A Newbies Guide for Newbies

[ChasingDaylight]

Duuuude seriously, you need to get that damn rib fixed!!

PS. Anyone else found that magicseaweed always seems to be slightly off, use surfcore instead. I think it works off a nearshore system rather than an offshore one so it gives more accurate data.

[surferdude_scarborough]

ive found magic seaweed to work fine. as long as you do wht they tell yo to and use it as data to make a forecast rather than an outright forecast of how big the waves are.

[garbarrage]

much like the weather forecast... they're not usually that far off. there's a lot of chaos out there and quite hard to be specific about. wouldn't trust any specific claims from anyone. all i want to know is if there's swell, what direction it's coming from, and what the wind's doing.

[rich r]

Ribs are tough. Few weeks at the very least.

[voodoocol]

dude, was at bunkers mainly, and was there again on the 14th. that was a strange day - got there late (due to birthday hangover loads of peeps leaving the water, looked like it was flat-1ft, but once we got in, a few quarter decent sets rolled in, perfect for me snowboarding/long (skate)boarding mate who was out on a foamy for his first go. And he was mint (the bstard), first time! Ended up lending him my board and he was up on that too. It`s taken him about 3 hours to get to where I got in 3 years ha.

Really hope the ribs sorted. If not, duct tape and chicken wire heh good armour

[tree4]

Get Well soon mate. Ribs are difficult coz it affects your breathing and then if you tense up puts your back at risk. Just pester your doctor when you think you are ready to return and ask their opinion.

[2scoops]

cracking thread - sorry

[phillwilson]

hey all, well on a day to day basis my rib feels on the mend. I am moving around without constantly noticing it.

I was wondering, seeing as a few of you seem to have done yourselves similar mischiefs,

any adivce on good out of water training to test readyness and prepair for going back to the sea?

Ta
Phill

[phillwilson]

well, here we go with another fine installment....

Im Back in the water as of saturday and boy was it a weird one.

first up the shift from summer to winter is much bugger then I expected. everything "feels" different.

my sesh was a series of real highs and lows,

I went out with two friends who have surfed before but not regular. we where at north bay in scarbs, it was low tide and I suddenly noticed an awful lot of rocks that had I had never seen before, initially this was worrying but i pushed on into deeper water and feeling like the "leader" of our little group I actually found myself enbravened to just get straight out deep.( something that up to now ive needed a bit of a nudge to do ).

it was fine, but the waves where coming along really flat and didnt seem to have the shape to move me along, this led to lots of paddling (no doubt good for my rib healing) but not much action... my firends started getting tired so I escorted them into shore...then came the high

I got an awsome wave and managed to really ride it!
All I can say is this, if you are wondering if you have done it "properly" you prob haven't.
I thought I had "surfed a wave" before but this one was the real deal, i was waaaaay up high (in comparason to previous rides) when i got stood up and that gave me speed, i think the fact i had all this board stuck out the wave that would normally all be flat in the water meant that i could turn faster and better....sheer exhileration!!!
sad part was I ended my ride cos i was worried i would be about to run aground and didnt want to catch the rocks...but when i jumped off I found i was still not touching the bottom , damn...but then again, what a lesson about the benifits of starting out on the outside.


ok now we have had our thirills...time for the bump back to reality...

My mates went off back to the car and I decided to stay in, now the nerves kicked in at this point i will admit and I found that ;

a. i didnt want to go back out in the bit we had been surfing, it was well away from the other surfers out that day and i would have felt vunerable to the elements on my own there.

b. i walked down to the main pack fully intending to go out with them but suddenly i felt like the kid on the first day of school, i didnt know anyone there and with my complete lack of skills i didnt feel like anyone would appreciate me being there...this led to silly choice c.

c. i ended up thinking i would just stay on the inside and practice some popups after the damaged rib...basically long story short I got in peoples way.
now i really do try hard to be the good guy, i dont want to ruin someone elses surf so i was truly sorry and gutted that i had inadvertantly become an obstical i started feeleing pretty useless, not good enough or brave enough to be out back but in the whites...so I just left.

all in all a bum ending to a day featuing my favourate ride to date.

[RJD]

Mate - you caught a clean wave, got to your feet and rode it, be stoked!!

First of many, dont expect it to be a smothe easy ride of progress but your getting there!

[Beachbum]

Good job on your first clean face. Heh, stop meddling in the mush and go out there with the others. Just wait for your turn and get another .

