Surfing safety

[luked]

Im hoping people may be able to help me here.

As my A level design project im looking at safety within watersports and was wanting to know three things. Firstly when surfing do you wear/use any kind of safety equipment any if not what are your reasons for this.
Secondly if there was a safety product available that did not interfere with your surfing would you be likely to use it and thirdly what kind of price would you be prepared to pay for such a product.

Any answers will be a great help

[little waves]

this forum is for surfing really...not windsurfing, so you may not get to many responses. who knows though - there may be some people on here who wind surf as well.

good luck with your research.

[luked]

Sorry about that ive posted this on a few forums to try and get different perspectives and must have just copied and pasted it. Ive edited the original post now but any opinions would be really useful

[drowningbitbybit]

Im guessing my answer will be pretty standard...

The only protective kit that I use it a wetsuit and a leash.

As for other safety kit (lids and stuff), I dont use them because I dont think I surf particularly dangerous conditions, and I like to keep to the minimum amount of 'stuff' in the water (board, leash, and boardshorts is about optimum I find...)

The single, simplest product to improve safety would be fins that dont savage the skin quite so much


Oh, and maybe a crowd dispersal device...

[wiiiiilllll]

i have a laser gun which i use to break up the crowds. works a treat =D

[little waves]

ya, most people will just have their board/wetsuit and a good leash. i have heard of some people wearing a helmet, but have never actually seen anyone wear one. a life jacket would do no good, cause you wanna be able to duck under waves.

the biggest saftey tips for surfing would be to watch around you, know who/what is near you. if a big wave comes along you dont want your board or someone elses banging into you. also some ocean research wouldn't be a bad idea before entering the ocean. know about rip tides, sand bars, etc. watch the water for a bit before heading out, make sure you know your surrounding well so there are not to many surprises out in the water.

[temptations_wings]

seems like the greatest safety out in the water is knowing what your doing out there, being aware of yourself and others, and not being a dumbass. ya dont need to buy much of anything past the basic setup… just use your head.

[gulfsurfer]

i have heard of some people wearing a helmet, but have never actually seen anyone wear one. a life jacket would do no good, cause you wanna be able to duck under waves.

Never seen anyone wear a helmet? What about a pink wetsuit? Well now youve seen both!
Introducing, Roy Stewart
<edit dead link>

[temptations_wings]

once upon a time, i saw a guy wearing a helmet in the lineup. he had the mustache and the long hair… made me take a second glance… but he was wearing a normal wetsuit and besides that, what would roy be doing in california? lol

[deathfrog]

there's this one guy who surfs old mans with this funky hat which isn't really weird because he's old but he has this son who's just so like geeky, he has the same hat and this like purley functional rashguard and other stuff...

and he was super pale