Hardest you've been worked on a wave

Punta roca, panama. not really a single wave beating. took a big left and it closed out so i straightened up and tried to paddle back out since the beach was all unknown rock/reef and we were boated in. nearly an hour of paddling with little to no advance. i would paddle ten feet and a wave would bring me back 20, even on a 6'0 chip. when i finally got to the boat over an hour later everyone of the people i came with was worried and some even thought they'd be finding me on the beach or something. i had to get pulled into the boat my shoulders were so torn up. 5 years later and it was worth the 10 seconds of VERY large left i had taken in.

 

I dont go anywhere without my swimmys

 

Was that you threading the roller coaster? Details! We want details!

 

month or so ago i was surfin in Long Island with one of my old cronies from school. it was like head high, and tons of water moving around. not an easy paddle out. got destroyed trying to duck dive a bomb and got sucked over the falls. some how my leash made it around my neck and choked me out while i was gettin tossed around. panicked and sucked in a ton of water. honestly thought i was going to drown right there. luckily my buddy was near me and gave me a hand back to the beach were i puked water up for the next 10 minutes. after gathering myself and kissing the sand a few times i went out and caught the best barrel of my life on the first wave. totally made it worth it

 

surfing's fun. My boss works me ragged though. Less workey more surfey....

 

Early last year during Tropical Storm Debby (Gulf Coast of FL)....

I'm still getting my surf-legs under me and i decide to chase this swell. They say it was a once in a lifetime experience here on the coast. I paddled into probably an 8 footer and went over the falls landing face first onto the deck of my board, breaking my nose and knocking me out. I woke up get rolled through the surf. I remember looking down at my board and it jsut being covered in blood. I figured i better get out and quit chumming the beach. I stayed out for about an hour and tried again for a little bit.

 

7-8 foot Punta de Lobos. Dropped in, set the line too low, took the lip to the side of the neck, and got washed into the inside rocks. Cord snagged and the sweep was still yanking me down the point/inside so I was pinned on rock, couldn't find the leash to pull it, and right as the current slacked a bit the next wave of the set came through like a freight train. The third wave pulled the leash plug clear out of the board (wish the cord just broke instead), but at that point, I was just happy to have a head above water.

 

Winter, 2008 I think, Indicator on Sunset Cliffs, 4th reef. Was out for hours... Surfline was reading wave faces ranging from 14-20 feet. Got really comfortable after snagging about 5 or 6 14-15 footers.... Sitting outside with some older guys, one of them started saying how we would get clean up soon as the reefs were emptying out with the tide shift... Rouge peaks started swinging in with a little south in it, there were about 10 of us out at that spot... Me and one older guy scraped out as far as we could... I almost made it through and at the last second, realized that this mother was going to break right in front of me... I scraped one last time, got right under the falling lip, that was easily 18 feet, pushed down under water about 7 feet or so, I asctually stood up under water on the back of the board to get as deep as I could... The lip bashed down and caught the back tail of my board... Broke two of my toes from the impact and then I was held down about 20 seconds... I was probably a good 25 feet under sea level... Kept calm and followed the light.... Luckily when I came up, the set was over.... Me and one other guy were still out and the other 8 were just washed in to shore... No one came out for hours after that... Wasnt that bad, but the worst hold down ive ever had.... the thing got me good.... Funniest part of all this, is that when I turned around right before the set came, there were people scraping like 20 yards behind me... And this lady was actually out on a long board... at the last second, she just turned her board towards the beach and laid on it and started to paddle, as a 20 foot set wave detonated behind her... I never saw the end result, but she panicked and must have had to swim a mile back to shore at least... her board was probably toast too.... I was like, wtf were you thinking? Just letting a mountain of whitewater railroad you from behind.....

