-
Wipeouts!
Anyone have a funny/scary wipeout to share? I’ll start it off with a comical one from a surf several years ago in Malibu.
Typical Malibu day, paddling around the lineup past people chatting, brushing their hair, picking their noses, some people surfing beautiful small waves. Local pros and parking lot lizards paddling around all of us weekenders and taking every wave.
Finally I get a wave to myself, briefly. After dodging several people and making my way to a clean section I get about 30ft down the line and get dropped in on. I manage to squeak by and think I’m home free. Suddenly I’m yanked backwards with enough force to send me fully horizontal. The person I had just avoided tangled in my leash as it was dragging behind me and I found myself suspended in the air only to faceplant into the cold water. We both surface and the other surfer apologized. I was bummed of course, but had to laugh imagining what it must have looked like from the beach.
I always wear a leash at Malibu to keep my board off the rocks, but I never imagined this would happen lol. Like someone pulled me offstage at The Apollo.
Cheers!
-
3 Replies
-
2095
1,101
Ufffft I had a 2 wave hold down just out from a break called laniakea on the northshore…i think the break was actually called Holden’s!
surfaced to see more coming and a cliff behind me…not fun!
-
780
46
About a year ago I caught probably the biggest wave I’ve ever had. I wouldn’t call myself a charger by any means but I think it was at least a couple feet overhead. Was screaming down the line on it in this awesome trim for probably about 15 seconds or so thinking like “holy hell I’m about to ride this monster all the way in!” because it seemed like it was really holding up well. Figured I had enough speed to make the next section but the white wash ate me up. Rinse cycle, several seconds hold down, I resurface probably a little more panicked than I should have been. Another one right behind it that I make the incorrect judgment the safest course of action would be to just get on it prone with no one riding it (in retrospect I should’ve just tried to turtle and hold on for dear life), rinse cycles me rather severely as well as it was much too steep to prone ride. This second wave takes both of my contact lenses out of my eyes, and I’m quite blind. It was the last of the set thankfully but it was still quite scary having to feel my way over to the channel while asking others where I was at. Shook me up for a while and am still quite selective about what conditions I surf in since then.
-
1,890
547
I had a moment similar to this when I first started surfing. It was a pretty big day, definitely bigger than it looked from the beach and there was a closeout set heading to myself and friend. I didn’t paddle fast enough and had brought a board that was too small for the conditions. I didn’t make it and the wave hit me hard. I had also chosen to try and ride it prone, but immediately got flipped head over heels and the wave grabbed my board and dragged me underwater at high speed for what seemed like a long time. When I finally surfaced I headed into the beach and my friend caught up to me and said they didn’t see me surface for a long time. It was pretty scary. Definitely much more careful these days and I think it has something to do with why I like bigger boards now also. More paddle speed to get out past the danger!
-
This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by Joseph Santa Maria.
-
This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by
-
Log in to reply.