How to get back to the shore lol

[jet528]

Hi guys, I have an amusing, embarrassing question to ask here: how do you get back to the beach/shore when it's high tide? LOL

A few days ago, I went surfing in the morning during high tide. Even though I was very close to shore, my feet couldn't touch the sea floor. But if I paddle back, I am very likely to get caught in a shore break, and being crushed by the closeouts. Like this video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj-pA8Rj8UR/?taken-by=whoisjob

I don't know if I should swim/paddle/walk. What should I do LOL

[jaffa1949]

Jet , you have me seriously worried on your behalf, if you can't get back in;
1. You haven't been been reading the beach and understanding what it does.
2. If the shoredump is that benign, then the only thing injured will be your ego.
3. I know you are an absolute beginner, but if you got out into the waves, you would have entered through the shore break.
Which Sydney beaches are you surfing?

Now remedies, you can catch a white water wave to shore , prone! Unless it reforms unlikely to be shoredump.

Watch how other surfers get off the horse, do. what the successful ones do!
If you haven't got an exit strategy when you enter the water you are foolishly endangering yourself.
So good you asked,
Tell us you Main beach will also help us advise you

[waikikikichan]

Dude, that's not EVEN beach break. That's where I surf in Waikiki right in front of the Moana hotel. If you can't get in on waves like that .......please DON'T SURF. Those are soft rollers just impacting the shoreline onto soft sand. It may sound rude or mean to say that, but I rather your feeling be hurt than you being dead or paralyzed.

So now a bit of advice for some ( which most likely will not pertain to you since you don't understand the motion of the ocean yet ), depending on the break and shoreline, I lay down on my board as the wave ends and take off my leash ( bringing my foot up to my butt and reach back to the velcro cuff ). Time the foam to catch me and and pop off to the side of my board and use the float of the board to half suspend me till my feet touch and then run up the shore. Taking off the leash cuff helps me to not get pummeled by the board if I do end up rolling and it also doesn't tangle around my legs when i try to run.

[jet528]

Thanks guy! I needed some pointers. I am practicing at Bondi at the moment. Indeed I just started not long ago and I haven't been able to fully read the ocean. The day this situation happened was a pretty flat day with high tide. There weren't many waves and they broke very close to the shore. So I had no help from the whitewater.

The weird thing is I have no problem going out, because somehow it's easier to see which way to go from the beach. But when I am getting in, the waves are behind me (I know this sounds stupid), and a shore break comes out from nowhere. And conditions change fast, when I get out, waves break consistently and clean, after 1-2 hours, it becomes choppy. It was probably a mistake to go out that day, not my level. In fact I felt something's wrong and left shortly after being out. Then I just felt helpless getting back to the shore.

For the video, I am referencing what happened to me when I paddle in when there's a shore break, I just end up sticking my board in the sand, of course. But thanks for being honest, because sometimes I can't see the full picture myself and don't know who to ask.

[dtc]

Nuh, shore dump sucks and it’s a real pain. Paddling in with waves coming up behind you can be a bit hairy. So it does create a few nerves

But for true shore dump - where it’s breaking into the beach -just like paddling out, preferably find a channel or somewhere it’s not breaking and paddle in there (might require paddling down the beach a bit). If not possible then hang out the back (ie further out than where the waves are breaking) and wait for a lull and then paddle in between the waves. 95% of the time you can do that. Or hop off the board and use your body as an anchor as much as possible and float in slowly

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkBl3tvABNI/?hl=en

[Big H]

I broke my toe on a wicked shore break exit about 6 weeks ago.....absolutely hammered on a day that was pretty big and I thought that I had it wired but didn't......... that video won't crush a 4 year old but I will address your question which is to STOP before the shore break, then wait for a lull in the waves that you can pass in.....alternatively which I did not do but should have done the other day is to paddle down the beach until you reach a spot where there is a break in the waves to get in.

[oldmansurfer]

To the OP what you should do is take some lessons. There is so much that goes into surfing but basically you should always look at the break before you go out and figure out where to go out and where to come in BEFORE YOU GET IN THE WATER! There are lots of ways to get out and it depends on your skills and the break. The simplest way is to ride a wave in if you have the skill. I think the video shows a couple beginners getting into the beach without taking too much of a pounding. If you want to avoid getting pounded then surfing is not for you. Go SUP in a lake or something. I quite frequently have to come in through much more serious shorebreak than that video. I try to ride a wave in if I can. I learned to expect the shorebreak and to get down the face quickly when it shows up. I sometimes can't ride it all the way to the beach. Then it is quite a bit more dangerous and I have to stay on my toes and make adjustments quickly based on what the ocean is doing. Once I get inside of the shorebreak I may turn my board sideways but keeping it flat to the water and let the whitewater catch me and push me in and once I get going I might straighten out the board and ride it laying down or standing to the beach. If the whitewater is too big I might stand and hold my board above it. When I get to where I can walk in then I take my leash off....but it depends if I am coming in at a break called inside Horners I often don't because that shore break is really wicked and you need to get up the beach as fast as possible or the next wave is going to pound you. It's a very dangerous exit. What you should do is develop some skills and taking lessons would probably be a safer way to do it.