oldmansurfer wrote:LOL Yeah . When I was a young kid (around 13 or 14 years old) I used to bodysurf waves that had 15 foot faces. I would sometimes intentionally ride the lip over the falls. At that size the waves are hard to take off on and usually if you get into one it ends in a 30 second hold down but I discovered that I could ride the lip over the falls and orient myself to a hands and knees landing. The lip would drill me into the bottom for a second then release and if I was quick (and I was quick) I could swim back out underwater avoiding any major hold down and thrashing. I found this a fun activity. So I would swim like I am going to take off but just tuck down into the lip and the I would come out on the lip going over the falls feet first. I could make myself come out of the water so it was like a slide or still be buried in the lip with only my face out. On days like that it is mostly a spectator sport so lots of people on the beach but little people in the water. I was all for clowning around for the crowd so I would give them the peace sign or the shaka sign or sometimes hold my nose and wave goodbye like a total kook. I don't think anyone knew it resulted in much less of a pounding because it looks so horrible.
To borrow a couple of phrases:
1. Wunnerful, wunnerful!
2. When we were young & fearless (e.g., indestructible, in our own minds)