Surfing Safety: Avoid These Hazardous Situations and Learn The Etiquette

As a beginner or even an intermediate surfer, you need to avoid these situations or places. Learn to identify them and always be aware of them. It will take some time for you to become fully aware, so be prepared.

• Outside high traffic zones. If you are in a spot where a lot of expert surfers going across left and right, then you should not be there as a beginner. You can only take off straight, you will not see them coming, and you do not know how to kick out of the take off and you will collide.



• Shorebreaks are very dangerous and seems to be the top cause of surfing injuries. Shorebreaks are the waves break right at the edge of the water, they can be very powerful. Before going into the water, watch the shores to make sure that you either have or don't have shorebreaks. If you have them, never surf all the way to the shore, or you will be pounded right onto the shore. If you are entering the water, watch and time the entry, or avoid the spot altogether and consider another entry or even another beach. If you are exiting the water, stay back, get off the board and wait for a good timing to get out. At the shorebreak zones, just before the wave breaks, you will most likely to experience a very high backwash current that will knock you and pull under. While it is not really accurate, people often call this the "undertow". If you are caught in this, take a deep breath, just let it take you under or dive under and relax under water until the break is over. If the breaking wave is coming right at you and you are being pulled under and you cannot move in any other directions, you may want to consider ditching your board, duck yourself under.  If you try to hang onto the board, you might injure yourself. As a beginner surfer, you should really not be frequenting the beaches that have this condition. Around in Half Moon Bay area, Montara, and all Half Moon Bay State beaches have this problem especially in the winter when the swells are large.
• Shallow or very low tide condition, (knee to hip deep) plus a close-out break going over chest high right at the spot: You can get pounded under the heavy surf and will be lucky if you just got knocked out. You might go down head in, and break or injure your neck. In general as a beginner should not take off into a closing out waves. If only a few experts are taking off, then waves are generally too fast for most people.
• Inside High traffic zones: If there are people in front of you towards the beach, paddle left or right to avoid colliding with them. Also you will be doing a favor to other surfers by you not being positioned in such a way to obstruct the surfers outside. It is so frustrating when I am at a good peak and there are bunch of people inside just in front of me.
• Hidden rocks. Usually there are rocks under the water in most beaches and you won't see them because they are submerged. Be careful walking in and  out and when it is deep enough, paddle in or out on your board. If the waves are not going too hard, put the board on the water and walk in or out. Also wear the booties as a protection. And do not ride all the way to the shore... It is tempting, but don't. You do not want to jump off into a rock, and also do not want to ding or stress your board.
• Currents: By the beach there will always be some sort of currents and even if you are not doing anything you are being carried in the current. Be well aware of where you are relative to other fixed objects on land and also other surfers. As a beginner, do not venture too far outside as you might not be able to paddle back. Also you may be carried into zones that you do not want to be, such as high break zones. Correct your positions frequently. Also note, like in the picture below I took at Montara, rip currents do not necessarily go straight from the shore to the ocean like you see on diagrams at the beach or web sites. Sometimes it follow along some path. Water goes out with the least path of resistance and under-water geography determines this.
  
  
  



• More Currents Will Develop  During and After A Large Set of Waves: You will also realize that there will be period of time when more waves come in. This is what surfers call set waves. During and immediately after such period, you will experience more currents to develop as more water will wash up towards the shore and it needs to find the way back to the ocean. If you are feeling like being carried away, you may want to calm down a bit and not to struggle paddling back in or away during the "set" period. The energy will usually dissipate in the lull between the sets. Expert surfers know this and take this to their advantage in paddling out from rip tides that we call a channel. Obviously, if the waves are continuously coming and/or big, the currents are even stronger and could never stop. So that's the danger of being in bigger conditions and require a strong swimmer and surfer to be able to deal with it. Remember that most surfers cannot help you out when you got carried away mainly because they'd be struggling themselves have no water rescue training under such situations. So you should be extremely careful of currents. As a weak swimmer and surfer, this will be one of the most horrifying experience in the water, so be sure to start out from a safe situation.
• Loosing the Board: Make sure that your leashes are security fastened. Be always with your board so that even if you got carried outside you can paddle back.
• High Side or Offshore Wind Condition: Wind will carry you to unexpected places. Especially when the wind is offshore (blowing from the beach toward the ocean) you will be carried outside so watch out.
• Can't Find Your Board: Your board is now at a very dangerous position. It can be up in the air, or it can be behind you. Either ways, you can be smacked on your head or face in about a couple of seconds. No matter where you are, if the board is in the water only approach it with you towards the ocean and your board towards the shore. I really suggest you wear a helmet in the beginning stage. Learn to stay under the water after a wipe out for 5 seconds or so.
  
  
• Hang On To Your Own Board! Try to hug and hang on to your board "no matter what." Do not endanger other surfers. If you are in a situation where you cannot hang onto your board, you are in a power zone that's beyond your current ability. Paddle to the shore, and find a mellower spot. Bailing is only acceptable when there are absolutely no other surfers around!
  
• If someone is coming at you. Experienced and strong surfers will know what to do to avoid the collision by knowing which way the surfer is going and for short boarders they can duck dive. In beginners' cases, that is usually not how it works. Probably the best option for you is to get off the board, hold on to it, and stay put where you are. If a surfer is under control, the surfer can avoid you. If you are not stationary, the surfer cannot judge where you are going. Getting off the board allows you to swim under the water. And holding the board allows you to use it as the shield. Sure you will suffer some damage, but I'd consider that as part of being in the sport. Over time you will learn which way the surfer is going and you will be strong enough to paddle towards the tail of the surfer's board. This will cause you to eat the white water but that's part of the etiquette. But that takes a bit of experience.
  
  
• Poor water quality condition or contaminated water.  Read more about this on Surfrider San Mateo Chapter's Web Site.

This Hawai'ian Life Guard Site has lots of good information about the ocean safety.

Please Study This Surfing Etiquette Brochure Read and study this Surf Safety Brochure (Adobe Acrobat Format) prepared by the Surf Safety Alliance in Ventura County. Printed brochures can be available. Please contact Surf Safety Alliance at surfsafetyalliance@yahoo.com Like most things in surfing, it is a grass roots effort so please help them out by giving them some donation.