Slams

[Pickles]

I haven't been surfing long but today I got slammed like never before. I went to catch a wave and as I popped up the board dropped and I basically pearled standing up. I was thrown head first into 4 ft water anybody else have a painful slam recently

[jaffa1949]

We all do get smacked down, enjoy it what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
At the end of your surfing life your scars will trophies!

[Big H]

Conservative today....5-8ft and I managed to keep my head dry for the first hour....cruising and not pushing it....am up for some slams this week though.

[oldmansurfer]

There is a skill set in surfing of wiping out. It is an important skill set. You need to be able to wipeout so you don't get hurt or hurt others. You can't avoid getting some injuries but the less the better. Fortunately mostly it is about getting bounced around in the water. So in your case going head first into 4 feet of water is not a good thing and probably you should learn to avoid getting yourself into that position again. However a shoulder roll or flipping over and landing flat might have been an option for you.

[oldmansurfer]

Here is a story about my scariest wipeout which I copied from the best wave/story thread

The absolutely scariest wipeout I had was at Kealia beach. I caught a wave and rode it all the way to the shore where the wave actually broke right on to the dry sand. I planned on jumping off and ending up standing on the sand but unfortunately the wave jumped up a little and flipped my board out from under my feet. I went up in the air and the board landed on the sand with the fin pointing up. I fell right on the fin. I could see that this was going to happen and tried to keep from landing too hard and I did manage not to be seriously injured but an inch one way and I would have been talking in a much higher voice and an inch the other way and I would have lost my virginity.

[Big H]

Good to see you've still got your cherry and in full voice!

One break I go to the thing to do in the inside section is to ride barrel closeouts that slam on the final beach break....sand bottom with two big boulders that need avoiding (all good at higher tides....Dreamland beach BTW)....anyhow, the groms mostly ride it and do a big air kick out at the end, and bules get shacked then take the slam......seen broken boards there frequently....it is a hellacious beach break.....thinking it's about time I took some hits though and tried it out (I always go out back)....I've got the perfect tuflite board for it....

[oldmansurfer]

Here is a story from the same thread about a head first wipeout I had long ago

Once I was surfing at Waikokos (the far side of Hanalei bay) which is a left making me surf with my backside to the wave. It was a real good day breaking about 4 to 6 feet (8 to 12 foot faces). I had numerous tube rides but this one wave I was in the tube a long time and the wave started to break faster than my board could go so I tried to do a little turn to speed up the board but it resulted in my head touching the lip. This rushing water from the lip just barely pushed my head over but I was unable to pull it back and gradually it kept pushing my head over and further down till I was crouched all the way down then it really grabbed my head and pulled me off my board. I had visions of my head getting slammed into the reef and actually ended up doing a shoulder roll on the reef but emerged unharmed (shoulder roll is a skill I learned in Judo classes).

[oldmansurfer]

I am pretty good at wiping out so just a clue as to what I do in these situations. When I wipeout head first in shallow water I try to flip over on my back and land flat and in general I try to land oriented parallel to the wave and then as the wave passes over me I roll with the wave. Rolling like that tends to keep my body from being sucked over the falls. Now when I say I try to flip over that usually means I am wiping out before the head first situation so I am diving sideways an flipping over to avoid going head first into the bottom. If not then I try to somersault onto my back and do the shoulder roll only as a last resort. Pretty much that is a bad situation to be in so you want to be aware when that might happen and be prepared to avoid doing a head dive into the bottom. If contact with the bottom seems unavoidable as in I can't flip over one way or another then I put one arm over my head and tuck my head in preparation for rolling on contact with the bottom. I learned a lot of my wipeout skills bodysurfing before I ever started surfing. So you have to pay attention and if you are going to wipeout pick a safer way to do so rather than letting the wave dictate what happens.

[dtc]

Yes, learning to fall safely is a major skill that people sometimes don't think about until its too late.

[Big H]

Connected the inside from out back yesterday....was in position to tuck into the close out beach break but instead turned hard as the wave broke and rode out to shin deep and jumped off on my feet......have to push harder, saw the close out and took the safe line.....

[oldmansurfer]

Just a point of clarification when I say I put one arm over my head it is bent 90 degrees over the top of my head preparing to hit the bottom with my forearm (hand to elbow) all at once instead of reaching with my hand which will be likely to break something....Oh yeah and the idea is to roll not try to stop your fall with the arm

[Big H]

Got to the beach today and the report got it all wrong....what was supposed to be a big period swell with good power turned out to be nothing special.....and to top it off because there was no real swell and it was a really low tide the waves were not breaking further out and all there was to "ride" was a super fast hollow beach break that was about head high on the sets and broke into knee deep water.......

I was there so I gave it a go.....

Needless to say, I took the hardest slams that I've taken in the last few months.....spilled one time in front of the board and I went fetal and crossed my arms over my head and face just in time to get a hard rake across the wrist with a fin....hard enough I had to check to see that I didn't look like a teenage suicide....broke the skin but not gushing so I carried on only to get into a close out barrel that pounded me so hard that I first checked to see my board was in one piece (it was!) and then to take stock since it felt like I'd been WWF'ed, bodyslamed by someone a lot bigger and meaner than me....took the breath out of me and hurt bad enough I called it after that......whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.....I'll be out tomorrow!

Good times!

[oldmansurfer]

whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger

Unless it cripples you. I rarely ever contact either board or bottom of the ocean. I guess there are those situations where you just can't help it. But from what you said about your equilibrium problems you are probably doing well and it makes it all more impressive to me that you are surfing reef breaks.

[Big H]

Honestly the inner ear thing is no problem.....as long as I keep my eyes open.....the body is an incredible thing; it has since compensated for the inner ear loss and I get on fine.....as long as I can see.

Today I was going in regardless....one of the beach boys stopped me and told me that it was no good, tide too low, waves breaking too shallow.......I had to go in, I couldn't stay dry......