scariest thing you have experienced?

I don’t surf, but admire the sport from afar. That said, I am amazed at the hutzpah of surfers who are willing to swim out across the inky black water, then float across God knows what sort of ginormous creatures they can’t see.

Have you ever had anything happen to you that was story-worthy, or that scared the bejeezus out of you, or that might make a good segment in an Attenborough documentary?

At Abereidy once felt something touch my feet and tug on my leash, then a dog seal stuck his head out of the water about 10ft away, made me breathe a bit deeply. He was massive, head like an anvil. Saw him loads of times after that. No threat he was just inquisitive.

At South Padre Island had a dolphin do a high speed pass on me, that was amazing.

Had an awesome day at Crackington a few years ago with big surf ( 6-8ft) and getting snaked by a seal. Day ended when a clean up set (absolutely huge) rolled in and washed me and the two other blokes surfing onto the beach. Proper washing machine job it was.

Hmm..

Plenty, but most have been about getting through shore dump or getting caught in very strong side shore rip currents.

Only real time I bricked it on a wave was down at Bantham, Devon. To get the biggest waves you need to be as far right as possible, meaning you’re near the rocks. I went out on an 7’11 SUP surf board and the paddle out was honking and sucky enough. Out back I lined up for a ride and 12-16 strokes in and I was getting nowhere, the wave was so sucky I just ran out of energy quickly, the wave pulled me up and I was so exhausted it took a while for me to backside turn so I ended up straight running towards the rocks.. luckily I shot out front which gave me enough time to gather my breath then dig the rail in hard for an almighty backside cut back into the wave and head away from the rocks. I bet from the beach it looked awesome, however my heart was beating so rapidly instinct took over and I surfed happily into the beach, where I promptly sat down for 20mins before going out again up near the island.

I’ve been held under for what seems like an age, but it really isn’t that long, 20-30seconds is about the limit then you pop up. SUP surfboards are really buoyant and drag you up to the surface really quickly.
I’ve had my leash break on sucky nasty breaks a few times, these things are really tough and designed to break rather than rip your leg off, not sure what breaking strain they’re rated too but I guess it should break at about 200kgs, so that’s the kinda pressure going through your ankle when they go..

Beach breaks are the worst for holding you under, the shore dump can be ferocious, and the rip and suck can be just off the beach which means once your under you get barrelled around a number of time unless you work your ass off trying to get out on it. I’ve seen plenty of boards break in shore dump, grabbed a bloke out once who’d been bashed on the head by his board, which broke in half. I’m sure if we hadn’t got him out he’d be dead.

Then there the reef breaks, or ledges. Kimeridge Bay has an epic rock ledge, well known for kicking up epic swell. It sits about 300mtrs offshore in a huge underwater ledge just below the surface at low tide. I’ve been out there on wave watching the ledge suck dry whilst still on waves breaking over them.. it’s a bit butt clenching, but if you know the area you keep away from the third line in, local knowledge see.

Never been attacked by sea creatures, been attacked by an angry local once down Fistral, but he was drunk and his mates were egging him on. He came at me and I thwacked him with my paddle and he fell to his knees and just sat there.

Certainly wouldn’t class myself as a surfer (I’m rubbish) but getting called out of the water because the guide had spotted what he thought was a shark in the area got the old heart rate up! Thankfully happened in the last day of the trip so I didn’t have to steel myself to go back in!

Surfing at night (stupid thing number 1) got swept out by a rip (stupid thing number 2) surfed back in a little too close to the rocks (stupid thing numver 3).

Didn’t realise quite how lucky id been untill I had to walk back allong the beach to join up with friends again!

I’m not a surfer, I don’t pretend to be (although, I feel many, many people do) but I had a good couple of lessons north of the city when I lived in Sydney.

No massive sharks or deadly jellyfish or anything like that, but it was getting late in the day, I was tired and a bit ‘over’ it all really, when suddenly I was caught by an odd tide and was heading out to sea faster than I’d travelled all day. The speed of the tide and the speed in which it all changed really shook me up, the instructor caught me up in a few mins and we had to paddle to the side of the bay and walk back to the bit of the beech we started.

I really suck at Surfing, it’s not really my thing, but they were free lessons. They claimed that on a one day course you should have stood up at least once by lunchtime and you’d be hooked – I took it at least 5 times and didn’t managed to stand up once ha ha everyone else pretty much did.

When I got back to the UK I used to go to the Gower a lot camping etc, a few of my mates Surfed, but I’d look out at the half dozen of them swathed head to toe in thick wetsuits shivering whilst trying to catch a ripple and I’d think, Nah.

