WORST BEATING

[megaprober]

i was thinking since we all love to tell stories (about ourselves) me included. i want a story that involves desperation like when that wave is looming and your inside of it with no escape and everything goes slow motion and the last thing you do is that involuntary very slow deep NOOOOOOOO........spare no details we've all had those experiences that remind us that ocean is king!!!

[Bud]

a quick scan of my journal I found a write up about a good pummeling that Himmys dished out to me http://www.wavelust.com/bsl/jan02.html#011502

"Tuesday January 15, 2002
9:00a-11:30a
North Shore
Avg wave face 9-13 feet
Sets wave face 15-18 feet (WNW)
Sunny; Very light offshore winds (E)

None of the crew was available so I headed out solo to catch a bit of the new swell. Even though I was still miles away, coming over the hill I could clearly see some of the outer reefs peeling. Gulp.

Much of the parking area cordoned off by police for a film production ("Surfer Girl"), but there were only 4-5 surfer vehicles around. Swell direction favored this spot named for a certain mountain range and pretty huge lefts were breaking way out on the cloud break then re-forming about 300 yards in. I felt a bit silly with my 6'3" but it's all I have at the moment and I was not about to miss out, even if it meant scampering about in the danger zone.

Must have been 2/3's of mile out when I got to the reform. About 300 yards further out from me were the group of 4-5 guys on huge boards who were nabbing the biggest sets on the outermost (?) reef. It was pretty consistent and the sets out there were well over 3xoh, but they feathered and broke only to die out just before reforming into a nasty doubling up bowl .... fully heaving freight trains. At the bowl the faces were still pushing 18 feet.

I was sketching hard but managed to drop into 3 back to back screamers just as 2 other guys paddled out to join me. Basically negotiating a hairy drop then pumping; taking a high line for speed, trying to stay in the pocket without getting left behind since the walls never let up. One of the newcomers was a familiar face and I was jazzed when he described how my last ride and wave looked.

Just as I was feeling a little more confident and taking off deeper, a set swung wide and I got caught in the focus of the bowl. Thinking I could scramble under it (nope), I ended up directly under the lip and took it square as I ducked. It crushed me like I haven't been crushed in a long time. The lip exploded on me and I swear I saw stars. Figured my board was toast. But the solid pull of my leash as I ragdolled (for what seemed like forever) gave hope that it didn't snap. Still underwater, I held my leash strap to keep it from pulling off my ankle. Between my fingers I could feel the urethane stretching to spaghetti noodle thinness and was dreading that tell tale "sudden loss of pull" of a leash giving way. This far out and so much surf I knew if my board got away I would never find it. And the swim in - oh man. But it held. I was forcing myself to relax, not fight the turbulence, and even though I fought semi panic from lack of air I was finally able to kick to the surface. Unfortunately the next 4-5 waves were a bit smaller than the first so they broke *right* on me too! Faaak I was getting drilled and drilled.

Took a good 15 minutes to get clear of the poundings and to start making some head way. I was badly shaken but paddled back out... very gun-shy. I caught only about 3 more waves in the last hour. By then, the swell was already dropping - sets were taking longer and longer; the guys on the outer reef had come in to join us at the reform and about 4-5 more people had paddled out. Still, only a few of the surfers sat at the bowl. Most of the waves went unridden as the bulk of the 4-5 other surfers sat way off in relative safety.

On the way home I stopped in Haleiwa, shopping for a new used gun.

Good surfing to you,

Bud "

[Bud]

http://www.wavelust.com/bsl/feb00.html#022900

"Tuesday February 29, 2000
2:30p - 5:00p
Sunset Beach, North Shore
Avg wave face 10-12 feet
Sets wave face 14-17 feet, occ bombs
Sunny; Ferocious offshore winds

We packed my truck with our spears (MM 8', Rich 7'9", Bud 7'4") and headed north looking for some afternoon juice.

Pulled up to Sunset and it was going off! *And* there was only about half dozen surfers in the lineup. Waitaminute. . .what's wrong with this picture? The judging tent just up the beach explained it real quickly. We were completely disappointed and just about to pull away when MM yelled to say howzit to a friend who was in the contest. He came up to us and said the last heat of the day was in the water. Alright!

As we headed to the water, I quickly rubbed nearly a half bar of wax on my virgin gun (picked it up last Saturday). I'm pretty sure the contest stand on the beach kept much of the usual crowd away for at least an extra half hour. Caught the rip out to the lineup; said howdy to Brock L. who was already pouncing on the biggest sets as soon as the final horn for the contest blew.

