Increasing wave size - What is it about for you?

[oldmansurfer]

I think it is interesting that John Florence calls it the starfish but I think it includes back paddling with the arms and arching of back to keep your face off the reef. I also think with no proof that there is a maximum lift position for your arms sort of like your fingers for paddling. If you put your arms all the way out I think it lessens lift. I try to fall flat with my arms by my sides but not pressed into my sides and my hands facing down and instead of face first I try to land on my back. I don't know how I came up with this but it was long ago when I used to surf a lot. I took Judo as a kid and it might have something to do with that. I learned to fall without getting hurt. One of the falls involves landing on your back with your hands close to your sides and slapping downward as you land with both hands.

[IanCaio]

Pmcaero,
I'll look for this book here! What is it about? Lots of surfing stories?

BigH,
I was thinking about doing some breath-hold warm ups before going in, but those pranamaya breath exercises when already on water seems like a good idea too!
When I move to surfing this place I plan on having a gun surfboard, at least 8'. But I'll start thinking about the board when I'm closer to jump in the water, so far I gotta work my body up to it (and get some money saved, don't think it's really cheap to shape a gun). I agree it's probably not really wise to go in a place like this on a 6'0"
Most breaks here are sandbreaks, so this is at least one less concern, but I guess getting used to this starfish fall would be a good thing.

OMS,
Truth is I usually fall like a ragdoll and just protect my head, maybe I should really work on it
At least I swim back up with my hands reaching out first. Learned this after I took a big hit from the bottom of my own board on my nose while coming up

[oldmansurfer]

I also recommend Barbarian Days. It's a story of a surfer kid from California who moves to Hawaii then back to Cali then Hawaii then all over the world surfing. I have met some of the people he writes about. Wiping out is an important skill especially for bigger waves. I have taken some huge wipeouts and not touched the bottom. Last time I unintentionally touched the bottom I posted about it a few months ago.

[IanCaio]

Third day with my new 5'11" board, didn't start paying for it but I'm calling it mine already . It will be an investment a little bigger than what I'm used to, but I thought after sweating at the docks working I deserved a white-almost new board for the first time!

Conditions were bigger today than yesterday as expected, and I woke up as broke as yesterday: Tired shoulders, big rashes on my belly and legs. But I called a friend of mine to go check the surf out. The day started on the wrong foot when my bicycle tire went flat, had to pay more than I wanted to get it changed on the road, didn't manage to meet my friend in time, but well, heads up. Got in the break next to the one I usually surf. I believe it was around 4-5ft hawaiian on series, the biggest ones were like almost 3ft overhead.
It was one of those days were I had to take a big breath before going in, I was a little scared, gotta admit, but I was not panicking. This break isn't so hollow, so the waves are a little more forgiving when they break on top of you . I had to try to go in, it was right in the boundaries of my comfort zone and I felt like pushing it (even broken as I was today). I managed to paddle out, it's something else when you see a set come and you paddle towards that "big" wall of water. The offshore winds were really strong, making it hard to do the drop. I even got thrown out of the wave after being on my feet because of the wind. In the end I just rode a left, big wall raising, just kept pumping until the section was merging with a right that was coming the other way, so I did a little carve/snap to face the flats again. Took a few in the head, hold downs were a little more unpleasant than smaller days.
After that I went out and on my way back home I stopped in a break with smaller but hollower waves (just works on bigger days). Catched two lefts and a right, the right wasn't so good. I did a bottom turn and a small snap, but the section closed right in front of me.
Gotta say I got home happy that I pushed it further, makes me feel just a little bit closer to my goal.

By the way, I gotta ask:
Do you guys catch a big breath before wiping out? I ask that because I catch a breath before duck diving or taking one in the head, but when I'm riding the wave and wipe out, I don't catch a breath (gotta say I'm afraid I suck some water in by inhaling in the wrong time) and this makes hold downs that are supposed to be easy cake for me that have been training apnea for a while a little annoying. Maybe I need to make some residual volume breath holds to get used to having less oxygen in my longs in the beginning of the hold, or getting used to catch a breath before going down.

[oldmansurfer]

If there is time before going underwater I do but mostly just deal with it. Usually I am too focused on the wave to even notice if I take a breath or not.