The oddest thing would happen during the day though, I’d see 6, 8 even sometimes 10 people in the surf all bobbing around, enjoying themselves, then in the evening we’d go to the Kings Head Pub and there would be dozens if not hundreds of lads stood about chatting about surfing, wearing all the clobber, hanging out of the back of rusty microbuses. I often wondered where they’d been all day, the beech was empty.

At Langland on The Gower, chest high day, wiped out over shallow rocks. I was stuck with my right leg wedged in between some rocks, my leash and board wrapped around me, pinning me down. With wave after wave of white water on my head. I was in about a foot of water. Only managed to get unstuck when my knee dislocated and freed me. Painful swim back in and up the beach to call an ambulance.

Not as bad as the guy I found floating face down out back at Llangennith. Managed to get him back in with the help of another chap. There was no point doing the CPR we did waiting for the RAF helicopter.

Surfing at Gwithian. Small day, nothing much happening. Was in the water for a bit practising duck diving etc., and just suddenly had an overwhelming feeling of fear and a need to get out of the water. Paddled in. About 30 seconds later a pod of dolphins swam through exactly where I’d been. I reckon they’d hit me with sonar and triggered some kind of primal fear thing.

approx 10 years ago, i went to north Devon. it was November-ish.

conditions were spectacular: massive waves, with a gale-force offshore wind.

i just about managed to get out back through the white water, and spent a few minutes sitting on my board while the biggest waves i’ve ever seen hurtled past/under me. it was ****ing amazing!

getting back on the beach was almost as hard work as getting out, it was not dignified or sexy.

back on the beach, i watched a helicopter arrive, to rescue a surfer i hadn’t seen – only a few hundred metres from where i’d spent a few minutes. They didn’t bother hoisting him all the way up to the helicopter, the just picked him and dumped him on the beach. He made some excited hand gestures, the sea-rescue guy seemed to understand, and the went back to rescue his surf-board, which they also dumped on the beach.

my mate, who’s a much, much, better surfer than i could ever be, somehow managed to miss the whole thing, he came back in about an hour later…

Another, Gwythian North Shore Cornwall. Renowned for it’s epic ness on honking swell days, me and two mates SUP surfing, looked normal day, head high, pealing right, what looked like 50 surfers and paddle surfers all in the same spot..which is ridiculous because the beach is huge. Anyway, nice pealer comes along and about 30 try to get on it all the same time.. carnage and shouts and angry fist waving and threats of death. This was only a few weeks ago back in Oct.. rumour has it someone got thier van panels bashed in..

It’s invariably other surfers that cause issues. Regulars are ace, make friends with them or just say high and show them you are able to surf and handle your board and wait your turn.. respect follows. Act like a dick and your time on the water diminishes rapidly as you get surfed over.. MSW forecasts are both amazing and a bloody pain, if it looks good all sorts of nobbers come out to play, some are just angry arseholes before they hit the water.

One of the reasons I don’t go to favoured spots, or just head down the beach into clear water and waves. One of the beauty’s of SUP surfing is you don’t need massive waves or to hang around out back getting cold. We’re happier playing in knee to shoulder high sets and catching 5x more than that surfers, plus we can just paddle up/down the beach finding decent fun away from everyone.

I’d recommend SUP surfing, it takes a while to become proficient, like most sports, but it’s ace and well worth giving it a go..
Me weekend just gone, small knee surf, styling it out just down the beach from Gwiths.

That bloody seal at crackington. Even when you know it’s not a shark when you feel it glide past your feet it freaks you out.

And sitting on a set of rocks just west of Plymouth watching a mythical reef in a storm swell. Just looked ugly.

Spotted a set on the horizon, decided to move back up the rocks a bit, got a bit closer and opted to move a bit further back up the cliffs. A set twice the size of anything else unloaded on this reef and almost looked makeable. Where we had been stood was under 6ft of whitewater. Would have been about a mile swim in storm conditions to the nearest beach.

You lot really aren’t selling it to me!

10 years ago paddling out at Croyde and it was huge, a wave broke just as I’d eskimo rolled my board, surfaced to see the nose of the board flapping in the water. Yep, snapped board.

Learnt afterwards that the week before 3 surfers had been rescued by RNLI with spinal injuries.

Most of the time it seems scarier than the situation actually is – hard to remember that.

A few years ago I got caught in a rip at twilight on my own in January at the end of a long session. I just couldnt get a wave in and the rip kept sweeping me away from the takeoff. it was nearly dark and your mind starts playing tricks on you ” There’s no one around, no one knows I’m still here, I cant get in, I’m already cold and knackered, I’m going to drown etc”

I stood on a stingray after a solo session in California once too. REALLY effing painful and hosed blood all over my rental car as I drove to hospital. No lasting damage but not an experience to repeat

This one time I forgot my board….. 😀

Not really scary but I got hit in the face by my board on a windy offshore Boxing Day years ago and ended up in A and E getting stitches in my forehead

Surfing on my own in South Africa at a beach known for sharks…

Duck-dived a wave and when I popped up I saw a dark torpedo shape dirrectly below me.

