For the big wave riders in here...

General Discussion
1

I have a few questions… I’m slowly but surely working my way into big wave rider status… Heck, I could already have it, depending on what people define as ‘big’. (If I’m conservative in my measurements, I’ve ridden a 7-8m wave… I’m thinking that is starting to enter into the ‘smaller’ protion of big wave riding. I also didn’t have a proper gun for that day. Give me a 10’0" instead of the 7’0" I was riding, and I’m sure I’d push that number up to 10m. Didn’t have one, and had to make the decision: Don’t paddle out, due to not having the equiptment, or go for it anyway. It was not long before I had to move inland for almost a year, and I’m still inland now, but luckily not for long, and I will soon be moving to Cape Town.)

And I heard a rather surprising comment uttered from more than one big wave rider in more than one documentary: There is only around 100 big wave surfers in the world.

I find this hard to believe, unless they only call it big at like 15m faces. If big is 15ft hawaiian or 30ft face and above… I find it hard to believe. If they are only referencing to people who paddle 25ft hawaiian or 50ft faces, I get it. So for those of you who actually have an idea, what do you think is the real numbers here, if we include anything over 15ft hawaiian?

Also, for those of you who have surfed both traditional big wave breaks, and the Banzai Pipeline… How does it compare? I know the skills needed to ride the wave probably differ quite a bit, but as for how heavy it is… From what I’ve seen of Pipe, and looking at more traditional breaks… Well, in comparison, Pipe just doesn’t look quite as heavy as a place like Mavericks, Waimea, or Dungeons. More difficult to ride, sure, but not heavier. Looks can be decieving though, so some input would be appreciated.

 

I can’t wait to get back to the ocean. Paradoxically I had to do an 10 month stint inland if I wanted to make sure that I’d be able to make a living at the ocean doing something that allows me to surf 6 hours a day. (I’ve just gotten qualified in Kettlebell training a while back, and I’m now finishing up with a Pilates course.) Clients before and after work hours, and normal work hours is free. Meanwhile, I’m getting SUPER fit, and hopefully I’d be back before the surf season is finished. Worst case scenario, I miss one season, and triple my fitness in one year. It would probably take a whole season for me to get used to the poundings again, but once my mind catches up with my body… Well, I’m fitter than most of the athletes I’ve come in contact with during my fitness studies. My strength and endurance litterally trippled, because all I’ve been doing every day is train.

2

Well you’ve got the confidence sorted. Why worry about what others think is a big wave surfer. You obviously live your life to support surfing big waves, just enjoy it mate. I don’t think the majority of surfers would be interested in 25f Hawaiian waves. Shit I wouldn’t be interested in 6f Hawaiian haha.

Keep studying and move back to the sea. All the best with it.

3

My best advice would be to find a mentor-friend that has some experience in bigger surf. Try some of their boards and then buy a bigger one than you think you need offseason. Some guys like to train a lot like Bradshaw and some don’t train at all. Does not seem to make much difference except for flexability, get a yoga certifacation. Time in the water is the best training.

Picked up this 9’6" Yater today for a friend-- $180 USD off season.

Get a gun and have some fun!-The rest will work it’s self out.

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4

I’m getting something that beats a yoga certification. Pilates. It’s like yoga, but it doesn’t have the spiritual stuff associated, and it’s probably twice as intense. (For personal reasons) I don’t want to do stuff like Yoga. I used to do it, as well as Karate, but as I got more advanced I realized there is a lot more to it than just exercise.

 

And as for training not making much of a difference… Well, last year I also came up to Pretoria, for a Kettlebell course. After 3 months of training and upon completing the course I went back to the ocean. I scheduled it all so that I’m inland during the flat season. The biggest waves I surfed and handled went up from 3-4m to 7-8m, in one season. Best part of it all was that the 7-8m waves felt easy enough to handle, and if I had the right equiptment, I’d be all over even bigger waves. Time in the water is unbeatable, but huge waves only happen so often, and you can’t train the kind of fitness you need for 30ft if you only get to surf 3ft most of the time. All in all, I think that you need both. In mid-season, you don’t need to train, there is more than enough training when the waves are consistently 4m and bigger. But throughout most of the year, where it surf days consist of waves 0.5m-3m most of the time, you want your water time but you must also train, otherwise you’d loose your fitness. The off season is a golden opportunity to get INSANELY fit.

I didn’t have a mentor, as I was the only one in my town going out on those days. Heck, some of the spots I surfed, nobody goes, ever. That is why I’m moving to Cape Town. I DID have the privaledge to do a trip a few hundred kilometers up the coast to surf J-bay, and got it maxed out on the second day. It was quite cool to see how the first day, a Friday, when it was just overhead, there was 96 surfers in the water (I counted.) and then the next day, on the Saturday, when it jacked up to 4 times a persons height, the numbers dropped to 12 guys. I opted to paddle out at the beach at the back of the point, which was closing out HUGE… But I found a gap at Magna’s… Real small, and timing had to be perfect… But by the grace of God I made it out back… Long paddle to Boneyards later, and I did the dumbest thing ever… I paddled for the first wave in the set… Closed out on me, and I had 8 more to deal with… After being washed a kilometer down the point, I finally got out of the impact zone, paddled back up the point, and proceeded to have the best surf of my life for the next 7 hours… Not a chance I would have been able to do that without training.

