Surfing Waves

Today, near the end of my session, I got into a nice pitching wave, I set my line, crouched down, looking up at the lip in front of me and traversing down, wondering whether it would barrel.

And a guy dropped in on me, seemingly from out of nowhere (I didn't see him at all), board shooting at me/my board. I think because I crouched down and because of the wave shape, he literally dropped in from higher than me, and there's no way I can spot that and straightline out.

After we resurfaced, he did not apologize and was just muttering. I ran my fingers around my rails and didn't feel a ding.

After I got out of water, I finally saw a crack @ bottom of my board. This is my second time in Santa Cruz getting dropped in + dinged + realizing only after getting out of water.

So what's the right thing to do in such a situation? Check the board thoroughly on the spot, and ask the guy to get out of water and pay?

I know some people would just say, well that's just surfing and sometimes there isn't anything you can do, but I'm curious to see if people have other suggestions.

(By the way, it's a white dude in his 50s at least on a 6ft+ midlength board; so I don't think he's new to surfing. But it could be that the guy is transitioning into a new length/board so he is comfortable enough to check who's already on the wave at all.)

How would that work out? He has to give you money to repair the board or does he get it fixed himself? I would rather take care of my own board and I doubt anyone is going to give you money for a repair that could be done by yourself

ConcreteVitamin wrote:So what's the right thing to do in such a situation? Check the board thoroughly on the spot, and ask the guy to get out of water and pay?

Get a molded-epoxy board, then you don't have to worry about little collisions as much.

But seriously, If you ask him a question with a Yes or No answer and he says "No", then what will you do ?

If you give him a direct command and he doesn't comply, then what will you do ?

waikikikichan wrote:

ConcreteVitamin wrote:So what's the right thing to do in such a situation? Check the board thoroughly on the spot, and ask the guy to get out of water and pay?

Get a molded-epoxy board, then you don't have to worry about little collisions as much.

For molded-epoxy: are we talking about Torq, NSP, Walden, Modern and the likes? Does ...Lost RNF fish have molded epoxy?

ConcreteVitamin wrote:

waikikikichan wrote:

ConcreteVitamin wrote:So what's the right thing to do in such a situation? Check the board thoroughly on the spot, and ask the guy to get out of water and pay?

Get a molded-epoxy board, then you don't have to worry about little collisions as much.

For molded-epoxy: are we talking about Torq, NSP, Walden, Modern and the likes? Does ...Lost RNF fish have molded epoxy?

There's a Lib Tech Lost RNF.

ConcreteV:
1. Sorry this happened - again
2. which Santa Cruz break - this may be part of the problem (I surfed Santa Cruz regularly when I lived in NorCal)
3. experiences like yours are why I carry an aluminum baseball bat while surfing - WHACK!

I think there's no good answer to that. I mean - if you ask him to pay and he refuses, you won't try to fight him on the spot, right? But making sure that he knows what he has done is important as well though, maybe he didn't even notice it or would've offered a compensation otherwise?

Most dings that happen in the surf never result in anyone other than the boards owner paying.
Personal injury where aggression or deliberate act have caused it , may attract civil suits but even most of those don’t see the court!

Seen multiple arguments re: collisions and resulting dings. Usually, the other surfers interfered and nobody got paid. Too aggressive requests may be considered some sort of crime, especially if coupled with some sort of threat.

Once I gave 20 bucks to a guy for the repairs on my own initiative. He was Okay with the amount. I may have given a bit more.

No actual enforcement mechanism to get paid. Or it may request too much effort and money: spotting the license plate number, tracking the person by the license number, getting witnesses to testify in court, GoPro footage, educating the judge on the surging rules, etc. Just does not make sense.

A friend of mine got his GoPro removed and thrown away by a fellow surfer as a punishment for snaking. The floatie save the GoPro. He complained to the Police that happened to be at the beach. They waited for 20 minutes or so and left without doing anything. Even though it was intentional vandalism which a crime in California.

To some extend, assuming it wasn't don eon purpose and the other person apologises I consider it part of the sport.

Two weekends ago, I was surfing at a quite busy spot with my foamie. (prefer it when there is too many ppl in the water)
I hop into a wave and there I go happily along it's face (still a rare event for me) and out of nowhere comes a girl with a hardboard, straight into me, whacks me out of my board as her board rams into my feet.
As I get back to the surface after falling, she is just pulling her board and going around without even saying a word. For me this is the type of attitude that pisses me off.
I always try to be careful and when I do mistakes I always apologise, just helps to keeps things at a respectful level.

Later found I have a long deep cut from all the way from the rail to one of the side fins. (if I had seen it before I would for sure would go and show it to her)

All lot about this is about where you were on the wave, had you taken off first and closest to the peak, did she come up behind you?
Did she drop into the wave in front of you going straight or what were the exact circumstances, that may enable us to answer your question!
Do you know the traffic rules? Might sound disrespectful , but really it is essential!

And yes apologies and are you ok question always help by everybody concerned + your board is damaged but it is a very rare occasion when someone pays for another person’s ding!

Ah not all, I understand your question. I had priority.
She drop into the wave in front of me and went straight.

I think the thing to do is fix it yourself and warn the guy to not drop in on you should you see him again. First off it is hard (impossible) to prove that the ding came from him as you did not discover it till later. Secondly it's a mistake so you have no recourse other than to do some jerk thing like threaten the guy to make him pay for it. Thirdly if you want a good job do it yourself or have someone who knows what they are doing fix it. It's all part of the sport. You surf you get dings people drop in on you .....it's going to keep happening. No point in making some kind of big deal about it.

Nandox7 wrote:Ah not all, I understand your question. I had priority.
She drop into the wave in front of me and went straight.

Ok and some people paddle off after an accident from embarrassment. Write it off, people going straight i’m learning area breaks often have no clue, if called out they will often say “ the waves are for everyone”.