Surfing Waves

Hey hey,
So i really hope some of you slightly more seasoned seaweed-ites will be able to help me. I learnt to surf last summer whilst i was working for a surf camp. Mostly on small waves with the big foamies and an instructor and group. By the end of the summer i was pretty chilled and surfing the small green waves confidently. I also started taking the smaller foamies.

I knew i would have a break for the winter season as i work in the alpes but would be taking up surfing again this autumn so at the end of last summer i bought my first hard board its an epoxy fish 6"4 and is 20 7/8" wide and 2 9/16" thick on the advice of the sales assistant who said i could grow into it. I am around 5"7 and 57kg approx. I am really struggling on this board! I do take some waves occasionally although my wave count isnt awesome. When its smaller like 1-1.5 metres im ok and can get through the whitewash on the periods or roll it and grab a few waves but when the waves get a bit bigger 1.5-2.5 i start to struggle to fight the white wash. My board seems too floaty to duck dive very effectively although i have to admit i kinda gave up trying. And when i try to roll it it gets pulled out of my hands which is dangerous for other people and its making me nervous about losing control of the board.

Im really starting to lose confidence and when i see a big foam wave about to crash on me i wonder what the hell i am doing. I have had some great days on small waves and i love the sport when its good. But those days are few and far between and i know i have to get a bit more confident when the surfs bigger or i will spend weeks waiting for my conditions.

Any tips on getting an epoxy board out the back on the bigger days? I use the rips and periods where i can but its not always possible. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated if i could afford to go back to surf school i would in a shot but i dont have the money for it as this surf trips on a budget. My boyfriend who started surfing at the same time as me has taken a super short pointy shortboard he duck dives easily and is already ripping. Im so jealous. Please help!

The sales assistant is an idiot for selling you that board. I surfed for 1 year on a 9" and went to buy a 6"3 fish. I'm about same height and weight as you and I struggled. I have the exact same problem as you. I ditched it and went back to my 9". Even after surfing for 3 years now, I still don't take the 6"3 fish out.

You're not ready yet for a board that size. Buy a bigger board around the 7" + range.

Try your boyfriend's board.....seems like what you are saying but not saying is that you think you need a smaller board.....try it and see how that works out then follow Banz's advice.

Yeah unless you can surf nearly every day like Big H then a shortboard isn't such a great idea. As it doesn't sound like you live next to the beach.

Heya! I think you kinda answered your own question, you love surfing and love being out there on smaller days. That's where your sweet spot is right now for your surfing! Don't try to compare yourself to your boyfriend, he's one of the very lucky ones to hop on and master this real quick though I still fear for someone inexperienced in swells with faces of 2-2.5m that's scary big!!

I honestly think that size sea is too much for you and probably your fella right now. The ocean is deserving of great respect and has a way of stopping those not ready for her from getting out into serious trouble. Basically if you can't make it out there take that as a good barometer of your skill. You shouldn't be there right now.

Surfing is fun and you already answered where and how it's fun for you. In smaller waves where you are getting plenty and getting maximum time to hone your skills. The bigger waves will still be there when you're ready for them.

As for not being able to duck-dive your epoxy board I feel your pain but there are a LOAD of articles on here about breaking through and getting out back. You'll get great advice from them, the guys who are better than me on here (nearly everyone) will tell you that analysing a peak is probably much more important than fighting head on straight away. What kind of wave are you trying to surf? Is it a reef, a beach break or a point?

All surfable breaks begin at one point and radiate out in a diagonal as viewed from above / rights, \ lefts and /\ both ways. Usually on a beach break you're looking for this pyramid shape that occurs regularly in roughly the same spot. What I try and do is head out to the left or right of the centre of the peak, break through the inevitable whitewash then cut diagonally away from the peak, go across the line of one side of the pyramid which should bring you to clear water (providing there's no other converging wave breaking at that point) then paddle back to the direction of the peak but on the outside of the pyramid if you get me?

If it's the bit before this that you're having trouble with you've gotta master the duck-dip and turtle roll to get there, also timing the lulls between sets as you said you do already. The more experienced lads will give you more pointers there as I'm still working on mine!!

But seriously you shouldn't be out in 2.5m swells just yet, you're endangering your life and those around you. Oh and the guys are right, that boards a week bit too small for you right now, save it for later (or slog away like crazy if you're stubborn) but it won't be a heap of fun!

Happy hunting!!

