Surfing Waves

I usually avoid closeouts, blown out waves and multiple swells but now I'm rethinking. If you paddle into messy surf, how do you make the most of it?

I generally spend some time looking for rideable sections and note land markers for them and a path to them through the surf. In this case maybe to the left of the photo. Quite often I will have more than one place picked out and if the first one doesn't seem to work I go to the next one. I pick land markers which get me in the general area of the break I want then observe the waves trying to figure out which waves were the ones I saw from shore and generate more accurate lineups for those. Very often the path out requires paddling 50 yards or so once outside of the break to the place I wanted to surf. Days like this result in some of my favorite waves in terms of fun and exciting waves. I am however fortunate that besides the sand break in the middle there are reef breaks on both sides of the bay I surf so I have many choices although I prefer the sand breaks. In almost every messy wave situation there are waves that come in that are ridable in the bay I surf

I do what the locals do who actually bother to paddle out in poor conditions. Take waves and almost immediately turn off the back….that and paddling around in rough choppy conditions at the least gives a decent workout and keeps the paddle tight.

I went out one stormy day around 5 foot Hawaiian at the same time as two younger surfers, me in my 60's and them in their 20's. They both went in before me and I surfed my usual 30 minutes. During that time I caught a wave that I managed to surf for a good distance like 50 yards or so doing a variety of maneuvers and right in the middle there was a huge ridge and when I hit it I was airborne for a while (does that count as an air?) landed it and kept surfing. After coming in the two you guys were in the parking lot talking like "I don't even work that hard at work" and the other one said "You couldn't pay me to surf in that stuff" and I said "That was my morning exercise and a good workout plus I caught one good wave." And I was not in good shape at the time.

oldmansurfer wrote:I generally spend some time looking for rideable sections and note land markers for them and a path to them through the surf. In this case maybe to the left of the photo. Quite often I will have more than one place picked out and if the first one doesn't seem to work I go to the next one.....In almost every messy wave situation there are waves that come in that are ridable in the bay I surf

Love this! I'm thinking the same. On closeouts it could also be fun to work on floaters.

There are some days when it is pushi g it, feels like you’re in a mood vie rescue scene and all that is missing is the helicopter coming to airlift you out. Surf might be bad but it beats a treadmill.

Often when I am in the middle of chaos I feel like I am so lucky to still be surfing and it always amazes me how easy it is to navigate through the chaotic ocean. Then of course there are other times where I catch a bunch of waves on the head and decide to come in and walk around rather than enduring the pounding

I need to travel for any surf, so I will take whatever is on offer - as long as I feel it is safe - to make the trip worthwhile. Messy is the norm, I feel. I just enjoy being in the water.

Bad surf days sometimes bring out bad behavior. I've dodged lost boards or been struck when people ride leashless. They abandon them when paddling out or trying to get barreled in a closeout. I watch for it before going in and stay alert 360° when I'm in the water.

Some of my funner times has been dropping into closeouts, still dig big drops