Greetings all - now this thread will probably loose me some street cred but if it helps prevent at least 1 person from having the same experience as me, well then it's worth it.

Yesterday morning, I was out at mid-tide with some nice little 2' sliders & I caught a set wave / successfully kicked out & as I turned to paddle back out (with nobody around me) the last set wave was pretty much on top of me so I used my board as a platform & thought I would take a shallow dive under the wave & unfortunately, I managed to face plant straight into the sand bank.

My shonz is badly bruised / my neck is super stiff & I have a mild concussion....which is actually a good result cause the outcome could have been a whole lot worse. Fortunately, there are no rocks.....just a sand bank which clearly shifts a lot.

Bottom line - I've heard of people diving into shallow water & having bad injuries but I honestly never thought it would happen to me cause I'm generally pretty cautious. Yes, this was completely me being stupid but trust me, it happens a lot easier than you think so pls do not dive off your board (even if nobody else is around you) unless you are 100% confident the water is deep enough

good advice SUPbru.

Man, you dodged a bullet! Glad to hear you are OK. (I have dived under lots of waves when I thought, like you did, that it was deep enough.) Hope the pain and bruising go away quickly!

Good advice, Injuries for diving into sandbanks still outnumber drownings, shark attacks and fin chops in NSW reported by lifeguards, always be aware of shallow dumping waves.

Thanks for all the words of encouragement (even though I was a numpty) & I certainly will think twice before diving off my board again.

@rodriguez: you are so right....that feeling when it happens is friggin scary....it took me a few seconds to make sure I could still move all my limbs & as cSe mentions, I feel like a dodged a bullet....especially given I was the only 1 out.

For peace of mind, I always wear an impact vest when it gets big (which it wasn't yesterday) but I guess it's often the less obvious things which can trip you up. The stat pumpjockey02 mentions certainly reinforces my new found respect for sandbanks.

SUPbru.... we are ALL numpty's, so it's good to be reminded from time to time.

I am quite sure if I had an MRI, I will find out that I cracked my neck 4 years ago just sliding off the nose on a 2' wave.
Somehow I ended up pile driving, head first into 5" of water with my hands at my side.
I have no idea how I got turned around like that... I 100% know better.
But there I was.... the sound of a smashed champagne bottle came out of my neck.
I have mo Idea how that didn't kill me. My neck has never swiveled since that day.
Being me, I crawled around for 5 minutes looking for my brain, then surfed another hour, before driving 3 hours to surf a rock pointbreak. Trying to figure out if I was dead, I guess.

Be well my friend!

tiago taught me to dive with paddle extended ahead of one's head--works like a charm, and often i am surprised to hit bottom with the extended paddle handle, when i assumed i was way deeper.

really, tho, i f have to dive now, it's two hands on the paddle, with handle extended in front of my head.

creek's issue was random and cant be planned for--his karma protected him.

nuther excellent tiago tip: use the paddle to assist in surfacing in a hold-down--and use the paddle when under to fight being pushed shoreward--every bit counts when trying to get outside

prolly obvious to many, but not to me

Thanks my bru - appreciate the well wishes although it's typical....the conditions this morning are beaut & I've been relegated to the side lines....which sux

Thanks for the handy tips booundeast (although I could have sworn I dived with my hands extended) & you're dead right....you have zero control over accidents like Creek's so it's always best to have serious respect & stay humbled when it comes to the big blue!

Gboots - don't let this thread put you off beach breaks which are great fun...this was my stupidity diving off my board when it was clearly too shallow...happy surfing