Progressing to Big Wave Tow-in Surfing...

[factotum]

I'm at an interesting stage in my surfing development, with the ultimate goal of progressing to Big Wave surfing tow-ins. I give myself no 'status' of ability or experience. I am just me.

I achieved most of my progression on my 7'4" x 20' x 20 1/4 'Javelin' Gun in overhead to double overhead shore dump in France (but have always lived in the UK). Totally unsuitable board for the conditions, but as a naive surfer a year ago, I bought what I was told was a Funboard. Oh how wrong the seller was, I now realise.

I am 6' 0", 13.5 stone, big chest, wide shoulders, 32" waist. Essentially, big framed, thin and very toned with good muscle group development. I am looking at possibly shelling out a lot of money on a new board (fish) to add to my quivver, as I live in the UK, miles away from anything resembling 'big' waves. This is purely to get out in the water daily, and get more enjoyment than i currently reap from using my Gun. I can hold my breath during a functioning paddle out for 2mins 24 seconds at the moment.

I surf purely for the adrenaline kick of fast movement and big wave risk, and have no interest in pulling tricks etc. Just going as fast as possible. I possess insane levels of bravery and push myself as hard as possible in everything I do in life (I am currently out with a fractured ankle from getting smashed one night recently and stacking it into a curb on the walk home).

My search for advice has led me to the question of training vs new board.

Do you guys think it is better to shell out on a new board, or to plough my money into getting fitter, and 'harder' with other forms of sporting exercise/training combined with surfing still on my Gun in UK waters during off-peak season.

I am a professional DJ, so spend 24hrs on average each weekend during the winter solidly dancing in clubs, which means I am ultra-fit (when combined with twice weekly football sessions, lots of running and badminton too).

(Also, I have a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering, so I understand the Thermodynamic laws which govern surfboard design and usage)

Would boxing training help?

In terms of suits, I am about to get a second bespoke 4:3, (and some body armour/bouyancy aids in the near future).

Cheers, and please excuse the length of my post!

[drowningbitbybit]

I am just me.
Totally unsuitable board
I live in the UK
I possess insane levels of bravery and push myself as hard as possible in everything I do in life (I am currently out with a fractured ankle from getting smashed one night recently and stacking it into a curb on the walk home).
UK waters during off-peak season.
each weekend during the winter solidly dancing in clubs, which means I am ultra-fit
I have a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering, so I understand the Thermodynamic laws which govern surfboard design and usage
(and some body armour/bouyancy aids in the near future).

So a guy with a broken ankle from walking into a curb, who dances all weekend, doesnt surf in winter, who apparently needs bouyancy aid, who thinks that understanding thermodynamics means he knows how to shape a surfboard, who - to top it all - lives in the UK.... wants to try tow-in big wave surfing?

[factotum]

The 'broken' ankle is hypothesised. Dr. advised rest at the moment, combined with strong painkillers, then an X-ray in 4 days. The curb is hypothesised- I blacked-out for 5 hrs during that session so have no idea how I did it. Just 'came to' hobbling home. And have discovered retrospectivly that I checked myself out of A&E due to the 7hr wait. Also have a sprained wrist, buised ribs, strained knees and my left ankle is also sore.

So it could of been anything, maybe even a jump off a high wall. No idea at all. Was only worded as I did to keep the post as succinct as possible.

I have no idea how to shape a surfboard, and zero interest in that area. I live in the UK because Deep House and Deep Techno are big here. Living where your market is and all that.

And I didn't use the word try. I used the words progress eventually. And finally, I read that bouyancy aids can be an insurance method during dangerous surfing. Maybe my eyes deceived me.

[drowningbitbybit]

Okay, for a start - surf every day in winter when there's a chance of some big swell.

[factotum]

Thank you for the advice, appreciated. I can work evenings if needed, so that method would fit into my daily schedule and avoid dusk-surfing.

Cheers.

[isaluteyou]

the only way to get profeciant at surfing big waves is to surf big waves im not being patronising thats just the way it is. No other training is really sufficiant doesnt matter how fit you are unless you have a flesh load of experience behind your belt you will likely get thrashed if you jumped into the realm of TOH+ waves....

