Surfing Waves

ok.. uhh
obviously i probably lead this forum in the stupid question area
i think i've asked this before .. but in a different sort of way....

ok.. so you're paddling back in and there is a guy coming your way on the wave.. and your thinking that if you keep paddling then you might get in his way.. SO! should i just keep paddling regardless? or should i paddle backwards back in the direction of the shore so he can ride it without having to worry about me?

If you are certain that you wont make it over the wave in time paddle toward the white wash, in the opposite direction he/she is going.
I remember trying to make it over the wave when I should of paddled toward the white wash and the guy ran me over, right over my back. Luckily, he had rubber fins or my back would have been destroyed lol.

Go behind the surfer, into the whitewater. Take the beating.

depends... if the guy's really good and all over the wave go for it just make your intention clear... if he's that good he'll get around you.... had a guy on a crowded break once laugh and thank me for the gesture then said there was no need, he was never going to hit me. not too many people that good (here anyway). make a note of who they are... and save yourself one or two beatings.

otherwise, as above... quick as you can into the whitewash

so into the whitewash means? go to the direction of the beach? or sideways to where the surfer is coming from?

TReMoR wrote:so into the whitewash means? go to the direction of the beach? or sideways to where the surfer is coming from?

Sideways to where the surfer is coming from, away from the green water on the wave. The opposite direction the surfer is going in, in other words. The idea is to hit (or more accurately, be hit by) the wave behind him, leaving him a clean line for his wave.

whitewash means paddling towards the broken part of the wave as opposed to paddling towards the unbroken part. Its not so bad when you can duckdive under. Not so fun when you have a longboard.

TReMoR wrote:ok.. uhh
obviously i probably lead this forum in the stupid question area
i think i've asked this before .. but in a different sort of way....

ok.. so you're paddling back in and there is a guy coming your way on the wave.. and your thinking that if you keep paddling then you might get in his way.. SO! should i just keep paddling regardless? or should i paddle backwards back in the direction of the shore so he can ride it without having to worry about me?

your not always in a position to get to the whitewater. if your not.
i dont think you should paddle to the whitewater.by the way you are describing where you are in the water( it sounds like your farther down the line to me), you should be paddling out and away from the surfer coming at you and to the channel (depends on where you are in the water) you dont want to paddle to him and get in his way just to get to the whitewater. if your right there and can get to the whitewater yeah head that way. but if your down the line from the guy and on the shoulder paddle fast out the back and in the direction of the channel.dont paddle strait into the takeoff spot and get in everyones way. oh and lift your feet if he gets close. make up your mind what you are going to do fast and do it so the guy riding can go around you if he needs to. if you need to stop paddling then stop, just dont start up again until the rider passes you. you cant always avoid getting in someones way, if you make a bad decision and he wipes out because of you just be cool and say sorry and you wont have any problems.

whats been said so far is right.

if a good surfer is coming down the line and you know you wont make it past him on the face of the wave paddle towards the white water. You really just need to judge which is going to be the best option to avoid getting in the surfers way.

Having said that it is the surfers responsibility to avoid running you over, if its obvious you tried to get out of the way then you should be fine. Sometimes the surfer might decides to be a smart arse and surf really close to you, usually i tell them where to go, however if you dont have a lot of experience in the water then i would just leave it.

Best advice i can give is to use a thicker board when surfing at places with lots of people. This will allow you to paddle faster and avoid being run over.

I prefer for people to paddle predictably. So, if you're paddling hard to get over the wave in front of me, don't vary. I can go high up top and cut in front of you, or race down the wave and go behind you on a long sweeping bottom turn.

If you're sitting doing nothing, staring like a deer in headlights, I might just have to hit you.

When I'm paddling out, I judge what the guy/girl surfing is doing.. if they have some speed and I'm just going to make it through the wave, I'd probably end up being right in their way, so I shift and paddle for the wash and take the beating. If I'm kinda close, I'll shift and paddle to get over the wave, but aiming to give them a bit more time before they get to me.

(so if the wave is breaking right, I'll paddle more to the right to put more face distance between me and the guy coming down the line)

Of course, the note by WindChop above that you should be using the channel, if available negates all of this. Since there shouldn't be anyone surfing in the channel.