Surfing Closeouts

[BoMan]

I often watch shortboarders ride closeout waves.There's no peak, no face and no way out. They take off, slide under the curl, get worked and come up stoked....really STOKED. It makes the best of a bad situation and I guess a quick glimpse of the "barrel" is worth the penalty.

What say you?

[tomthetreeman]

I’ve done it, it’s a blast. Closest I’ve come to getting barreled.

[jaffa1949]

Couple of reasons as I see it, if you take on lots of close out, one day one will stay open , you will have learnt to push as far as you can and you will pop out - barrel ride.
Two the hitting yourself on the head with a hammer theory, hurts like hell but feels great when you stop!

Reality if you cannot handle a severe drop into a possible close out, you are not going to get a go to whoa barrel

[oldmansurfer]

The wipeout from inside the barrel is minor generally. It's the safest place to wipeout on a tubing wave. The video you showed had peaks and the wave was breaking in a direction and the surfer made some waves. Sometimes it's about figuring out what you can do on the waves that are there. Which waves offer which kind of rides and where to lineup and what you can do on those waves. It's better than sitting home wishing you were surfing.

[pmcaero]

dude on an 8ft foamy was tucking them in nicely on 2-3ft closeouts on Saturday at my break. I was pretty jealous, I had my Bic and was missing the wave on takeoff nearly every time because it always seem to hit the deeper section and flatten right before the sandbar.

[BoMan]

I had my Bic and was missing the wave on takeoff nearly every time because it always seem to hit the deeper section and flatten right before the sandbar.

What's it like surfing in the polar vortex?

[pmcaero]

What's it like surfing in the polar vortex?

We actually had some really cold days (high of 8F) a week or so ago, so I didn't go surfing. Some maniacs went and posted pictures with beard icicles.
This past weekend was mild by comparison, 30F on Saturday, but we're supposed to get another cold snap this week.
Hopefully it warms up again by next weekend. Water's not that cold yet.