Deep Water Fear

[juniorbob]

Once I get out of my depth, I just panic and cant balance on my board. I become convinced I'm caught in a rip and paddle like crazy to the shallows. Its pathetic and very disheartening.
I'm standing up and duck diving ok,trying everyday for 2 weeks now. Its just this mental barrier that I find so tough to break. I cant swim too well- only 1 length and I'm in pieces, and I can tread water for only a couple of minutes also. I am practicing though.
My nightmare would be the leash breaking and me being swept out to sea, flapping around like a muppet.
Does anyone else understand this problem?

[PapaW]

Believe it of not my biggest and pretty much only 'Fear' is of drowning...
and yet here I am surfing points, offshore reefs and of course the stupidly shallow and heavy reefs that give poundings/holddowns reguly.

Why??

Why not!!!

[Laguna]

Try not to panic, its ok. If you can only swin one length then maybe you should practice swimming more often and building on your strength. Once you have been surfing for a couple of months you get use to paddling and the water and its not so scary.

One of my fears would be to drown in a huge wave and be swept out, yet I dont fear when im in the water because im enjoying too much.

Its ok if you feel scared, you will get more confident with practice. After all practice makes perfect

[junioroverlord]

Yeah, I understand. I shyed away from surfing for over a year based upon the fact I considered myself a weak swimmer and thought I would drown in the ocean.

That was until I started hanging out with my surfer friends at the beach and actually spending time in the water gaining confidence increasing my ability to tread and swim and all that jazz.

The only way to conquer your fear is to face it head on, not dangerously, but bit by bit.

I would suggest going out and just swimming regularly without your board and getting comfortable in the ocean. The better you can swim, the more confidence you will have.

[tomcat360]

im just parainoid of the giant jellyfish...eeekk

[junioroverlord]

im just parainoid of the giant jellyfish...eeekk

Thats one thing I can't handle. This year we had a gnarly red tide and with it tons of jellyfish. One day you couldn't go out ten feet without seeing tons, I mean TONS of jellyfish....I get chills thinking about it.

[jennie]

im with you on the jelly fish.....hate the buggers.

[tomcat360]

i do a fair amount of waterskiing at my river house, no waves, and its terrible throughout the summer. the area has got really high saltinity and the creek i ski in is extra warm, so its basically heaven for jellyfish.

one year- i was swimming back in from a sesh (actually tried boat surfing this day) and my brother on the boat told me to swim over to the other side of the boat because my board was in the way. i quickly swam to the other side, trying to keep my legs up. all was fine until i leveled out to get on the ladder when
ZZZZZAAPPPPP
i ended up stepping in a nest (yes, jellyfish will nest if there are enough of them) and got destroyed on all sides of both legs and all the way up past my belly button.

nasty suckers--

tommy

[juniorbob]

Thanks lads, I'm gonna beat this.

[drowningbitbybit]

I think loads of people start off like that - terrified once they're out of their depth or a long way from the shore

I used to feel like that - I'd get out there, but wasn't happy surfing, and then surfing badly 'cos I was all tense

So what do you do? Easy - carry on

One day you'll be sitting out back, seemingly miles from the shore, and you'll think 'Hang on, what am I doing out here? I used to be scared of this!'

And then you'll notice how relaxing it is, way out back, beyond the breaking waves, nice and peaceful


....Then you'll paddle into the impact zone for a wave, and all hell breaks loose, but thats the fun part!

[deathfrog]

im just parainoid of the giant jellyfish...eeekk

Thats one thing I can't handle. This year we had a gnarly red tide and with it tons of jellyfish. One day you couldn't go out ten feet without seeing tons, I mean TONS of jellyfish....I get chills thinking about it.

dude I know it was horrible, even down in baja it was still really bad... the purple ones were everywhere, and there was some giant ones (like two feet across) floating around too.

and my friend in laguna says it's still there.

[TokyotheKid]

my first like 3 months i was scared of going far out in the water. i guess you gotta get over it, cause i did. and if your scared of falling and drowning, you always got ur leash to pull u up back to the surface <3

[gulfsurfer]

Paddle a couple miles offshore, hopefuly you can overcome the fear by then, if not make it worse

[CleanHeadHigh]

felt the same way, but you'll get over it.

[sinistapenguin]

I have precisely the opposite fear!

I'm worried about coming off my board only to find that the reef is only 30cm under the water! (I believe when Pipeline gets really big it even sucks dry!)

That and my serious lack of being able to get to any has prevented me from surfing reefs so far!!

[surf-cicak]

Hiya, I used to have the same fear (picked it up when I was 7 and got "laundry-cycled" while vacationing at Waikiki). As of 3 years ago, I couldn't go in the ocean past where I could touch the bottom, and I NEVER dove under waves.

Then I started dating a surfer - so I guess out of necessity I faced the fear! It takes time, but eventually I got better about it, and now I'm a beginner surfer and loving it!!

Good luck!

[space cadet]

hi i've been trying to conquer this fear for a while now..doesnt help that i dont live near the sea.
anyway i'm exactly like junior bob.
someone told me once a good place to start is to hold on to the edge of a deep swimming pool and try to touch the bottom and pop up again..with the security of the pool wall next to you.

another guy told me he just really really wanted to see stuff under the sea and got over his fear cos he felt he was missing out.

i KNOW im missing out. i freaked out in some of the most beautiful water on earth. i went to the billabong pro last year and couldnt do lots of stuff cos i was just so scared to get into the water. i mean there were all these drunk chicks and kids bobbing about in there and i wouldnt even get in the kayak.

so yeah so its been baby beaches for me so far!

[deathfrog]

Hiya, I used to have the same fear (picked it up when I was 7 and got "laundry-cycled" while vacationing at Waikiki). As of 3 years ago, I couldn't go in the ocean past where I could touch the bottom, and I NEVER dove under waves.

Then I started dating a surfer - so I guess out of necessity I faced the fear! It takes time, but eventually I got better about it, and now I'm a beginner surfer and loving it!!

Good luck!

I love diving under waves and swimming around under them and stuff... just yeah, fun stuff.

space cadet, find some place with clear water that drops off pretty steeply, grab a mask and some fins and swim two feet off the bottom as fast as can go, don't think about what's happening, just look at the bottom. When you're about half way out of breath look up and it's such a cool sight. Swim back up to the surface and then look down again, and if you do get scared well, you suck.

[space cadet]

space cadet, find some place with clear water that drops off pretty steeply, grab a mask and some fins and swim two feet off the bottom as fast as can go, don't think about what's happening, just look at the bottom. When you're about half way out of breath look up and it's such a cool sight. Swim back up to the surface and then look down again, and if you do get scared well, you suck.

er..yeah thanks for the tip....i havehad some amazing times in deep water but sometimes i freak out and i dont know why..

[space cadet]

I have precisely the opposite fear!

I'm worried about coming off my board only to find that the reef is only 30cm under the water! (I believe when Pipeline gets really big it even sucks dry!)

That and my serious lack of being able to get to any has prevented me from surfing reefs so far!!

at teahupoo someone was walking their dog on the reef..and its like miles offshore