So another season of winter waves has passed...(ok, a while ago now) and we're flat for the summer unless we get a storm passin' through. Geez, I miss surfing in the summer. Sure, there's 2 ft. wind dribble but why bother.. So, I reflect on the season passed, things like the standout waves I remember, a couple I should have gone on but passed up, or bailed out on but should have tucked and hoped, things like that.. One instance stands out. A double overhead+ day. Thick, strong surf. Taking off, start the drop, see a guy about to drop in on me about 25ft away. Normally,I would try to gain enough speed and pass him, just go around him. (I almost never call anyone off a wave, as common as is it here). Well, that didn't happen, and I got to the bottom of the wave with nowhere to go, so I bail. No big deal, right? I come up from getting rag dolled in time to see him kick out 100 yds away. Now I'm taking 2 more waves on the head, except my 9' leash is now wrapped twice around me. Makes you think about drowning 'cause you're winded and can't move. Got out of the situation, but you think, this guy doesn't even know he could have just killed me and no one would ever know what happened, him included. It's like big game hunting..you takes your chances in big surf. And I never got a chance to say something to him...too many people in the water to identify the guy. So, that's it. Not much to take away from it in terms of what could you do? Still amazes me seeing Maverick's, Wiamea, etc. with 6 guys dropping in on one wave.
I never used a leash over 6 ft and never been in double + overhead,but I have been hogtied a few times from the 6 footer.it is scary lol.best one was when me and my kook buddy took off on the same wave,got tied up,and when I stood up I was actually standing on him in probably 6-8 ft water.i thought I was on a sandbar lol
head high where? like here ? http://rinconsurfreport.com/surf-report/rincon-surf-report-friday-june-26-2015/ It was so flat there was no report Sat./Sun. Oh, I know, it was your head that was high..sorry, I didn't get it.
another thing, not only was it overhead, but it was clean and overhead. plus there weren't any storms out there..
Ahh, we are on the east coast of continental U.S. of America. Tropic Dude is in Puerto Rico according to his LOCATION. There's the discrepancy right there.
Yeah, Mar Caribe is a biatch summer months. But then comes hurricane season and hope springs eternal once again... I really should go again to PR this year, but I am undecided.
Barry, I challenge you to come to Southern New Jersey in September. I will show you the most mediocre wave on the coast. It is consistently mediocre. It's better than The Wall, but not better than Fox Hill. Though foxes do lurk in the brush. Crazy foxes. Jersey foxes. Barry, then I will allow you to buy me lunch at The Crab Trap in Somers Point, NJ. Just a bowl of crab bisque soup and a crabcake sandwich. That place is awesome, Barry. And the elderly just adore the place. Then we'll get high, and hang out on the Ocean City boardwalk. Then I will allow for you to purchase a pizza for me, you, and your wife at Mancos and Mancos. Or your wife, you and I. Barry, you or the wife have any good prescriptions? Barry, do you have any stock tips for Seldom Seen? Barry how do you feel aboot Puerto Ricans. Don't the PR women, with them attitudes, get on your nerves? I dislike that Latin attitude. Big hoop earings. Add a Philly or New York accent to the loud voice.... Oy Vey !! Barry are you Jewish?
I know what you mean man. It's so easy to take things for granted out there, but the reality is, especially in conditions like that, it can all end in an instant. My thinking is we should look out for each other, care for your fellow humans, and be mindful of the situation out there. Know your limits, if it's too much to handle or if you're feeling like conditions are above your pay grade, don't be ashamed to get out and watch. It's good to push ones limits, but to what extent? At what point does it become not worth it? I'm trying to find that line. After my last wipeout that ended with me in the ER I pondered this very thing. I'm not going to be pro ever, nor sponsored, or even care to be. So the only person i'm doing this for is me. My guess is 99% of you are doing it just for you too. So where do you draw the line?
I told the story back in April when I dislocated my shoulder after a wipe out in DOH surf. I have bad shoulders to begin with and have dislocated both of them more than once. The wave was so powerful that I wasn't able to tuck my limbs well enough to prevent it while being rag dolled. It sucked because I sat for over 6hrs in the triage area with my shoulder out of the socket before they would finally see me and set it. I was back in the water two days later, against doctors orders lol The scary part was being pinned to the bottom with my shoulder hanging out of the socket while getting hit by the fins on my board and getting a nice size gash on my side taken out. Making it back to shore with one arm and not being able to lay on my board fully was a challenge and took a while. I took many (too many to count) on the head and was just holding on and letting it push me in one by one. Worst beating of my life.
dang...we get big stuff here, but not that heavy...we'll at least i haven't witnessed first hand and i been out in plenty of conditions & size, but all beach break that may on occasion pitch & barrel, but it's rare
It was in PR, I arrived the day of the swell hitting, when all those earthquakes where happening and sh*t, spent day 1 in the ER, day 2 was the day I wished I waited for, it was soooooo clean and still OH and perrrrrfect! All I could do was take pics that day, so bummed...
"My thinking is we should look out for each other, care for your fellow humans, and be mindful of the situation out there. Know your limits, if it's too much to handle or if you're feeling like conditions are above your pay grade, don't be ashamed to get out and watch. " Good post, Dawn P., especially the first sentence! I know my limits and was well within them, surf/size wise. Just never realized the chance of a drop in guy possibly causing a drowning (indirectly) and not knowing what he'd done... One thing I've taken away from this is someday when I quit surfing it'll most likely be from the stinkin' crowds and not old age!