have you already read the new article in surfing mag??
There’s Zapatistas and Staph infections. Car wrecks and rip tides. Hell, the monkeys at Uluwatu could pull your arm right out of its socket. The stonefish in Tahiti could steal your life. The tigers at G-land are, well, they’re friggin’ TIGERS! That’s just for starters.
Welcome to SURFING’s Danger Article — a fresh collection of unhappy memories from the frontlines.
What unhappy memories did you have???
Snapping my first board. I wouldn’t mind if I did it pullin into a ridicuoulsly unmakeable, head-high barrel, but alas no such glory.
Also, when I first started surfing, I had a wipeout that for some reason pulled my rash gaurd over the top of my head. That was a little scary.
Drew
Fortunately, the worst I’ve ever had was following my board over the falls at Raglan, landing one one of the fins and having it cut about a 6-inch gash in the leg of my wetsuit. Lucky I was wearing a 4/3, if I had just had shorts on I probably would have ended up with a deep gash requiring stitches. As it was I just had a long scratch on my leg. Where we were surfing, I probably would have ended up having to have a horse vet sew me up. I was scared to look down at my leg after I felt the impact and a ripping sensation!
when i first started surfing i had a real stupid mistake. i went surfing at a little past dusk in melbourne beach fla. and there are some coqunia rocks down there. it was also low tide and a full moon. i got out no problem but as i was going to catch my first wave i could see the topof a rock in the direction that i was about to head. so i freaked out and jumped feet first. really stupid but it was only like my 3rd or 4th out. needless to say i abosolutely tore the crap out of my feet. but i learned a valuable lesson.
1980ish, surfing a 7’ single pin tail, back-side, in 6’-8’ waves at 18th street in Newport with no leash. Racing toward the closeout, launched the board over the back. Surfaced to look for the board. About the time I made a 360 degree sweep and realized it wasn’t there, there it was, coming straight back down. The pin tail hit me right smack in the middle of my forehead. Felt like someone struck me with a pickaxe. Knocked me out for ??? but I came to grabbed the board and got washed in. Once I got my composure back and feet on the bottom I reached my hand up to find a huge gash. Blood everywhere. I walked right up to the lifeguard and asked him for a bandaid. The guy was so focused on some girls that he didn’t even look at me. I repeated my request which got his attention. When he looked at me he almost fell off the tower. There I was literally covered from head to toe in blood. It was actually pretty funny to see his reaction. I’ll bet he was more careful to not focus on the girls after that. 12 stitches to close the artery and another 10 for everything else. Oh yeah, they let me drive myself to the hospital. Almost passed out at the wheel going to Hoag.
Validated by danger and mayhem and physical abuse? bitchin…
aaaaaaahhh?FRONT LINES? military industrial complex infusion of identity? yeah!
…the threat of imminent death is a reason to continue the quest hmmmmmm…
wisdom ,grace under pressure, economy of effort ,self reliance ,no comercial appllications,contract sell outs perhaps an unrealistic goal …ambrose … personal best anyone,gorgeous sunset ,moon rise at 3o’clock … the ocean getting progressively glassier at midday…mmmmmmmmmmmm…no planes ,boats, advertizements on the next page…don;t buzzy look great at 475years old?
Actually I take that back. My worst experience was enduring another one of ambroses self righteous rants.
(hahahahaha, just kiddin ambrose. I really like 'em. What do they mean again?)
aquafiend i had something like that happen to me a while back but there was a lot less blood then what you had described. but i caught it square on the top of my head and put a huge crack in the board.
OB jetty in San Diego head high to a few feet overhead rockwaves. Ran out the jetty(before the river broke through what year?)and jumped off the jumping off rock. Cot a few really good waves until I kooked out and got washed into the jetty hanging onto my board. No cord days. The rail nips the tip of my little “chili pepper” and I’m in excruciating pain. I stand up and I’m standing on the same jumping off rock. I’m sure I snipped the tip off of my weinie and am scared to death to take a look. My board is next to me so I grab it and leap before getting drilled by the next wave. Get to the beach and peel off my suit expecting blood, gore, and no meat head. I take a peek and…? Well, I’ll just say I’ve fathered a couple of children since then. mike
“Danger, danger Will Robinson!!”
