The Surferless Board
RegForte
you spot it. A surfboard is coming through the shorebreak at
you with no one attached to it. Being a surfer you know the
full significance of what you're looking at while others
may not.
http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_14082652
Has this ever happened to you?
I've been on both sides of it. I've had leashes break
on some really big days, once all alone way out on the
OBSF outer shoals at 10+.
I've also paddled boards back out to people when they
washed up at my feet. In any case when it happens
in bombing surf, it's something you won't soon forget.
--
Reg
lpollock
> Has this ever happened to you?
>
> I've been on both sides of it. I've had leashes break
> on some really big days, once all alone way out on the
> OBSF outer shoals at 10+.
>
> I've also paddled boards back out to people when they
> washed up at my feet. In any case when it happens
> in bombing surf, it's something you won't soon forget.
making the bodysurf in is part of being out there.
ropes should just be a convenience and a surfer that doesn't know how
to get in on bsing a big day, really shouldn't be out there.
lp
(PeteCresswell)
>
>making the bodysurf in is part of being out there.
>ropes should just be a convenience and a surfer that doesn't know how
>to get in on bsing a big day, really shouldn't be out there.
>lp
My recollection of 5+ years of surfing Sunset Beach on Oahu's
North Shore was that we rescued each other on such a regular
basis that nobody even thought of it as rescuing.
You get caught in that rip without your board, somebody gets your
board and tows it out to you.
--
PeteCresswell
Dennis
I'd have just thought, Ah pennies from heaven, and posted the board on
Craigslist.
gpsman
>
> My recollection of 5+ years of surfing Sunset Beach on Oahu's
> North Shore was that we rescued each other on such a regular
> basis that nobody even thought of it as rescuing.
>
> You get caught in that rip without your board, somebody gets your
> board and tows it out to you.
You must be referring to the olden days before surfers were
leashed...?
My best lost board story happened at Laniakea.
Best waves I ever saw there, 8-12', tubes you could drive The Bus
through.
I was tired and headed in and so took the first wave of a set...
bottom sucked out and at the bottom I stylishly pearled up to my neck
strategically positioning myself to ride the currents straight in to
the beach.
I never saw my ((brand new, personalized, 7'2" Tommy Ellis (LB) round
pin, white over yellow, $120)) board again until I got there,
exhausted, then I spotted it following the rip and nearing the lineup
and heading out to sea and drifting towards Haleiwa.
Nobody looked to be heading toward it and I never didn't ever not want
to jump into the ocean quite so bad before that moment of my then
short but exciting life.
I hyperventilated for a minute or so while trying to get a line on
where we might most likely meet with minimal effort on my part and
then headed back in after it.
Caught up with it about a half hour later and got back to my car a
half hour after that, considering myself the luckiest guy to still be
alive on the NS that day. Had I not found it I'd have probably
drowned.
Boards floating riderless near the beach were just pulled out of the
shore break and left for their owners to retrieve, IME.
-----
- gpsman
(PeteCresswell)
>My best lost board story happened at Laniakea.
I suspect that Laniakea was the place where I came closest to
ending my misspent youth.
Went over the falls, got drilled on the *hip*, of all places, by
my board. Woke up laying on my back (I'm what my swimming coach
called a "Sinker") on a sand bottom in a narrow ravine between
two coral formations - maybe 4-6 feet high.
Swam to the surface, swam in, decided Pupakea/Makaha/Poplars were
more my speed from then on.
--
PeteCresswell
Kev
Nah, only once in small stuff at a point break too well known to name.
Me on my bigger shortboard and a riderless log came down the line as I
paddled back up. Gave it a push along with me while its owner swam
down.
The practical thing to do would be hop on and paddle it while dragging
your own board behind by your legrope. Seems a bit provocative to jump
on a stranger's board unless there's a local etiquette to such things.
Of course leashless longboarders who can't keep hold of their board
don't deserve much consideration :-).
Andy
I normally don’t wear a leash if it is under head-high and decent
conditions, the other day it was neither. It was not huge, only ~OH on
the sets (8'), but it was super shifty and dumpy-bombie, still there
were some gems out there. Paddled out with nobody in the water, made
it to the bar and just got repeatedly cycled, the water was draining
off the sandbar in a big way. I thought I made it outside just about
the time the arms decided it was a good time to go into lactic acid
meltdown.
You know when you fell like you are still humping it but for all
purposes you are going nowhere? Well I was at that point.
On cue, a set lumps up and just drills me, right between the shoulder
blades, though I had a good grip on the board but I guess I was
mistaken. I came up and watched the tail of my board zipping
shoreward. Normally I don’t mind the swim in, no big deal, but the
inshore pound was heavy that day, probably shoulder high and just
imploding on the beach. I had visions of snapped board running through
my head all the way in, and needless to say I was going for a full on
Olympic record in the floppy-armed-full bootie-100 yard freestyle.
I did not loose but damn that sucked, I went back and got the
leash.
RegForte
> On Dec 30, 9:55 am, "(PeteCresswell)" <x...@y.Invalid> wrote:
>
>>My recollection of 5+ years of surfing Sunset Beach on Oahu's
>>North Shore was that we rescued each other on such a regular
>>basis that nobody even thought of it as rescuing.
>>
>>You get caught in that rip without your board, somebody gets your
>>board and tows it out to you.
>
>
> You must be referring to the olden days before surfers were
> leashed...?
