Wow I never thought that you could get your bell rung so bad that you could rupture your eardrum and lose equilibrium...yikes! Rest In Peace Kirk
“His father contacted me, he wanted to share his son’s last wave, with everyone” -- filmmaker Larry Haynes We've all dug a rail or nose and felt that feeling when the board is no longer under our feet and we're flying forward with no way to change direction. It doesn't look like Kirk could have done anything better than what he did -- dive forward and down. RIP. [video=youtube;kGvs0Nv5zJo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGvs0Nv5zJo[/video]
Sad. I've known some people that have busted their ear drum surfing, but thats just speculation of what might have happened to Kirk. No way to know for sure. I'd guess that it was more then just the white water holding him down. Some sort of injury prevented him from swimming up.
There is a limit to how long you can hold your breath, if an 8+ set rolled over him it may well have taken several minutes before he could come up.
Riding enormous waves is just plain stupid. I know I'm going to catch flack for this. But it's the truth. You get all this nonsense about "how he died doing what he loved". How about just surfing double overhead barrels and living to surf another day? I mean why the need to push the limits like that? Oh yeah $$$ and fame. Mark foo said it best in regards to big wave surfing...."any wave could be your last." It's not like it's some million to one fluke that the guy died. It's happened quite often considering how few people actually surf big waves. Redbull/extreme sports media have been promoting some really reckless dangerous behavior. You see the same crap in skiing. It's never enough....just keep pushing limits until people die/get maimed so you can sell magazines/promote video's products ect. Yes he's an adult and made a decision. I still feel bad for him. Remember when parts of the north shore were considered unrideable? I'd prefer to go back then.
Also, forget an ear drum. You can get driven down far enough that you don't know which way is up or down due to all the white water. Easily get disoriented that way. Kind of like an avalanche. Hell you can easily get driven down 30 feet by a barreling 30 foot wave.
Ya, of course, its definitely possible he just ran out of breadth without getting injured. And holding your breadth in the pool is way different then holding your breadth in surf. 15-20 seconds feels like forever being held down in the surf. But, if I had to guess, I'd guess he had an injury. After he wiped any number of things could have gone wrong. Got slammed by the board, ear drum bust (which was speculated), dislocated shoulder, neck injury, tangled up in the leash...
There's a reason pipeline has more fatalities than any other break. Shallow breaks(which cause injuries like diving into a shallow pool) are notoriously dangerous. Highly unlikely he had a neck/shoulder injury at that spot. It's a deep water break if I'm not mistaken. Tangled up in the leash is highly unlikely. That's so overstated by surfers. Slammed in the head and knocked out cold with the board is definite possibility.
There is a reason floatation is so important if you are going to surf waves like this. Even f you have an injury someone will see you floating on the surface. I know some people think that it's cooler to surf waves like that in just board short's (which takes huge balls), but it's necessary. The best "big wave surfers" in the world wear them, because they know it only takes one fall.
I know a number of people who have broken ear drums while surfing and they have all said that it was super scary becuase you're completely disoriented. Each one of them also said that if they were surfing bigger waves or if things had gone a little different then they easily could have wound up with the consequences becoming dire.
Head high mini barrels is about my limit, overhead to double over head mush burgers are ok as well. These waves are just plain massive and I'm glad I got too old to even consider them. Had I had the opportunity as a young guy I might have worked my way up and tried it but being poor and living on the east coast thankfully that never happened. Even double overhead stand up barrels look insanely big to me, I'll stick with my waist to chest waves that I can actually enjoy.
Totally sucks. Could happen to anybody. As soon as I heard he disappeared I kinda new it wouldn't be good.
You good now? Were you able to get it all out? I think it's safe to step off of your "soap box"... Go back to your 9-5 job, and envy guys that get paid by Redbull to ride big waves.
I think you are misunderstanding his post making the assumption he is envious of their money. Shark-hunter states the opposite of that throughout the whole paragraph, and concludes how money/fame is a big reason these guys are going out there in the first place.. for the love of the money, not the waves. Personally I think all the guys out there love what they do, you have to in this type of "sport", but Im sure the $$ has an influence. You come off offended jtblue18, why?
Read the first sentence of the post. "Riding enormous waves is just plain stupid." Even worse, "Remember when parts of the north shore were considered unrideable? I'd prefer to go back then." Nothing to be offended about, especially a thread on the internet. Just a stupid post.