There are no real tips or tricks for getting out back on an epoxy board or any other type of board for that matter(other than channel/timing etc), if you can't make it out back you shouldn't be there. For now I'd suggest you relegate yourself to the inside during those bigger days, that way you can pick off some waves and will get plenty of practice on your turtle rolls/duck diving in the whitewater(although I don't think you'd be able to duckdive that thing).

The best thing to do would be to go out and get a bigger board, like Banz suggested something over 7', maybe borrow one(if that's an option). Depending on the board you picked up and your location you might even be able to trade it with someone in your area for a more suitable board.

It's simple really: First borrow ur boyfriends small and pointy shortboard to get outside, boards like that are much easier to duck dive. When outside use Banz's 9 foot longboard to catch the wave, boards like that are much easier to catch waves. After takeoff switch to ur 6'4", that will give u a much more dynamic ride then the 9'.

Lotta good advice here for original postee. Hope she capitalizes from it.

Thanks so much for all the advice!! gonna keep on sloggin and stick to small days for the moment. Thanks again

I used to have trouble hanging onto my board in big surf back when I was in shape and surfing regularly. I could never seem to duck dive effectively when I was in big surf. The other day, though, I was watching the following video and had one of those face palm moments. Why didn't I ever think of that?

Watch what Wingnut advises about holding onto your board at 15:57.



You might find that technique solves your problem. I'm using it now with my 8' foamie and it works for me. I even prefer it sometimes. I don't know how it'll go in 10 foot surf, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

2.5m???
what?

Sometimes I dont understanf if I'm too old or you guys just crazy.

Last time, Feb15, we had a great swell hitting the QLD southest coast. I knew it wasn't for me and I was ready to drive north to noosa where it'd been more manageable, but my mate convinced me to try Currumbin!
I so, so regretted it.
I managed to get out the back fighting/surviving the white water for 20 minutes and waiting for a break (I have a 9'1). My mate got lost pushed north by the rip, I saw him at the car park 1 hour later. Once out, I couldnt take the courage to go for it as the waves were just BIG and there were a lot of good surfers flying around and I feared my lack of confidence would become a disaster.
I was so pissed with myself to be there instead of having fun in Noosa
There was a guy with one of those slim, long kayak, surfing. The kayak was shorter than the face of the wave..
I waited and watched for ages, doing absolutely nothing, then found another break to get closer to shore and ride a wall of white water to the beach.
fleshin' stupid.

Now if 2m+ waves are normal for you beginners, ... I don't know.. I must be a real looser..

3124 etc. don't get over fussed by other people's wave measurement , beginners have no idea, brown stains would follow them if they met a genuine 2m swell,translated into a wave!
Measurement is problematic, Hawaiian measure, face measurement, back of the wave measurement, imperial standard 12 inches equals one foot measurement, three feet equals one yard and on we go.
The Jaffa system, flat equals double underhead, waist equals waist high, shoulder high equals shoulder high, head high the same, overhead getting bigger, double overhead the start of being serious, triple overhead, WTF am I doing out here,.
Bigger than that, good excuse to take photos of the seriously committed.

Jaffa rule; know what you can and cannot handle, be prepared to expand your limits in evolving sizes if you want to progress to big.
But are pitching death slabs of heavy industrial size lips in your range?
There are so many videos and photos of death slabs etc it is easy to think that is what Joe Average is doing. It is just not so!!!!
Most people I don't think so!

312T4 wrote:2.5m???
what?

Sometimes I dont understanf if I'm too old or you guys [are] just crazy.

When I think of crazy things I did when I was young, I count my blessings. I remember when I was 17. I stupidly allowed a friend of mine to convince me to go out body surfing on a huge day at the Wedge . . . with no fins We get there just as the sun is coming up and no one is out at all. I tell him that we need to watch the surf and see what the ocean is doing. He reluctantly agrees. We wait for about 5 minutes and no sets come through. It's just a foamy, real foamy, pond out there. Again, I let him convince me to swim out without seeing one set wave come through. We start swimming out and a massive set rolls through. I dive under these terrifying monster waves, huffing and puffing as I make my way out, one huge wave after another, and I finally get past them. Now I find that I'm the only one out there. My friend bailed back to shore with the first fricking wave! I look back at the beach and the lifeguard drives up and starts talking to my friend and they're watching me. I was really tired and had to make my way back to shore in what seemed like a ridiculous number of sets. I rest stroked myself into shore between the waves, but I was exhausted as I had to navigate under a bunch of massive waves on the way back in. I was glad that the lifeguard didn't come out for me, but he chewed me out for being such a kook. Not having fins was an unforgivable sin. Anyway, I have had more than my share of bad decisions in the water. I think in some ways if you're a person where water has an irresistible allure, then you lose your ability to make good decisions. The ocean itself is a siren.

