Surfer dies at Rincon following collision with another surfer...

Dec 27, 2020
44
38
18
RIP Gerry. BG reported this morning:

Another local surfboard shaper, Jacob Elis, took to Instagram asking for answers. “Yo! Trying to get in touch with Rincon surfer named Augie or Aggie. He was involved in a collision with my friend Gerry Saturday midday. Gerry is dead, now. We need the other side of the story.”
 
  • Like
Reactions: flyinraptr

caelho

Miki Dora status
Jun 10, 2003
3,726
405
83
I don't know what happened, but there is an epidemic of people that will paddle en masse into the path of anybody riding a wave. If the guy riding a wave is on a longboard and in a nose trim, they don't seem to understand that you can't turn a longboard from the nose (apart from a few subtle adjustments) but you have to cross step backwards until you get the controls as it were to dodge the kooks running frantically right where you need to go in order to make the wave. I can't believe this needs to be said, but if it is close, you paddle BEHIND the surfer. Unless you are way out there and can escape to the channel without having to alter the surfer's pass. You have to be able to run the vectors. And that is largely a lost skill.
I agree with this, but we are talking about rincon. The crowd prevents everyone from doing what we want to do, everyone has to adjust to the crowd when you're on a wave. If I'm coming down the line on the nose in trim mode and there's fifty guys scratching in my path for the shoulder the outcome is going to be bad.
Edit... to add to this those fifty guys are mostly on longboards, the last thing they want to do is paddle to the foam and take one on the head.
 
Last edited:

Duffy LaCoronilla

Duke status
Apr 27, 2016
38,637
27,969
113
You seem triggered. No one can avoid out of control surfers...no matter what kind of board they are on. No one can out paddle an out of control surfer.... so from time to time they are going to be heading towards you. All it takes is the simple and novice ability to turn. Change direction, bottom turn around paddling surfer, resume stink bug maneuvers.

It is 100% the riders responsibility to avoid running into someone. If a donkey powertrimming down the line doesn't have the skill to do that he doesn't belong in a crowded lineup.

You sound like a donkey.
It’s 100% the paddlers’ responsibility to stay out of the way of the rider.

If I run you over it’s your fault.

Stay the fuckk out of the way.

40 years of surfing and I’ve never been run over. I wonder why that is.....
 
Last edited:

ElOgro

Duke status
Dec 3, 2010
31,863
11,806
113
This is clearly a major case of projection there Eyore. I haven't run anyone over since I was about 7 years old. I agree that it is the surfers responsibility to avoid the collision. However, after you have wave after wave ruined by people who are paddling the wrong way, it gets old. Most of the time I ride boards that would be considered undersized. That can be a problem as I am forced out into the flats to avoid the pack of wrong way paddlers, scrubbing off way too much speed, and then having to take steps to gain it back from a bad position. By the time I am back where I need/want to be, frequently the best part of the wave is over.

Hee Haw. Remember, to paddle BEHIND the people surfing and you won't have as many problems.

If you can paddle in front and are capable of a deep enough duck dive so that the surfer can go over you, whatever. Do it. I'm talking about a pack of longboarders, midsizers, softboarders sitting in a pack that have started paddling out of the way far too late and are leaving you with an obstacle course that requires going over the back or way out into the flats to get around. Sounds like you got sounded. Have you considered that fact that maybe you deserved it?
That’s why Leed took up gardening. That was some forward thinking.

Someone should resurrect the Steamroller thread.
 

bluemarlin04

Michael Peterson status
Aug 13, 2015
2,565
2,383
113
Just burn ‘em.

I used to never burn anyone. Now I burn BPs every single time.
It’s come to the point in Hawaii at my local that if I don’t know you and I never saw you before- you’re likely going to get burned.

If you think you’re going to show up on a good day and just take set waves then you’re going to learn the hard way.

Haven’t had anyone say anything to me
 

Clayster

Miki Dora status
Oct 26, 2005
5,646
1,240
113
IMHO fly fishing depends on where you are and what you are doing. Some of the rivers/rocks, I would not want stiff old muscles and old ankles, on cobblestones, in current. Especially in the Winter; standing in that sh!t was fckng freezing.

In Florida the fishing crowds and the surfing crowds are about equally bad. To the point you are using terminal rigs you don't care if you lose, and you're beefing tackle up because you'll get dragged into other lines. People who have no respect for sport fishing and will fishing equivalent of snake/burn you. 30 miles out during Snapper mini-season and you could cast to 2-3 other boats without even really winding up and trying. Like bass flippin'.

The only time I really bother fishing 'spots' in Jacksonville is when it's raining. Otherwise, it's at least as big a shitshow as the Pier/Poles.

RIP to Rincon guy.
Fish inshore.. That way you don't end up in a mob on a reef or wreck.

As for surfing crowds in Florida, they are nothing compared to California. Florida is all breach break, with a few inlets that draw a crowd, but otherwise surfers can spread out. I never have a problem finding uncrowded waves, so unless I decide to surf Ponce Inlet or Sebastian, etc., I'm fine. Sure, our waves don't compare to California, but the crowds are nowhere near to what surfers in California have to deal with. Way less stressful.
 

Duffy LaCoronilla

Duke status
Apr 27, 2016
38,637
27,969
113
It’s come to the point in Hawaii at my local that if I don’t know you and I never saw you before- you’re likely going to get burned.

If you think you’re going to show up on a good day and just take set waves then you’re going to learn the hard way.

Haven’t had anyone say anything to me
I’ll be sure to DM you a photo of me before I show up.
 
  • Haha
  • Like
Reactions: tacos and john4surf

Kento

Duke status
Jan 11, 2002
68,679
20,888
113
The Bar
Sucks about the guy dying. I hate crowds; they make me feel claustrophobic and not just surfing.

Hearing sh!t like this does not make me miss SoCal at all. I should be careful what I wish for but there's a lot of days, man, it would be a nice if another person (whether they are a kook or not) paddled out even a peak or two away. Even when it's really good (subjective), it's unnerving/bizarre how empty it is. I'll probably regret this wish come summertime but for now, man, it's been big (solid overhead to DOH on average), pretty clean conditions, an awful lot of paddling and even more duckdiving, and most of all, empty. Although I do sometimes worry about getting chomped so there is that.

For the record, I wonder how things would be crowd-wise if the leash ceased to exist. :socrazy:
 
Last edited:

misterhat

Billy Hamilton status
Dec 21, 2007
1,625
69
48
Youre a fucking moron.
Where are you located? Places with few waves and lots of surfers tend to place more responsibility on paddlers to get out of the way to avoid waves being wasted. Especially in waves that are particularly good/rare/fickle/valuable. It's less true at beginner/longboard waves.
 

Sharkbiscuit

Duke status
Aug 6, 2003
26,254
19,082
113
Jacksonville Beach
Fish inshore.. That way you don't end up in a mob on a reef or wreck.

As for surfing crowds in Florida, they are nothing compared to California. Florida is all breach break, with a few inlets that draw a crowd, but otherwise surfers can spread out. I never have a problem finding uncrowded waves, so unless I decide to surf Ponce Inlet or Sebastian, etc., I'm fine. Sure, our waves don't compare to California, but the crowds are nowhere near to what surfers in California have to deal with. Way less stressful.
I don't have a boat; wading inshore around here is a good way to sink to your groin in mud, and the publicly accessible 'spots' are total zoos. I wade down in Sebastian, accessing by private shoreline, and I still get buzzed and hassled, regularly.

Other than the first (and last) time I surfed in North LA, I'll take the crowds in California over the crowds in Florida any day of the week. Much more polite, much less prone to kook behavior.