The lineup filled in pretty quick, but as usual 95% of the pack at both the west bowl and north peak stayed way outside. This lets them avoid (most of the time) getting drilled but it also lets a ton of great waves pass to the few of us who decided to take the chance of sitting in the impact zone of the biggest sets. Fact is, most of the people sitting farthest out (or in the channel) do not catch anything, anyway. The biggest sets are *always* monopolized by a few guys on ridiculously huge, barely turnable, 5"
thick, rhino chasers that look more like paddle boards. You'd think it was Mavericks or something. One consolation was the incredibly strong wind was taking an extra toll on those airplane wings

After blowing a couple turns trying to get the feel of my new stick, I finally dialed into a nasty wedge that I snaked from my brother. My evil laughter stopped as I hit the bottom and the long section ahead started pitching and sucking out much faster than I anticipated. I laid into the bottom turn early, barely keeping my head as the lip whizzed over me. My upward momentum almost took me too high in the barrel, but the wave was big enough to give me time to compensate. Dunno if he took the shot but the lone water photog was up close and personal while I had a long and cavernous tube. I had moved way forward on the board, so by the time I came out I kinda just rode flying straight out onto the shoulder and plopped over, Stoked.

Didn't see much of Rich or MM's waves, the waves break over such a huge area. Rich later said he was fully pulling his
hair out over the crowd.

I had 5-6 more huge barrels but was much less successful at my exits. Finally one lip smacked and slam dunked me hard
against my board. I thought my knee had been torn apart; leg felt like it was just hanging from below the knee. I couldn't move it. Fuuuuck! I was getting worked but I couldn't do anything but hang onto my stick as the pain and surf washed over me. Just then, MM rode a wave past me. From the channel paddling back out he saw that I was wincing and still hanging on my board, getting drilled. He paddled within talking distance and I told him I'd live but I think I may have dislocated my leg below the knee, if that was possible.

20 minutes later I still nursing my leg, much of the pain had eased and I had feeling again but I didn't think I could surf anymore today. I would regret it later, but I decided to stick it out a bit longer, inspired by the likes of Myles Padaca (I'd never seen him surf in person before)- he was killing it! And Rochelle Ballard had the barrel of the day on a nearly 3xoh beast from the north peak. Wow!

I was still debating whether to go in or try to get a few pics with the disposable camera in my pocket when a set of west bowl bombs popped up, salt water spray flying dozens of feet off the tops. It was clear no one near me would make it past, and only a few sitting way outside scratched over these. Knowing I was going to get punished, I actually paddled deeper to avoid the brunt of the lip. Then I decided to at least *try* to duck the first one. It blasted me hard, holding me and my stick under water for a loooong time. I came up gasping, just in time to see that the next wave had doubled-up, which kept it from breaking until it was on top of me. The lip on this two story freak was massive. I had a fraction of a second to get my head below water, even then I was pretty sure my new stick was history. There was nothing I could do.

When the dust settled, I was shaking my head in disbelief at my bad luck. MM paddled over when he noticed I was sitting
way too low in the water. I leaned off the back end of my stick and showed him the clean break. The front half was no
where to be seen (he later found it for me, onshore at Val' Reef).

Couldn't paddle in against the rip so I had to get into the whitewater, which was another pounding with ragged fiberglass to deal with. I made it to shore just as Myles Padaca was leaving the water with the broken halves of his stick too.

That stick would have been a keeper.

Bud "

[surfer9joe]

#1: Mailie Point, Eddie Iakau day, 1990. Wasn't invited to the Eddie, so I went to the Wesside. Mailies looked like 4-6 from the lot, but it was more like 6-8 from the water. Caught a few waves when a 10- foot clean-up set came.

That wave snapped like 10 peoples leash's right then and there. After it passed all of us on the outside were swimming, no boards just looking at each other. It was the first wave of I think a 9 wave set. I was actually wearing webs. Man those waves held me down long.

I seriously thought I was going to drown for a minute. When the lasy wave of the set hit me, all whitewater and foam I said to myself "if this isn't the last wave of the set, Im dead" but it was!
------------------------------------------------
#2: Jockos, 6-10
This was when I was living on the North Shorew by myself. 1st mistake: smoking a huge fatty by myself before paddling out.