Oh and by experience i mean several years of it

oh and finally you need quite a considerable ammount of skill to surf big waves its not just a matter of popping up flying down the line and pulling off the back theres too many variables to even get into

[factotum]

Thanks, I'm starting to realise that my best option is to keep my quivver solo Javelin Gun for the moment, and plough my money into petrol and flights. Work on improving the smoothness of my ride on progressively bigger waves. I think I just needed some pushes in the right direction, ratifying some of my own beliefs and experiences

I know the variables (along with risk and required skill levels) are insanely huge; the amplification in displacement (on a board rail or underside) due to any surface bump or pit in a monster wave is huge at high velocity and speed. Time to pay up and start packing my board whenever I DJ near a coast!

Cheers Guys.

[heychief]

lol you use a gun for overhead waves thats hilarious

[Hang11]

From my understanding there's two ways to big wave nirvana, do what you're doing, for years and years, work your way up to it, and hopefully don't die, or get humbled too hard.

Or

Take the easy route.

Methamphetamine. It's keeps the line up at Mavs well stocked with hero chargers, and proves that all your "attributes" are basically irrelevant. Any old farked up speed freak can do it.

Anyway, just my opinion (although I think Fred Hemmings may share it) most big wave surfers are latent homosexuals.

[factotum]

Personally, I was gonna try Heroin and surf on it

I hear you on the homosexual opinion, the psychology of fear and risk is interesting. I have been to the brink and back (I almost died from spider bite during a DJ tour of Thailand recently) so kind of know myself very well. I always ride 'solo' at the moment too, I don't have any friends who surf big, just my girlfriend who watches out for me from the shore.

Time to befriend Mike Parsons I think, he's the one Big Wave person that I respect most of all. He truely is a balanced, sensible man.

Plus my girlfriend is a practicing pharmacist, so can bring morphine for all my broken bones

Essentially I'm young (26) so have the time to really do this properly. Once again, thanks for all your advice and opinions, all are greatly appreciated and have been taken on board fully.

Any more to add to the discussion would be very welcome too.

[Hang11]

Look, if you're really that confident that you're fit enough and can hold your breath for that long, you might as well just paddle out and take off on a few bombs.

It can't be that hard, most of it's about having the nuts and the fitness. Just take off, stand up, point the nose at the shoulder and charge hard.

There's a few big wave spots around the world that are easily accessible from the UK - maybe Belharra off St Jean de Luz in France, a few in Northern Spain/Portugal, West Coast of Ireland etc.

And heaps within a reasonably priced flight. Somewhere like Teauhopoo in Tahiti isn't that hard to get to - you can get flight to Papeete and just jump a bus from the airport to the break. That would be a good place to make a start, doesn't get massive but plenty of grunt and speed, and not the sort of wave you really need to be putting any turns together on, just drop in, grab the rail, and go. So if you reckon you can stand up and make the drop, then you should be sweet. Sounds like your board would be OK for that kind of wave too.

You'll be fine. Have fun.

Would love to see some pics too. It's great to see someone breaking through the whole mysto big wave BS thing, and proving that anybody with the right attitude can do it.

[kitesurfer]

(Also, I have a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering, so I understand the Thermodynamic laws which govern surfboard design and usage)

Perhaps you meant to say hydro dynamic laws as thermodynamics laws are based in heat not water? Even so having done a naval architure degree myself i can tell you that the fluid dynamics and hydro dynamics taught at degree level won't help you much with surfboard design let alone big wave tow in surfing.
Good luck, i have a feeling you're going to need it.

KS

[Hang11]

All sarcasm aside, there's a few monster spots near where I live, Papatowai (google it) is just down the road.

My next door neighbour (bit of a petrol head with a collection of V8 Holdens) has got a real snotty Waverunner, and he said I could borrow it, so if you're ever in NZ, I'd be more than happy to have a crack at towing you into a few good ones. I've got a towbar on the 4wd, so no worries to get to Papas, nice spot too, very picturesque.

I reckon it could be a good laugh.

[factotum]

Yes wise words; my Girl lives in Ireland (Dublin, which is east cost though, so still a fair bit of traveling for us), so I will be doing the Irish thing this summer a fair bit. Plus more France to condition myself on hardcore shore dump.

Based on my Irish experiences, I will then calculate the risk factor of moving to tropical swells. Teauhopoo was the main one I had in my sights, and I agree with your assessment of that wave.

