Worst Beat Down Ever

Get a new leash. There is NO REASON a leashes velcro should come undone on its own. Having said that, if you have wide lower extremities, sometimes the leash velcro is not long enough to sufficiently go around your ankles. Try it on before you buy it--make sure the velcro strap is long enough to get around ankles without coming off.. just opinion....

 

In the incident I described in my previous post, my leash physically broke. The cuff came off the line so to speak.

 

That little swivel is the only place I've ever had a leash fail.

 

My worst beating: Middles in Puero Rico. Big, glassy, beast of a wave came right to me. Middles was doing its best imitation of Backdoor Pipe that morning. This thing was so perfect and I was so in the right spot that I didn't have to do anything to catch it. Perhaps I was a little lazy. I took off with 3 or 4 strokes and pulled right into a gaping tube as a friend hooted me in from the shoulder. My line got a little too high and I ended up going up and over with the lip. I landed on the reef in a sitting position and hit so hard that it knocked the wind out of me badly and gave my spine a stinger. I'm really lucky I didn't break my back or worse. Now hurt and with the wind knocked out of me I was pinned on the bottom. FULL BLOWN PANIC SET IT. I ended up cutting up my hands and knees trying to get off the bottom and to the surface. My friend who had a front seat view of me doing donuts in the tube still brings that wave up to this day.

Second incident......same trip. Wilderness. Paddled out at first light and we were the first ones on it. Looked a few feet overhead from the parking lot. Turned out it was much much bigger. 3 of us paddled out together. My one friend was about 20 yards ahead of me and took off on a wave immediately. It was beyond double overhead. As he went past me I thought WOW that was a lot bigger than what I expected to see out here. I began to paddle to where he had taken off from. That's when the horizon turned dark. It was the first time in my life that I really experienced what I read about in the magazines can happen. This set that was coming was way bigger than the double overhead wave that my friend had just gone on. I started scratching for the horizon with my other friend right behind me. Just couldn't get there. The lip hit square about 6 feet in front of me and absolutely obliterated me. Worst hold down of my life. I could see the surface but I just couldn't get there. Nearly drowned on the first wave. Popped up just as the next lip was about to hit. Got half a breath and got slammed again. Same thing held town to the verge of blacking out. Came up and scrambled outside. The set was over and I had survived. Now I start looking around for my friend and I can't find him anywhere. Making it worse I'm out there by myself as my other friend was a couple hundred yards away after his wave. About 10 minutes later I can see my friend back on shore. I thought he might have drowned. Composed myself and caught a couple of the biggest waves of my life but about every 20 minutes there would be a rogue set that would catch everyone. Later on I got caught in the exact situation as before and I held on for dear life and let the set wash me through and I went in just glad to have made it. We packed it in and drove to Marias where we scored one of the best sessions of my life that afternoon.

 

Either you need a new leash, or you're putting the leash on in the water.

 

RodneyKing...
TankAbbott...
TexCobb...
JustineBeiber...
etc.,etc.,etc.,...
Never forget!

 

Whenever my wife is PMSing.....

 

Wait till she hits menopause hahahahaha

 

My worst injury so far has actually been snowboarding. I was trying to go big off a medium sized jump (25' gap takeoff to landing zone. Went for the jump with way too much speed, bobbled on the takeoff, and ended up off balance in mid air. Had enough hang time to say to my self this is going to hurt. I overshot the landing ramp, and slammed into the icy flats from about 12+ feet high. Landed square on my upper back (where the clavicle meets the spine). I hit the ground, my vision went red for about 3 seconds and thought I broke my back. With every ounce of will power in my body I stood up and got off the trail. Made my way to the ski lift and did one more run before the pain set in. Next thing you know, it hurt to breathe. I couldn't even lay down on a mattress it hurt so bad.

One Year later and its about 90% better. Slowly built the muscles back up and did a lot of stretching. Something still seems a little off but it is definitely manageable. I never went to the doctors but it wouldn't surprise me if I fractured a vertebrae or rib.

My worst surfing injury was when the fins hit my face during a wipeout. It required 7 stitches right between the eyes.

 

Damn sounds painful!

