Surfing Waves

About a week ago I was surfing a point break in Perú.

I had come inside a bit to try and catch smaller waves as there was nothing out back. Suddenly I saw a monster wave coming, I turned to take it, knowing it might even break before it got to me.

I noticed a guy coming from closer to the peak already on the wave so I "pulled out" by sitting up and pulling the front of the board up (facing the beach). I dont even think I'd even started paddling at this stage.

The wave broke over me, 4 or 5 feet. I tried to cling onto my board by hugging it into my chest. My 9foot longboard got ripped out of my hands. Afterwards the other surfer was mad at me. I said "whats the problem, I pulled out". He said, "but you left your board on the wave".

I thought it was a bit unfair of him as I had done all I could to avoid that. But willing to learn. Was I in the wrong? Maybe I shouldnt have been there in the first place. It felt like it was a total close out and my board stopped him from being able to kick off, or barrell. I didnt see what happened him, but he ended up in font of me in the whitewater. He was on a shorter board.

Is there anything to learn from this?

This point break is totally crowded BTW and that day was no exception.

Zorba, if you are still at a very early learning stage it would be good to,avoid crowded point breaks especially if you don't fully have the knowledge and skills to avoid a situation like this! You attempted to do,the right thing but couldn't pull it off.
Point breaks usually have a clear traffic flow and paddling inside to get a smaller one puts you right in the highway.
You chandeliered the guy not only by causing the wave to break but having your board released ( accidently, yes) into the mix where it could have injured him..
If you cannot read the break and safely position yourself in the traffic you need to be elsewhere more suitable.
Also experience guys often blame ( rightly or wrongly) any beginners rather than advising.

Good point here you are reviewing the situation and learning from it.
All good

Part of learning to surf in crowds is knowing when you can take your shots.....pay attention to the skills of those around you. Some guys don't miss; if you are inside them and they go for a wave just stop because they've got it....you need to be able to read a developing situation and make the call early enough to not snowball the wave or worse....learn to be able to tell if a guy going for a wave deeper than you is in position to actually catch it or not as early as you can.

Besides that, what Jaffa said about more experienced guys bagging on less experienced is more than half.....crowded wave this happens all the time; at least you pulled off and didn't drop in on him. He was making space for himself going forward; if he can intimidate you and anyone else looking on to think twice about paddling for any of "his" waves, he's got a leg up in the crowd. Keep practicing until you can go deeper and yell him off the wave....

zorba11 wrote:The wave broke over me, 4 or 5 feet. I tried to cling onto my board by hugging it into my chest. My 9foot longboard got ripped out of my hands. Afterwards the other surfer was mad at me. I said "whats the problem, I pulled out". He said, "but you left your board on the wave". I thought it was a bit unfair of him as I had done all I could to avoid that.

1) Wave broke on you = you were in the wrong spot
2) I TRIED to cling onto my board ... Board got ripped out. = will you didn't "try" hard enough
3) "whats the problem, I pulled out" = Yes, YOU pulled out, but the board DID NOT and almost took the guys head off
4) " I thought it was unfair". In a few years when the situation is reversed and some beginner's board comes close to taking your eye out, I hope you can be as understanding.

I know plenty people who've gone to the hospital because of beginners letting go of their boards. Was it on purpose, of course not. Mistakes happen ( and people get hurt ). But don't add to the insult of ruining someone's wave, by coming back with attitude. Just say "Sorry, my bad".

Should change the title of your post to "Guilty of leaving my board on the wave"

Not trying to be hard on you, but that was bad etiquette on your part to come back at the guy with a "I did all I could" excuse. Like Wakiki said, you should've just gone with "my bad/Im sorry" and it would've been all good. Thing to learn from this is to always be aware of your surroundings, especially in a crowded lineup. When you spotted the wave out back, you should have noticed the other guy was already getting in better position than you on the wave and not have even attempted to go.

I think as a surfer the number one rule is to stay out of the way of other surfers. Now this may be because I don't ever surf crowded breaks but still as a beginner that should be your number one concern at least beyond simple safety for yourself of not going out into conditions beyond your skill/conditioning. Getting in another surfers way is unavoidable sometimes but your description did not sound like one of those times. It sounds like you just don't know what you are doing in the lineup yet. Hey that is ok we were all beginners at one time. Just learn from it, you were wrong.

