Surfing Waves

Posted: **Wed May 09, 2007 10:32 pm**

The recent heavy swell that has been battering Florida has claimed a victim.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/newsjournalonline/breakingnews/surfer.htm

Condolences to his family.

Posted: **Thu May 10, 2007 12:15 am**

Poor guy. I hope they weren't blaming the lifeguards in that situation, it sounds like they did what they could. They're right, surfers know what they're doing, it's much more likely they're gonna have to drag a kid out than an experienced surfer.

Sometimes stuff goes wrong though

It's unfortunate.....

Posted: **Thu May 10, 2007 10:13 am**

Grim.

Posted: **Thu May 10, 2007 10:24 am**

Having recently experienced just such a situation all i can say is that when things do go wrong, they go wrong so quickly and there is quite often nothing that could have been done to prevent the incident.
Sad news

KS

Posted: **Thu May 10, 2007 1:30 pm**

It really does.....never a pretty sight....

Shows us how powerful the sea really is. I think we've all had those eye openers out there when we realize how powerful it is.

Were you out the day he passed?

Posted: **Thu May 10, 2007 2:08 pm**

tomcat360 wrote:Were you out the day he passed?

Unfortunately yes, i couldn't have been more involved with what occured that day. Since it happened ive often thought about discussing it here on the forum because it is a very strong reminder of just how much of a risk we take every time we enter the sea.
However at the same time it is not a pleasant topic to discuss and so far i can't decide as to whether or not i should bring it to the forum.

KS

Posted: **Thu May 10, 2007 2:21 pm**

I was actually asking boco, I remember when you had all that going on....

Stuff happens fast man, I know how you're feeling.

Posted: **Thu May 10, 2007 2:27 pm**

tomcat360 wrote:I was actually asking boco, I remember when you had all that going on....

Stuff happens fast man, I know how you're feeling.

Posted: **Thu May 10, 2007 3:30 pm**

agree, grim

Posted: **Thu May 10, 2007 9:31 pm**

tomcat360 wrote:It really does.....never a pretty sight....

Shows us how powerful the sea really is. I think we've all had those eye openers out there when we realize how powerful it is.

Were you out the day he passed?

No, I surf up in Flagler Beach usually. I have learned my limitations, so I wait for good clean surf that won't kick my ass. I use to go out on the wild days, but that was several years ago.

I think that Scott Williams was just unlucky and it can happen to anyone that isn't use to larger than normal surf. We've all been there, so it's easy to relate. I just feel bad for his family.

Posted: **Fri May 11, 2007 6:47 am**

boco rio wrote:
tomcat360 wrote:It really does.....never a pretty sight....

Shows us how powerful the sea really is. I think we've all had those eye openers out there when we realize how powerful it is.

Were you out the day he passed?

No, I surf up in Flagler Beach usually. I have learned my limitations, so I wait for good clean surf that won't kick my ass. I use to go out on the wild days, but that was several years ago.

I think that Scott Williams was just unlucky and it can happen to anyone that isn't use to larger than normal surf. We've all been there, so it's easy to relate. I just feel bad for his family.

Its part of the sport. We all are aware of what can happen, and just pray it never does. Still sucks thou.

Do you surf Flagler Beach a lot? I was at Flagler Pier Wednesday got a few pics afterwards.

http://forums.surf-station.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?s=bc5b8df5fbfbeb7339be13cf6acf301b;act=ST;f=11;t=18309

Posted: **Fri May 11, 2007 9:44 am**

Well that makes two surfers that lost their lives from this storm. A guy broke his neck and drowned at Wrightsville Beach, NC this past Friday.

Posted: **Fri May 11, 2007 12:42 pm**

Wood,

Great pictures. It looks like crunch time for some of those tube rides. I heard on the news they had to shut down the pier for awhile.

The last time I was in Flagler Beach was last Saturday just before the swell came. I usually try to get out during the week. I've also been checking the inlet by Summer Haven. That shows some promise when everything is right.

Posted: **Fri May 11, 2007 12:57 pm**

justloafing wrote:Well that makes two surfers that lost their lives from this storm. A guy broke his neck and drowned at Wrightsville Beach, NC this past Friday.

Sorry to hear that. Getting your neck broke is not that uncommon in big surf.

Many years ago while surfing in Imperial Beach, CA I dropped in on a big close out. I got drilled by the lip and drove to the bottom. The top of my head hit the bottom (sand) and I was stunned. I floated up to the surface and made it to shore. That was life changing experience. :oops:

Posted: **Fri May 11, 2007 2:29 pm**

boco rio wrote:Wood,

Great pictures. It looks like crunch time for some of those tube rides. I heard on the news they had to shut down the pier for awhile.

