Posted on 01/03/2007 5:53:58 AM PST by ShadowDancer
I'm stoked!
Hey, those waves on the Detroit River can be killer, dude.
Pipeline on Oahu's North shore features huge waves that break over shallow water onto a lava reef. .....a bit more dangerous that soccer, to say the least.
(Good luck on the skin cancer, btw).
Duuuuuude.
Sore nipples from the Dewey Weber was all I could remember.
I have my doubts about such "surveys". It is somewhat like that thing about 'driving in a car on the road being riskier than being in an airplane in the sky'.
I mean, what are the chances of surviving a mishap while surfing, versus a mishap while playing basketball/baseball?
I'm sure one gets to make a lot more mistakes while playing the latter two games than while surfing, to end up dead.
Yeah, sure. Maybe it is for those who like to sit way inside and play in the soup.
For others though....
Even this is ineffective at convincing some folks to get out of the water.
I was quite a teen surfer in Hawaii and have seen, first-hand, that same situation i.e., a school of sharks through the in-shore waves!
Needless to say, we all surfed, carefully, clear to the beach on the next set!!
In five years, tho', our 'gang', nor I, ever experienced an actual attack out there. Just the occasional jelly fish sting....
If the seal numbers increased some of us would make our way to shore or find another spot. Most of the guys never cared. Every couple of years someone gets chomped in the Santa Cruz area because they didn't have enough sense to not surf in water filled with seals.
Hawaii has the most and best big wave sites in the country. However, Mavericks is a must see when the north swell is in. The water is ice cold, shallow with rocks and filled with sharks. A 10 foot swell will jack up to 25 feet without any warning. I never miss a chance to get down there when I'm on the west coast.
Hawaii spoiled me rotten. I entered the '62 Makaha Championships but didn't quite make it to the finals. Happy to have made it as far as I did tho'. 25ft waves that week!
North Shore (Haleiwa) almost drowned me several times - that 'pipeline' closes up fast!! It, was, however, a favorite.
We moved back to N.Cal , but the Monterey/Santa Cruz water temperature, even wet-suit clad, rather, ummm, cooled my passion for the sport. I'd become a warm-water kinda wimp!!
As much as I enjoy watching those waves, my self preservation instinct always kept me from surfing there. I remember those rocks taking Mark Foo like it was yesterday.
Hawaii spoiled me rotten. I entered the '62 Makaha Championships but didn't quite make it to the finals.
Damn! You must have known Greg Knoll. What a character he is. My first board was a Knoll. It was so big it took two of us to carry it. Those must have been heady times.... before the sport got discovered.
North Shore (Haleiwa) almost drowned me several times - that 'pipeline' closes up fast!!
I wish I could say that I've been there and done that. I knew a couple of talented (and cocky) surfers in Santa Barbara who were humbled by the pipeline. They always talked about how incredible the speed was...never experienced anything like it. One ruptured an eardrum and was never the same. Closest I've ever come to that was a reef break off the coast of Legian beach in Bali. Must have been 14-16 feet and very hollow. I should have drowned that day. I was picking pieces of coral out of my skin for months.
We moved back to N.Cal , but the Monterey/Santa Cruz water temperature, even wet-suit clad, rather, ummm, cooled my passion for the sport
LOL! I guess you'd know all about Mavericks then. I was thinking that you still lived in Hawaii. I'd never be able to manage the water either these days and would probably be the guy sitting inside with the long board. Twenty-five years and twenty five pounds ago, long before knee surgery or back pain, it was a different story. I could have done pretty good in school if I hadn't spent so much time at Hollister Ranch, El Capitan and, occasionally, Rincon. I've been up your way a few times (Steamer Lane?) and Carmel but found that the "locals only" attitude was more pronounced there than in So. Cal. The water was colder as well.
Now I'm on the gulf coast of Florida where the water is always warm but you'll never see a wave. That's too bad because I'd like my boys to learn while they're young. It would also give me a good reason to get back in the water and get back into shape. :^)
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