oldmansurfer wrote:I don't do fetal position is wipeouts much. Generally I make sure the board is away from me and arrange myself to avoid or deal with the bottom. Panic makes you use up more oxygen and that makes you panic more which makes you use even more. Panic is not a good thing. I learned as a very young kid to not panic while underwater and kept that up till today. However I quit surfing for 12 years and restarted. When I first restarted I felt the sense of panic underwater even though I told myself "Don't panic. It's only a couple seconds." I just had this feeling that I needed to breath. I worked on my cardio and that sense that I needed to breath immediately after going under went away. In fact I never get held down to where I feel like I need to breath......so far since I restarted surfing.
It's nice to see you're giving surfing a go after such a long time, I still get into fetal position anyways when the surf school gives me leash that's only a few feet.
I never had to deal with a hold down that made me uncomfortable, maybe it's the waves that aren't hollow here or something is up but the longest hold down I've had was 15 seconds and I felt just fine after it, only thing I don't like is being caught inside and dealing with a large set, it's annoying dealing with the board I'm currently using it's way too buoyant.