Near Death Experience for Greg Long...thanks GMac.......

[proneman]

http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/apocalypse-swell-all-paddle-edition_90292/

I guess the hurt put on this kook by Joel Tudor at Malibu did not teach him the lesson he needs…

[ghettorat]

All big wave riders at some point will be challenged by forces greater than themselves.  People in the way only complicate things exponentiallly .  Greg is an amazing surfer, yet things happen, and I am glad he is still around.  Besides in his graciousness, he told me he saw me ride the grarliest wave he’s seen; which at the this point I totally do not believe, but at least he is still around for you to ask.  Its humbling, and challenging to the core, fighting your way up just to breath, and can strip the ego to the soul, yet the glory of waves well ridden, and tamed always sing to those who enjoy harnessing the power.  A great wave witnessed by friends, always lives forever.

[Huck]

It did look like gmac was clearly the cause of the wipeout, but I notice no one, at least on the surfline link you posted, is blaming him.  Greg Long, in his public statement, didn’t say anything about it 

Thank you to the entire community of friends, family and well-wishers for your concern, your outpouring of love, support and prayers, following the serious wipeout I experienced while surfing at the Cortes Bank on Friday, December 21st.

I am home, following a 24 hour stay in the UCSD Hospital in San Diego for precautionary observation as a result of the near drowning experience and blunt trauma injuries I suffered from the impact of a sequence of four large waves, and a three wave hold down. I had taken off on the second wave of a four-wave set and was forced to straighten out. After enduring an extremely violent and long hold down, I barely broke the surface and was attempting to grab a breath of air, when I received the full impact of the lip from the third and largest wave of the set. All of my breath was knocked out of me. I nearly lost consciousness at this point and was again driven deep and was subjected to a furious beating. I attempted to swim to the surface as the energy of the wave began to release me, but only made a few strokes before the next wave passed overhead, pushing me back down. As this beating started to subside, I began climbing my leash, hoping to break the surface before passing out. I made it to the tail of my board while it was still submerged in the turbulent and aerated water, at which point I blacked out from CO2 saturation and lack of oxygen.

Three rescue skis operated by D.K. Walsh, Jon Walla and Frank Quiarte were tracking me following the initial wipeout. After a fourth and smaller white water had passed, I was quickly located, floating face down along side my surfboard by D.K. Walsh. D.K. abandoned his ski, jumping in the water in order to raise my head above the surface. Jon Walla arrived on his ski, and together they pulled me onto the rescue sled. I began regaining consciousness during the ride back to the support boat we were operating from. Several other rescuers assisted getting me onboard at which point I began vomiting the small amount of water I had aspirated and a large amount of blood, which I later learned was from a combination of the blunt force trauma of impact and the rupturing of capillaries due to extreme breath holding. I was stabilized onboard the boat by the lifeguards and paramedics who were part of our safety team, and a Coast Guard helicopter was summoned to transport me back to San Diego.

Having trained for extreme breath holding, at no point did I allow myself to panic or lose confidence that I was going to survive this incident. I do, however, fully acknowledge that I did exceed my limits of endurance, and that there will always be elements of risk and danger that are beyond my control while surfing waves of any size. Because of those elements of risk, I have always insisted on working with individuals that share my focus on training and preparation. Humbly, I express my deepest gratitude to the team of rescuers and fellow surfers who’s training and precise response contributed to saving my life.

I have often wondered why you see more than one guy taking off on those monster waves, it always seemed to me thats the last place you want to share a wave, but it is something I frequently see photos of.

According to one of the comments, gmac says he did not see Greg or know he was there.

“You know, you can do the ‘ignorance is bliss’ thing – that’s how I was
for a long time,” Healey said. “But once you learn about big waves and
you get a taste, when you’ve been a part of it for a while and when
you’ve seen really bad things happen, you know that it (death) will
happen, eventually.”

[stingray]

[quote="$1"]

http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/apocalypse-swell-all-paddle-edition_90292/

I guess the hurt put on this kook by Joel Tudor at Malibu did not teach him the lesson he needs.............

[/quote]

Merry Christmas ProneMan. Not.

[ambrose]

and the 21st century marches on.

things get better and worse in tandem

As time goes on criterion and judgement

are tested and graded.When the number 

of surfers in a given lineup increase the

coordinated effort becomes essential.

When the self regulating hierarchy becomes

inefficient and life threatening the questions

of umpires , rules, and regulators[air tanks?]

passes, special sessions ,paddle in,tow in,

power-in board areas,segregated,…

 

 

Perhaps even a fully equiped hospital boat

with morgue facilities for harvesting organs

is not far off in the near future…

 

Science fiction?

How far off is the grand stand boat?

How much for a seat on the deck drinking 

Mojitos placing bets on the next set ,with 

international industrialists gambling 

windfall profits from commodity trading.

 

If the hospital boat was propperly equipped

we could realize the sci-fi scenario

of putting up organs for for collateral.

None the less an effort of BRAVADO,

abandon,and passion only remotely rivaled

by enthusiasts of any sporting effort.

Pushing Limits? death wish?

Hey Mom watch this?

the M.C.Hammer “You can’t touch this”

Award for everyone involved.

the money spent on this adventure

could feed a small village

in the third world

for months.

