Not falling down

[oldmansurfer]

I am just rehashing these incidences from my past because it was a theme that seemed to recur in people judging my and others ability to surf. If you don't fall down you know how to surf. (thanks to unsungthen )

When I was first learning to surf I went out with a group of friends into waves that were overhead maybe 4 foot Hawaiian and it was my first time surfing on a surfboard on waves that size. Prior to this I had been surfing (learning to surf) about 2 months on my own. On the first wave I caught I overturned on the bottom and shot right back up to the top and overturned on the top and shot right back down to the bottom all the time almost falling down and I did a series of top to bottom turns everyone of them feeling to me like I was off balance and overturning. The extra speed from a wave a couple feet higher than I was used to was unexpected. I finally made it to the end of the rideable section and paddled back out hoping no one saw me and one of my friends paddled over and said "I thought you said you couldn't surf?" I answered "Yeah, did you see me on that wave? I was out of control." He said "Yeah man. You were totally." it was like a compliment but really I was just barely able to stay on the wave from my perspective. The whole wave consisted of me struggling to not fall down

Another incident about not falling down was when I was re learning to surf after quitting for 12 years. I was working at relearning in small waves and a young (compared to me) Korean woman was learning to surf as well in the same place. She had said this a couple times in a very strong Korean accent but came over to me and said "You very good surfer" I answered "You mean that other guy over there, he is very good." She says "No! YOU very good surfer." I said "I used to be a very good surfer but I am not any more" She said "NO. You very good surfer." I asked "why do you think that?" She said "I see you surfing here all the time. You very good surfer. You no fall down."

I had another incident when I was a pretty decent surfer long ago. I had learned to do a backside under the lip turn to get speed on backside waves. This maneuver let me make waves that even the frontside surfers weren't making. I wondered if I could do something like that frontside and was out at Hanalei in around 4 to 6 foot waves (8 to 12 foot faces). It seemed like the perfect time to try it since it was big and hollow but not big enough to make me afraid to try it. I rode a couple waves just normally looking for parts of the wave where I thought I could try the turn. It seemed great with lots of places to try it. On my first attempt on a 5 foot wave I turned under the pitching lip and the lip smacked my chest so hard initially I thought I was going fall down but all that happened is it assisted me in getting back down the face of the wave. Basically pushed me back down the face hard enough I cleared the lip and could continue on. On the next wave I thought okay I'll try turning harder but still the same effect smacking the lip and water flying all over and I didn't fall down. I still think maybe I could have turned hard enough to bring my back close to the surface of the wave but never accomplished that. However this was fun so I kept doing it. Water was flying all over on each turn and I could see the surfers outside looking at me. They probably thought the water was from the turn and not my chest smacking the lip LOL. Anyway I did the same turn numerous times that day and then on one wave I hit the lip with my chest where it wasn't pitching over and this resulted in me being held by the lip and my board dropped away below me. I was kicking my legs trying to dislodge it's hold on me and when it finally let go I dropped and landed square on my board with my feet toward the nose and the board was moving along the wave with me in this position. I could see up ahead the wave was going to tube and realized I didn't have time to try stand so I grabbed the rail and pulled up into a higher line. I was completely tubed with the lip coming down at least a couple feet in front of my board and feet so I gave up. Nothing I could do about it so I lay there looking up and waiting to wipe out. It was beautiful as it was quite a different view of the tube than I had seen. I could see the sky through the wave. Then suddenly I came out of the tube and could see it was going to tube up ahead but I did have some time to stand. I thought it would be really awesome if I could stand and get tubed on the second part of the wave standing up. But unfortunately I wiped out. It's more difficult to popup from laying on your back and this board was a 6"10" x 18" x 2.75". I lost my board and swam in to get it and another surfer was paddling out. He said "That was an amazing trick. What do you call that?" I answered "Falling down." He said "No, no the part before you fell down. You were riding the wave lying on your back. What's that called? Oh yeah. The coffin. That's it the coffin." I said "Did you see how I came about to be lying on my back?" He said "No." So I told him about the under the lip turn and how the wave held me and I fell on the board. He said " Yeah well that is still some skills. I would have just wiped out and not made the tube." Lucky I didn't fall off the board right?

Anyway the same theme I think if you don't fall down someone is going to think you know how to surf to some degree. Very likely if you are trying to do something and failing over and over because it's difficult people will think you don't know how to surf. I have actually heard people say this about a surfer who I knew was really good.