[oldmansurfer]

I am no longer bothered by even the longest hold downs that I get subjected to. This has changed from feeling some panic after 2 seconds underwater when I first restarted surfing. What I think made the difference is what I call anaerobic training but others might call it cardio or aerobic training. Basically I exercise till I a out of breath so I feel like I need to breath more than I can. I continue exercising at that rate for as long as I can so that I never feel like I caught my breath. Practically speaking I hike up a hill for 0.8 miles and back down (about 500 feet elevation). So at least on the way up I am breathing hard. On the way down it's difficult to keep that happening. This creates an anaerobic environment. Your metabolism finds ways to do stuff without enough oxygen. Of course this is just my theory but it seems to work.

[dtc]

Anaerobic = 'without oxygen'. As old man says, I also suspect that any anaerobic exercise, even if not in the water, will help since the mechanics within the body are the same. So sprinting (running), swimming extra strokes without taking a breath (with safety limits of course), tabata or whatever all is good. Some say swimming is good for any exercise (eg runners are advised to swim) because the limited breathing helps lung function. Unless you breath every 2 strokes like I do and swim slowly, then it's probably of little value.

[Big H]

I screwed myself up the other day......was having a really good wave and then suddenly wiped out....as soon as I went under I realised that I'd been holding my breath out of stressful exertion while doing the manuvers on the wave which are still new to me.....wave wasn't small so I distinctly remember thinking that "this sucks"......came out the other side though....

I practice holding my breath without taking a breath.....I do this out of the water, just in case......

[dtc]

Just read a great quote from 'Eddie the Eagle', the famous British ski jumper, that seems apt for big waves

Interviewer: "aren't you scared standing at the top of the 90m jump"

"Of course I'm scared," Eddie replied. "But I used to be really scared"

[IanCaio]

I've been telling myself to get some other apnea training drills, like apnea walks or residual volume breath-holds, but so far I've been sticking with regular CO2 tables. I'd have to do apnea walks on the beach (sand is softer than concrete if I pass out ), so I'm looking forward to look like a crazy guy in front of all the beach runners!

DTC, that's a good quote!
Guess fear is going to be present on big days, the difference is how much fear you have and how prepared you are.

By the way, I found some photos from yesterday. I'm not in any of them and some have water-marks or reduced quality (took from pages of photographers that sell those photos water-mark free and full quality), so sorry about that! I just wanted to see if I'm not maybe oversizing conditions and give you an idea of what this break looks like. As you can see it's not that hollow, even though some of those photos make it looks like it a little bit.

[oldmansurfer]

I would call those waves overhead and if you wanted by foot I would say around 4 foot.

[IanCaio]

I'm in a big oscillation between being excited about improvements and being a bit frustrated about not accomplishing somethings. I think it might have to do with me hanging out with more experienced surfers, things that seems like no big deal to them can be more challenging for me. But it's alright, I'm enjoying the ride and maybe hanging out with those experienced surfers is making me push it and improve myself more.

Today a friend asked me to go surf a hollower spot, which I thought was about 4'-5' hawaiian (the surf check said 6', but they kick the numbers up sometimes). I've seem another really hollow spot, I guess even hollower than this one, working on a 4'-5' swell and it was heavy. So I was a little apprehensive about going, even though he said it was probably smaller than this. I agreed to go, but he felt asleep after talking to me on phone and didn't meet me , so I went to the closer spot with more mushy waves.

It was overhead on series, probably 3' hawaiian. The currents were strong, pushing us all further out and closer to some rocks. I had some nice backside waves and a frontside that turned into a backside (Dropped f/s, but saw a section coming and did a cutback finding enough wall to try a snap). Could nail some nice snaps/carves and lately I've been getting confident again about my backside surfing! My best waves those last few days have been backside. Then I heard some guys screaming and noticed there was someone being dragged to the rocks. A friend of mine, that is a life guard, paddled closer to the guy but couldn't do much, since the guy was too close to the rocks already. I saw a wave kick the guy hard in the rocks, but luckily it kicked him up so he could grab one and climb out. I saw him later walking away, shaking, with a few cuts and a dinged board. A longboarder that also tried to help him said the guy panicked, couldn't paddle and just stood still while being dragged towards the rocks. I'm glad he could make it out relatively unharmed.

[oldmansurfer]

Here is a good article for anyone wanting to go bigger. http://magicseaweed.com/news/fear-in-surfing-and-how-to-tackle-it/9016/

[oldmansurfer]

Laird talking about fear and it's place in big waves