On a different thread, WkkkChan gave advice that's helped me stay out of trouble on crowded days. He wrote something like this - "When padding around oncoming riders, aim for the for the surfer's past, not his future."

When someone is on a nearby wave, I notice where they are likely to go and make a point to move behind their ride. This always takes me into the white water where I get to practice turtle rolls and duck dips. Before going out I also note the lines most surfers take on their rides and paddle around them on my way out. Lastly, I try to be aware of what's going on in the 360 degree space around me - not just the nose of my board.

It's great when others do this for me. I love LONG rides and hate when they're cut short.

Yes, your mistake. Wrong place, inadequate knowledge on where to be and how to behave. I wouldn't even call it unintentional, as it means you did not prepare, wich was your choice. Even if you did not mean to ruin someones ride, your choices led directly to it. Surfing is hard and if you ruin the wave someone has waited for sometime, it is different than in other sports. It can mean hard work to get back into position and waiting again and it can mean you ruined the best ride of the day or week. I will this year on surf with contact lenses, partly in order to become better aware of my surroundings.

On the other hand, there are many many good surfers out there who continuously sneak on beginners intentionally, but no one calls them out. I sometimes feel that even in this form that is considered self-defense.

Thanks for the tough love guys! The truth hurts, but now I´m more aware.

Seriously, there is a big gap between what they teach you in surf lessons, and what you´re expected to know in the line up.
(A side note: the way some people "explain" it, doesn´t help, but I guess thats the only way beginners are going to learn, school of hard knocks, or obnoxious remarks lol)

I´m glad this forum exists, to help those like me who are trying to learn.

A) I should not have been closer to the shore and "out of line" of the line up

B) when the big wave came I should have been aware that I wasn´t going to make it, and headed towards it (even at risk of not getting turned around in time and getting hit side on) so that at least I´d more likely be out of the way of the other surfer

The problem is the shortboarders decide to take a wave so late, so its really hard to keep an eye on them. On busy days I´m watching up the line constantly, even missing waves I could have taken that were empty, because it takes so much mental effort to watch all the variables, and sometimes someone looks like they`re gonna take a wave but then let it pass or they go for it and don´t get it. Anway, onwards...

BTW I saw the guy exit the water later, by chance, and went over and apologised to him for shouting back (my "defense"). I asked him what I should have done, but he couldn´t really explain it to me, that´s why I asked on here!

SIDE NOTE: I actually started surfing 20 years ago, but was lucky enough to spend most of my surfing years in a relatively uncrowded surfing environment... so all these techniques and knowledge of crowd surfing was not needed

I understand, today a girl about my age snaked me ( paddling behind me to get possession) I quickly pulled out but she scooped around and knocked my board away. There even was a nice right but she pulled left and bailed out :angry: I guess it just happens all the best

In this situation apologize to the surfer, boards are very dangerous I saw ina youtube video not long ago 1-2 months ago about a puerto rican surfer kid that was an advanced surfer and drowned after he got knocked out by a beginners longboard, he wasn't wearing a leash so he sank and got lost in the impact zone and drowned
So yeah always wear a leash and in your case be careful with your board, maybe pratice managing it at an uncrowded break.

Best advice is if a wave is breaking on you make sure to get the nose of your board under the water the wave will wash over it, basically if you try to pull out and get caught try your best to manage the nose, the rest of the board will follow, holding it from the middle or bottom will result in it being launched from your hands towards whoever is on that wave which can be very dangerous.

zorba wrote:Seriously, there is a big gap between what they teach you in surf lessons, and what you´re expected to know in the line up.
(A side note: the way some people "explain" it, doesn´t help, but I guess thats the only way beginners are going to learn, school of hard knocks, or obnoxious remarks lol)

Actually, you often have to figure out a plan for paddling out and taking off yourself. There's no insert tab A into pocket B set of rules, other than common sense, that will work at every beach. The best way to plan your session is to sit on the beach and watch the lineup for 15 minutes, especially if it's a break you haven't been to before. Over time I've learned to paddle the long way around (takes longer and requires using more energy) at some of the places I surf. It was worth the extra effort because it kept me out of the way of other surfers. In other words, I've had to learn not to rush. That's hard to do sometimes when the surf is pumping. Of course, once you have speed and fitness, you can plan differently.