Though I wasn't around in the pe-leash days it makes sense
that the leash has created a new class of unqualified
surfers.
We had this incident yesterday
Surfer rescued from rocks near Cliff House
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/baycitynews/a/2010/01/04/rescue04.DTL>
Think he made enough of a spectacle of himself?
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/baycitynews/a/2010/01/04/rescue04.DTL&object=%2Fc%2Fpictures%2F2010%2F01%2F04%2Fba-rescue_004_ho_0501017467.jpg>
I was in the water at the time. Barely head high and quite
user friendly by local standards. Even without his board it
would have been an easy swim in.
--
Reg
lpollock
> Think he made enough of a spectacle of himself?
> <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/baycitynews/a/2010/01...>
>
> I was in the water at the time. Barely head high and quite
> user friendly by local standards. Even without his board it
> would have been an easy swim in.
Yikes. Yesterday was the smallest it's been in a while.
That's what I was referring to.
I mean around here with our rubbers on you pretty much can take your
time and float in doing a little bsing when the waves come through.
Then again I've seen some strange behavior by beginners. Like a guy
trying desperately to paddle in in the channel and avoiding the
whitewater at any cost. I watched him waste his energy for a few
minutes, then gave him a few pointers each time while paddling out
after waves. unfortunately, he seemed terrified by the soup and kept
moving over to where he was working against the current instead of
taking an easy belly ride in. I ususpect he'd be the same sort of
person (emotionally) who would try to drown a lifeguard trying to
rescue him.
thirsty horse -> fresh water -> ?????
lp
the_andr...@yahoo.com
My first [real, not foam-beach-store board] surfboard ride was in 1969
(I was 4) on a surferless surfboard I picked up on Cocoa Beach, FL in
front of the Bel Air motel. I can remember it vividly because it had
an alligator airbrushed on the deck. I was trying to pick it up when
some older person (dad or brother) told me to leave it alone.
At the same moment, the owner walked up and asked me if I wanted to
try to ride it. Not knowing what sort of troubled life this would
lead to, I answered in the affirmative. After getting my parent's
approval, he spent probably another hour letting me belly-board into
the shorebreak.
I've often wondered who that guy was or where he is today (he's in his
50's-60s by now) and what sort of surf he was ignoring to let some kid
ding and possibly snap the fin off his board in the shoredump.
My other surferless boards involve all the boards hanging in my
garage. With twins on the way this spring, I expect them to remain so
for sometime.
Oh well, the memories are nice, too.
a.
the_andr...@yahoo.com
I just read the article and I agree. BSing in is MUCH more fun than
treading water.
Weird response from the guy.
a.
the_andr...@yahoo.com
All of this must have something to do with the name.
a.
sully
> The surf is UP... you're walking along the beach and then
> you spot it. A surfboard is coming through the shorebreak at
> you with no one attached to it. Being a surfer you know the
> full significance of what you're looking at while others
> may not.
>
> http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_14082652
>
> Has this ever happened to you?
>
> I've been on both sides of it. I've had leashes break
> on some really big days, once all alone way out on the
> OBSF outer shoals at 10+.
I didn't dredge up article, but the USCG used a helicopter a couple
days ago to
pull a surfer off of Seal Rock who got tired trying to beat the tidal
flow.
He hadn't surfed in a couple years apparently, 23 yr old kid.
Fitness and swimming ability are essential for OBSF. The HMB break
mentioned
above is not a particularly brutal place, it's about halfway between
Kelly's and Grom beach and the bars tend to set up pretty close to
shore.
However, the concept of bodysurfing is foreign to many NorCal
surfers, many times I've had surfers be surprised to see me out
swimming around, didn't realize you could waveride without
floatation.
lpollock
> On Dec 29 2009, 12:19 pm, RegForte <r...@nospam.com> wrote:
> > I've been on both sides of it. I've had leashes break
> > on some really big days, once all alone way out on the
> > OBSF outer shoals at 10+.
>
> I didn't dredge up article, but the USCG used a helicopter a couple
> days ago to
> pull a surfer off of Seal Rock who got tired trying to beat the tidal
> flow.
btw - the cutter was out rescuing a couple surfers there yesterday.
one of them they dropped on shore. the other just asked to get dropped
off in front of a sandbar for a few more...
lp
lpollock
> btw - the cutter was out rescuing a couple surfers there yesterday.
> one of them they dropped on shore. the other just asked to get dropped
> off in front of a sandbar for a few more...
>
> lp
the article:
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/san_francisco&id=7209887
Mort
Two in one week.
It seems to me that, in theory, if this keeps up the effected
authorities are going to want to make some sort of changes. No
surfing zones, surfing bans on certain (big) days, billing the
rescuees, etc.
When you've got a guy who wants to go right back in the
rescuers start to look more like some sort of shuttle
service. They can't think highly of that.
I don't really know... I'm just concerned that more policing
of OB could result (bad!). Any opinions would be welcome.
--
Mort
Dennis
Rescues there don't happen very often. Most people know to say a
hundred yards or so away from Seal Rock when the tide is coming in,
especially if it's a big tide change, like a +6 to a -1. All the
water is pushing into the SF Bay. If you don't want to be rescued,
just pass Seal Rock and paddle in at China Beach, about a half mile in
toward the GGB. You can get a ride from somebody back to OB. On an
outgoing tide, it's a good place to paddle out.