Would love to hear one of those times where you have browned your shorts or wetsuit enjoying the surf or kiting even swimming ,diving ,spearfishing etc..

Even almost drowning or being out in conditions that are past your limits..

I don't really have one, except for seaweed under my board

Over weight and under skilled went back out at Windmills in heavy surf. Snapped leg rope and a long time swimming. Vomiting water for hours and have never been so upset in my life.…Still made me the person i am now. Much fitter

Sailing for high school in Bowen about 14-15yrs ago in little 8ft Plastic things Toppas I think they were called. We were capsizing on purpose and jumping off swimming between boats only to find out there was a large 10ft+ Hammer head in the exact spot were were playing in the water about 20mins before we arrived, found out later again that someone was feeding it fish scraps

Teacher would let us capsize after that although we still did.

Dad used to have a mooring at Herring bay [garden island]
Next to the mooring block we kept a heap of old clay pipes- and crays and occies would hide in the pipes and in the engine blocks that made up our mooring.

We would dive off the boat, and down about 15 feet or so to select either bait or breakfast.

One morning, I picked breakfast out of a transit van engine block- and about to head topside when a black flash hurtled past me and nicked the cray out of my hand.

Scared the beejeezus out of me.

Ruddy seal got an easy feed!

stephen

Was paddling the channel from my boat to the surf 3km out to sea and got brushed by a larger tiger. My wettie still has stains!

After a big night at the playroom my girlfriend and I jumped into talle creek for a skinny dip (about 1.00 in morning). As we were having a cuddle the water came alive about 10 m away from us with thrashing and splashing. Luckily she was quicker off the mark than me as I was able to convince her that I was blocking her from whatever it was in the water.

Still lying on the couch with my foot up 5 weeks after my last surf on Maui's North Shore. Nerve damage - too old for this crap.

I got caught in a rip that was following me.

It was a sunny day with huge swell, too big for me, so I went for a swim.
Start swimming and in no time I was out ~200m.
Start swimming back and I'm still moving out.
Start swimming diagonally, and I'm still moving out.
Started swimming laterally... still moving out.

I'm probably only 220m out, but alone and exhausted.

Anyway after 1hr really hard swimming I caught a wave which almost drowned me... collapsed on the beach.

I take fins now.

surfing an outer reef in very deep water alone for 3 hours and seeing a huge school of the biggest salmon ive ever seen darting 3 feet under me like bullets....
next wave in.

Had the deep end on the prawn net one night long ago in the Swan, near Nedlands, heard a noise behind me, turned around to see a dorsal fin rise and go back down around 3m from me, crapped for a second till I realized it was a dolphin.

Lived up in Derby when I was in year four, few of us from school used to go jumping off the jetty for a swim, one day I went by myself, cause the tides are so big there, there are lower platforms on the jetty to access when the tide is out, they were half submerged when I got there, so I threw my thongs in first and they started to drift away, not wanting to get in trouble for losing my thongs I jumped in to get them, then realized it was a pretty fast outgoing tide in action, I grabbed my thongs, but almost didn't make it back to the platform, never swum so hard in my life, thought I was going to get washed out and drown.

Another time at the same jetty, we were jumping off and a guy comes along and says to us, "Hey kids, you know crocs live in there right?"
Last time we did that!

Snorkeling across to Penguin Island one day, weaving through the weed and clear sandy sections, the water was so clear, I was skimming along the bottom when a heap of sand puffed up right in my face, I swooped up just in time to miss the crab that had jumped up with both claws outstretched, he wanted a piece of me alright.

Windsurfing a couple of years ago on a sunny, clear-water day in August. Relaxed, blasting along over a sand-bed when I went across a massive black shadow about half a metre under the water. Instantly lost balance & fell - although I was back on the board so quick I doubt if I got wet. It turned out to be a Southern Right Whale and its tail breeched about 10m from me. I turned and headed in the opposite direction for about 100m before I realised that I may never get the chance to sail with a whale again, so turned back and kept passing it as it went on its way (from a distance). Turned out to be an awesome experience!

One of my scariest experiences was in Feb this year. 3 of us hired mals (I've never prone-surfed) at Cottontree. Qld. after coming up short on trying to hire a sup for surfing. The storms had taken a fair chunk of sand from the beaches and left big areas of coffee-rock along the beach. After about 40 mins of constant paddling and trying to hold position off Alex Beach...and attempting to catch waves, I got drawn into a washy shorebreak heading straight for a rocky ledge/outcrop. I got smashed against it thinking I could simply walk over it. As the waves receded - I noticed that the ledge was over 6ft high from the sandy bottom and I couldn't jump or climb it (both calf muscles had cramped by this stage & I could barely stand up). My only option was to stand against it whilst the waves smashed into me whilst the whole while the board was flying around my head. After copping about 5 waves, I was struggling to stand and beginning to dry retch. I stepped back toward the water, turned and jumped just as a big wave hit. Like a penguin, I skidded over the ledge and as the wave started to drag me backwards on my belly with both arms outstretched, I managed to get a couple of finger-holds and as soon as the water receded, I jumped up, grabbed the slightly dinged board and ran for the stone wall.

