Rejected again!

[stoneaxe]

Feeling a bit beat up at the moment...got my ass handed to me a 1/2 dozen times before giving up. Probably wasn't the wisest choice to go out....I've been unable to drive all week because my heads been all screwed up...head cold and storms screw me up royally. I was wheezing this morning so maybe a touch of bronchitis coming on too. Foolishly decided to go down to the beach this afternoon...just to look. Then turned around came home and suited up.... Forecast was 5-7' and clean....it was 8-10' outside and 5-7' at the beach...6-7 sec period but the big sets were really nice looking waves.

The beach is absolutely destroyed from the two storms. The road just opened this afternoon from the damage caused by Riley but the parking lot is still closed.....seawall breached in 3 places, parking lot washed out or covered 18" in boulders. Snack bar that a good friend just sold last year took a beating...concrete patio washed under, flying boulders knocked out concrete blocks in the walls. The hotel on the beach is going to be closed for awhile...lots of damage...one corner of it is just gone. The beach itself is completely changed...lost a lot of sand or pushed it all around anyway. Had to park and walk a 1/4 mile in to where I could get into the water.

So.....out of shape, dizzy, and sick I'm standing looking at this slamming beach break and wondering how wise this is. Not being the brightest bulb I wait for a lull (not really) and go for it. When it gets like this at Plymouth it can be sketchy getting out. There is a channel of sorts but it's deceiving and with all the rebound off the cliff and beach the water near shore is a mess, tough to get up and going...at least when I'm feeling like this it is.

I kept almost making it and then getting slammed. Rejected hard on the 3rd attempt in shallow water and came down on my ribs on a rock....thankfully not the large pointy one 4' to the right. Took a break for awhile to make sure nothing was broken, catch my breath, and try and warm up. Getting washed around has the wonderful 38 deg water flushing my suit and I'm getting cold...no truck nearby to get warm in so I huddle out of the wind behind the wall for a bit and just watch. I'm fucking determined to get a damn wave......it looks so awesome outside....mother nature laughs at my determination....she starts throwing sleet....I get rejected 3 more times. Tide has dropped and now it doesn't even look like I can get out. Cold, sore, and frustrated I head back to my truck.

Still better than not going

[PonoBill]

Good for you brother. Some of my best sessions were when I thought I was stupid to try--and some of my worst. Just don't get hurt, or at least don't get seriously hurt.

[eastbound]

sorry to hear of denial--but glad to hear youre a fighter--you have to be, given the cards youve been dealt

keep fighting--what the hell else can you do?!

good luck

[stoneaxe]

Yeah i know..some of mine too...but I need to know when to fold em. It looked so sketchy. I watched it for 10 minutes before going out and convinced myself I could just make it if i could get out beyond the shoal...such a tease but almost doesn't count. Once in the water it was even worse, there were a lot of weird rips and you got sucked out right into the impact zone. Feeling as I did it wasn't smart....wasn't getting enough O2 to start, couldn't catch my breath getting slammed, completely disoriented in the wash. Literally crawled out of the water after the rib smash. Pride is a silly thing...nobody there to see it...but I just couldn't walk away without trying. I need to find a vest that fits me...at least maybe I won't die from stupidity when its on.

Fighting is a good thing.....it's losing that sucks....

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

Sometimes you show up for an ass-kicking. But at least you willingly showed your cheeks. I'm impressed.

[supthecreek]

At least you gave it a run Bobby!

I stood at the shorebreak for 45 minutes, waiting for a break.
Admittedly I have learned my lessons the hard way in sucky shorebreak, it is nothing to take lightly.

There was just too much ground to cover between waves.
Water sucking off the beach would suck you into the beach slam, with no easy escape.

Getting back to the beach, through the shorebreak is always more dangerous...
so as I stood there, pondering my options, the waves started closing out and the session looked like a bust...

so I walked away.
For the 1st time in my life...... I suited up and didn't go out.... and all of it perfectly recorded on SoloShot3 

Didn't look hard from the beach, but annoyingly deceptive.
Sheepish for sure.

[eastbound]

suited up? you poor thing creek--you put on a pair of boardshorts for nuttin!

looks nasty!--thk goodness for the ss3 or id accuse you of chickening out!

[Beasho]

To be accepted we have to be willing to be rejected 

[stoneaxe]

That looks like a carbon copy of what I was trying to get through....except for the board shorts....you're smarter than I am. I had the same thought about it looking makeable from the beach....came SO close.

Getting sucked into the beach slam is exactly how I got my ribs smashed...fell on one and got pushed into the shallows....beach suck grabbed me and pulled me right into the base of the next one...then it was a washing machine spin cycle and slam. Thankfully I managed to grab onto the rock I had crashed into or I would have been dragged back out again. Would have been very embarrassing to drown in a foot of water.....

Can't believe how sore I am today. Fighting hard for maybe 30 mins total and a few beatings in the shallows and I feel like I went a few rounds with Mike Tyson...except I still have all of my ear....

[SUP Sports ®]

Good for you brother. Some of my best sessions were when I thought I was stupid to try--and some of my worst. Just don't get hurt, or at least don't get seriously hurt.

