Bigger waves

[David S]

I moved down from a 7'6 minimal to a big shortboard (6' 10 Weber Afterburner) at Christmas and have been getting on pretty well but recently the swell has increased and I'm not catching waves and getting hammered when I get caught inside (I was pounded by a set of 8-10' waves this afternoon and feel lucky to have got out the water unscathed!!!).
What do you do when the waves get bigger? Should I just wait for smaller days (but then lose paddle fitness...).
The few waves that looked catchable today were just too scary!
I've been trying to surf every day since November and don't want to stop now.
Any advice very welcome

[PapaW]

Welcome to the forums!

Charge them dude!!! no fear!! :p When wiping out jsut relax... you'll use less O2 andits actually quite plesent. Wait for the churning to pass then swim up!

[easty]

Glad to see your riding an Afterburner , its my weapon of choice, I ride a 6 6", yeah this past week its been pretty big, I went out the other day and found they were rolling in and yes quite difficult to catch, even a bit big for me, I just picked my wave carefully as a lot of them were closing out.....sat should be smaller.

easty

[David S]

Thanks Easty, I think I probably need to charge a few of the bigger waves but I reckon I'd have been in trouble if I'd gone for any of the bigger set waves this week!
I mainly surf at Avoca and when its big the rip by the rockpool sucks you across right into the firing line.After getting caught inside its hard to get back into a good position again.
Have a good surf this weekend!

[Brian]

Hey, I surf at manly, and yes the surf has been rather big lately! My gf just got a 6'2 afterburner, and I tried it a couple days ago, they are sweet boards..(ive got a 6'6 webber fatburner in my quiver atm actually!). I have been riding mostly a 6'3 billabong board, and I have found that the only way to gain confidence in big surf, is just to go out there sit in the lineup and take whatever wave comes. If you watch from the beach you will see plenty of suckers taking falls, so dont feel bad if you wipe out! Falls dont generally hurt, especially at beach breaks, so take it like a man . Just charge, and you will improve!

[HitAndRun]

I must say i always enjoy waves upto 10ft, the drop and the speed you get is so much fun, the only problem is gettting into the lineup (becasue i surf a beachbreak there arent any channels, and when its big you really have to think about what your doing)