I was recently reading the surfing forum and the aforementioned topic took my interest. Here is one of the posts which I thought was quite good:

Doctor said...

1... stay away from other surfers... simple enough, you'll just be in the way and a danger for everybody including yourself

2... don't get out of your depth too soon, like i said before, stick to easy waves, small swell, high tide, onshore beach breaks are the best for learning, let whitewash be your friend, it will give you a ride long enough to work out how to get to your feet. you're a learner so get a learners board, you can always upgrade later and learners boards if taken care of always, always hold their value.

3... never ever let the board get between you and a wave.... this is the most likely way of copping a board to the face. always try and fall behind, or to the side of the board and when surfacing, put your hand over your head or cover you face. you'll soon learn why.

I thought they were pretty good tips but after my head injury I started to think about his last point a bit more.

I'm quite safety conscious and always aim to fall well away from my board but I've been hit more than once by the board in the head on surfacing or while in the water - the last time it happened the fin bit me. Since reading this post I've been thinking... when I fall I always hold on to my paddle and it's impractical to cover my head face when I surface.

Has anyone got any other perls of wisdom for a newbie to avoid bad stuff happening. I shudder to think what would have happened if the big fin on my aircraft carrier had hit me there.

If you have to bail LOOK BEHIND YOU FIRST!

oly,

full length wetsuits defo are your friend from fin cuts,

if you keep getting taps on the head, your doing something wrong, but i'd be putting a lid on my noggin till i sorted it out..

most of the time when you fall, the board should be way out in front....

but


one of The WORST falls your going to get is when your droping down a pitching face, you trip a rail, and then fall ontop of the other rail....it's gonna hurt no matter what...ribs and winded usual outcome.... watched this happen to greenroom once on a tiny knee high wave and he ended up coughin blood.

WINDY MILLER said...

Scotty Mac said...

What wit the look behind you? So you can see where ou have bin?

i think GR is talkin about when ur paddling out through the the breakers...if there is anyone within 10 - 20ft behind you, and you bail on a wave, they aren't going to be your friend anymore....

not sure what do in this situation, maybe try and kick board over top, or jump to the back and hold on to rail protector on leash...

Umm that goes without saying really, DONT bail if someone is near you. I was talking about flying down the face of a four foot wave and you catch a rail or fall off, cant see much time for looking behind me

I broke my ribs the first week I had my Kalama.... Thought Iwas going to break my arm last week falling from lip height on a set wave onto my upturned board

Learn to hold your breath and just chill out underwater.

The feeling that you are going to die if you don't get a breath is just that, a feeling. It's a reflex caused by CO2 in your blood. It has nothing to do with the need for air. One thing is almost guaranteed, if you breathe under water you will most likely die.

Once you can control the urge to breathe you can go deep to avoid nasty stuff and survive hold downs and assorted tumblings and come up comfortably when all the action has ended.

I have always surfaced with one arm over my head and one arm extended upwards. You should be able to do that with a paddle in the extended arm. In normal surfing the danger is that boards get popped upwards then come down on top of you. With SUP you still have that risk plus the mass of this aircraft carrier being washed into you.

I think with a SUP it is a good thing to just go with the waves and run away rather than trying to beat your way through white water. With the faster paddling speed of the SUP you can usually get all the way out in a lull rather than fighting set waves. Or ride reef breaks where you can paddle away from the impact zone.

WINDY MILLER said...

.... watched this happen to greenroom once on a tiny knee high wave and he ended up coughin blood.

How embarrassment
A blow to the chest on a knee high wave (to a grasshopper) was all it took. Coughed blood for a while and I was sore for over a month after.

WINDY MILLER said...

Scotty Mac said...

What wit the look behind you? So you can see where ou have bin?

i think GR is talkin about when ur paddling out through the the breakers...

Yep sorry thats what I ment

If there is no one around...ditch the legrope...the swimming will help your fitness and the board will be less inclined to come back and slap your head

Speaking of leashes..........anybody know where I can get a Dakine 12' in Melbourne?