Zackly! Eddie would go!!!

Some of my most memorable surfing, windsurfing, & paddle surfing sessions at Jalama...one of the most powerful beach breaks on the planet...were when I overcame fear and doubt and just saddled up and gave it a go...those successfully ridden waves are etched in my mind...the beat downs in the cold shark infested death currents...not so much...;-)

I have found it the hardest to overcome the fear and doubt if you are around others who are hemming and hawing...definitely, avoid the "hem haws" and their group think, if you are on the fence...as they most likely will help convince you not to suit up...and, if you do, it can affect your mental game...

Of course, there are THOSE days when it's best to know when to hold them and when to fold them...and, live to surf another day...of course, lots of factors come into play when making the decision...due diligence...preparedness...confidence...risk/reward...DESIRE...etc...but, you never know unless you go...and, we aren't getting any younger...there will come a day when we all hang up our spurs...so for now, I'm trying to stay stoked for life...one day at a time...YMMV...;-)

[PonoBill]

That's some ugly looking beach break Creek. I doubt I would have tried that. I would have been standing right beside you--actually probably a few paces back. You first.

Wardog, Jalama seems always nasty. I windsurfed there several times long ago and had a session where I got out easily in a lull, and then couldn't find a way in other than getting the shit kicked out of me, which is what eventually happened when I went for it. I should have just sailed onto the beach at full speed and run up the beach like a chicken instead of trying to dismount and exit in the water. Broken mast, torn sail sleeve, bashed board and a sailor bruised and battered.

Still, I tend to be excited to see no one out. I'm never looking to join the club in the lineup. The best days seem to be the ones you pay a little dues for. But it's a really bad idea to push that to extremes, as I've found to my regret a few times.

[TallDude]

At the last BOP (Salt Creek) I was looking like Creek does in the picture. 10'+ waves and I holding my 14' race board. This was a couple of days before the race. Where the race actually started was a fairly easy Run-Jump-And Paddle entry, but there were a ton of people practicing right there. So I walked up the beach to what we call Gravels. This is were I used to get pitted hard on purpose on my boogie board when I was a kid. The kids still do it there and it's fun to watch. It has a thick lip and just a shore pound. I thought I could time it just right, run and jump right over the lip just after it brakes. So I ready for a race start, run at just the perfect time and fly over the lip with my board under me. I kinda got splashed wet as I went over, so as I pushed up to get to my feet, my left hand slipped. I landed face down on my board. Then..... Uh Oh...... That next wave caught me and my board, and just pitted me. I still had my arm around my board as I got slid up the beach backwards on my ass. And yes... I had gravel in my board shorts. As the water receded, it left me sitting there on the sand just laughing at myself. Just in case no one else was:)

[PonoBill]

I forgot all about that. I nearly drowned at Salt Creek practicing starts with my 12'2" starboard "race board". I did the same thing--moved down the beach a little to get away from the crowd. I got slammed, then shoved onto the bottom with so much force I couldn't move. I eventually got my feet under me and could stand and then run like hell up the beach.

[SUP Sports ®]

That's some ugly looking beach break Creek. I doubt I would have tried that. I would have been standing right beside you--actually probably a few paces back. You first.

Wardog, Jalama seems always nasty. I windsurfed there several times long ago and had a session where I got out easily in a lull, and then couldn't find a way in other than getting the shit kicked out of me, which is what eventually happened when I went for it. I should have just sailed onto the beach at full speed and run up the beach like a chicken instead of trying to dismount and exit in the water. Broken mast, torn sail sleeve, bashed board and a sailor bruised and battered.

Still, I tend to be excited to see no one out. I'm never looking to join the club in the lineup. The best days seem to be the ones you pay a little dues for. But it's a really bad idea to push that to extremes, as I've found to my regret a few times.

Most of the time Jalama takes care of letting you get in too much trouble because it takes a lot of luck on the big days to penetrate the inside shorepound no matter what wave riding craft that you are on...if you do get lucky...plus, good timing...right gear...lots of experience...etc...then, oftentimes it's a case of careful what you wish for...HELP ME MR. WIZARD!!!...;-)

I've seen guys bust over $5K in windsurf gear and then also get heli-vacced out to the hospital...double whammy...KACHING KACHING...

A couple of my worst experiences there were windsurfing and trying to hang onto my gear and having huge heaving waves explode on me as I was all wrapped up in it...bad idea...let it go and dive...then swim as fast as you can to try and retrieve it before it gets turned into useless debris...and, also having a back foot come out of the strap on an aerial off the lip...ended up in the hospital on that one...wave came down on sail, board, and me under all of it...fin went through my harness and wetsuit into my abdomen...over-rotated loops are bad...then there was the time I was trying to help a German windsurfer who was getting pummeled as he let his rig go which hit me in the head...saw stars and had to go get stitched up...concussions are not good...etc...etc...fun stuff to think about as the Jalama windsurf season is getting ready to start...;-)

[Rider]

One year at the Jalama Shootout it was big and the wind was funky.  18 masts broken that day.  I was lucky and got a couple of waves and came in second in the senior men’s division.