Catching Whitewater?

Questions and answers for those needing help or advice when learning to surf, improving technique or just comparing notes.

Postby isaluteyou » Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:18 pm

3ft at 5s is obviously going to be a touch messy. However its all good expo. Part of the learning curve is to surf a myriad of conditions and waves. That way you will know when its good and when its bad. Nothing replaces experience. Just look at it as a learning adventure and overall it will improve you surfing prowess. Many a time i have paddled out in wrecking ball mutant waves just to experience it :wink: .
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Postby drowningbitbybit » Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:46 pm

isaluteyou wrote: a learning adventure


I must remember that next time Im being sucked backwards and I know Im just about to be pulled over the falls.... 'Dont worry - This is a learning adventure' :shock: :lol:
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Postby LOLRuss » Wed Mar 26, 2008 11:35 pm

I couldn't get out again today, and the period was longer - 8-10 seconds or so. The waves were a bit bigger though, and I noticed some teenagers on shortboards having the same problem so I didn't feel so bad.
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Postby isaluteyou » Wed Mar 26, 2008 11:58 pm

drowningbitbybit wrote:
isaluteyou wrote: a learning adventure


I must remember that next time Im being sucked backwards and I know Im just about to be pulled over the falls.... 'Dont worry - This is a learning adventure' :shock: :lol:


Ill think of that next time people are working and im surfing :wink:

But seriously the more water time you get the more experience you will gain regardless of conditions. Im always super stoked if i catch a decent ride in slop :lol:
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Postby drowningbitbybit » Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:26 am

LOLRuss wrote:I couldn't get out again today, and the period was longer - 8-10 seconds or so. The waves were a bit bigger though, and I noticed some teenagers on shortboards having the same problem so I didn't feel so bad.


Seriously, the whole getting out thing is often the biggest challenge. :?

That's why newbies who say 'I skate/ski/wakeboard so I think I'll pick it up real quick' always get shot down. Once you're up and riding, its relatively easy :wink:

Dunno how many breaks you've got in your bit of the world, but a big part of surfing is knowing which one will be working and which one will allow you to get out back.

Keep at it - sounds like you're doing allright. 8)
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Postby drowningbitbybit » Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:34 am

isaluteyou wrote:Im always super stoked if i catch a decent ride in slop :lol:


:lol:

Since coming to Oz and playing with much better waves and much more talented surfers, ive noticed that I can surf on onshore slop or fat lazy waves a lot better than some of the people here who are spoilt by the conditions :lol:
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Postby LOLRuss » Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:10 am

Further up the beach some people were doing ok. I think I just need more arm/back/shoulder endurance. I don't get winded anymore, my arms fail. It kinda swings back and forth like that. But, I'm sore each time I go out so... I must be adapting to the load and improving.
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Postby smallwavegrovellerchick » Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:28 am

drowningbitbybit wrote:
isaluteyou wrote:Im always super stoked if i catch a decent ride in slop :lol:


:lol:

Since coming to Oz and playing with much better waves and much more talented surfers, ive noticed that I can surf on onshore slop or fat lazy waves a lot better than some of the people here who are spoilt by the conditions :lol:


It takes a great deal of skill to surf crappy waves. It also decreases the number of "unsurfable" days a year.
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Postby LOLRuss » Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:14 am

Isn't it always breaking good SOMEWHERE on Oahu?
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Postby JupiterSurfer » Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:04 pm

LOLRuss - I am having the same difficulties as you including the elbow pain - YOU ARE NOT ALONE! I seem ok catching whitewater waves and getting up (most of the time) but trying to catch an open face wave has proved difficult. I either pearl or the wave goes by me. I am also having trouble determining the best time to pop-up. I surf a few hours south of you so I surf in similar conditions - choppy, windswell, fast and steep breaking waves with no channels to paddle out in. I ride (attempt) a 10'6 and sometimes I try to use pure strength to turn the board or go through shorbreak. I usually just end up exhausted. An experienced surfer told me it's not about strength so much as 'technique' and he told me to 'relax' more. It's helped a ton. I still have many frutrating days too but we must soldier on and one day we will be actual surfers instead of 'flounderers' - HA!
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Postby isaluteyou » Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:13 pm

I either pearl or the wave goes by me


That sounds like a position on board issue. Too far back on the board and you will not have the forward momentum to get into the wave. Too far forward and you will have too much weight up on the nose thus perling. Thus proving gravity is alive and well :lol:
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Postby LOLRuss » Thu Mar 27, 2008 11:15 pm

JupiterSurfer wrote:LOLRuss - I am having the same difficulties as you including the elbow pain - YOU ARE NOT ALONE! I seem ok catching whitewater waves and getting up (most of the time) but trying to catch an open face wave has proved difficult. I either pearl or the wave goes by me. I am also having trouble determining the best time to pop-up. I surf a few hours south of you so I surf in similar conditions - choppy, windswell, fast and steep breaking waves with no channels to paddle out in. I ride (attempt) a 10'6 and sometimes I try to use pure strength to turn the board or go through shorbreak. I usually just end up exhausted. An experienced surfer told me it's not about strength so much as 'technique' and he told me to 'relax' more. It's helped a ton. I still have many frutrating days too but we must soldier on and one day we will be actual surfers instead of 'flounderers' - HA!


