What defines a "big wave"? How big does a wave need to be before you the surfer start feeling fear. These parameters are down to every individual surfer and is something very personal. Of course a professional surfer would laugh at the waves that I consider "Big". But if a new or inexperienced surfer was out in the lineup today they would have been shitting themselves. I have been surfing for only ten years. I started later in life and I still consider myself a beginner. Calling myself an intermediate surfer seems far too grandiose and a title Im not deserving of. One of the things I have struggled with and what all surfers struggle with is committing to a big wave. Because once you decide to turn and go well ur either making it or eating it. Lets look at a screen shot from Magic Seaweed today that shows what the waves were doing...:)
The wave height is measured from the back of the wave. The wave height forecast is the average wave size. During a 2 - 3 hour session there will be what we call "bombs" - bombs are much bigger than the 5 - 7 feet that was forecast. Now lets touch on what it means regarding the measurement from the back of the wave - as the wave sucks water off the reef and builds in height it will have a face roughly double what the measured height is, so most of the waves that rolled though today were what we would term "double overhead" ,meaning the face of the wave was around 10 - 12 feet. When a bomb came through you could be looking at a face well over that. Today I was out there for three hours and only made three waves - all of them were bombs with a face of at least 12 foot upwards. Try to gauge how high that is by looking at your ceiling - pretty high right? I ate it on two additional waves aside from the three I made and took a pretty good beat down on both. That makes paddling for the next one a little extra challenging...:)
Next number to pay attention to is the period. This is the time in seconds between waves. The higher the period the more power and size in the swell. A period over 15 secs is considered a big period and will result in large powerful waves - what we had today.
Committing to a wave that is "big" takes courage, your idea of big might only be 4 - 5 feet on the face, but if it puts a knot in your stomach then you are surfing your big wave. Its one of the hardest things in surfing. As you paddle hard with that wave rising up behind you, the water suddenly starts sucking away from beneath you as you are carried up to the crest of the wave. Now is the time to swallow your fear and keep paddling hard. You need to stay out in front of the lip. You need to wait until you feel the power of the wave carrying you before attempting your "Pop Up" (standing the hell up) Now is the critical time! You are at the top of the wave and the wall is becoming vertical. You stand up and angle your board in the direction you want to go - to the relative safety of the peeling wall and away from the crest you have just owned!
Your fear vanishes instantly, the hardest part is over, you have your balance and the wave is opening up before you - a gift. This wave has travelled thousands of miles across the ocean and nobody has ridden it until you. You have tamed it and now you own it. Their is no feeling like making a "big" wave and spending the next 20 - 30 seconds carving up and down the face of this beauty before she dies below your feet on the shallow reef.
Where are the photos I hear you all asking? Well sadly our guy was not there today but he was around yesterday. Yesterday it was not very big like today and he was positioned at the end of the wave when it was considerably smaller than the take off zone. Here are a couple of pics from yesterday....
I'm Jobiker and I swallowed my fear today (along with a lot of seawater) Peace!
Beautifully written!
Shoo it sounds like you're pushing yourself! I guess the good thing is that it's just you and your friend out there, so at least you don't have to hassle in a crowd, and can take your time and pick the wave you think you have a real shot at making...
Oh no wait, there he is dropping in on you in the last photo! There's just the two of you and still? Are you sure he's not taking the piss? How much do you actually like this guy?? Haha (kidding)!
Having a solid indo swell to yourself is just a dream. This place is really magical. My best friend laughed at your comment (we both did) I told him bru - one more drop and we are done!
I've just realized you've been quiet for a while - hope all is well and it just means that you are having fun surf adventures totally off the grid and away from WIFI, and that you'll be back to tell us all about it!
Well,some of the science is also here in surfing,basically the equations used in progressive wave, some of the analytical things can be employed, chrests and troughs to measure the depths of the wave.
Surfing what I think is,greatly reliant on efficiency, even those who know physics of it and practical hydro-dynamism can surf good,even those who have no knowing acquaintances can also rock on surfing..
Good to see that you have a sliding mate, huh ha..
Keep on sliding.. 😀
Thanks @asif7 ! I will keep on sliding...😅 I wish surfing was just physics and science - then I may be able to get better at it quickly. 🤣 Thanks for kudos brother!
Dude! You're a hero! Not so easy to do what you do!!
I ride 10-15 feet waves on my phone everyday, sitting on my couch, with the game "True Surf" (how ironic) on mobile phone. 😁 I am a risk taker!
what is your board? Is that what a funboard is?
Check me out in Puerto Escondido:
Thats quite some air you're getting off that lip dude...:)) I been riding mostly on my twin fin - and that's the board I'm riding in the photos above. Sadly we just left Sawarna, but happily the adventure is continuing in Bali - on our way there now...:)
Haha yeah I am a boss as you can see, easy peasy 😉
Good luck on your way to Bali!!!
While I have not done much in the way of surfing I know that I am afraid of the really big ones because of an event years ago where I must of dropped in on the wave at the wrong point and it faceplanted me into the sand and I felt my neck crunch on impact. I suppose it was really stupid for me to be bodysurfing shorebreak but that ended my day of bodysurfing that day. I am a bit traumatized by that and feel the fear any time i am in the ocean now. Have you ever been completely wrecked by a wave? I bet you have.
Sounds like you were lucky to not be more seriously injured. Beach breaks are very scary when the break right on beach as your story suggests. Good to treat powerful waves with serious respect...:) I have had my share of beat downs and this trip as many as any other. Not sure if I'm brave or stupid - but either way I always seem to be nearly drowning!
yeah, it was scary an felt like I was stuck in a washing machine as I was rolled around on the sand. There is another friend of mine that actually did break his neck and it was only because his daughter saw him floating face down that he didn't drown. Thankfully he recovered but now he has to be very careful with his neck in everything that he does because of some sort of surgery involving space age titanium or something like that.
5-8ft at 18 sec period sounds like a perfect day in Indo!
That is exactly the legitimate truth! 5 -8 @ 18secs and no wind. Dream conditions.... I take it you surf @v4vapid ? Great to see you here and big thanks for the upvote!
Dear @jobiker, we need your help!
The Hivebuzz proposal already got important support from the community. However, it lost its funding a few days ago and only needs a few more HP to get funded again.
May we ask you to support it so our team can continue its work this year?
You can do it on Peakd, ecency,
https://peakd.com/me/proposals/199
Your support would be really helpful and you could make a difference.
Thank you!