Sitting above the wall were a few people enjoying their coffees & reading the paper - oblivious of my near-death experience. I made it to a safer spot and collapsed on the beach. About 10mins later the mates finished surfing and walked up to me with a 'WTF?' expression on their faces - my legs were shredded & bleeding & I reckon I must've looked like death warmed up!

myusernam said..

I was worried I was going to shallow water blackout and I was just repeating dont blackout to myself as I could feel strange things starting to happen. I got to the surface and wy eyes were wiggling and I had what is known as a samba - where you go all shaky and dizzy - it happens right before you pass out. I was pretty close to Shallow water blackout and dying.

Far out that was close. I got all tingly reading that!

I did about 5 years spearfishing, never got that close to SWB, although my diving buddy and I did discuss it a lot.

togalog said..

As an Adelaide teenager of the eighties my friends and and I used to partake in certain legalish substancesand do stupid things to ease boredom my mate and I decided to row an old fridge across the onka river we remarkably made it halfway across when my mate decided to stand and salute. Capsising. And sinking the fridge with me trapped in the fridge compartment the harder I pushed to lift it off me the further my legs pushed into the mud -I was. Sucking on small pocketsof air between panicked. Pushing and strug[ling. I thought. I was gone. Till I felt an arm. I grabbed it and will he pulled I half dug and squirmed under the the lip of the door swallowing mud and foul brown water stirred up. From the bottom I was only down for. Two minutes but it was a lifetime my mate says he saved me. But if the twat didnt stand stand up it wouldn't of. Happened

OMG that s was close..

Very lucky

While ocean kayaking in Alaska,My partner and I were paddling across to a island in the middle of the fjord that we were planning on camping on for the night.The only problem was dodging the pods of humpback whales that were passing infront of us.We picked our break and started to paddle just after a pod had passed.On getting half way across the pod turned around and headed straight at us.We started to do the Benny Hill and paddle around in circles not knowing which way to go.The humpbacks breached 40 mtrs away, then 30mtrs, then 20mtrs ,then they did there final breach 10mtrs away before diving straight under us.I can still see every barnacle on the back of then.If they had breached again we would have been sitting on there backs.
I always considered it the safest place to be in Alaska was paddling in the water..and that's only because we camped with brown and black bears at night.

when i was an apprentice, i asked my boss' fat missus when her baby was due

i was 17 drunk at the christmas party thought i was being charming and genuinely thought she was pregnant

the water i was in was quite hot

^^ That's freaky!!
My worst have been run ins with Whites in full feeding mode. One great big massive **** off thing at Rocky Point up around 20ft about 20 yrs ago and another about 12-14 at Wedge a couple of years ago. The Wedge one was heavy, about a 100m out on a reasonably solid day and drifted over a swell and there it was all arced up and ready to launch at me. I shat bricks for a second or two weighing up the options and decided the only thing I could do was paddle towards it. If I'd tried to run it would've belted me in seconds. After 3 or 4 strokes it's relaxed and slunk off the back of the bank and I scratched into the next wave. Put me off the dawn patrol for a while.

Worst wipeout was at massive Sharkpit at Lano aged 14 or so. It was huuuuge, one solid close out from Eddy's to Lano Island, only time I've ever seen it do it. The only surfable wave was Sharkpit, 1/2 a k or so SW of Eddy's. Inside section was easy 8ft and a mate and I scraped into a couple there before paddling out the back to where we could see these massive perfect peaks peeling off.
Made it out ok and I've gone to take off on a lamp post sized peak and as I got up it petered out and I went "ohh O!"
realising that what we'd seen breaking must've been heaps bigger. Turned around and there's just this THING rearing up 80m further out. Took half a dozen breaths and went for the bottom, got fkn mowed, broke my leggy, swam under the next one then got annihilated. Lip to the middle of the back, pinned on the bottom in God knows how much water.
Pretty much gave up and blacked out just as my head broke the surface, got washed into Sharkpit and hung off a cray float for an hour or so trying to get my **** together. Then had a 1 1/2 hour swim to get to Eddy's..
Meanwhile a cray boat had found my board a few k's out to sea and my mate had made it to shore and raised the alarm with the coppers who sent out search and rescue.
I eventually made it back to shore broken and battered. After weeks of back pain, ended up getting scans and had fractured a vertebra. Put me off big waves forever.