HA, thanks! I needed this. I went out today fully thinking I would get out. Came within about 10 feet of doing so, and got some good practice with my duck diving. But I just couldn't make it out. And the whitewater only lasted about 5 seconds, so I couldn't get a ride either.

ARG! My poor elbows! Oh well, nothing advil and ice can't handle.

I've been going out at or around low tide. I think I am gonna go out near the high and see if its easier.
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Postby drowningbitbybit » Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:20 am

LOLRuss wrote:I've been going out at or around low tide. I think I am gonna go out near the high and see if its easier.


It's utterly break-dependent, but is often true that the paddle out at high tide is easier than at low tide, as the waves break fatter due to there being more water beneath them.

So give it a go. After a lot of pain killers and menthol goop of course :wink:
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Postby surferdude_scarborough » Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:47 am

drowningbitbybit wrote:
LOLRuss wrote:I've been going out at or around low tide. I think I am gonna go out near the high and see if its easier.


It's utterly break-dependent, but is often true that the paddle out at high tide is easier than at low tide, as the waves break fatter due to there being more water beneath them.

So give it a go. After a lot of pain killers and menthol goop of course :wink:


sometimes i find it easier to paddle out at hollower beaches. yes you get rocked more by each wave but there tends to be less of them than fatter waves.
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Postby LOLRuss » Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:57 am

The waves are definitely biggier/'better' at low tide here. So I'll probably have more luck at high tide.
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Postby smallwavegrovellerchick » Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:10 am

I'm still stumped on the elbow thing. I've had all sorts of aches and pains associated with surfing, but not to the elbows. I'm just curious about what the motion is that's causing this pain.
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Postby LOLRuss » Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:55 am

I think its minor tendonitis, like tennis elbow. Its just from over-straining it when trying to paddle like hell to get outback before the next wave comes. I expect it to go away once I adapt to the work.
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Postby JupiterSurfer » Fri Mar 28, 2008 1:29 pm

smallwavegrovellerchick wrote:I'm still stumped on the elbow thing. I've had all sorts of aches and pains associated with surfing, but not to the elbows. I'm just curious about what the motion is that's causing this pain.



I have a couple of theories - Putting our arms through these motions as a begginer is going to take some getting used to. The size of the boards we carry (10'6 and 11'). After a couple of hours in the water carrying these beasts back to the car is not the most fun.

The other theory I have is how I position my arms when popping-up. I grab the rails when I pop up. I am going to try and place my palms flat on my board for the next couple of sessions and see what happens. It may be a wrist thing instead of an elbow thing but who knows?
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Postby JupiterSurfer » Fri Mar 28, 2008 1:34 pm

isaluteyou wrote:
I either pearl or the wave goes by me


That sounds like a position on board issue. Too far back on the board and you will not have the forward momentum to get into the wave. Too far forward and you will have too much weight up on the nose thus perling. Thus proving gravity is alive and well :lol:


Thanks! I went out last night and moved a little further back on my board and it helped. I actually got up on a couple of unbroken waves. Paddling improved as well. I...salute you! (I could not pass this up)
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Postby LOLRuss » Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:56 pm

Today it was 2-4 feet (to me they occasionally seemed like 6 bearing down on me, but I think thats what they really were), and it was totally glassy and they came in sets. I did a few things differently:

1) I stopped trying to paddle through the whitewater. I just swam and pulled the board until I cleared the whitewater. This is MUCH easier.

2) I caught them in the blue. Lots of em. Sometimes they broke on me, sometimes I missed em but I got lots of em in the blue.

3) Whoah - if you catch the wave just right, it is MUCH easier to pop up as it crests! I didn't manage to stay up, but I did popup to my knees, and once I... fell back on the board and road for 30 feet with my legs in the air. I couldn't stop laughing for 2 minutes.

Amazing day of surfing. I was out there 3 hours. Next time I go out like this I'm gonna get the popup. I can feel it. Last wave I HAD it, but my ankle cramped on my popup and I lost it.

:D :D :D
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