cought in a rip and other worst case scenarios

[nz girl]

hey all
after having the less than fun experience of not being able to get out of a particularly nasty rip on the weekend i was wondering a- what you guys would do in a similar situation and b- have any of you had any such experiences? i won't go into details about what happened as i already posted it under artificial reef, but i would like to stress that i've been surfing for a while now and have been in heaps of rips without any real problems, so it can and does happen.

[namino tsume]

I've never been caught in a rip surfing, considering your on your board most of the time, where the waves are breaking.... but if i do i just paddle out... i can paddle out of a rip by paddling sideways and it wont take me long to get out.

[jethro-bodine]

Hmmm rips are usually closer to shore so what I tend to do is look for them so I can get out easier. It seems that rips cause the waves to break less and clears a path as well as helps push you out. I love rip currents. I have been cought in many of them after wiping out but all you have to do is stay calm, tug on your board by the leash and paddle out of it if you have to. I've been cought in the worst rips during hurricanes and if you know what your doing and can swim well you learn to use them as an advantage.

[PapaW]

Remeber to paddle accros the rip not against it you won't get anywhere but knackerd.

[kieran]

Worst rip i ever got caught in was by a river mouth. Would have fully taken me out to sea. The beach disappeared aswell and turned into headland.
Was pretty lucky at the time. Just remember to be careful around breaks youve never been in kids.

[babyboarder89]

thats scary, im more scared of that than anything else when im surfing. im always making sure ive not drifted and paddling around and away from the rips. good thing you got out, id have died of fear.

[Phil]

the amount of times ive seen kids taken out to sea on bodyboards by rips while the life guards just sit in there landrover and do nothing leaving surfers to go rescue them is unbelivable especly at croyde

[IrishGirl]

Hmmm rips are usually closer to shore so what I tend to do is look for them so I can get out easier. It seems that rips cause the waves to break less and clears a path as well as helps push you out. I love rip currents. I have been cought in many of them after wiping out but all you have to do is stay calm, tug on your board by the leash and paddle out of it if you have to. I've been cought in the worst rips during hurricanes and if you know what your doing and can swim well you learn to use them as an advantage.

Yeah same here! I LOVE them. They've saved me a hell of a lot of duckdiving and energy in the past!

As for getting caught in them. Just paddle across it and don't panic. Rips don't go on forever, it's just a small little patch and once you paddle across it you'll be out of it in no time.

[Phil]

when its 4ft + the only way i can get out back with out totaly nackering my self out is on the rip, cant duck dive a longboard and turtle roll is totaly pointless by the time you get back on the board another wave hits you

[nz girl]

yeah i use rips all the time as an easy way of getting out the back, and usually when im out as far as i need to be i just paddle to the side where the waves are breaking, and most rips actually don't take you out that far, but this rip was something like a football field across in width and i fully couldn't get out of it. i never surf new breaks alone, for just this sort of situation, dunedin where i live is on a penninsula and there are literally hundreds of amazing places to surf within about an hour radius, and each one breaks in a different way, at a different speed, needs a different swell and wind direction to break. honestly at some breaks i can surf so much better than at others, and there are some where i just struggle to get out the back without drowning. having now expereinced being fully stuck in a rip, i don't want to do it again in a hurry, its a pretty sh*tty feeling aye.

[CheeZee]

Rips ' .... only been surfing for a year but already had my share of Rips , yep i'd go with all the above advice

Also going back to phils' posting .... " YEH WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THE SO CALLED GUARDS ON THE DEVON COAST .... already i have rescued kids getting into trouble and im not that experienced myself

but when you see the guyz just sat there reading the F'ing paper ( and we all know the large majority do a bloody good job and take a lot of flack thru the summer ) BUUUUT .... !!!

Maybe the Forum' could do a poll on where the best and worst guards seem to be ...might be usefull for the beginners ..oh and me !

[cruising950]

yeh wat is it with the life guards, i can olny get down to devon at weekends and had to rescue a kid too! they just enjoy it wen they can get on the mic and say ALL SURFERS PLEASE LEAVE THE SWIMMING AREA, how about all swimmers go to the Isle of Wight, just kiddin no beef!

[CheeZee]

'lol' ...spot on cruising'

...and no worries about Beef' , i'd give em' the whole Cow ! ! ...

swimmers ( and im sorry some of my bud's ) but Boogie'ers too can go swim round the Isle of wight anywhere else other than in front of some poor fookin surfer who has just spent 20mins fighting the waves , rips and sewage to get out to the waves and then has all that hard work wasted by coming in on a wave and having to bail because some dumbass swimmer is in the way looking at f****** sea shells 'lol'

Nice one cruising' .... " i feel better now " ...peace cheeZee ( reaching for his valium )

[cruising950]

yep totally agree with you there bud. Its the worst and especially l8ly u sitting in nr to blown out conditions for minutes on end, and finally bam ur up and you see the swimmers face kinda look at the your board is fear and then at you with an expression that kinda says saying sorry mate but please bail for me ahhhh im telling you one of these days. haha. Yeh cheezee i see your from yeovil in somerset, its on my massive weekend trek down to devon maybe one and a half hours closer to the breaks.

[CheeZee]

... i joke about it but i did have a pretty nasty clash with a dad' and his little boy ... i felt real bad cause i hit his lil'boy real hard , nothing i could do they were both snorkeling and no one knew they were there untill it was too late .. but all props too the lil'man he took it like a trooper and sucked up the tears . I did feel real bad but the lil'guy was fine after i let him have a ride or twenty in the shallows

" Hey , if your on a trek this way and you pass thru Yeovil , then feel free to pop in me shop and say hi and grab a brew not sure when i'll next be down devon prob next week so we always welcome passing 'dirty water riders' inbetween the trips

[cruising950]

Yeh thats good to know, well i maybe going down on sunday and i prob will cruise into ur store. Haha i love the store name! Yeh will have to do! Thats good u let the kid surf too, must have made his day!

[cruising950]

oh yeh dirty water rider, is that for city dwellers?

[CheeZee]

... The 'dirty water riders' .. is a name me and my man 'pieman' use for anyone who surfs Devon on a stormy day ( sewage levels are high ! ) ... mouth closed at all times

last Friday was def' a dirty riders day ...brown froth as far as the eye could see , even the fish had their heads outta the water

[cruising950]

that may explain alot then, so in croybe, woolacombe u get that? that is rough! how much do ur hydro kits start at?

[CheeZee]

... check my profile my man , grab my email and we can have a chat

but a complete kit lighting , system etc etc ..start at apprx £199.00 but buzz me a mail cause you'll get better than that