 

In terms of injuries... I think snowboarding is more dangerous than surfing. I tore my rotator cuff in a half pipe... that sucked. Considering the number of times I've snowboarded compared to the number of times I've gone surfing, snowboarding is exponentially more dangerous.

In 40+ years of surfing, I've torn my MCL (minor... no surgery. Only a brace and some rehab) and gotten a few stitches. That's literally thousands of sessions... maybe tens of thousands of hours surfing... two minor injuries.

 

That's awesome man! Hope you get 40 more years of surfing in!

Snowboarding is definitely more dangerous. Plus you have to worry about Grizzly Bears see attached video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT_PNKg3v7s

 

Was out in a good sized winter swell a few years ago,i had just gotten a new wetsuit with the thru neck hyperstretchy neoprene, after a few hours the wind had picked up waves had gotten choppy , i was getting cold and tired.A nice set came in so i grabbed the first one of the set to roll in on,now usually i like to let first go by and get the last one but sometimes backwash will make each succesive wave worse so i had reasoned.I took off got a ways down and the wave sectioned and i went down when the board nose went under arms out like a dive. WHOA! the suit filled up like a balloon with water and i couldnt get off the bottom it would just shake up and down and stayed in the suit i would bob up to surface and take a breathe and back down i would go.i started squeezin water out by huggin myself ,and o yeah my leash broke too ,i wasnt gonna make it, i kept bobbin in water takin breathe and tryin to get to my board,finally got to it and made it to the beach and crawled up on sand pushing my board past tide line and puked,passed out on my board face down woke with wax all stuck to my face and tourists standing around staring at me

 

I think the same with skateboarding,thats why I got into surfing.hitting water is a lot less forgiving then concrete,just have to not drown or get eaten by sharks lol.iv had a lot of close calls with breaking an arm and leg while skating,luckily I never did.

iv had a few sketchy situations with surfing but don't really think I have a "worst beat down" story.in warm weather I actually enjoy taking waves on the head and getting sucked over the falls.cold water not so much lol.once u push urself in those situations u know how much u can handle so its good exercise.

crazy thinking about it I been sucked over the falls on like a 6-8 footer breaking in knee deep water and not hitting the bottom.u can touch the bottom with ur hand but u really have no control and just go along for the ride.ur either going to ride it on the surface or underwater

 

Mile swim in the pool at Boy Scout camp. I was 11. It was like passengers in the water during the Titanic sinking.

Kidding aside, those are some scary experiences some of you shared. I respect that. Would've killed me in me in my better days. Now I'm 62 and chicken of the sea.

 

I've had a couple of bumps and bruises over the year, but my worst beat down is a tie between the following:

a few years ago was riding a twin keel fish that was glassed real heavy. on a waist/stomach high wave which starts to barrel. The board slipped out from under me as I lost my balance and got sucked up the face of the wave and flipped over in the lip. Got hit squarely in the middle of my rib cage by the rail. Hurt like hell. Kept surfing for another 30 minutes before I called it a day because my chest hurt so bad. Went to the doctor a week or so later when I sneezed and almost blacked out it hurt so bad. Ends up I had broken two ribs - took forever to heal and everything made it hurt for months - easily the most painful injury I have ever had, period.

The other was I was paddling out on a slightly overhead day. Go to duckdive my first wave...not thinking anything of it and holding the board sorta loosely. The hydraulic of the wave rips the board out of my hands, flips it sideways, and slams it into my forehead. Thank God I was wearing a hood. 20 minutes later still hurts pretty bad so I get out and go look in a mirror. Ended up that I had a 3 inch gash on my forehead right at my hairline that took 6 stitches to close up. Was super annoyed as the waves were really good that day.

 

Broken ribs are no joke; probably the most painful injury there is. It sucks getting injured when the waves are good and you are frothing. It wouldn't be as bad at the end of the sesh or if the surf was good all the time.

My buddy was surfing in Ecuador and broke and broke a rib. The doctor wanted to cut the nerve to that area of the rib cage; thus ending the pain and all feelings to said area. It would have been a permanent solution to a temporary problem. He ended up toughing it out. Although the injury put an end to surfing on that trip.

 

[video=youtube;OoCp4oQXUzY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoCp4oQXUzY[/video]

 

The camera work makes it so much more radder...

 

When you took that huge set on the head were you attempting to duck dive or just bailed?