Look in any direction, the lurking fear is near, too much cholesterol, butter pecan ice cream my most dangerous opponent. Oh, yeah, and magnets affect my tick-tock, tick-tock, so I can’t use an induction kiln woe is me.
Danger surfing? Getting back to the car carrying my surfboard is still the toughest part. Needing a caddy once, got a kid to carry my board from a river mouth back up the beach at Pine Trees by telling him he was obviously a hardy helpful youngster and he grabbed my board and ran off like a shot showing off as I strolled leisurely behind him waving my elderly persona.
I almost beaned a deaf guy, couldn’t hear me yelling, who was riding a big foam board because his instructor was a bubble head and shoved him into whitewater on the inside in front of three us on a small wave. Coulda screwed up my karma, a very dangerous thing to do. Or even dinged my board. The horror, the horror.
Oh, yeah, I bellied a nice one in one time ‘just because,’ so fast it ripped my trunks off down to my ankles and the leash kept them in the locality for a moment, and there were no females to lend me assistance only big hairy guys on longboards laughing, really scary, while I’m being bounced around on reef inside trying not to get re-circumcised, and to get my ass covered while sliding back up onto my board with my shorts down near the leash plug. Oh, the waxy terror, I laughed and whooped 'cause it was such a great ride. Bring out the nets and men in white, I’m ready.
I’m sure I’ve almost died a couple of times in the water, but I may not have realized it, such is the nature of true danger that we do not know it is near. Has my friend the tiger shark, Lloyd or Floyd, been just outside my take-off on a murky evening as I was out alone unworried and joyous, blinking the sunset out of my eyes? Perhaps. Perhaps not.
What I do remember is my last wave this past Sunday, really small, a good nose ride glide, no one else on it, I was oblivious to all else, my fondest desire fulfilled that moment.
Thanks, Robbie, for looking after me.
Holy Crap!!!
When I read this article of these ten stories in Surfing Magazine I could not believe the stuff that happened to these guys like that car accident in Baja and the guy getting swept out to sea. This stuff is unbelievable
Two years ago at Pipe in Ventura. I was surfing with my wife and testing out a new 8.5’ hybrid epoxy that a buddy had just made. The waves were head high on the sets and really fast. Rode the 8 footer for about an hour and then switched it out for my 6’ fish. On the first wave with the fish, the board slipped out sideways on me. The rail turned straight up at me and I fell about 4’ straight down on top it. It caught me midway up the ribcage under my right arm. The pain was so intense that I was unable to breathe. I thought my rib had broken and punctured my lung. My wife didn’t know what had happened and I couldn’t answer any of her questions. Couldn’t ride the board in and had to let the whitewater push me in to shallow water. Went straight to the doctors office for X-Rays and found a severe tear in the cartelidge between the ribs. Two weeks on pain killers and six weeks on celebrex and ibu’s before I could get back on a board. The doc said it was the worst he had ever seen. Still hurts like a bitch if I roll on it the wrong way.
Lesson: Never switch from a longer board to a fairly short board in the same session. It could be hazardous to your health.
The other day I was out at my usual break and it was getting pretty gnarly, stong wind, Shallow sand banks, hardly makable back snapping barrels that nearly closedout and a strong rip, the good thing was the clubbies took down the flags BUT
I duckdived a bigger bomb set outside however the wind thru my board right back and smashed up my nose bad, blood everywhere but i wasnt going in…heck it nearly bought me to tears though, it hurt!
check out some of these pics and read some of these stories: http://www.surfcohawaii.com/testimonies.htm
this is why my kids and wife will only surf safety fins.
if I could get a BIG safety fin I’d put it on my LB too.
Hi
Here is my list.
85 some prick shot his board out at me as I was padling out. The nose hit me in the neck right next to my jugular. I got 4 stiches doc said a half a centemeter to the left and I would have been dead. I was 13.
