Caught inside at Point Panic on Oahu. A lava boulder wall at my back, and waves in front of me.
It took 45 minutes of panic paddling to get out and around to the channel. It was one of those, “I can’t paddle anymore, but if I don’t, I’ll die”, situations.
Amazing what the body will do when it doesn’t want to die. Point Panic…I get it. Doug
Late 60’s, high tide, mega day at Steamer Lane, I was standing on the jump off at the Point waiting for the sets to pass. I spaced out and missed a macker breaking over Seal Rock. No time to scramble up the slimey cliff to higher ground so I had about 10 seconds to decide whether to stand my ground and get blasted by 15 feet of whitewater or jump in and try and duck. I figured my chances were better duck diving with my neutral bouyancy spoon than the 50/50 chance of getting washed over the west side of the point to my certain death.
I went as deep as I could, let go of the board and went deeper…and got swatted royally. Rag-dolled so hard I couldn’t pull into the fetal position. I was bouncing off really hard stuff and spinning around so hard I had no idea which way was up. I opened my eyes and it was black. A little tickle of panic started in my stomach but the churning stopped and my feet hit bottom. I pushed off as hard as I could and HIT MY HEAD…
I’m seeing lights from smacking my head or lack of oxygen. Before I could really start to panic again, the rinse cycle resumed and everything got light. I pushed up through the foam and got a breath and my bearings. I had washed into the cave that used to front the cove at the Point and got pinned at the very back…lost my flippers but my board popped up next to me in the soup without a scratch. Made it around the corner and up the stairs to my car. Mild concussion, 10 stitches on my head, 5 on my chin and lip where I had bit through my tongue.
To this day, I cannot pull the covers over my head without thinking about what might have happened.
Last summer in Newport at 12th street. I think they call it schoolyards. I was out bodysurfing with a bunch of friends and I had a pair of regular shorts on (you know, the one that has a button and fly instead of strings). As a set came in, I took a wave that closed out that just worked me. Recovering from the wipe-out, I notice that I am feeling a bit “lighter” and “free-er”. I suddenly notice that I am completely naked (except for the swim fins that I was wearing). I quickly tried to look for my shorts (the water was clear, it was a perfect day) but ironically my shorts were khakis and colored like sand. It was hopeless, I couldn’t find my shorts. I was lucky It was quite deep where I was at and not too many people were near me. Then I remember going through all the options of what I could do in my head. All my friends were in the surf zone except for one. I yelled at him to bring me a towel, but he couldn’t hear me. I came closer to the more crowded area fearing someone might see me and freak out. But I had to get my friend’s attention which I eventually did. He didn’t understand at first but I also couldn’t explain my situation completely. He eventually threw the towel to me and I wrapped myself up. I was so thankful. The ensuing ridicule from my friends was nothing compared to the fear I had of some mom seeing me naked in the swim zone with a bunch of kids and having to call the cops on me.
Rio
When I start going over my scars I have a hard time figuring which was the worst accident to tell about so Ill just say “to many to quote”,Aloha,Kokua
Surfing a rocky reef break, Got a good right, real shallow… Then standing on reef and the water started to drain off as a wave came, No water to dive down under so I jumped as high as I could into to incoming bomb…
Second story: Was walking down to surf trestles, was on the train tracks on the bridge when the train came. There was no room to duck on the side of the bridge , so my friend ran away one way and I ran the other. After the train passed we both peeked out to see each other in relief on opposite sides of the bridge. To think if my wetsuit which was around my waste would have tripped me I would’nt made it. DR
Actually 3 incidents of utter stupidity that almost maimed or killed me.
1972 went over the falls holding on to my board by grabbing the fin with my right hand almost cutting off all my fingers at the same time… Boy the things you’d do to avoid a long swim in those days…
1973 surfing pipeline for the first time lost track of where I was and turned right instead of left right into an overhead freight train barrel headed right at me. Kind of like going into the tube at pipe the wrong way. Hit the bottom bad ended up with a fist sized pice of coral head embeded in my tail splitting it like a banana right thru the fin area. Not to say what the coral heads did to me. Lucky I had a wetsuit vest on to protect my back.
1991 returning after a 15 year layoff paddled out in the dark into 10’ Ali’i (Haleiwa) got sucked over backwards trying to paddle out and just got trashed. Would’ve drowned without anyone knowing I if I didn’t have my leash. By time there was any light to see anything I was well past the harbor breakwater heading for Puena beach park. Ended up getting back to the beach sat down for awhile paddled out caught a small one then went home to contemplate my stupidity. Funny thing was that Charlie Smith and my friend were stoned out of their minds surfing outside as I was paddling out before I got caught inside on a big set.
I could never survive any of these events today.
…Heck,anymore these days,I’m just one big pile of scars.Herb
me too… I’ve hit reefs, boards, my fins, had boards hit my body, head & face, messed up my knee and back…but the worst scar is a big knot on my rib cage where I got speared by a board on a big winter day… had to swim in 1/3 mile with badly broken ribs. One of these days I’m going to make a board with a groove in the deck so it doesn’t hurt when I paddle.
