The Art of Wiping Out.

General Discussion
1

I love to watch others surfing.

Sometimes you see a shaky late takeoff, folowed by the ill-fated bottom turn, then a foot slips and finally theres a powerful faceplant followed by the lip crushing him into the deep. coup de grace.

 Its the story of life in 3 seconds, the rise and fall of any republic and one hell of a laugh, time after time.

 I like the straight line takeoff on a mal.  You can see the nose slicing just under the surface getting deeper until its only going from bad to worse. In very slow motion the rider is now up to his calves coming down the face and not going anywhere good. Finally the forces of physics force him to step off into the bottom of the wave and just leaves him ready for the lip to hand out a lesson. Board, man and wave all together again.

 Theres the semi pro... lightening takeoff, slashing left and right, pumping for the boost at the end, he launches, he flies, he spins... only to land awkwardly on his board on his bum.Finishing the wave in the cockroach position. Classic styling fit for any magazine.

So many variations on the same theme.

My personal favourite is to stand up on a steep peaking wave and my back foot slips off the tail of the board.

Falling into the water off the back of the board, with all of my weight on my back foot, I drop down and cop the swallow tail in the croutons..and quietly sink into the cool water before going helplessly over the falls.

Nothing can be done to save myself in that situation, but go over the falls hanging onto my balls in agony. Quietly sniggering at my own foolishness.

So if I can laugh at my own goofs I can laugh at some of the best public displays on offer...

 Who can keep a straight face when you see two people takeoff on opposite sides of a peak and instantly collide as they get to their feet. And then go over the falls together, a chance meeting of like minds, and now their two lives are entwined purely by chance.... Lovely.

Or theres the rookie mistake of paddling straight to shore and forgetting to stand up, you can see their face register that the board is heading into the depths of the wave and that they SHOULD stand up, but no, its past that now. They freeze and cling to their personal Titanic as it continues on taking them on a fun filled ride to the depths of the sea. They continue to cling to the board as it spears into the bottom of the wave. Nose submerged, the riders face now registers fear and panic and they seem immobile to abandon ship. Finally and mercifully, the board slows tilts tot an extreme angle, jettisoning the rider forward at max speed into the lowest part of the wave. Tthe rider slides off, cheeks full of vital oxygen, and gracefully vanishes and then as the wave folds over to consume them,  the board soon exits out the back of the wave like Neptunes upthrust trident, it usually rocketsskyward, flailing to break the constraints of the leash only to rebound back at its owner head who is quietly considering their life span underwater.

 Oh the drama of it all !  The comedy, the bravado, the pleasure of seeing a consumate performer disappear behind the foamy blue curtain as their performance ends.

You can experience the highs and lows of each ride, have true empathy and feeling for the situation and the people.    Its one of the alternate joys of surfing where you can feel the thrill, have a great laugh and keep your feet dry too.

2

nice post, surffoils!

this thread shoulda been titled ‘The Art of Wiping Out’ hehe

cheers,

3

surfiber, good idea, thread renamed, thanks.

4

2 of the coolest wipeouts ever were Jay Moriarty IMO. the deja vu cover shots.

5

Haha great thread, one of my workmates grew up surfing from age 5 or so. He wont surf for 6 months, then i'll persuade him out, first wave he'll get the best barrel ever and say " Man im so rusty"!! PRICK!!!. I always tell him i can give him lessons, in wiping out !!!. Wiping out is fun sometimes, and sometimes im laughing as i go down. Except when its decent size, then im shitting!!

 

 

 

I must say though, seeing others get sweet rides is a big hoot for me. I watched my very good friend drop into a wave i never thought he'd even paddle for, and he made it beautifully. I will NEVER forget that, it was awesome.

 

How good is it when you're paddling back out and see down the beach someone through the barrel. AWESOME!!!

6

This thread will benefit greatly with the addition of photos and even better moving pictures.

I have a 6’2" that had me doing just about every kind of wipeout ever made or yet to be made the other day. It’s kind of like a mechanized bull that throws you off every time within a few seconds.

7

here in manila we usually schedule surf trips during 3-day weekends whenever a holiday (we have too much) falls on a friday or a monday, so the nearest spots (zambales & la union) tend to get really crowded while the opportunity to wipe out increases as well.

it doesn’t really pay to get grumpy whenever shit happens due to too many people in the water— including non-surfers— so whenever i’d feel my leash tugging hard against something behind me within seconds after popping up, i know exactly what’s just happened, and what’s coming next : wipeout.  depending on what’s ahead of me before impact, i’d either double up with my arms over my head when something or somebody else is up front, or if none i would put my hands together, like this :

and come out grinning as if i didn’t double up underwater to protect my coconut from the leashed projectile behind me hehe !

cheers,

8

Who can forget seeing their first " Running Man" step-off ?