86 I paddle out out in surf 10 - 12 ft I was in a bit over my head. I took off on a set wave dug a rail on the take off and felt the full force of the impact zone. The wave ripped my wetsuit half off and my arms were still stuck in the sleaves. Thanks to Caz Collier for saving my life.
89 I got stung by blue bottles really badly. The poison went to the glands next to the twins. I thought I was going to die after a while I was praying to die. I passed out in the bath while my mom was washing my her. ( I don’t know I guess she paniced a bit) I thoulght the bath would make me feel better. I woke up at the doctors room with a drip in my arm.
93 Seven stiches in my leg I still surfed for 1.5 hours before I relized the gashes in my leg
I have also hit my head on th rocks a few times aswell.
Oh by the way on land I am a WHIMP
check out some of these pics and read some of these stories: http://www.surfcohawaii.com/testimonies.htm
this is why my kids and wife will only surf safety fins.
if I could get a BIG safety fin I’d put it on my LB too.
My story is in there somewhere. Protecks are the way to go.
Here’s one from several years ago. Hadn’t surfed since the 60s, but was pretty decent back then. Get the bug again after surfing a rental board every day on Maui on a vacation. So, the next year, I hatch plans for another week long surf vacation. The girlfriend knows of someone who goes every year to a remote Baja site (Mag Bay). So I sign up. With only a month before departure, I buy a longboard, start working out, running, paddling exercises, etc.
Second morning in Baja, we awake to overhead, clean surf. It’s a point break, so to my 20 year old surf brain in a 50 year old body, it looks do-able. I carefully make my way outside, manage to position myself and drop into a bomb. I make the wave and kick out. The sets are not letting up, and I’m scrambling around trying not to get unnerved. Feeling more confident, I catch a second wave. Paddling for my third wave, I miss it and when I turn around I see a huge set coming in. I’m toast. After turning turtle on several waves, I’m tiring really fast. Then, I realize that I’ve lost so much ground that I am in danger of being dragged over the exposed rocks of the inside section. Now I’m paddling for my life with adrenaline and fear substituting for energy. After enduring what seems like a 20 wave set, I eventually find myself floating on my board exhausted in the inner bay. I literally cannot move, cannot paddle. One of the guys paddles out with a life-vest and I swim in through the shore break. I sat out the rest of the day and had to think twice about going out the next (smaller) day. I had no business being out there.
'Must have been ten years ago or so. A typical summer day at some French beachbreak with a 6" (yes, inches) swell. Every hour or so, a one-footer would break and 97 people would fight for it. Yeah, but I’m very old and wise (and I’ve got a much longer and thicker longboard) so this one is all mine… Desperately trying not to loose the anaemic wave so that it spares me the paddle-in, I fail to notice the beginner paddling for it on my right. When I see him, it’s too late and, since he didn’t see me either, he suddenly panicks and THROWS HIS BOARD AT ME! The board hits me in the head and almost knocks me unconscious. I make it to the beach, stumbling, and have some rest, then go the doctor. X-rays, broken jaw, had to eat smashed potatoes for one month… Remember, not 10 foot Pipeline! And it can happen to any of you…
YEEESSSSSS - Surfing Rincon for the first time, head high - @ midnight under the full moon.
A couple of years ago I used to mix it up between standup and a waveski. one day on a well overhead day I paddled out the back, I was the only ski out and none of the standups could make it out the back, One one wave I messed up the bottom turn & went turtle. No problem open the quick release belt & get out. But the buckle was stuck. It was trapped under the water. I tried for a few minutes to free it while getting a small gulp of air, I was panicking and getting exhausted, I started to feel that this was a really stupid way to die but I started to surrender to it. I accepted my fate and the panic left me, It was then I remembered a throw away comment on a message board where someone suggested wiggling out of the belt. I tried that and eventually made it out. I was badly spooked and sold the ski.
A few weeks later I was in the impact zone exhausted and out of breath, I got caught in a hold down, not long but I was out of breath, I eventually pulled myself up my leash. Since this I lost my bottle in double overhead waves, don’t know If I’ll ever get it back - Don’t know if I want to.