Not that I’m accident prone, but can you get a frequent flier account at the ER?
One accident that comes to my mind is surfing Pine trees and the board pearled and I jump off over the nose, some how the board got ahead of me and while under the water the board shoots back and I feel like I ran into a wall. It was a perfect three point hit from my swallow tail, tail tips hit forhead and fin hit just below mouth, 20 stiches. Aloha,Kokua
Big winter day at the point at Steamers. Take off way to late and freefall with my board to the bottom of a ten foot wave. I land on top of my board and faceplant into the deck almost knocking myself out. I knew I was was hurt but the cold water had numbed everything. I paddle in and while climbing to the top of the stairs an old lady takes one look at me and almost faints .Her husbands says “Son, you better go to the hospital.”
I look in a car mirror and I’ve got a hole the size of a quarter in my bottom lip and my bottom teeth are sorta sticking thru it. Ugly.
I could name a number of activities that have ended in injury.
Most recently,last winter I was riding a sucked-out rivermouth sandbar like Kirra.Thru the day I was getting some fab tubes and clearly out-distancing the best pros out that day.A nice set came thru about sunset and I got the biggest one of the group,slotted for a long barrelling tube and for my reward I tried to slide out under the curtain just as it closed the window and didn’t make it.
…The board flipped over and I landed on the center fin right on my upper hip and back.It hurt! but opted to stay out till dark,due to not many days surfing evenings, these days(work schedule).The next morning I couldn’t walk,and I noticed a bruise the size of a football on my back…eventually my wife got me up and to the docs…later I found my 4mm wetsuit had a fin gash in it approx. 4" long…I’m convinced that my suit kept me from a more extreme injury.Herb
A few memorable ones from surfing, kneeboarding and prone riding…
Broken cartilage in right knee, hernia from being twisted and crushed, fractured eyebrow, torn ligments in left knee, floating bone fragments in both ankles, broken/chipped teeth, split upper/lower lips, deep lacerations requiring ER treatment, deep bone bruises to both knees, right hip and lower spine, a severe ear infection resulting in temporary facial nerve damage (for over two weeks it looked like I’d suffered a stroke), and way to many x-rays…
Hey Dale - when you mentioned “chipped teeth” you reminded me of what may have been my stupidest surfing injury ever. One fine winter day I was pulling my arm out of my wetsuit sleeve and when it came out all of a sudden, I punched myself in the chin, chipping my front upper tooth…
The year- 1966. The event- the afternoon before 8th grade graduation. We had a half day of school and my mom came up with the idea that my dad to take me surfing. Now you have to realize that at the time my dad and I didn’t have much in common nor did we do much together. So there I was with my brand new 9’-6" Surfboards Hawaii, a board so heavy that I use to drag it to the waters edge. All of a sudden a little shore break wave lifts the board into the bottom of my chin. I land flat on my a$$ and I feel somthing wet on my shoulder. I figure that its just some water until I realize that I haven’t been wet yet. I end up with 3 stiches and a chipped tooth and some teeth that are still crooked to this day. To make things worse my parents decide to take me out to dinner after graduation. Now that may sound like a good idea but the bandage on my chin is so big that I couldn’t even open my mouth. 38 years later and Im still enjoying the ride.
Keith,
Yes… prepare for anything, but it’s often the simple flukes that blindside us. And if there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.
Murphy’s Law should have a chapter dedicated just to surfers…
… I ripped my crotch open with a 6" deep twin fin [two or three years ago now].
Three months out of the water with that one. I had to take painkillers for a while too [which I HATE doing, but definately HAD to this time !!].
No, I don’t think you want to see the photo again…trust me !
ben
Kieth, I have a similar problem except my ribs are separated from my sternum. I was paddling into a wave at my local beachbreak that features quite a bit of backwash. Needless to say I found myself about 10’ up in the air as I was just about ready to pop up, I came down with the full force of the fall on the side of my ribcage breaking my board. If I ever get around to making a board with a groove I’ll let you in on the process, up until now it feels like I have a rock taped to the top of my surfboard.
Good Lord Dale!
It’s no wonder you mastered the art of creating inflatable mats! There can’t be a single part of your body left that could withstand the pressure of a hard board!
Sr Pato
I remember I almost lost my eye on one of my first times out when I was four or five… My dad pushed me into a wave, and just kinda rolled off somehow. I did what he said and just let the wave pull you to the surface, and I saw my board go whoosh over my face, and thought nothing of it, but then stand up (the water was only waist deep, but up to my neck) and notice I’m missing a water shoe, and start crying over that, while my dad is freaking out because I have a big gash in my forehead and eyebrow and I’m supposed to be at a party in an hour…
Maybe I should give one of those protec testimonials…I remember the doctor recomending those as he was talking to my dad and I think I was going to sleep because of some seditive or something…
My mom didn’t quite like the fact that I showed up late with six stiches and big bandage over my eye…