No fan of longboarders to begin with. Even less of a fan of leashless kooks who think their kewl riding longboards. On Sunday morning a buddy of mine was surfing Oceanside and a hipster chick lost her longboard spearing him. Cost him two badly broken ribs, a punctured lung, a three day stay in the hospital and a cancelled upcoming surf trip. All because someone thought they were too kewl to wear a leash.
Here in Hawaii we learn that if you surf, you need to learn how to avoid getting hit. I have been run over far too many times to count and also have run over or hit others in my 50+ years of surfing. It happens. Leashes break and I’ve had a board almost hit friends when that happend more than once.
My dad used to tell me that he could fix my board, but he couldn’t fix my body, so keep the body from getting hurt. He tried surfing in the days of wooden boards without fins, before WW2. I saw Goerge Downing’s son Keone recently and he had little models of the old hot curl boards. We talked about riding the old wood boards and I mentioned how my dad said in the old days guys would run you over. Keone said it wasn’t intentional, the boards would go which ever way they went and if you got caught in front you’d better dive down. That’s what my dad taught us and that’s what I taught my kids. Dump the board and dive down deep.
You can’t blame the person losing a board if there’s enough time to get out of the way. Turning turtle, or bailing off the board would have saved your friend from bodily injury, but maybe end up with a damaged board. I think we’d all be better off if no one had leashes like when I started. We are spoiled now and forget that we have a responsibility for staying safe too.
Far too many people in the water these days.
This happened to me in 1978 on the north shore. I almost lost my eye and couldn’t see out of it for months. I never blamed the person who owned the board, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Perhaps your friend should employ an attorney , he probably wont win but the stupid , wont do that again and word will get out . I once saw a kid get knocked out by a leashless board if I had not been there the kid would be dead , I have no sympathy for assholes that do not wear a leash .
That’s a horrible peak to surf a longboard without a leash, and nobody should be surfing without a leash if they can’t maintain control of their board after a 2ft closeout.
Hard to compare what we see on camera and what the people there saw while it happened. It looked like there was some time between the wipeout and where he was hit. It also looked like she followed the guy in some to make sure he got in. It’s a bummer that he was injured badly.
I too got hit as I tried to go under the water, never saw the board and it was attached to the surfer via a leash. I did see the surfer fall, but a white board in white water is hard to see, and I was too close.
A good friend of mine almost died when a visiting surfer’s long board went flying in the air and came down on his neck. He never saw it coming and was very lucky to have everything in place to get him to shore and to the hospital ASAP. He had thousands of dollars in hospital fees, and no one knew who the visitor was. These days I surf off to the side and away from packs. I tend to get a little upset when the donkeys start flocking over to where I am. I also try to surf where I can paddle out away from the breaking waves, that’s how we were taught. You paddle around the break to get back out, if not and you get hit, it’s as much your fault as anyone.
We all have to do what we can to be safe. It’s getting harder with all the people in the water, and those not willing to learn the etiquette. Us older surfers can’t be “managers” and keep spots under control the way they did 40 years ago.
Kurt Lum one of my high school classmates, a well known northshore and bali charger, posted this earlier this week on facebook about his son.
Puena Point has become a danger zone along with white plains, diamondhead
Hey everyone, Sean is improving and is allowed to walk and is starting physical therapy today! So if you haven’t already heard, Sean was teaching an advanced surfing lesson at Puaena point and got hit directly on his kidney by a longboard that he didn’t see coming sustaining a blunt force trauma to his kidney. The kidney started bleeding and swelling against his stomach causing excruciating pain, he was in Queens ICU for 3 days from Friday to Sunday. Today is Tuesday here, we are hoping that he can come home soon. Mahalo again to everyone for your thoughts and prayers.
Plenty kind accidents from leashed and unleashed bioards. I almost took a guys head off once at Little Cape on Maui. Kicked out a 10’0 longboard over his head. If he hadn’t blown his take off on a sizable overhead wave just previous to mine he wouldn’t have been floundering in the impact zone when I took off on the one behind his. The guy wanted to fight me. Said he saw his life flash before his eyes. If I hadn’t done a controlled “Fly Away” he would have gone to Kahului in an ambulance. He got out of the water and waited for me. But I didn’t go in. The waves were way to good to spend any time outta the water dukin’ it out with a kook.
I’m one of those assholes that doesnt wear a leash. Unless, it’s super crowded and busy or my board is going to be destroyed.That’s how I learned. That’s how I like to surf. I’m careful though. I don’t take off when the vectors are putting somebody in front of me. I hate to see kooks on long boards wearing cords. Ugly surfing usually. Sorry your friend was hurt so badly. I’ve never hurt anyone in 47 years thank God. I’ve been run over several times. I ditch the board and dive for the bottom. Surfing can be dangerous. Mike
as all in life is about to have luck. I see many people with more luck than anybody; they do not get hurt no matter the surf conditions, no matter how fast they ride their motorcycles without any safety; never ever hurt.
I am very damaged and is now 4 years out of the water to avoid idiots in the water, no hits to the guys but I have been damaged my body too much to keep with some etiquette or for the sake of not damaging others…
Then 6 months ago I was commuting in my Brit old iron (slow in a city, with light by my right) and another idiot in a crappy cage hits me hard by the side…not only more body damage but I needed to cancel all the Summer orders; that is lots of money for me here, this Winter could be difficult regarding money.
I just (now is the past actually) try to surf earlier than all by the night and in Winter try to avoid the weekend warriors and the spots where you see that there are certain types of riders…
A buddy suggested to go to Hawaii in October-November could be super cool but I have high doubts about my possibilities to surf there.
Reverb, you’re better off coming to Hawaii after March. The winter surf brings in a lot of people and the crowds in the water are bad. Right now we get large surf from the North West, but not the big North swells. Still getting waves with faces over 10’ on the north and west sides. As we get closer to June, we’ll see the south swells and there are times when there are waves on all sides of the island, so the crowds thin out. It isn’t unusual to have overhead waves on the north shore in the summer too. Here on Oahu, there are a lot of places you can go to surf if it’s too big or too small on one side of the island.
Beginning of April my favorite time to be on the North Shore…such a fun variety…especially those late season swells that light up fun OH Sunset…visiting pro’s and frothers long gone, locals pretty much surfed out…chill scene with hella fun waves almost everywhere you look…
regarding surfing longboards in a crowd without a leash…park the ego and don’t…unless of course you have a neckbeard, in which case you’re obligated to…
Longboards are never going away, and will always be part of nearly every local lineup. 2. Always wear a leash…it’s jsut stupuid not not to. 3. Why was he paddling out right in front of open face waves? I know it’s a beachy and all, but he put himsefl in a poor position to begin with. While sympathetic to his situation, he could have also avoided it if he made at least soemnthign of an effort tom not paddle out right in front of everyone. That is as much of a kook move as not wearning a leash.
Sometimes I wear a cord surfing all alone in small easy conditions in case I need it as a tourniquet. How F…ed up is that thinking? It’s getting sharkier out there. Mike
I can assure you that my friend is far from being a kook. How many guys over 50 do you know who still surf like this? How many guys period do you know who surf like this?
