Was he right?

[drowningbitbybit]

if it's crowded and i want to be further out or in what's the best place to be in?!

If it's crowded and you're inside (towards the shore) then you're just in everybody's way and it's a dangerous place to be too. If you're on the outside, then you're unlikely to catch a wave.

So there are three options.
1) Sit in the middle of the pack and take the waves that are yours - not very realistic during the learning phase. And sometimes not that much fun at any phase.

2) Sit further out on the shoulder - that is, the same distance away from the shore but further away from the peak. You won't get as many, and you have to be very careful about making sure someone's not already on the wave, but you can often get a sneaky one (sometimes a sneaky big one) that noone else can get.

3) Change peaks. I hate surfing in crowds (so I moved to Sydney, way to go DBBB ) and will almost always take an inferior but uncrowded peak over the best-but-crowded peak.

[IB_Surfer]

So was this you?? LOL

[pandarturo]

Lol

[oldmansurfer]

So was this you?? LOL

She obviously has the right of way and he shouldn't have been there

[surf patrol]

Just a little speedbump, nothing to worry about.

[IB_Surfer]

I just can't tell if its the shot right before the surfboard hits him in the face or after the face bounces off the board LOL

[55funsurf]

Sometimes the first rider on has right of way over the inside. For me I surf for enjoyment and that includes not hasselling others. If I am on the inside and I turn and paddle later than a person who us already committed on the take off then I let them have the wave.

Its a respect thing. If I want the inside and right of way then I need to also commit first,

Some people show no respect for others and will just take off regardless at which point a surfer needs to be smart and quickly weigh up the risks.

Like Friday morning I let a bomb go through because there was too much traffic with guys paddling out who were caught inside.

So because I let that go and then committed to the second wave, the guy beside me dropped in.....But to his credit he pulled straight out and that was fair...

There was no hassle between us, It was just one of those situations where little events are unfolding quickly and combime to critical situations if someone makes a bad judgement.

Yesterday morning I made a bad judgement.

I was having a great surf, plenty of waves and a good crowd in the water.

I was paddling out and decided at the last minute to change direction to get to a peak and I ended up paddling across another guy who had turned and committed to take off.

It was my mistake because I should have stayed straight and on his right side but my error in judgement had me metres in front of him and that is not much distance if a person is committing to a take off and likely to head for the pocket....Fortunately I paddled very quickly and cleared him with enough room and judging by his ride I did not impair him,,,

i realise that situations can develop very quickly and all of us can make mistakes....

In my case yesterday, I waited until the guy was back in the line up and I said sorry for paddling in front of him and that I made a mistake...he wasn't overly impressed but he was ok...I ended up having a heap more waves and it was good because my one mistake did not eventuate into a situation of hostility between me and another surfer,,,,

I appreciate some people are hostile and I always try to take that into account also.

I imagine there will be a lot of people who will disagree with the following but I think in some situations where a number of surfers are clearly caught on the inside, that the surfer catching the wave, whilst having right of way, also needs to take into account the safety of surfers desparately trying to get out of the way on the inside....

But guys who insist on staying inside on days where the peak is clearly on the poutside also need to take responsibility and not become a traffic hazard.

From my experience, clearly we have the so called rules, but clearly not everyone understands the rules, and in 'some' situations it is better for the person on the wave to abandon the take off if it is clear that someone is going to get hurt through insisting to take off.....

I have a healed hole in my shin from age 26. Some 30 years ago because I had a guy on a log take off on a very crowded day and whilst I was clearly paddling in one direction along with other surfers caught on the inside he just kept his line....So yes he was technically in the right but he made no effort to avoid me and I suffer a life long injury through that one incident...Painful too....but I still surf in spite of it all,,,,

and lastly, I wear a helmut and all the 'cool' dudes' look at me strange...well yesterday good old helmut came to the fore....a powerful lip hit me smack at the base of my head, and good old helmut saved the day.....no pain no injury...and I kept charging....So I might look like a goon...but in crowded dayws with all the chaos of who thinks what about right of way, I wear a helmut just for sake of one extra layer of comfort on the off chance that I end up in some untoward situation, either through my pown mistake, some one elses mistake of a combination of the too....

rest day today, going for a full body massage and surfs mapped out for the coming week...

Take care

Ross (aka WAL:) kawabunga RIP H'

[oldmansurfer]

Mostly where I surf there aren't many people but I look at the inside surfers job is to try to get away from the outside surfer coming down the wave. You can't always get away and hope that the surfer will take evasive maneuvers but sometimes they are unable to for various reasons. In the picture it's a girl so ...... just kidding there are some really great female surfers. But the outside surfer might be unskilled or falling down or hit by the lip or just a jerk...lots of things so you have to be ready. I hate SUP boards they have long leashes and they are heavy. I have an abnormal toenail from getting hit by one a year ago after the paddler wiped out trying to go through the surf on a wave I was riding. It didn't knock me off my board but it bruised my shin and then split my toenail. More importantly it is the inside surfers job to not be in the way in the first place.

[312T4]

I disagree with the rule in subject.
If I'm a beginner, and I'm sitting still somewhere in the water, where you can see me from miles away, it should be the surfing guy's duty to surf around me and avoid collision.
I'm speaking about point break where the ride last long and there are people along the way.
As I'm sitting I will hardly go anywhere if I start paddling, while who's surfing have all the speed and time to choose where to go.

This is the most stupid rule ever!