Turns out it was the shadow of my surfboard!

Turns out it was the shadow of my surfboard!

Ha, I had similar as I was paddling back up a looooong point break in Southern Queensland, It was a couple of turtles 😆

Been in 12 foot + in Lanzarote and Ireland. Very very scary

A mate of mine surfing a break in False Bay (outside Cape Town, a great white breeding area) had a seal swim through his legs once. Didn’t see it coming, so first he knew of it was when it hit into him.

I’ve never, in any situation, seen such a look of abject terror on another human being’s face.

Another Croyde one.
Very clean and big about 12 years ago. Offshore….I was with my friend who was a bodyboarder. I had my misgivings as I walked down. More uncertain as a chap with a cut head and half a board walked out. It was low tide of course. I knew Croyde well as I had grown up surfing there. Dry hair paddle out. Sat out back for ages. A wave much larger than I was capable of surfing arrived and I took off on it too late. It was probably not enormous, but certainly head height plus. It felt like standing on top of a building and then a similar feeling as I crashed to the bottom. My leash was ripped off the board (board end) and I was stuck in the white water. I thought I was drowning. It was frightening. I made it out and a nice man had gathered my board.

I did it again next week 🙂

Oh – one more. Some sort of massive ray (sting, manta?)appeared next to me and some american girls I was surfing with in Maui many many years ago. It was really quite a shock as there had been a few Tiger shark attacks around the island at that time. They were not impressed by my high pitched British shriek and I didn’t get off with any of them, later in the bar.

I’ve had a couple of moments over the years. This autumn I snapped my board after getting completely munched at Guethary on a big day. I got pretty mashed but nothing permanent. Cost me best part of £1000euros for a new board though.

In Portugal at a non-spot I paddled out to a promising looking break over a reef. Looked fine, so dropped into one and it sucked almost dry. Fins hooked up on bottom turn, I got a pasting on the reef, big chunks ripped out wetsuit, and tail fin ripped of the board. I was lucky, I was out by myself and if I’d cold cocked myself on the reef I’d have been screwed.

But really dangerous incidents are pretty rare with experience and surfing with others, especially if you understand your limits.

scariest thing you have experienced?

all the longboard heros, utter idiots on stand up paddleboards, clueless morons who can’t grasp the basic concept of looking before paddling into a wave and the million fold hordes of intermediates who can stand up and thus think they are kelly slater that suffocate, over populate and generally stink up the surf these days making it a truly dangerous environment to play in.

surfing is nothing to admire from afar any longer, its a burned out cliche that whored its soul to the mass market way back.

Gav there are plenty of places to surf which aren’t crowded, and when it gets bigger then it becomes self selecting anyway. Plenty of friendly breaks that hold a crowd well.

Not a surfer, not even a grommet any more

New Quay holiday for New Year. Doing a spot of surfing, fall of, clunk of board landing on my head

Paddled in and sat on the beach as it was abit of bang and I thought it was sensible to have a rest

Along comes GF and dog (didn’t know they were on the beach). I explain what’s happened and how sensible I’m being

Long debate between me and GF

ME I’m going back in

GF No that is not sensible

repeat x N

GF gently takes my index finger and pokes it into the gaping hole in my head. The board had landed fin first. She took me to hospital for a line of 8 stitches and another of 3 stitches

Nurse said that she stitches surf wounds in the winter and fight wounds in the summer

PS More people drown cycling in the UK each year than surfing

More people drown cycling in the UK each year than surfing

I love statistics. I can *almost* believe that one!

Just underlining how important it is to keep your mouth closed while cycling in the rain.

It varies a bit from year to year. Loads of stats here. The excel didn’t open easily so i went back a few years

2011 surfing 3 cycling 7
2012 surfing 2 cycling 2

Source

http://www.nationalwatersafety.org.uk/waid/reports.asp

I hope this thread doesn’t turn ugly, surfing is a fabulous sport/pastime and provided you seek some lessons and guidance before being let loose on the ocean can be a life long journey.

Not scary as such, but most memorable….Steamer Lane, Santa Cruz…a place I used to read about in Surfer a million years ago. The longest paddle into the biggest waves I’ve ever been in…all the while with kelp wrapping round my arms and being peered at by sea otters.

