Wear your leash.

General Discussion
21

Rooster,

It does seem sharkier hahaha

Using a leash as a tourniquet has crossed my mind several times too.

Luckily, I’ve never had to actually do it…

A couple months ago, we were working a little ways up the coast.

I was watching the surf basically all day.

Right about lunch time, a large white shark breached completely out of the water just outside the lineup.

It was amazing. Fully out of the water twisting in the sun before splashing down on his side.

I’ve never seen anything like that before.

It was the coolest thing. Made my whole month!

22

…hi Sharkcountry, I am in the know of that period of the year but this is kind of an invitation from a guy that have about 20 North shore seasons (3 to 6 months there) and some 15 or more of Indonesia seasons so I do not think that he wanted to go in April or so.

Again I am not seeing me riding those waves, more after all the damage I have and four years without Surfing but if I have the opportunity could be good to take it due to he can put me in contact with plenty in the Industry there.

23

Hey Reverb, it’s not always huge during the peak winter months. There are many years that don’t get the really big surf, but recently it’s been pretty good. There are also a lot of places where you could go that offer smaller waves when it’s really big on the NS. As far as the Surfboard industry here, you might be surprised to see what is going on here. Most of the main shaping work is done by machines, then cleaned up and customized as needed. There are still true hand shapers, but so many use the machine because it’s easier to start with a preshape. At least you’d be able to get into the water without a wetsuit.

24

You should go reverb.  Seriously.  You would enjoy it.  Lots of pressure free surf spots that you don’t read about in the magazines.  Great food . You might even find yourself a wahine.  Not the California scene that you often refer to.  Some great factories and collectives.  With an open mind you would completely enjoy it.

25

Hi Chrisp. I’ve had 2 encounters the last 2 years. That’s after surfing fourty five plus years and never seeing a thing. The juveniles come in every summer now. Cute little 8 footers. Probably weigh 600 pounds. It used to be’ look out in the red triangle’. Especially, in the Fall. Now there all up and down the coast. Even in Socal. I keep hoping the orcas will move into the area and clean up Dodge City. Mike

26

Of course I watched the video. He caught a wave and paddled back out directly in front of other surfers. One of the first rules you learn when surfing is to never do that. But like I said, it;s a beachy with peaks all up and down, so maybe you don’t really have much of a choice, but it did look like there were clearer areas farther up the beach with fewer surfers which would have been a  better choice to paddle back out to. 

27

I’m all for NOT wearing a leash when surfing by myself with no one else is in the water or even walking on the beach.  Was on the OBX a few summers ago and the beach was packed with people and kids.  Waves were fairly small but one goobus (pretty good surfer, actually) was surfing without a leash and lost his board.  It washed in and almost hit a kid.  The parents didn’t notice and the kid didn’t notice, but I noticed.  I was tempted to crease this guy’s board but held off. When he came in I explained that he should have been wearing a leash and his board almost hit a kid playing in the sand AND I EVEN OFFERED A LEASH FOR HIS SESSION, he told me to f-off and paddled back out.  I was going to paddle out and sit on him, but that would have just casued more problems. But I truly regret not creasing his board.  Geez, this makes me mad just thinking about this.

28

It all comes down to just be responsible. There’s time when it’s appropriate to not wear a leash, but times when the responsible thing to do is wear one for the safety of others. 

29

I learned to surf without a leash.  There were no leashes.  We called em kook cords when they first came out.  People held on to their boards, through the breaking waves, if they fell, they tried to fall on the board and hang on to it.  If you paddled out, you took responsibility to watch out for incoming boards.  Sometimes you could grab one, and bring it with you to some thankful swimmer.  

I have been injured by more leashed boards than unleashed.  Guys just bailing and not watching whats in their path, or actually falling off backwards while looking right at me and inadvertently sending their board like a missile directly at me.  In the crowded lineups of L.A. I have run over a few hapless souls who put themselves directly into the path of takeoff, I always apologized and paddled over to make sure they were ok.