…ambrose…

surfing with more than an appropriate # of

surfers out becomes an often elusive solution.

Surviving  near-death scenarios are a required

part of the curriculum for becoming an old man.

Know when to walk away ?Or paddle out in a

sketchy  crowd …

motives?-photo op ,big prize,zen,personal best,

tall girls in the stands,increased revenue

at the sperm bank?

^64 years old and counting…

you guys go, I’ll meet you back here.

I’ll be finishing off the screen door.

Maybe working on a balsa reproduction.

I’ll try not to cut myself on a sharp tool.

 

 

oh yeah,nice board,I got a good look at it

up close … at speed… thanks for getting my board

you were a life saver.

at one time all surfers were life savers

at least I thought so,I must have been young.

 

Organs as commodities;

how much for a surfers 

long list of healthy organs?

More or less than

an xxl cash prize?

 

sorry i didnt see you.

sorry you didn’t look.

sorry you died.

 

glad I was home waiting

the world’s ending

installing  the screen door.

 

 

[proneman]

Without the power assist jet board…would GMac even have caught that wave? Whether he saw Greg or not…seems to me that board should not be used in conjunction with paddle surfers on waves of  consequence. Does anyone really believe the crew out there was happy to have GMac buzzing around the line up lookin to one-up the paddlers in order to pimp his equiptment? I saw him giving a sales presentation last winter at the Pipe contest…  appropiately,way out on the outer reefs(alone, where he could only harm himself)

roger

 

[ifallalot]

I had taken off on the second wave of a four-wave set and was forced to straighten out.

Oh, he did say someting about it in his statement.  I read that as a “read between the lines” statement to GMac

Its time for Gmac to be banned from surfing; especially since he has taken to riding motorboats

[stoneburner]

@$1

tamed 

Never.

The wonederful arrogance of humanity.

[Huck]

Hopefully we’ll get more imput from those who were there that day.

I’m guessing we’ll be hearing a lot more about this incident in the days to come.  Its 2 pages deep already over at the erbb http://forum.surfermag.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=2443033&page=0&fpart=all&vc=1&nt=2

[cuttlefish]

But motorboats don’t kill people.

Talk of banning…about surfing.

That’s a bit GUNgho isn’t it?

There’s too many surfboards out there already.

What we need are more good people armed with boards to combat the bad people with boards.

[cuttlefish]

Very well said Ambrose (as always).

 

[rcone]

I have had my run ins with Gmac… Not taking anything away from his surfing ability but his motivation for what he is doing is not always correct. It has become too in vogue to be a big wave surfer now. Almost all of my misfortunes that have happened to me in the big wave arena were caused by another being somewhere they shouldn’t have been. The fact that he said he didn’t even know he was there is sad. These guys are taking it to another level. This is going to happen more often now. Glad Greg is alright. 

[mako224]

A 23 year old experienced surfer died at Maria’s in Puerto Rico yesterday in flawless double overhead surf.  You just never know when it is your time.  Honestly though I worry more in small surf than anything.  Don’t know how I haven’t broken my neck several times over goofing off in small waves or doing floaters into dry sand in the shorebreak.  You can’t breathe water.

[shushka420]

@$1

 

I have often wondered why you see more than one guy taking off on those monster waves, it always seemed to me thats the last place you want to share a wave, but it is something I frequently see photos of.

According to one of the comments, gmac says he did not see Greg or know he was there.

I think it’s just one of those things when paddling big waves where, just like in a normal-sized lineup people back up the shoulder in case the guy at the peak bails or is too deep, so they can get the ride the other guy will most likely wipeout on - however in the case of big waves the things are so steep and powerful, that you basically get to a point where your choices are drop in on the guy or go over the falls and maybe die 

 

[beerfan]

If they are the choices, wouldn't it be even more important then to make damn sure you don't "back up" the shoulder in huge waves? Surely that would be the sensible, logical thing to do to make sure no one gets hurt like greg did?

 

 

[lcc]

Gdud’s antics on a SUP out at Mavericks have earned him mucho disrespect from many who are themselves mucho respected…drop-ins, fades, folks getting seriously whacked by his barge…no doubt his next appearence there will be on a motorized life boat in which he will exhibit the same behavior…a role model for idiots.

[ambrose]

society for the preservation of perfectly good internal organs.

sftpopgio… SFT POP GIO

fund raising for the hospital barge

gotta have a catchy anagram moniker.

fellowship of ubermen causetory kollisions?

 

 

… I gotta get dressed I’m getting cold…

two foot low tide junk with nobody out

caught three good mat angles…

…ambrose…

didn’t mc namara have a band?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a07M239n0XY

 

[lcc]

Ambrose, you’re on a roll, lad…Kerouacian Be Bop Allegories morphed with Ram Das Witticisms whilst Parker blows it home…

fine me foot tappin wid da beet mon

 

[ifallalot]

http://greghuglin.smugmug.com/Other/Greg-Long-and-Garrett-McNamara/27241179_pMvLjX#!i=2288827592&k=Dj6BDKF

[surfding]

Greg and his family all of them are fine waterman.

We are blessed to have Greg still with us.

Please include Greg and his family in your nightly prayers!

 

Kind regards,

surfding