How about this for a surfing horror show 😯

[video]https://youtu.be/FCLk5kmO-qg[/video]

Random bouts of the ‘fear’ whilst surfing in the mornings,waiting for the wind whilst spending winters in Cape Town windsurfing.
Just an irrational uncontrollable shark infused horror,followed by a mach 3 paddle to the beach.A bit of hyperventilating.A quick word with myself before paddling back out.
The choppers were out regularly and you’d see the surfclub boats whizzing about out back but did’nt see anything myself.
Never surfed Cape Point or the Indian ocean side and never got it windsurfing.

I narrowly avoided hitting a cow once on the Severn bore.

Scariest thing was getting my leash snagged on an under water root when surfing it at night. A very, very scary 30 seconds. Although the actual surfing bit was one of the most exilarating things I’ve ever done

I once got escorted back to shore while windsurfing at Moon Beach in Egypt by two massive dolphins who had the look and feel of a couple of nasty night club bouncers.

A strange exhilirating but scary feeling.

They weren’t Orcas. *gulp* Honest. They don’t live there.. Do they?

Not a surfer but seen bull sharks beneath me whilst out on the SUP. Much prefer to see turtles and rays!

Not scarey but I shared a fairly well known left hand point on the east coast with a seal. It was friendly and let me take my share of waves 🙂

does kitesurfing count?

despite being quite proficient with a kite and board on land (kiteboarding?) i had never fancied giving it a go on the water. think it might have something to do with the temperature, and the fact i swim like drowning cat… but i can comfortably jump, spin, ride fakie. used to fly 3-4 times a week back in the UK, albeit on the beach or sport fields.

ended up going to some rave in Croatia with friends. was on the coast and saw there was a kite school nearby so took my 13m Flysurfer along.

hitch-hiked to the kite school. big lagoon/bay where you could waddle out approx. 150m and still only be waist deep. borrowed a board and spent the first day practicing getting up and moving, but there wasn’t enough wind so called it a day.

went back to the hut where there was a party. drank a quite a bit, smoked and swallowed some drugs.

the next morning i wake up and it is howlingi.. quick coffee and i grab my gear. waddle out a bit, get the board on my feet, send the kite up and i’m off…. no having to move the kite, just loads of power. look back and i’m kicking up a massive rooster tail. wow!

i looked back towards the shore and it then dawned on me that i didn’t really have any experience of making a turn. added to that the waves were much bigger out here 500m from the shore. just as i was thinking of slowing up to lower myself into the water to head back in the other direction the front lip of the bord caught a wave throwing me headfirst into the water…. the next thing i know i am being pulled backwards beneath the water by the kite… i come up, the kite having ditched itself onto the water. after having tried to clear my lungs of the water a wave of calm comes over me… don’t panic. this wave of calm was over before the next wave lifted me high enough that i could see the shore line…. a slither of golden sand on the horizon further away than i have swum in my life. ok… don’t panic. i try to stand up and disappear once again beneath the waves. bejeesus. crap. turn my attention to the kite which has been sat on the water for a while now. (Flysurfer kites are not normal tube kites that you inflate with a pump, rather they are foils that are inflated by the pressure of the wind on them and have funny vents to stop the water getting into them. but this only works so long.) i manage to right the kite and launch it off the water. i spend the next hour or more trying to drag myself back to shore using my body as a rudder. it was **** hard work. when i finally made it i clambered onto the kite and lay there puking water. i think i may have had a little sleep. finally get up, fix the kite in place with sand and trudge about an hour or so back to the hut. wake up one of the guys who had thought i had gone home.
he seemed more worried about the board that i had lost. we jump in his little rubber dingy with its crappy outboard and spent the next three hours going up and down the coast looking for the board before retrieving my kite.

needless to say i’ve not bothered since.

stick to frozen lakes now… what could possibly go wrong there?
[url=https://flic.kr/p/PLSsGD]DSCN3478[/url] by sod_the_taxman, on Flickr

Worst for me was getting held under for three successive waves at the corner in Hellsmouth many moons ago.

MSW, SUPs etc have all contributed to increase crowding and reduce the fun out there, but unlike some I recognise that no matter where you live or how good you are, you have no more rights to use the water than anyone else. A bit of give and take is needed. I’ve heard there’s a particularly aggressive surfer at Kimmeridge who makes life difficult for those he deems not free to ride ‘his’ waves. I look forward to meeting him.

Oh, kiting.

Well I can tell many a tale from the early days, but it’s all cool now there are some excellent instructors around and the seasoned guys police themselves very very well indeed.

I may have met that guy down Kimmeridge, the chicken shed at the bottom of the cliffs was where I think he was when I heard a few words from him. But it is a very scary place, one you need to know what you are doing before getting wet.