I guess I’ve been on all sides of the issue.  Its a risk paddling out, or swimming in a surfing area.  Leash or no leash, safety is about being aware, for yourself and others.  I always try to remind myself, when surfing crowded waters, that no wave is worth injuring another surfer, better to lose the wave than hurt someone.  But bottom line is, the ocean is unpredictable and powerful, sometimes we have one idea and the wave has another.

I see guys in the paths of incoming boards just bob and watch it come hit them.  Man, take action, swim under!!

Anyway, safety is important.  We should look out for each other.

30

Really??    Cease his board?  Like the Gestapo?  Sounds more like the parents should have been arrested.  

31

Wow I didnt know the Gestapo surfed , you can learn sumthing every day on Sways .

32

 

Well, I really didn’t feel like that until he told me to F-off.  But, I guess I am Nazi SS as per your astute observastion…  Thanks for that.  You’re the best.  And smartest.   Obviously.

33

Too many people in the water these days.

In 1980 my brother did a trip from Seattle to LA and I stayed at Huntington Beach. We were right across the beach just south of the pier, and rented boards one day. I was amazed at how people there would stand in the water with their back to the waves and not care about what was happening just outside of where they were. In Hawaii, we are taught to never turn your back to the ocean. We always try to be aware of what is coming at us.

34

Well hey it’s a zoo.  But we can’t all be Dirty Harry.

35

Yup, not even me.

36

Story made it to The Inertia:  Link

37

woah, I have surfed there, with a leash, on an uncrowded day. When I borrow my buddy’s LB and we surf local, Tamarak or similar, I wear one.  In Florida, I routinely surf at my local spot without a leash on a LB, but due to minimal to no peeps in the vicinity, it is not a factor.  I paddle away if peeps show.  I wouldn’t consider myself part of the local hipsters, as he is now pro and worldwide (log rap Indialantic local boy in the house), but yeah, I sympathize and understand.

38

never, ever turn your back on the ocean…

one of our local beaches has a dory crew that beach launch their  20’ to 24’ flat bottoms, punch on out.  On their return, they blast their air horns to alert everyone their coming (at least the responsible ones do), and about 25 yards or so from the beach time it so they can pin the throttle and ride on the back of a breaking wave right onto the beach, sliding a good 20’ or so before coming to a stop

Some years back,  I’m just coming out of the water from surfing the cove, pulling my wetsuit down, watching the waves, notice this really large couple, both 300#, finish waddling down the beach with their young son, stocky little chubster maybe 4 or 5, drop onto their towel and start diving into the cooler they had lugged with them.

Watching the waves for a bit, notice a dory coming, hauling ass, sounding their alert horn.  Look over to where it will likely land, maybe ten yards from me, and there is the little boy on hands and knees at the waters edge digging in the sand, parent’s up the beach munching away completely oblivious to what is about to go down.

So drop my board, hustle over, grab the kid, like picking up a sack of concrete, and get about 5 or 6 steps when said dory comes flying onto the beach exactly where the kid was sitting.  Which is when the kids starts crying, I put him down,  parents look up and see me standing next to their crying kid, and begin bellowing at the top of their lungs as they try to lumber up, screaming to leave their kid alone, being a pervert, are going to call the cops…blah, blah

which is when the furious boat owner, having realized what could have happened,  jumps over the side of the now drydocked dory, stomps over to the parents and just starts ripping on them.

Which was my cue to make for the truck.

39

A big takaway from this is that if you are involved in an incident where someone gets hurt lend assistance to the injured and don’t be a jerk about it.  It could turn out that the person you injured happens to be a lawyer who you’ve not only injured but now you’ve really pissed off by your actions after the fact.  

40

Absolutely. I have been involved in collisions where someone else was injured, and that session is over for me until they are safe and their injury addressed. Even tho I was not at fault. It’s the right thing to do. I have also been injured bad enough that I required first aid, and when the person at fault asked if I was ok, and I clearly said no, they just paddled back out and left me on my own to try to get in. In that case the ranger who administered first aid said she saw the whole thing, and was expecting me to get violent after what was done to me (blatant snake by hipster kook who dropped in on top of me hit me in the face with their board).