5

If you want a mentore Tell some of the Cape Town chargers about the section of coast you surfer on big days with nobody out. I’m sure they would be glad to offer you an old board to ride and some help if you showed them your littel secret 

6

Most of the places are no secret… There just aren’t any takers in the area. Some shallow slab type waves, that have a tendancy to pinch and/or gurgle, or just plain sharky spots. Most of them are rather low quality, (risk-reward ratio rather heavy on the risk side) so when a big wave swell comes in, the people who want to surf it normally go to the Cape Town spots… I would have myself, but I didn’t have a car or anything. Other times where actually at a well known spot which people never considered a big wave spot, because between 5ft and 8ft it’s unsurfable, but from 9ft hawaiian and up, it becomes surfable again. (There is an outcrop of rocks at the end of the wave, that prohibit surfing it between 5ft and 8ft, because you basically head straight for it. Bail, and you are in big trouble. A guy from Cape Town actually died on a 6ft day. But when the waves hit 9ft, it breaks out so deep that you just surf right past it.) In fact, the biggest wave I’ve ever successfully rode was at that spot. It was a special swell, it doesn’t normally even break right when it get’s that big, because the swell just doesn’t wrap around, it just pushes past… But the swell direction hit it more directly. The coffee shop on the edge of the beach was flooded, hehe.

 

But yea, I’d quickly get a mentor in Cape Town, and I’m sure they would borrow me a gun as soon as they see me paddling out into 7-8m with a 7’0". I can see the conversation now:

“Hey bru, you can’t ride these waves with that board!”

“I know… But I’m riding them anyway, cause I don’t have another board. It’s either this or I have to bodysurf it… Which I will if this guy snaps.”

“Heck man, borrow my spare, before you get yourself killed!”

“Gee thanks!”

 

(More likely:)

“Get the f— out of the water! You can’t ride here on a 7’0”!"

“But I don’t have anything else… And I seem to be catching waves just fine.”

“Well you can’t ride here with that, now GTFO!”

(At which point I get out, put my board away, and swim in there, and catch at least one wave bodysurfing… Hehehe.)

7

most important muscle to train for big waves is between your ears…

“in big waves, you’re either the hunter or the hunted”…Kong

8

Agreed. Mental preperation is number one. But there is nothing that eases your mind as much as being fit enough to be able to swim in the conditions you are surfing in. Leashes snap, boards break… And swimming around is a whole other ball game to paddling around, you use 4 times as much energy per minute, and there is NO rest. Add currents and big waves, and the idea of your leash snapping shouldn’t worry you outside of the financial impication of a broken boards

I have a policy: If I won’t paddle out without a leash, given infinite surfboards, then I don’t paddle out. I never had the luxury of a parter that would get me out of trouble, or a safety ski, or any of those things. I had to rely on the grace of God and my own fitness. Surfing big waves solo for a period of time does wonders for your long-term confidence. (Heck, and your relationship with God.)

9

In 15 foot Sunset, and 20 foot Makaha, it was not uncommon to bodysurf in to get a lost board.    Waimea, not so much.    Point is, you’ve got to be comfortable with  the conditions you are surfing in.    Conditioning?      Just do a lot of skindiving, to develop breath holding ability, and ride your big wave gun in ALL conditions.     Crappy beach breaks, stormy stuff, 2 to 5 foot junk surf.      You’ll learn a lot about your board.       BUT, when the waves are bigger and faster, the board will feel like it’s part of you.      That was the ‘‘training, and conditioning’’ that we did, in the pre leash era.     It worked well then, it will work for you now.

Bill

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“something to tide you over”… from the movie creepshow…

…“you gotta hold your breath harry”…"i can hold…gulp…my breath …ALONG TIME !!!

herb


11

That is a really cool looking board Ian, great find at that price.  Looks like it has been broken and repaired, but done well.

Would love to see more pics of it.

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I would LOVE to surf Sunset… The place I surfed breaks a lot like it, according to the people that have been to Sunset, and from what I’ve seen, it makes perfect sense. And since Greg Long sayes Dungeons is “like Sunset in Hawaii with a really bad attitude” I think after a few years surfing there, Sunset should come naturally to me… There is also this spot called Bayview, which people compare to a ‘cold water Waimea.’ Between those, and the left hand ledges of the West Coast of SA, I think I’d be very well Hawaii-prepped in 4-5 years…

 

Bayview:

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No more boards with purple rails for you Huck…your asking for trouble.

Here are some boards in the garage, guns----( boards over 9’ )---- porn.

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14

thanks Ian those are awesome!

15

 

Oooooh…

16

I haven’t surfed huge waves, but I got lip launched by a good solid 8’ r! 16 foot face at sewer peak santa cruz, ca yrs ago.
Geuss why? I was using a six four fish twin fin…i had a blast on a few of the smaller sets, then here comes the set of the day, and I was in perfect position…hmm, great! I paddle for it, and the next thing I’m flying !! It hurled me around 15’! No bs.anyway, he (Francois)better get a bigger board.start saving! This is a true story.

Agreed ! Learn to hold your breath for atleast one minute. Work your way up, learn to “go with the flow”, and surfing in everything on your board sounds good to me! That said, ive mostly surfed med size waves, and fun size.I’m not a big wave surfer.