How many broken boards today, and how many waves caught and completed before it broke. . . I know of one that that was broken on the first wave.
You know a great thing about bodyboadring? I've NEVER broken a board. Ever. How does a working stiff afford to break a surfboard? Don't they cost like 500-1000 bucks? Talk about an expensive session.
Travel with a new board is a roll of dice. I got 2 weeks of perfect waves to have delta f up my new custom stu sharpe board in 4 hours of flight home. Ya I wait 4 months to get it made. Oh well it will happen! Be ware.
It was big today, I watched from the balcony many try to paddle out and fail/give up. Saw some poor sap get entirely drilled on a right take off, oh the humanity. It looked good out there, but it really wasn't at all. Best rides of the day were had by a teabag. Hoping for a good dawn patrol tomorrow morning.
Good point! I'm going to sell all of my boards and buy a Mach-77, then I'll be set for life. To think, I've been blowing it all this time with my pricy surfing boards, wow. You learn something new every day.........
I get some good laughs out of the people who cant make the paddle out.usually I watch them and see exactly what theyr doing wrong and try to tell them where to paddle out at.hey,paddling out at beachbreaks aint too easy,but theres always a way.watch which way the current is flowing,if its pulling to the east,paddle out near the west jetty and itll drag u to where u need to go.also timing is key. the people who choose to paddle out in the middle of the beach between 2 jetties,that's the worst thing u can do.I don't even know if u call those rips,they don't pull u out,they just keep u in the same place over and over.u can duckdive 10 waves and still be in the exact same spot.its funny when u see someone doing that for 10 minutes and they eventually get blasted off their board and realize hey I can stand up right here.I guess the hardest part is getting past the sandbar.u never want to be on the shore side of the bar.if all else fails,walk the jetty and jump off. I didn't break any boards yesterday.I paddled out on a 6'6 single fin with no leash.the board washes in every so often and u have to swim in to retrieve it,but its way better than breaking it.I don't surf with crowds so id rather not wear a leash.in the winter I only stay out for maybe an hour and a half.I don't need to take every wave,I take my time and come in when I feel like I squeezed the most out of the swell.there were a few big ones in the early am
I was bench pressing in belmar one time and I lost a 45lb plate and I bent a bench press bar.... craaaaazy session. but I had one of my hot hindus pay the gym for damage.
Never broke a board in my life, I've dinged the crap out of em, busted a fin, but never buckled or snapped a board, knock on wood. I think it's funny though that everybody wishes for a head high day and when one finally comes most can't make the paddle out. Not saying I never got denied before, but it's been a few years since that's happened to me. As Cepriano said, if you study the motion of the ocean long enough and use your brain, you can figure out the puzzle. I like to wait till I spot the last wave in a set and start heading out, by time you get into chest deep water that wave you spotted on the horizon should be breaking or is about to, then there will be small window / lull. Then you sprint out of the impact zone, but don't get too carried away with sprinting or you'll gas out fast, stay calm, control your breathing, nice controlled paddles at an even pace and get as much momentum as you can going into a duck dive and drive that board as deep as you can and push your foot on the tail to shoot you back up to the surface, if done right you'll pop out the back of the wave still moving forward. IF it pulls you back by chance then don't worry about it, just stay persistent and the ocean will let up eventually but paddling too frantically will only result in being denied, then you have to do the walk of shame...
There are definitely times when there's a rip in the middle of 2 jetties and it's the best spot to paddle out... Sometimes the easiest way to get to the right take off spot (in front of the jetty) is is paddle out in the middle and drift there.
The blue badge of courage For the most part Cep, I agree. However, if anyone says that they've NEVER been stymied on a paddle out then they either haven't been surfing long enough or haven't surfed enough big swells (particularly big beachies).
Impact zone current. The waves comes in smashes you....then the ocean pulls out(you can feel as a big wave comes in the ocean will pull out)...then the next wave hits you and the cycle continues. Paddling out at beach break is tough. Best swells are one's where there are time in between sets. Unfortunately that's not always the case on the east coast where the storms systems that create waves are so close by. So waves are coming from multiple different directions with different periods even though the bouy only shows one direction. That's simply the dominant one.
In OC MD I have noticed you can time the sets and bowls if you pay attention. Watch for lull timing for about 10 minutes, then when you think you have it wired, do the run and skim as the last set wave is rearing up to break. The run and skim gives you a solid 10 yards of momentum. Then paddle and don't stop. Don't get off and jump over the inside mush, just paddle, watch, and for gods sakes.. duck dive. Every foot lost to not duck diving is bad. I see so many people wade in slowly and just hang out in the impact zone, not duck diving.
In the winter I take my time paddling out trying to adjust to the water temps. Sat was fun, got worked and felt the bottom, haven't had that happen in awhile. I love overhead closeouts!
1960's technology modern boards do less of this; technology from 1960's leads to it. try new stuff...