[phillwilson]

thanks very much for your kind words of encouragement guys,

think i was just on a bit of a weird one!! the ups and downs in surfing are probably still fresh to me as i have never been the sporty type. even in school i was always the one who would find ways to get out of it so i have never been in a place ot have pych outs, stamina thresholds, sporting injurys etc etc....kinda wish i had been more active before now.

anyways, spurred on by this forum and the nice folk who inhabit within, im looking forward to some waves (this weekend is out then..flat as a pancake hehe) ...beachbum... I I WILL get out back for the whole of my next sesh mark my words!!!

[phillwilson]

Hi all, just a quick check in....

got out on Friday and had a ball.

I just wanted to say a big thanks again to the kind people on this thread who gave me encouragement when I was feeling low and got me over myself!!

north bay at scarbs was pretty nice and i seemed to have more energy then I have had for a while, I only got an hour in before the tide was on the wall but I caught a few more greens.....

My rides seem to be getting longer and when faced with a fellow surfer in the water i actually managed to steer around them (maybe this should become standard training as I seem to be almost magnetic for finding surfers in the water)

i still havent got the angled take off dialed in but im certainly moving more along the wave then i was happy days!!!!


only bummer was I put my board on a stone as i put it away and put a hole in the bottom of my board....next post will be "my first repair" will let you all know how that goes for a noob!!

also I bought some 2mm Gul Flextor gloves and if you dont mind still being a wee bit chilly, they are brilliant, very grippy and responsive, i can feel the board so much more then my old set of gloves, worth the added brrrrr factor.

laters

[Sykes]

Mate, last week I had both the worst and the best session of my short surfing career.

Tuesday: very sloppy, but pretty big for this area. I didn't catch one clean wave, kept getting in peoples way, and left the beach muttering to myself.

Thursday: Caught wave after wave after wave, had great rides, and met and chatted with a couple of the locals, who, upon finding out I was fairly new to The Stoke, offered encouragement and good advice.

Both days were at my usual spot, The Cross. Funny what a difference a couple of days can make.

[Pornstar]

Mate, last week I had both the worst and the best session of my short surfing career.

Tuesday: very sloppy, but pretty big for this area. I didn't catch one clean wave, kept getting in peoples way, and left the beach muttering to myself.

Thursday: Caught wave after wave after wave, had great rides, and met and chatted with a couple of the locals, who, upon finding out I was fairly new to The Stoke, offered encouragement and good advice.

Both days were at my usual spot, The Cross. Funny what a difference a couple of days can make.

Most of my best days are when the waves are medium sized too.
When its too big im constantly caught inside, falling over late drops, and barely surviving the few short rides i catch.

whn the locals start seeing you frequently they tend to become nicer and give you a fewe pointers about how getting more waves and not getting into their way too.

[phillwilson]

reading this forum definatly keeps me sane on the nights when its too dark to surf here.

so good to hear other peoples ups and downs , helps me man it up and go out and play at the back with the bigger boys heehe.

is it weird that im even looking forward to repairing my first real ding?

seems any surf contact is good at the moment.

[Sykes]

:) reading this forum definatly keeps me sane on the nights when its too dark to surf here.

so good to hear other peoples ups and downs , helps me man it up and go out and play at the back with the bigger boys heehe.

is it weird that im even looking forward to repairing my first real ding?

seems any surf contact is good at the moment.

Nope, not weird at all, mate. Surfing is good, so therefore anything having to do with surfing must also be good. Hell, I enjoy just walking out to my garage and looking at my board, because it makes me think of surfing

[phillwilson]

hear hear Sykes, makes me feel like I'm a member of a community and that is deeply important to me,especially seeing as i have never done anything physical that has had that before.

I actually get a real buzz when I meet people who use to know me back in school or whatever, knowing even if i choose not to tell them, that I have this thing that I do that they will never know,this thing that binds me to a set of other people and not to them. (as you may imply I had a less then great school experience).

well the ding was repaired, i actually think i did a really good job right off the bat, however i ended up "playing with it" too much and not its got an indent where a bubble formed. it saw me through my sesh on friday but i think i will sand it down and try again.

fridays sesh was small so nothing too new was learnt however....Chasing Daylights arms are vastly out growing mine in terms of paddling power so Im going to have to go back to the pool/weights to see me through the less regular surf sesh. can't be out paddled by a girl now can i hehe.

peace to all,
Phill

[oldgrom]

HA HA HA PHILL Great to see that your ripping up the surf and it sound as if you have all the basics needed. Youve come a long way from the first posting and are a definete wave charger.. Great inspiration to myself and outhers. keep up the stoke dude, happy to read your killer posts.

[Sykes]

makes me feel like I'm a member of a community
Phill

That is one of the coolest things about it, imo.