Other scariest was at La Fonda in mexico. I was surfing alone on the north end by the camp... On my way down the stairs, I saw the best barrel ive ever seen in my life. It look about 6-8 feet and peeled for at least 600 yards. It was like a minute long barrel… I sprinted down to the beach… My wife was with me with a camera to get some photos… I paddled out and was chillin for the most part… What looked from the bluffs to be 6-8 feet was really more like 10-12 foot beach break once I got out… it was low tide and the tide started sucking out when a set came, I almost made it out but I was literally getting pulled back to shore, at the last second I realized I wouldn’t make it through, I just rolled off my board and went limp, dead weight…. Got worked really bad for like a 6 wave set… When that was over, I decided to snag one and go in… I caught probably about an 8 foot left hander, it had a perfect shoulder, I speed checked on the bottom turn and pulled into what looked like a makeable barrel, the thing started racing too fast once I got in it and the thing just detonated on me… Broke my leash and snapped off a fin… The waves were so big that my wife couldn’t see me, she just saw a board flopping around and hit the beach like ½ mile north of where I was… took me about 5 minutes to swim and body surf in. I was about a mile from where I started… I just laid on the sand for a minute. My wife ran up to me in tears… screaming and cussing at me… then hugged me… I was like, hey, sh** happens. You and I both know it looked way smaller from the road!

 

got closed out on pretty nasty at Sebastian a couple weeks ago. worst working of my life however, was in Haleiwa Hawaii back in 08. pulled in, got closed out on and smacked my goddamn ass on the reef. got friggin urchins in my cheeks and on my feet.

 

I seriously got myself a seawater enema on a mis-judged take off. It really f*cking hurt. I don't want to talk about it.

 

On the paddle out during the Hurricane Sandy swell. Thought I was finally out and then a bigger set came through, probably 10-12 ft, made just managed to make it under the lip of the first but then got sucked back over the falls. Went straight from the top to the sand, don't know how many tumbles after that along with the next 2 waves following. After that I made it out no problem.

 

Hurricane Bill Manasquan Inlet. I got tossed as i went for a snap way to late on the lip. I tossed around for a few seconds... then i felt my leash wrap around my neck while i was hog tied. i had to release my leash of my ankle. I don't know how long i was under but i got to (J- Jackal) while being tossed and trying to get the leash off my neck. I use the Alphabet trick on bad falls.
A- Apple
B- Bread
C- Cat
D- Daring ..you get the idea..

 

Good call hahahaha

 

no roller coaster brahhh! try quadrepial overhead swells screaming at you droping down the face smacking the lip over and over and over not any of this 1 feet swells up here brahh

 

Last year at Jensen beach after Sandy passed by. The wave was not that huge(10-12 feet?) but it was thick and heavy with a LOT of punch. I felt like I got hit by a volkswagon doing 50.

 

for the record, a 10-12 foot beach break is pretty big.

 

Was not the typical break. Might have been twice as far out as is usual there. I thought it was gigantic at the time. Glad you set the record straight though. I don't want to be the guy that overhypes an experience...but it scared the hell out of me.

 

i was surfing a shallow shore break on a hurricane swell, it was head high, super punchy and dumping on some sections. i took a late drop was riding in the barrel for about 2 seconds, when i went ass over tea kettle and smashed my shoulder into the sand. that's when i heard a snap. when i surfaced i couldn't move my shoulder, it was frozen in place. i swam with one arm back to shore and had my girlfriend help me get my wetsuit off and to my surprise my collar bone wasn't connected to my shoulder anymore. I snapped all the ligaments connecting it to my shoulder. This happened 6 months ago and i just got back in the water about 1 month ago. My collar bone still sticks up about a quarter inch higher than the other. it sucks, but everyone pays there dues sometime or another.

 

Great thread! I don't have any crazy stories, but I did experience the longest hold down of my life a couple weeks ago. The storm system was a good 500 miles offshore so the buoy was reading 8 ft at 14 secs, which is about as good as it gets around me. A bomb breaks about 20 yds in front of me so I had plenty of time to take a deep breath and do my best to duck dive, but ended up getting sucked over the falls anyways. Normally I take one tumble and I'm up, but this thing gave me a good series of tumbles before it finally let me go. It was the first time I've ever been deep enough that I really had to swim a little to get to the surface. The wave probably carried me 50 yds and held me down for 20 secs but it wasn't anything compared to some of the horror stories you guys have...

 

I never saw the end result, but she panicked and must have had to swim a mile back to shore at least... her board was probably toast too.... I was like, wtf were you thinking? Just letting a mountain of whitewater railroad you from behind.....

haha, she likes getting railroaded from behind.