Caught inside

[One-Off]

What's you'r preferred method?

Last winter, when it got big I remember ditching my board. I was thinking of what a friend who surfs OBSF told me, "At a certain size you can't hold on." For me it was at that size. So I ditched and came up pretty easily. Did it again. no problem. Well, that works. Then (the third time's a charm) do it again and I got held down for a long, long time. Fuk.

So the next set I turtled ( I was on a 8-3 at a deep water wave), wrapped my arms and legs around the board. I got bounced around a bit but popped up pretty quick. Well that works. I'll do that. Then the next time, same procedure and I just get rolled, over and over and it wouldn't let go, until finally I panicked, pushed the board away and started stroking for the surface.

This past week at the beach a big set came. The first one was sucking out and going to land on my head. The last two boards I've snapped have been this exact scenario- trying to duck right under a big lip. So this time I push the board away from the lip and curl up. I get held down a long, long time and finally did the four strokes to get to the surface routine. Fuk.

The next one's coming but is smaller and frothy so I duck dive it. I get tossled a bit and pushed down. At a certain point it seems to let up and I'm waiting for the board to carry me to the surface, but it just stays down there, submerged. What the fuk? Finally, it really slowly rose to the surface. It was really weird how it just stayed down there. I've never experienced that before. Maybe there were swirls and currents above me I was not aware of, still pushing me down, even though where I was it felt calm.

Everytime I come up I say, "Fuk! Yeah! Winter!"

 

[Al Soldano]

I'm glad you're getting held down, mowed by set waves, taking lips on the head and snapping surfboards after ditching them.

 

[One-Off]

I'm glad you're getting held down, mowed by set waves, taking lips on the head and snapping surfboards after ditching them.

To be precise, I snap them when I hold on. Save them when I ditch.

 

[Black]

I wiped out one time (don't think it was a duckdive) and ended up in darkness. I moved and bumped into the bottom. I was laid out face down on the sea bed. I moved again and my hand touched my board right along side me in exactly the same position, unmoving and horizontal on the sea bed. I've never really understood how that could happen. I ended up pointing the board upwards myself and pushing off the bottom. Weird and quite similar to your experience!

 

[Duffy LaCoronilla]

I got caught inside at Middles, duck dived a 7’6, the lip drove me right to the bottom and the board suction cupped itself to the reef. I let go of it, swam up, leash extended all the way, not enough to get my head to air.

Leash broke, board launched out of the water.

I usually try to hold on to the board no matter what. But yeah, sometimes that’s a mistake.

Couple years ago I mastered what we call “The Walter Wedge”. It’s basically a sideways duck dive with one rail down and the other up.

Game changer.

 

[mundus]

I try to hold on unless the lip lands right in front of me. Been a while since I surfed legit big surf(not EC) but I found if you have to bail do not dive super deep, tires you out for rest of set.

 

[GromsDad]

You guys are seriously slipping.

 

[ElOgro]

North Shore: Turtle's Advice the gold standard for which all other surf movie lines shall be judged: “When the wave breaks here, don't be there.” Ever since Turtle broke it down to Rick Kane the sentiment has been repeated after every flogging from Pipe to Periscopes, Sunset to Swamis.

 

[CutnSnip]

just depends on the sitch. far out, lots of water moving around - im holding onto my board and trying to duck dive no matter what. shallow reef hollow - seems like a sketch spot, weird double up, ill bail.

 

[manbearpig]

Longer leash in big surf, if ditching is unavoidable putting the board parallel to shore seemed to help.

Worst for me was big Angourie. Horizon went black and I just got steam rolled along with the handful of guys still out. At least a two wave hold down, leash stretched like crazy. I remember getting to where I thought I as the surface and just inhaling foam after the second wave before a third. Saw stars but got so lucky my leash didn’t snap, I had to pull myself up it to surface.

 

[stringcheese]

Like a responsible surfer should I try to hold on to my board until it isn’t possible to do so. don’t want my leash to break and have to swim for it, either!
when really about to buy my lunch, I laugh a little to try to stay positive, cover my head, and count to ten(rarely make it even close). See you on the other side surfboard

the deep water scares me. If a little string breaks, maybe I’m fvcked? I don’t know how long I can swim like that. I don’t really ever surf spots that are way out there.
rocks and stuff don’t scare me. Skin grows back. I’ll surf an eight foot wave in three feet of water over thirty feet of it. So I’m usually getting hit by waves in shallow water, protecting my head and neck as much as possible and hoping for the best. Checking my ear rings when I come up

 

[hammies]

The "hold on vs. ditch" decision is a very personal one between each surfer and the wave that's about to kick his or her ass.

 

[Surfdog]

Years ago I discovered how trying to position yourself when caught inside has major implications on how bad you'll "likely" get worked. Doesn't play out 100%, but in top to near bottom breaking waves seems to work more often than not. On mushy, crumble clean-up sets probably won't work much at all.

