than 5 ft. to me (California scale, oldman is from Hawaii so may that's the difference ), if not quite DOH? If you were standing upright at the base of the wave, it would still be over your head for sure.

That first photo is great, even if it ended up a closeout!

Thanks!! I didn't know California measured waves by the face, thought you measured it from behind too