Also, I surf goofy, and from my research, a lot of the biggest break right. Is it an advantage to be able to see the swell that's about to pound you? Or do you think you are moving way to fast to even look properly?

Thanks for the kind words, Hang11. I will get my girl to video record some of my efforts and post them on here.

[Hang11]

I can't see how it would make any difference if it's a right or left - you're not gonna fall off are you? If it gets too sketchy pig dogging a big keg, just hit the gas, get to the shoulder a pull a sneaky B/S 180.

[factotum]

(Also, I have a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering, so I understand the Thermodynamic laws which govern surfboard design and usage)

Perhaps you meant to say hydro dynamic laws as thermodynamics laws are based in heat not water? Even so having done a naval architure degree myself i can tell you that the fluid dynamics and hydro dynamics taught at degree level won't help you much with surfboard design let alone big wave tow in surfing.
Good luck, i have a feeling you're going to need it.

KS

You're right with that. The subject was entitled 'Thermodynamics' as a whole, but the applicable elements I was referring too were indeed hydrodynamic. It just means that I know the physics behind what keeps a board level and moving fast and true, and how small weight adjustments (and where these adjustments occur) affect the smoothness of a ride based on wave formation parameters.

[factotum]

All sarcasm aside, there's a few monster spots near where I live, Papatowai (google it) is just down the road.

My next door neighbour (bit of a petrol head with a collection of V8 Holdens) has got a real snotty Waverunner, and he said I could borrow it, so if you're ever in NZ, I'd be more than happy to have a crack at towing you into a few good ones. I've got a towbar on the 4wd, so no worries to get to Papas, nice spot too, very picturesque.

I reckon it could be a good laugh.

Well, once I get the money (I run a Deep House and Techno record label too, so the money will be rolling in incrementally faster with time) I will be moving my surfing farther afield, with greater frequency, so if I ever have the time to devote to a week in NZ, I may just take you up on that (very kind) offer.

Much appreciated, thank-you.

[drowningbitbybit]

Okay, one last post and then Im out of this thread...

You have no idea.
You're 26 - that aint young to start surfing. Sure, its young enough to get out there and have a good time, and maybe even to rip. It aint young enough to start thinking you'll be on some of the worlds heaviest waves.

You're 'super fit' - no superfit people I know get trashed every weekend. And if it isnt 'surf-fit' then it doesnt make a whole load of difference anyway.

Waves - this is where you really have no idea. Ive never towed-in. Im never going to tow-in.
I do however live somewhere where very occasionally (a few times a year) I can see tow-in from my living room window, and its unreal, more than anything you can imagine, certainly more than anything you can connect with from watching billabong odyssey, or some MTV video.

I have been out in big waves however with massively more power than you're ever going to see in the UK or even France (a few spots excepted). Board snappingly big (and it wasnt even all that big compared to what we can get around here). Its a lot more scary when you're actually out in the water than all the macho cr@p you're talking here (and, yes, Ive had near death experiences too bla bla bla).


So please quit this internet surfing fantasy bullsh**. Its time to either put up or shut up.
Either get out there and start wearing those treble overhead closeouts on the head, or just paddle into some 3ft waves and enjoy the surf like 99% of surfers actually do, rather than just talking about it.



*DBBB closes door on the way out*

[drowningbitbybit]

Oh, and just one more thing before I go...

Being a DJ is a lot less impressive than you seem to think it is.

[Hang11]

I'd love to see the video and pictures of an inexperienced surfer towing into big waves. Proper car crash TV.

I'm just me too.

I've spent nearly 25 years studying the hydrodynamic properties of various carbonated liquids flowing through my body, as a result, I'm a fat b4stard. I've been smashed and pounded and humbled heaps of times when surfing, and although I can't hold my breath for that long, on a few occasions I've managed to paddle out with a fag/joint on the go, and not get it wet until I've safely grunted my way out the back. Even managed to get a couple of beers out the back once, stuffed in my wetsuit sleeves.

I've got 7 O levels, even got a couple of B's, can't DJ but did threaten to smash Boy George's face in a few years ago.

And on a good day, I can handle OH waves happily enough.

It's all about having a bulletproof ego if you ask me, the OP has definitely got one of those, I reckon he'll be fine.