312T4 wrote:My mate got lost pushed north by the rip, I saw him at the car park 1 hour later

I remember that swell - possibly me and your mate walked all the way back from Palm Beach together

RinkyDink wrote:
When I think of crazy things I did when I was young, I count my blessings. I remember when I was 17.


I think in some ways if you're a person where water has an irresistible allure, then you lose your ability to make good decisions. The ocean itself is a siren.

I agree and disagree with you. I more than any of you am lucky to survive my youth but in a way you create your own luck. I risked my life numerous times but it wasn't crazy. It was a calculated risk. I knew that perhaps I might die but figured I had better odds of living. For many big wave surfers the ocean is a siren and for some of them they screw up and are horribly injured or die due to bad decisions but for most of them they survive due to making the right decisions. Or if they die it is form the unpredictable and unforgiving nature of the ocean. I still hear the call of dangerous waves and while I may still end up out in the ocean in dangerous conditions, the odds of surviving that I find acceptable are much larger than I did before. Now I still may die and you all may sit around your couches and say I made a mistake, I am sure from my perspective it won't be due to a mistake it will be due to the unpredictable nature of the ocean. I am reading a book by Greg Noll who was a famous big wave surfer. He rode waves much huger than any of us ever will and he is still alive because he made the right decisions. But he used to encourage others to go out in surf beyond their abilities . I guess no one died from it just like you and your friend

oldmansurfer wrote:

RinkyDink wrote:I risked my life numerous times but it wasn't crazy. It was a calculated risk. I knew that perhaps I might die but figured I had better odds of living. For many big wave surfers the ocean is a siren and for some of them they screw up and are horribly injured or die due to bad decisions but for most of them they survive due to making the right decisions. Or if they die it is form the unpredictable and unforgiving nature of the ocean. I still hear the call of dangerous waves and while I may still end up out in the ocean in dangerous conditions, the odds of surviving that I find acceptable are much larger than I did before. Now I still may die and you all may sit around your couches and say I made a mistake, I am sure from my perspective it won't be due to a mistake it will be due to the unpredictable nature of the ocean. I am reading a book by Greg Noll who was a famous big wave surfer. He rode waves much huger than any of us ever will and he is still alive because he made the right decisions. But he used to encourage others to go out in surf beyond their abilities . I guess no one died from it just like you and your friend

When I did dangerous things as a youth, it was often because I was A) dealing with fear bordering on panic or B) ignoring the fact that I was not ready, physically or mentally, for particular sports. The day I told my buddy that rock climbing just wasn't my thing was probably my first step in learning how to realistically assess what I wanted to do for pleasure. The day I was at the Wedge was dangerous because I was terrified, not because I couldn't handle the surf. I did not like being out there alone. If there had been other people out, I might have been perfectly content to hang out in the lineup and rest up. Anyway, I still don't like being in the water alone. I can sit on a peak by myself, but I still take comfort in having another person down the beach on another peak. My hat goes off to Jeff Clark for surfing Mavericks alone all those years, but I know I don't have the fortitude or the desire for that type of adventure. I recognize the risks involved in surfing and I accept them. In fact, I don't find any sport I'm involved in much fun unless there is some degree of danger involved. However, you're right that it's a calculated risk. The operative word there is "calculated". When I was young I didn't calculate risk intelligently. I do now.

That's how I know that this takes balls of steel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpdWwPqwau4

LOL yeah well you calculated risks well enough to still be alive

RinkyDink wrote:
That's how I know that this takes balls of steel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpdWwPqwau4

That video looks like two thirds of the participants rented SUP's for the first time that day.......riding in the middle of that zoo WOULD take hard ones, a helmet and paid up medical insurance.....like a demolition derby......

Big H wrote:That video looks like two thirds of the participants rented SUP's for the first time that day.......riding in the middle of that zoo WOULD take hard ones, a helmet and paid up medical insurance.....like a demolition derby......

Man up, dude. In California that's a casual day at the beach with the wife and kids.<-- That's humor. You're right, of course.

I think most of the SUP riders were fairly well skilled. It only shows them going through the surf but most of them have long distance paddling boards that aren't meant for going through the surf but they still do ok. It's tough going through waves that size and they mostly did well and riding in on those long distance boards they did as well as could be expected.