It sounds just like this:

because I'm driving my car on the road and you are just a pedestrian, it's your responsibility to get out of my way. If you cross the street I don't care. I run over you and then you have to apologise. I will just kill you. I'm sure the court will agree.

While all the rest make sense, this one is created by some greedy idiots.
I've seen this happening in empty water while the only real problem was the guy surfing who was too cool to just make a turn.
Disgusting.

[jaffa1949]

In this case as you state it yes a considerate surfer would turn around the inexperienced surf ( called speed bumps BTW) , But the Pedestrian equivalent is going out onto the a busy free way and sitting down in the fast lane sometimes the car/ surfer has no options to avoid collision.
The surfing rules are rules of thumb and usage. They do make sense when you have been surfing a while.
Good surfers avoid causing harm good learns keep out of harms way as much as possible.
Not knowing where to go or how to avoid a riding surfer is a major cause of injury and friction in the water, the more critical the surf or the bigger the crowd the worse the risk.
Finally on a long point wave a surfer who catches it way out the point should not have surfers a hundred yards in, thinking they have any precedence to position or the wave. Assuming the surfer has seen you is also foolish as they can be fully engaged with riding the wave and can even be in the barrel and cannot see you.
In duty of care a drop in or sitting position surfer can cause the wave to break unpredictably, wiping out the rider. Causing risk.

Use the rules understand them and the fact that not everybody applies them evenly but having them works.

[312T4]

Hi Jaffa,
I hear you fine and I know what you mean.

But I'm speaking about my experience which doesnt have barrels and stuff..

Take Noosa, National Park, 2ft waves, 150m ride, 200 people in the water.
Now: I have the time to watch around me and surf around people. Cause I'm not crazy.
And if I have the time and the skills to do that, then all the other super cool guys could do that.
If they don't do it, and they bark like dogs, then they are just dogs.

[oldmansurfer]

I guess it depends on the break but if it is in Hawaii well....except Waikiki (or other breaks where surf lessons are happening) the rule is stay out of the way of other surfers when they are on a wave or trying to catch a wave and at Waikiki and beginners breaks it is beware of other surfers cause they likely can't surf well and may run you over.

[312T4]

of course in Hawaii it's a different game!
But what the hell a beginner do there?
I refer to a place like waikiki. Will you surf there and ask everybody to move off your way?

I'm a beginner but I always have to surf around the others myself, always, and it never crossed my mind to run over others just because I'm standing up. I'd be an idiot.

[312T4]

Instead
i'd like to ask you guys another thing.

Few times it happened that I was the first to catch a wave (longboard) but not as close as possible to the curl. So other surfers catch it inside me, but after me, and then request me to leave it to them. Often complaining!
Is this right? What can I do/say ?

thanks

[pandarturo]

Farthest out is usually the rule, but if you're wave hogging, then u would drop in on you in a heart beat.

[oldmansurfer]

The guy on the inside generally has the right of way but there are other factors for instance if you are riding a wave and someone takes off behind you because you went around them then you have the right of way. If you both take off around the same time then the deeper person has the right of way. I think if you want to enjoy surfing, you don't want to make other surfers angry and hostile so you need to learn the rules of the break you are surfing. I would apologize and ask him to explain it to you. Or ask other surfers (not beginners. )

[312T4]

Oldmansurfer I spend most of the time waiting my turn, which never arrive!!
I'm so aware of the rules that some days I don't surf at all!

The fact that I said I disagree with one of the rules doesn't mean I don't follow them.
Probably what I'm really saying is that beginners try hard to be respectfull while competent surfers don't! At least in my experience. They complain with beginners but then they act without respect at all.

I was asking precisely this: if I catch the wave first, 10 meters before you, can you still catch the same wave in my inside - and after me- and shout at me to get out?
Where is my right?
Certainly I'm not the one causing troubles! And certainly I didn't say anything that day, even if it happend twice.

Pandarturo how could I be a wave hogging if I don't have the skills to do it?
Me and hundreds of people at my level spend most of the time waiting for ages. And still it always seems like we are the problem.

[IB_Surfer]

When I was a beginner I would try to find my own spot or one less crowded, because I too had to sit farther inside because I could not catch waves as far out, just did not have the paddle strength. If crowded I tried to find other beginners and we laughed about close calls.

However, I would not dream of taking on experienced surfers, staying way away from them because, well, they could out paddle, out place, had better wave sense and could duckdive under a big wave where I couldn't.

It gets better, stick to it, later you will see beginners cower from you too.

[drowningbitbybit]

I was asking precisely this: if I catch the wave first, 10 meters before you, can you still catch the same wave in my inside - and after me- and shout at me to get out?
Where is my right?

A longboarder will usually say that the first one standing has right of way, because it suits them, while a shortboarder will usually say that closest to the curl has right of way, because it suits them. So the rules can break down at a mixed long/shortboard spot

What can you do about it? Surf at a longboarders spot, or move closer to the curl once you're up and riding.


For what its worth, I would say that closest to the curl has priority, full stop.

[312T4]

Thanks for your replies guys.

Then ok, I didn't say anything before and I won't say anything in the future. I will get better.

I never get close to good short boarders because simply we are on different planet.
They stay further out then me! They go out to catch the biggest sets, I stay mid way to catch smaller stuff. The problem with priority for me rises only when it's low tide and some short boarders come closer, like, just under green mount, at coolangatta. And with low tide and hollow waves I'm not good enough to stay at the pick and avoid white water. Not fast enough I guess. That's why I need to start a bit on the shoulder.
I will get there.
Cheers