 The guy goes racing down the line, catches an outside rail, hops in the air and then attempts to run thru the air alongside his board !! Usually gets in about 2 or 3 comedy bike-pedalling style steps before giving in to gravity.

 Hilarious, defies logic to run above water and the best thing is when you do it yourself.

 Theres the 'Tree Fall'.  On takeoff the guy can see that its not going to be a pretty or succesful ride so as he stands up, he then just falls like a tree from the lip into the pit. No scrambling, no attempt to save his life, just fall.

Theres something heroic about a man who gives in from the very beginning.

 Then theres the Greg Luganis, where they decide to spear themselves at full speed into the shallows at the bottom of the wave.

The Crucifix, much like the Luganis, but with arms outstretched so they can kiss the reef face first.

 One of the best must be the  'Twin Cycle',  going over with the lip only to be pulled back up the face and flogged over the falls a second time, great memories !

 I think there was a good example of that done by Ian Cairns at Sunset, or was it P.T. ? 

 

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and no, i don’t do reefs. anymore.

hehe

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looks like i somehow skipped this part the first time hehe this is where the sadist part of the original title makes sense hmm! " )

11

This is making me laugh so hard my face hurts!

Keep ‘em comin’!

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[img_assist|nid=1055903|title=Bail|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=754|height=510]

13

i surely hope that dark object to the left of the rider wasn’t a shark setting out for lunch ?

14

My personal best usually happens on the paddle out.

I'm just about to clear that last breaker and get ready to set up on the outside. Just as I think I've cleared the lip I feel that hydrolic suction on the lower half of my body. I know exactly what that means. I'm going over the falls. Backwards! All I can do is flail desparately in a last ditch effort to break loose but I know I'm doomed. I can immagine how hysterical this must look from the shore as my board rides me into the crashing surf.

I wish I could say this has only happenned once.

 

15

I’ve tried to bail doing the same thing. So it’s me, next to my board, going over backwards.

16

Surfiber, i trashed my right shoulder diving off at speed like that with my hands up. when i entered the water, my right hand got pushed way too far over my head, backwards, and at a funny angle... i'll never do it again, that was almost 10 years ago and my shoulder is still messed up.... at the very least if you are going to dive, it's a good idea to grab your thumbs in the opposite hands and make fists to keep your hands together as you enter the water... nowadays if i'm going head first, i cover my head like i would if something was falling on me. protect the dome. not that i've had a bunch but i can't afford another concussion either.

17

Pitas Point - Was longboarding a really nice weekday about 12 years ago. 1.5XOH and wide open, easy barrels. My friends were watching me while paddling over the shoulder of a nice wave I was on. So I tried to show off and spread my arms to show how big this barrel was. I ended up with one hand in the lip, and the other in the face initiating a nice cartwheel. My head surfaced so that I could watch myself go over the falls, when my 9’6" came up in the explosion! I covered my head, but the board hit my back rail first, just above the floating ribs; breaking 3 of them.

 

Not really a bail but:

Tarantulas - My buddy & I duck dove an insider on a big day, he was right over the big boil on the left. We both surface easy, but he’s moving backwards even though he’s paddling hard. He hits the outer edge of the boil and and gets pulled under, board and all! He pops up in the middle of it again, and starts moving backwards again! But before he could go under again, the next wave lands between his shoulder blades and pummels him out of the boil.

18

Hey Lockedin, Reminds me of a time many years ago at Mary’s/Pitas solid 10 to 12 foot faces. A buddy and I paddle out in the dark and have the place to ourselves with one other guy and his son for about an hour and a half. Loads of swell and real consistent. Word gets around and guys begin to show up in droves so we pick a last one and paddle back to the campground where we parked. Tide came up and it’s slamming the rip-rap boulders so we start to paddle to the little sand section just past the camping area. A tapered wave pops up and my buddy gets greedy and turns to catch it. I realize how deep we are and think to myself he’s going to be run right into the rocks, he won’t make the corner. I’m worried and I stop to keep my eye out for him and bingo! I’m inside. The set of the morning comes in and a wave takes me and and bounces me off the bottom three times! I’m thinking…this is home, waves don’t hold you down here (except Overhead). I finally come up and fight the shore pound get back to the point and start looking for him. All of a sudden he comes walking up behind me with a big grin on his face and asks, " Did you see that last one I got"? I just said no and walked to the truck.

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From the top...

The Cockroach With 1/2 Twist.   (sans board)     aka The Holy Jesus

Wrong Show

The Crucifix with Concrete.

Superman X 2

The Running Man

The M.R. or The Commando because it looks like he's parachuting out of a plane.

The Classic Luganis.








20

Great shots Surfoils, that first one is a nightmare. Imagine watching the lip come down to pin you, what fun.