Surfing Waves

It takes me roughly 40 mins to get to the coast from where I live and after checkin surf report yesterday I made the drive down, Im a beginner and get limited time to surf so I have to make the most of my days off,

I drive down and its about 7ft closin out, windblown and wild but I can the occasionally heavy breaking peeling wave comin through in the usual sections, no1s out and the sopts usually crowded.

I look out at what seems like endless white water and chop the waves seem to break on top of each other, my head drops as I the reality of the situation kicks in . Do I (A) do the sane thing and drive home with my tail between my legs whinging to myself as I am only used to 3- 4ft waves or
(B) do I try and make it back and maynbe luck out and get the wave of my life,

I choose option (B) and for the next 30 mins get battered in the impact zone , just when I think Im out another set breaks further out and pushes me back into what seems like endless whitewater and current,
I eventually give up totally exhausted and catch a couple of smaller inside chop waves and come in, I can see a couple of the local surf gurus near the surf club having a bit of a laugh at me as I walk to my car, I was kind of dejected, But I say to myself at least I tried and maybe I learned something , at least I got wet.

Do any of u guys have a similar experience.

where were you surfing?? usually you just have to keep trying

dont worry about it weve all had days like that,think of it this way your building up your endurance for paddling .

I did that once as well with a friend. It was hell of scary and I think I wouldn't have done that again if he wasn't there with me.

at least I tried and maybe I learned something , at least I got wet

Yeah!! Everyone has to start somewhere, and at least you won't spend the next week at work kicking yourself that you didn't give it a go. Tell you what, the surf gurus having a giggle were most probably re-living a moment when they were beginner surfers doing the exact same thing!

thanks for all the input,
I just checked the report 3ft and glassy tomorrow on wollongong beaches
WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO Im a goin surfin!!!!!!!! 6am wake up

when i was probabyl your capability i would of spent hours trying to get out into the line up, but now i look back on my self adn think i should of just caught the white water, so i think you didnt the right thing catching some smaller waves

every day in the winter used to be like that for me. even now it still is sometimes. as toon as i get through it all and sit on my board in the line up, another set breaks further out and pushes me all the way back in. but i dont give up after 30min. usually i keep going til it gets dark.

Thank you everyone who shared there story and gave input, good to know im not the only one its happened too i surfed this morning it was 4ft not as clean as id hoped for , I still got battered a bit but managed to get a couple of waves I have given up ever riding a shortboard im too big and unco for that so im lookin for a longer board i got a 7'6 minimal at moment. want to go something about 8'1 mal if i go any longer it wont fit in my car without me getting roof racks. lol. any got any recomendations?

We had a good hurricane swell a few years back. Only board I had at the time was a 10 foot single fin longboard. I sat on the tail gate of my truck for close to an hour wondering if I could get out. The waves were probably only in the seven plus foot range, but the wind was on it pretty bad. There wasn't a soul in sight anywhere, and I almost had myself talked into heading home.

Then I said to myself........"self" I bet you can make it out. So I took off like a damn fool. I got worked pretty bad going out. About the time I thought I was outside another set wood roll in, and I'd be back inside again. When I finally did get out, I was so beat, all I could do was just sit there trying to get my breathing, and heart rate back to normal.

I looked back at land, and couldn't believe how far out I was. My truck looked tiny parked there on the beach. About that time a clean up set rolled in on me, and clocked me pretty good. If it wasn't for my leash I think I could have drowned that day, because if I lost my board it was gonna be a long hard swim back in.

After that, all I could think about was, how I was gonna get my @ss back on the beach.



I did thou!

ha ha mate my day like that is every day getting hammered is all part or surfing man.

a bigger board goes faster when you dont get stuck fighting the waves, but when you do you get dragged 10 times worse. on short boards you can go right under it.