Re-building confidence.

[k mac]

After sunday and i had an little mishap with my leash breaking and board on rocks me hardest swim in my life.

I now feel a bit like "'xxxxx' whats it going to be like next time im out !" As i mostly surf on my own bar the older bloke i quite often get a lift off but even then we always get seperated at differnt peaks at the beach .

I feel sort of scared ! And i'll admit that straight out , i wonder if the people of surfing waves would fancy some of those old inspirational words of wisdom that will help my confidence next time im in ? And any one else had a situation like that ? Fancy sharing the story !? cheers

[tomcat360]

yeah, when ever I get a bad experience in any of my sports I feel like I hold back a great deal for a while. I havent found anything to speed it up yet........cept just keep on keepin' on

[deathfrog]

I got stuck in a rip and got eaten by barnacles and a jetty.... I don't quite know how I'm gunna get over that either, but what's seemed to be the be the best thing, is just do it again

[dondiemand]

i forgot where i read this "words of wisdom" phrase, but somehow it got stuck in my mind, it goes, "The greatest achievement of men is not by not falling down, but by rising up everytime he falls" Im not 100% sure if those are the exact words, but the message is very inspiring, hope that helps!

[little waves]

ya...you gotta get back out there. the sooner the better. the longer you wait to get back in the game, the more time you will have to go over things in your head and psych yourself out. you gotta just go do it and get out there. once you start catching waves again and the rush hits you you will get your confidence back.

[bgdkmetzger2003]

One time I went out at Blacks beach in San Diego on an 8-12 foot day. Gotta say ive never done that again. I guess I did it because I had never gotten really scared before since I hadnt been surfing that long. Today I realize that sometimes its better not to put yourself in those kind of situations. If you look at the surf and it really doesnt look that safe then dont go out. I learned some common sense from my experience, so my advice is to learn from your experience.

[sinistapenguin]

K-

I'd say that you've got to think about all the times you've been out and NOT had bad experiences, there are (hopefully) far more of these than there are bad times, so playing the odds it's not likely to happen again for a while at least!!

'Get back on the horse!!'

Sin'

[drowningbitbybit]

I had a rip/rocks experience not too long ago that shook me up a bit

So... back to the shore break...
I played around in knee high waves in waist deep water, and then went through the whole progression thing...
white water, clean waves, bigger clean waves, out back, out back getting the good waves, forget that you're out back and stop worrying about it.
Except that the original progression as I was learning took years, this time it took about half an hour!

[PapaW]

after said bad experences... just get back out on the shoulder and start heading deap again.. unless its a bad injury of course in which case sort that first ;)

[Phil]

ive had it happen once at lynmouth and at woolacombe, lynmouth wasnt to bad i just had to try and get in with out geting nailed by the head high sets on a rocky reef, but at woolacombe i just had to tell my self not to panic get my head down and swim like fleshin', if your lucky you can ride the white wash in if you can swim through the inpact zone with out taking to bad a beating, it has put my off surfing wooly when its big though

[Broosta]

Its good to get scared every so often - helps to keep it real.
Its not good to get injured tho - which you weren't so no worries .
Just think about what happened and why and therefore what you need to do to prevent it from happening again - get a new leash and keep an eye on it's condition.
When you are surfing from now on you will no doubt often be considering the implications of another leash breakage and already planning a contingency. And its good practise to never get yourself into a situation where if your leash breaks you're fleshed!

The bottom line is you got into a bit of a scrape but managed to get yourself out ok and unscathed - under your own steam, so you got the tools and skills already dude. Use the experience to improve yourself and progress past it.

[k mac]

Cracking comments everyone !

o... back to the shore break...
I played around in knee high waves in waist deep water, and then went through the whole progression thing...
white water, clean waves, bigger clean waves, out back, out back getting the good waves, forget that you're out back and stop worrying about it.
Except that the original progression as I was learning took years, this time it took about half an hour!

Specially like this one drowningbittybybit !

'Get back on the horse!!'

and this Sin' !

the experience to improve yourself and progress past it. Cool

and that Broosta!

Some really good points there and i think i may usedthe DBBBTY method and will let y'all know how it goes ! cheers k mac