[Geezer]

In a crowded lineup, especially if it’s not your local or if there are several non locals there it’s bets to take a few waves competently before trying things that have you falling down. From an outside perspective it could look like that person is wasting the wave and if that happens here it will mean that it will be hard to get a wave.

[oldmansurfer]

You all probably have times where you did not fall down and it made you look good. Here is another one. My current go to board is an 8 foot rounded pin that can be surfed as a single fin or a quad or a thruster or twin fins but I now only surf it with a quad. It is the first board I used after a 9'6" longboard which I was using for the extra float and stability. This 8 foot board was made for me so it is my oldmanoverweightoutofshape board. Anyway when I first surfed it I stood with my back foot in front of the fins and I reached that point where I wanted to lay down some turns like I used to so from a bottom turn on a 4 to 5 foot wave (8 to 10 foot face) I rotated my body to get ready and cranked a turn as hard as I could. The result was the first part of the turn was okay but as I sank the rails the board popped out of the wave and went flat. So here I was with my butt in the water and the board was no longer pushing into my feet but my feet were still on the board. Fortunately I had already started to rotate and the board was pointing down the wave and momentum was in my favor so the board kept going and I steered it under me and stood back up on it all the time with my butt in the water. I did this same turn 3 times but never once on purpose. After the third time I learned to put my back foot over the fins and then I was able to crank some turns. However one day a wind surfer who was often the only other person out in the stormy conditions came up to me and asked what do I call that turn? I was like "my butt turn?' LOL He thought it looked good and that I was doing it on purpose. Maybe I should call it dropped wallet and pants and everything turn? Interesting to me was that prior to that I could do lots of maneuvers from that position with my back foot in front of the fins. However once I got my foot more back I could do power turns.

[oldmansurfer]

Here is another one. I was surfing and working on my cutbacks surfing about three foot waves. I could do cutbacks but I wanted to make the smooth roundhouse cutbacks like the good surfers do. I cranked a turn and lost my balance and in getting back over the board I went straight up the wave and it was pitching over and pitched over me and pushed my board back down as it punched through the lip. I was covered in whitewater for a moment and emerged with some speed and kept on making a few other maneuvers down the line. I am sure that looked really good if anyone was watching but entirely an accident however I didn't fall down.

[Geezer]

I had a big refraction come out and surprise me two days ago . I nearly got bucked off but took the rollercoaster somehow and made some turns that were 100% reactions to keep from falling down but somehow “felt” good while making them and I stayed in balance though I felt like someone else was driving. I kicked out and a few on the shoulder who were paddling out caught my eye with approving looks. I felt like I’d stolen something. LOL

[Geezer]

I used refraction wrong. I just looked it up because it didn’t sit right with me and in fact the conditions I experienced were reflected waves, not refracted.

I think that’s right anyway. What I’m talking about is when waves seem like they are coming out from the beach and collide with one’s coming in. Seems like it happens on certain swells so maybe on specific swell direction catching the beach at the right (wrong) angle. Not a daily occurrence. Someone who knows better chime in please. Sorry for the hijack but now I’m curious.

[oldmansurfer]

backwash is what I call it LOL

[oldmansurfer]

I was just recalling that on that butt turn when I got the board to the bottom of the wave, my butt was sunken in the water and it felt like I was standing up from sitting on a chair. The motion required was very similar to standing up from a chair Lol

[Geezer]

https://www.surfertoday.com/surfing/what-is-a-backwash-wave/amp

Thanks OMS! That’s exactly what it is! i learned something today!

[oldmansurfer]

The area I usually surf quite often has backwash and I have become skilled at dealing with it though sometimes it still knocks me off my board. If you see the backwash coming be prepared to lift your legs up just to the height of the backwash then push them back down, front foot first then rear foot both up and then down.

[BoMan]

I will always remember one time I didn't fall down.

I paddled late for an uncomfortably big wave. I had just started to slide down the face when I realized I'd never get to my feet before the lip arrived so I sat on the tail to make a sea-anchor. The full force of the wave slammed on my back and somehow allowed me to sit above water and ride like a rodeo cowboy! I was proud until the next one finished me off.

[oldmansurfer]

I have had many successful waves where I rode them on my belly or knees instead of standing because the wave broke on me before I was able to popup. But these were probably due to skill because I used to knee board and belly board before I surfed and so very used to riding waves from those positions.

