Some great advice there SP. I think if your board is stuck though that adds another dimension to it.

When its big and I am about to cop it I am a big of fan of doing a shallow duck dive and holding onto my board with a death grip whilst getting pulverised knowing that when its over I will be 10 to 20m back from the main part of the impact zone which will give me a fighting chance to get my breath back, ensure I am not getting the full force of the ocean on me next time and if I survive the set and my mates are telling me to stop being a pussy I can paddle back out to join them. Also it can allow you to keep out of airshot so you can not hear them and thus you can just disappear in and have some time up your sleeve to make up some grand excuse . But yes I always hold onto my board. It terrifies me sometimes when a leg rope breaks and its chunky and I have to swim in. I religiously change all my leg ropes on my birthday every year. People say I am crazy as they will last longer than a year. I say yes that may be the case but it significantly reduces the probability that I will have to swim in or lose my boards onto rocks and destroy it. I call it a cheap insurance policy.

Blair365 said..
a wave hit me and my leg rope let go and board was lost. (A lesson here: I used a calf leg rope which I dont like and as it was on the board and being lazy I left it on, the attachment strugles to fit around my calf and I thought nothing of it)

As my board got picked up and sent to the beach I was left out the back with a horrendous rip to counter attack......

Similar to my worst experience......I went out in what appeared to be just a pretty decent size swell out at Margaret River about 20 years ago. There was just one other guy out called Dave Mc'Caulay, he used to do the Pro circuit & was making it look playful. The swell was pretty Westerly & there was a shifting peak. I caught a couple of double over head waves off the shoulder & went for my third wave & missed it. When I turned around there was like 20ft of white water coming at me from something massive that had broken right out the back & wide where I was. I through my board, swam for the bottom, felt this sudden massive increase in water pressure, a tug on my leg & bang snapped leggy.

I came up & started swimming in. Dave asked if I was alright & I said yeah I'll just swim in...I was just swimming in & then realized there was a pretty strong current coming sideways across the reef & then swinging round in front of the rivermouth & taking me out to The Box which was just all whitewater along there. So no option to swim right, coz I'd be back to square one, no option to swim across the rocks in front of the box coz it was way too big. I either had to go all the way North to the Bay at Kilkrnup, about 2-3 kms round trip out the back dodging reefs or swim straight in.

Kept swimming in, was getting tired, real tired, was thinking about Kilkarnup...was thinking about death.

I had stopped, just treading water, resting & thinking...then these waves come out of nowhere & broke in between Margs & the box, out the back of the rivermouth. I got a second wind & swam my ass into body surfing a couple into the rocks along the shore where the waves pumbled me across the reef & I just didn't care. Knew I was close to shore & just protected my head. Got in & almost kissed the ground....walked up the beach & there was my board leaning against the base of the stairs

weiry said..

magicseaweed.com/Northern-Australia-Surf-Chart/36/?chartType=PRATE

look at this low

see ya in a few days then

Scary story Mick - thanks for sharing.Maybe we should have renamed this thread

Yeah really taught me to respect the ocean. I didn't fear the ocean before that or well that morning before I went out. I used to think water is soft & would just paddle out a lot of the time without reading things properly. But that all changed that day, I'd check somewhere else out with a more uniform breaking pattern if it was big & shifty.

I've only broken 4 leggies in my life & they were all in the SW. 1 at Margs & 3 at Ellenbrook.

magicseaweed.com/Agnes-Water-Surf-Report/1001/

www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/nocookies?a=A.flavipes