"I need a ride to shore"

A sign of the weakening of the species...why not just body surf back to shore?

 

maybe he was sick or cramping up...or just a classic case of someone who shouldn't have been out there in the first place

 

maybe a bad case of vaginitis.

 

This. When my leash breaks, it becomes a bodysurfing session until I get back in to shore. I actually don't want someone to grab my board for me.

 

Tourist? Maybe it seemed a lot bigger to him than it does you? Beginners tend to freak out in small surf because it seems larger than it really is. IDK, no excuse either way I suppose.

 

Upon retrieving the board did the older paddler then proceed to tow the younger non-paddler back out past the break? If so, definitely vaginitis with symptoms of pure laziness.

 

HaHa towing in a beginner! I did that once for my ex-girlfriends brother, what a pu$$y he was. Anyone tow a beginner in before?

 

Yes, I tow myself frequently.

 

Similar to what Manisses said before, I've pushed my niece into waves, we were both super stoked, but thats as far as I go.

 

"Come out Come out wherever you arrrrrrre!"

 

Was he caught in a rip? Maybe not likely, since you say it was small. I was down in VA last week at an unguarded beach (it gets "patrolled") and there was ~waist high "close in" shore break and I went in the water to cool off and swam out just past the break to get a side perspective of the short boarders and body boarders that were catching waves off a peak. Suddenly I realized I was in a current pulling me away from the break line and shore so body surfing was not a near term option. This was not to long after I had eaten something, so that could have affected my swimming and wind, as I did not feel at full power. I was a little unnerved at first, but I did not panic and swam side ways out of the current towards the surfers and a wave breaking a bit out side a bit eventually drove me in.

You never know, it does not really take a lot to create a difficult current and it really wasn't evident from the shore, but I sure felt how difficult it was getting back in.

I knew that if I really got in trouble, I could have called over to one of the bro's in the line-up for assistance. It just makes me think that it is always good to keep an eye out for someone else, especially if their leash snaps and they lose their board, as they could be cramping up or injured. It's the right thing to do and you never know one day it could be any one of us.

 

Personally, I have someone paddle me in and out every session. I don't like to waste strokes, so I'm at maximum output and prepared to shred heavy knar.
I lay on someone's back on the way out dragging my board by the leash... Then I make 2 dudes tow me back in by their leashes after killing it.

 

I think this is a fallacy. I have more energy after I eat. Maybe, if you overeat, or eat the wrong combo (heavy carbs w/ protein), it might affect something, but eating, in general, doesn't necessarily mean one is gonna fall asleep in the line-up ...or need to be towed in

 

You're probably right .. it was likely not the scrambled eggs but more likely the hot sun & rip.

 

This made me think back to a time I got in a sticky situation.
It was back in 98 or 99... I was in Central LI with a couple of friends. Waves were overhead and offshore. There was a super strong east to west rip.
I ate sh*t on a closeout and snapped my board just above the tail pad. I was trying to swim in but was just stuck in the impact zone taking wave after wave on the head... My boys didn't realize what happened, so they didn't even think to look for me.
I drifted for over 45 min and about 3 miles. I was calm the entire time and figured I'd eventually get in or at least drift in to someone (dudes that complaining about crowds don't search enough). I got super fatigued from diving and swimming for so long and started to think I was in serious trouble. I went to dive under the 1000th wave in a row and realized I was on a sand bar. I was able to walk in a bit and then swim the rest of the way...

I hitchhiked back up Ocean Parkway and found my friends freaking out on the beach. They thought a shark took me because they found just half my board on the beach... That sh*t was heavy!

 

A few years ago, 3rd day of my honeymoon, I tried to tow 3 living guys on a boogie board and a dead old man they were trying to save back to the beach. No go. They were like a sea anchor. The catch-22 was they weren't very sea worthy and had no business being out there but how could they be expected to watch the old man (a relative) drown. Well they didn't save him and almost drowned themselves.

If I helped the already dead guy I would've had a couple of more bodies in the water. Help the living and the old man floats away plus whomever was left probably had a 50-50 chance of not drowning. The rip was pretty bad so all I could do was keep them calm and afloat the best I could until the rescue crew got there.

Pretty sad day for all. All of them were in town for a wedding. Granddad, his son, son's future son-in-law and the best man were all out there. They still went through with the wedding 2 days later.

I saw it all happen. I was checking the waves (waist high and choppy) waiting for the tide to drop and saw what looked like guy paddling out very fast on a longboard but realized there was no board under him and he was caught in a rip. I grabbed my board and sprinted down the beach hoping I was wrong. By the time I got there the 3 dudes were already swimming toward him with 1 boogieboard. I jumped in and caught up with them at the sandbar then realized there was the old guy floating face down. All were starting to panic so giving up my board was pretty sketchy too so I let them hold onto my leash and paddled like I have before towards a shallower part of the sandbar.

Turns out they think the guy had a heart attack in the shorebreak and that's why he got caught in the rip. But, things could've been much worse.

 

Wow. Great story njny. Glad you made it. Stories like this cause me to consider, as "kookish" as it may sound, a CO2 inflatable PFD for big days. They are not too expensive & they make small "belt" models that wouldn't be too encumbering.