The last time I was in Flagler Beach was last Saturday just before the swell came. I usually try to get out during the week. I've also been checking the inlet by Summer Haven. That shows some promise when everything is right.

Matanzas Inlet....the one at Summer Haven does get good sometimes, kinda sharky, but all inlets are. If you drive from there south down A1A, always check out Marineland, it had an outside sandbar that wood break crazy big, and hollow on the right swell. About 6 miles south of there is Jungle Hut Road. Not many people know about it, and 90% of the time its empty due to big nasty rocks just under the surface. You cant see them at high tide, but its not as bad as it looks. They only go out about 50 foot, then it turns to a nice sand bottom. Surf is usually a lot cleaner there during a Noreaster.

Posted: **Fri May 11, 2007 7:49 pm**

That is both scary and upsetting news. I'm just wondering what you guys think the cause of death was? Florida shores are primarily sandy bottom so I could only guess 1 of 2 reasons:
Broken neck by getting pushed hard to the bottom or his board hit him in head knocking him unconscious and eventually drowned from being out-cold. It sounds like he was fairly experienced surfer if the locals seen him around some.

PS: Flagler beach was covered extensively on the weather channel the last few days. Being up here in Maryland I was very envious of the surf conditions in Hateras, Florida etc...but myself being very inexperienced and now hearing about the 2 deaths, I think I'll stay out of the water if it gets over 5-6 ft. max until I get more experienced (even with experience things get pretty risky with the bigger waves)

Posted: **Fri May 11, 2007 8:41 pm**

This is cut from 2nd Light Message Board.

I talked to one of the guys surfing next to him before it happened. He's a friend of mine and a solid surfer, and he along with a few other guys really tried to help this guy, but it was too late. here's what happened according to my friend:

he paddled out next to this guy who was on a longboard and his friend, had a chat for twenty seconds or so about the slopey conditions out the back and the fact that he wished he had his longboard as well. Less than a minute later, the victim took a wave, and then my friend took a wave. My friend, let's call him John, kicked out of the wave since it was kind of weak and paddled back out. The victim's friend shouted to John that his friend hadn't come up. John and another guy paddled over to his upside down longboard and tugged on the leash, and this poor guy was at the end of it. They managed to get him on his longboard with extreme difficulty, as this victim was about 200 pounds. He had trauma on his neck under his chin and had blood and foam coming out of his mouth and nose. I asked John how long this guy was down and he said about 2 minutes.

One of the guys there, I think it was his friend, went in to the beach to get the lifeguards, and left John in the midsection by himself with this guy. The leashes and boards were getting mixed up and whitewater was all over him. John said he felt terrible that he couldn't do anything. It took everything he had just to keep this guy on the board, and with the trauma and water intake and his version of the story, i doubt seriously that anyone could have done anything for this guy even if he was airlifted out of the water... It's a very sad story and one of bad luck. Longboards obviously pack more of a punch when you're in big waves. It was a foot overhead out the back, but it went pretty mellow into a deep section before the mid section at around shoulder to head high pitched and slammed on that inside sandbar. There was no way to get this guy in without possibly losing him in the whitewater. After about twenty minutes, a few other surfers had paddled out to keep this guy on his board; one guy was even helping corral the boards of these guys while they waited for the jet ski/sled.

Bummer. I wanted to give "John" props, but i know he doesn't want it or have to explain the story to people... He's pretty jammed up about it. He's a good man, and I know any of us would have done the same... but still hell of a way to go.

Posted: **Sat May 12, 2007 5:42 pm**

It scares me everytime I read about something like this. Here is my question: How do you think he drowned? Or did he drown? In the news article it said he was in cardiac arrest. Why did he have blood coming out of his nose?? Do you think he hit the bottom and got knocked out?

Posted: **Tue May 15, 2007 1:29 pm**

Luke252 wrote::( Grim.

Posted: **Tue May 15, 2007 2:22 pm**

bgdkmetzger2003 wrote:How do you think he drowned? Or did he drown? In the news article it said he was in cardiac arrest. Why did he have blood coming out of his nose?? Do you think he hit the bottom and got knocked out?

Obviously, Ive got no real idea.
But 'in cardiac arrest', in this case, just means already dead.

Pretty much any trauma can result in blood coming from the nose, including drowning.

At a guess, I'd say he was knocked unconscious by his board or the seabed, and then drowned.

Surfing Waves

Florida surfer drowns in New Smyrna Beach.

Florida surfer drowns in New Smyrna Beach.