Duck Dive Troubles

The only time I ditch my board is when it's huge, usually in the winter, and more than likely no one else is anywhere near me unless I paddled out with them. I admit you might lose your board and that is pretty dangerous to yourself. But if you've never had to ditch your board to get under a set of macking waves I'd wonder how serious of surf you've paddled into.

It's one of those techniques that you will see people doing when it's really big. You ditch your board, you swim straight down just like you did when you were a kid playing in the surf and you get under all that white water. If you can keep your board attached after the initial impact you are good, then you just pull it with your body and swim out to sea and pop up. Get back on your board and paddle. You might have to wait out a whole set like this on the inside and then once it passes over you, you are in a position to paddle out past the bar instead of having been pushed halfway back into the beach because you couldn't get under the white water and each wave pushed you progressively further back in.

I've paddled out into some gnarly stuff and that's typically the only time you will use that technique. I've lost my board and one day it took about 15 minutes before I found it on the inside swirling around in a circle. Nowadays I make sure it is very securely tied and I don't have problems.

I actually picked this up from a friend of mine who would do it without thinking. When I asked him he told me he didn't ever ditch his board but I had seen him do it when I got washed in on a set and he eventually realized it was instinctive for him and he did it without thinking when he was about to take a bomb on the head. I also have seen video of guys at huge beach breaks in Mexico where they do almost exactly what I described.

 

As for the guy diving off his board into the face of the wave, I found it odd. He did it every time he duck dived. To be fair to him he was pushing the board completely underwater by thrusting with his legs before he would dive but it still seemed unnecessary and possibly very dangerous.

 

Well I thought it was bad ass. I want him to draw me a pic of the guy crying... He's a hella artist.

 

I was being extremely sarcastic...I thought he went above and beyond trying to help the poor feller out. Another case of no good deed going unpunished.

 

Dude, I know that. I get jokes I think the guy was bogus for sayin that after he tried so hard to help him. Not cool.

 

Just making sure...at least the guy feels comfortable talking about his feelings.
@ glassjaw, I'm with ya. I've ditched plenty of times to get under bomb sets, seen plenty of other guys do it. I always give a quick look to make sure no one is inside of me, if there is I'll just dive like regular.

 

I only surf when its macking, brah. And the last time I ditched my board I was 12 years old.

 

^^^^ I got jacked! Bwaahaa! Saweet! Just checkin bra

 

I just turned 13, btw... tehe....

 

LOL Umm I dunno about that... You're a pretty wise sage to be a grom...

 

Sh!t-ass man, I was 13 in 1990. Freaking out to Pearl Jam and enjoying quality new york Knicks hoops. man... things have changed.

 

I'm still 13.... Well mentally... Got you beat. 13 in 1982!! I was freaking out to Van Halen hangin out at the record store in the mall. Yea things have changed! We can have hella more fun now! Only WE have to pay for it

 

Look on youtube for videos on duck diving.....Note the hand positioning on the board. I see a lot of people try to duck dive a board to far down from the nose to really push the board under where you can angle down below the wave.

 

Here's how one guy duck dives a longboard the right way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKfUQ_AsrO4

 

Don't ditch the board unless you got some monster going to break on your board hard. I used to duck dive and try to come up too quick I found on big days and would be ripped from my board but now I dive deep and just wait till I feel the wave suck me back a little bit and then I know I'm good. I hold onto the board with a death grip because when its big your board is your best friend. When a 10 foot rolling head of whitewater is coming your way you'll wish you had your board under you instead of riding a washing machine. Got caught on the inside after missing the first wave of a set at Tres the other day and normally would have ditched the board but dove deep and popped through the next 3 waves breaking on me and/or in front of me. yewwww

 

im on a 5'8 fish its super duper floaty, im 5 foot and 98 pounds and can not duck dive for **** on it, its super frustration and i honestly practice so much and seem to always get stuck and yanked back by the wave. Definetly going to try all these tips out and hopefully ill find a way because i love riding the board! Thanks a ton!

 

Don't feel that way because I was attempting to be facetious. Fail. Lots of people post here expecting immediate results or impossible answers, and after all the good work you did on those diagrams for NeilSurf, as well as your response to my own comments, I was pointing out that you still failed to explain to me the feeling of what it's like for ME to duck dive MY longboard, and what I'M doing wrong. Didn't mean it to sound so serious.

Talking about comfortably sharing my feelings; PB&J wreathed in dry, crusty nastiness. That's just wrong. So hurtful.