[oldmansurfer]

Here is another incident of not falling down I recall where I appeared to have more skill than I did. I was on my shortest board which is a 7 foot custom made egg. It has a continuous rocker and a wide nose almost like a longboard but a narrow tail. It's made for an old out of shape surfer to ride steep waves. There was a crowd out so I looked for waves that were coming in unridden and found an area deeper to the other surfers with waves that would go by unridden. On one wave with about a 10 foot face I was paddling and the wave pitched out below me and dragged me over so I popped up and rode the lip over the falls. While I was falling I went into kind of a trance I was only aware that I arranged the board to land correctly at the bottom. Don't ask me how I knew what to do because I didn't consciously know. It was my years of surfing I guess but I had never done that exact thing before. I often rode whitewater down to the bottom when I took off on waves that did the same thing only crumbled below me and this was a lip and I rode off the end of the lip at the bottom and made a bottom turn. I was so happy to make it because it seemed like an incredibly dangerous situation. My original plane before having to take that scary drop was to hit the lip after the bottom turn but as I looked up at the lip it was a gnarly double lip mutant thing and I didn't really want to hit it but the board was headed that direction and if I tried to change it might have been disastrous so I went up and smacked both of the lips and came down with the whitewater and that was the end of the wave. I'm pretty sure it looked like I was more in control of the situation and that I did take that drop and made that off the lip turn intentionally but it was just reactions. I had never done anything like that before or since then.

[oldmansurfer]

While I am at it here is another one that I did without skill. I quit surfing for around 12 years after surfing for many years on single fin boards. When I restarted I got a 9'6" thruster gun that was very thin so could be duck dived. I switched from that to a 9'6" longboard 1 +2 fins and then to a 8 foot quad custom made for me board. I still had instincts to turn high on steep waves which on a single fin pops the fin out and lets the board slide sideways down the wave till the fin reengages. It was a good technique for me on scary steep waves but for multiple fin boards they often get caught in the lip when I try to do that. So my subconscious mind kept trying to do that but getting hung up in the lip. This led to many interesting outcomes other than taking a dive off the top of the wave which it mostly led to. This time was on a wave with about an 8 foot face. I had turned on the top and caught myself and turned toward the shore but the wave went concave below me and I dropped off the top of the wave. Fortunately the board was parallel to the bottom so this worked out okay. As I was falling I brought my legs up into a squatting position and the board stayed in contact. Then as I neared the bottom I extended my legs to push the board down into the wave. It was perfect and I shot out from that position and made a bottom turn after thinking "OMG I made it!" No idea why I did any of those squatting or extending moves but it worked great. I sometimes think I am just a passenger in my own body that is under the control of someone else. It's obvious my subconscious mind is taking control in those situations. But then again it is my subconscious mind that gets me into those situations. Never did that before or since then. No skill involved but someone watching might think so. It's all reactions.

[oldmansurfer]

The story a couple before this is about doing a floater from takeoff on a hollow wave. I have done floaters on hollow waves before just not from takeoff. This story is about a floater I did before I ever knew this was possible. I was surfing at my usual break and there is an inside section that is really fast so when I get to that part I start to speed up to try to get by that section as there is a nice hollow break past that point. I was surfing for about a year at this time (single fin no leash). I got close to the fast section and started doing big top to bottom turns on the wave with about an 8 foot face (for speed) and the wave pitches out in front of me so I try to cut out but the nose of my board hit the lip as I exited which changed the direction of my board and I went over the falls but I had lots of speed so I kept going down the line and as I dropped down the lip I caught up to the leading edge of the lip and my board went through at least a foot of air before it contacted the wave again but it felt like I was always just riding a wave very smooth transition and then there I was in the inside section of the wave and I finished it. I am sure if anyone was watching they would have thought I had some skills. But no skills I just didn't fall down

[oldmansurfer]

Before I seriously tried to learn to surf I borrowed my brother’s 5’2” surfboard. It was just a little longer than my paipo board so a comfortable length for me. I went to a break that I was very familiar with which was a shallow reef break but one I was completely comfortable with. It took me about 20 or 30 minutes to figure out where in the lineup to catch a wave, which is noticeably different from where I caught waves with my paipo board. On the very first wave I caught I popped up into a low squat and was covered up completely by the wave. I came out and stood completely up and cut out running off the end of the wave. It was a very wet tube ride so I wasn’t entirely sure if I was tubed so I asked a real surfer who happened to be right there if I was tubed and he said “Yep, you were completely covered in the barrel and came out. Nice”. No skill surfing at all but got tubed on my very first wave because I knew waves and didn’t fall down