Anyway, I found that if by luck or skill your can place yourself while scratching to get out past caught inside situation, get within about 6-10 feet of the actual impact zone of the lip hitting the wave surface, and duck-dive straight down then, you're likely to come up out the back with very minimal pounding.

It seems the initial impact of the lip "bounces" up and over you in that little zone just a few feet after hitting surface. If you're a bit further inside of that initial impact zone, say 10-20 feet or more, you're going to get worked, no matter how deep you try to duck dive with your board. The initial lip bounce has landed back on the water and turbulence is greatest.

I discovered this on a very big day at Indicators in PV (12-16ft with 18-20ft clean-ups). Got caught inside on a set. First wave I just barely got caught inside, as mentioned about 6-10 ft from impact zone, and came up nearly unscathed with minimal thrashing. But second wave broke further out, impact zone about 20-30 feet or more from me, and I got worked with one of the longer hold-downs I can remember. Luck or coincidence? Who knows? But I've tried this in other situations, and seemed to notice the difference quite a bit.

 

[surf-shot.com]

Photo by Tom Servais

 

[frontsidegrab]

Years ago I discovered how trying to position yourself when caught inside has major implications on how bad you'll "likely" get worked. Doesn't play out 100%, but in top to near bottom breaking waves seems to work more often than not. On mushy, crumble clean-up sets probably won't work much at all.

Anyway, I found that if by luck or skill your can place yourself while scratching to get out past caught inside situation, get within about 6-10 feet of the actual impact zone of the lip hitting the wave surface, and duck-dive straight down then, you're likely to come up out the back with very minimal pounding.

It seems the initial impact of the lip "bounces" up and over you in that little zone just a few feet after hitting surface. If you're a bit further inside of that initial impact zone, say 10-20 feet or more, you're going to get worked, no matter how deep you try to duck dive with your board. The initial lip bounce has landed back on the water and turbulence is greatest.

I discovered this on a very big day at Indicators in PV (12-16ft with 18-20ft clean-ups). Got caught inside on a set. First wave I just barely got caught inside, as mentioned about 6-10 ft from impact zone, and came up nearly unscathed with minimal thrashing. But second wave broke further out, impact zone about 20-30 feet or more from me, and I got worked with one of the longer hold-downs I can remember. Luck or coincidence? Who knows? But I've tried this in other situations, and seemed to notice the difference quite a bit.

Come to think of it, this is similar to my experiences as well. Just shy of the tossing lip and I duck dive right through. If it's already steamrolling white water, there's no escaping.

 

[LelandCuz]

Only 2 times I've snapped boards were duck diving, once holding on and once letting go after the tumbling started. Still, I prefer to duck dive rather than ditching. I only ditch the board when it's REALLY big, impossible looking, and I'm on a long gun. In those cases I shove it to the side and swim for the bottom.

 

[Surfdog]

Only 2 times I've snapped boards were duck diving, once holding on and once letting go after the tumbling started. Still, I prefer to duck dive rather than ditching. I only ditch the board when it's REALLY big, impossible looking, and I'm on a long gun. In those cases I shove it to the side and swim for the bottom.

Ya, drawbacks of using big guns in larger surf. Duck-diving suffers.

 

[Homie]

What's you'r preferred method?

I only surf when it's clean and small!

 

[One-Off]

Years ago I discovered how trying to position yourself when caught inside has major implications on how bad you'll "likely" get worked. Doesn't play out 100%, but in top to near bottom breaking waves seems to work more often than not. On mushy, crumble clean-up sets probably won't work much at all.

Anyway, I found that if by luck or skill your can place yourself while scratching to get out past caught inside situation, get within about 6-10 feet of the actual impact zone of the lip hitting the wave surface, and duck-dive straight down then, you're likely to come up out the back with very minimal pounding.

It seems the initial impact of the lip "bounces" up and over you in that little zone just a few feet after hitting surface. If you're a bit further inside of that initial impact zone, say 10-20 feet or more, you're going to get worked, no matter how deep you try to duck dive with your board. The initial lip bounce has landed back on the water and turbulence is greatest.

I discovered this on a very big day at Indicators in PV (12-16ft with 18-20ft clean-ups). Got caught inside on a set. First wave I just barely got caught inside, as mentioned about 6-10 ft from impact zone, and came up nearly unscathed with minimal thrashing. But second wave broke further out, impact zone about 20-30 feet or more from me, and I got worked with one of the longer hold-downs I can remember. Luck or coincidence? Who knows? But I've tried this in other situations, and seemed to notice the difference quite a bit.

You might know a local shaper named Zen. He told me this story about a big day at Puerto Escondido. A giant horizon set appears and he starts paddling out. Then figures he’s not going to make it and starts paddling in. Then it doesn’t break outside so he starts paddling out again. And the wave unloads right in front of him and washes him in.

 

[hammies]

When you're caught inside and you know you can't ditch and dive deep enough because of your damn leash so you hold on and try to scratch over the wave and end up getting sucked back over. Like this guy.