Look out it's just huge, but I was ready so I thought. Paddled out and was catching more waves than this guy named Trip Freeman, a Florida loudmouth /pro from sebastian. I saw him in florida being a big dick at sebastian, so I was like "this is Hawaii, the waves are big I'll show you!"


I catch like two right in front of him, then get cocky and sit a little inside the few guys out there. Look out, 9 foot set, I'm caught inside but have a chance. Tryied to duck it, but WENT OVER THE FALLS BACKWARDS!

Actually, that wasn't so bad, the next 10 footer that already broke in front of me was. As I slid off my board, I was trying to be as calm as possible.
If my leash had broke I would probaly be a goner. The next few waves beat me to within a inch of my life. I BARELY had the energy to get back on my board after the set pummeled me, I was literally seeing stars.

[Kelly7873]

I may not have any great barrel stories but I've taken plenty of great beatings.
I was out at Himalayas on the day Todd Chesser died. I don't remember much about that morning except all the sirens going off. There were so many emergency vehicles rushing down the road I thought 50 tourist got washed in at Waimea. When we came in the word had already spread that Todd had died at Alligator Rock.
A bunch of us were in the parking lot later checking to see if we would have another go out when two girls drove up, grabbed their towels and started heading to the beach. We warned them there was no beach but they acted like we were crazy. They did put down their towels and walked across the road to check it out. Right then Kirk spots something outside and we see this big black wall feather and break all the way across outside Himmis and Lanis. When the set is over we see that the girls are gone, while we were watching the monster set they climbed down the rocks to the water's edge. We screamed at them to get the hell out of there and they made it up just in time as the water pushed across the road to bushes on the other side.
I didn't see anymore of those freak sets so I decided to go back out. No one decided to come with me. I made it out without a problem and took a pass on the first set. On the second set I thought I was looking good for the first wave. My first rule of Himalayas is if you can catch the first wave you better catch it because the rest of the set will probably catch you. My second rule is DON'T MISS IT. I missed it. I may have been able to get in it but I would of been late (I'm always late) and I chickened and pulled back. The wave was trying to suck me over so I sacrificed my board to it, which it took as if my leash was made of licorice. The next wave was bigger of course and focused right on me but without my board I was able to get deep and I didn't even get tumbled. I came up just in time to see the next wave pitching. I only had time to grab a quick breath and head back down. This time I didn't get quite deep enough and took a couple of spins. I don't remember how many waves there were but I remember thinking a couple times that if there was another I'm going to be in trouble. I also remember trying to suck in air so deep I thought I was going to split my wetsuit. After the set was over the swim in was a piece of cake, I love wearing fins.

[bammbamm808]

Backdoor Pipe, '89. 3-5' maybe a touch bigger, very very nice and basically no one out. Made numerous waves from the North peak all the way through aint's to the crack at OTW. Was riding the best board I've ever had, still to this day, a magic 6'9" that I'd shaped myself. A sick draining double comes in, slurping all the water off the reef. I can tell it's going to close out down by OTW, but I go just because it's going to throw such a huge tube. I'm traveling along through this big round tube when the thing starts to collapse and the lip opens up that big hole in the bottom of the tube like it does in hollow Hawaiian waves. I had recently broken a couple of boards in half by remaining standing on the board as the tube collapsed and falling into that hole, and didn't want to risk my magic stick. Making an instataneous bad decision, I jumped off the tail before the wave was done barreling. We all know that the safest thing to do is to stay centered over your board until the tube has collapsed, and well, I paid for my decision. Next thing I know, I'm waking up underwater and my back hurts. I swim to the surface and make it to the beach under my own power, but ow, my back. Blood is gushing from my head and Mike Latronic checks me out. I've had my bell rung and can't remember where my friends are, or where my car is. Finally small Masa (a prize to anyone who knows who that is) drives me to the hospital. Two fractured vertebra a concussion and a large laceration on my scalp, a punctured lip from my knee. The doctor in the Kahuku ER can't believe that my skull isn't fractured and TAKES OFF HIS GLOVE, WASHES HIS HAND VERY THOROUGHLY, AND RUNS HIS FINGERSTIPS OVER THE SURFACE OF MY SKULL IN THE LACERATION FEELING FOR FINE CRACKS. Thankfully my head really is that hard and he finds no cracks. Nine weeks out of the water and a permaneltly offset vertebra. Miraculously, my disks all remained intact, though the pressure of my being folded in half upon impacting the bottom has cracked T12 and L1. My orthopedic doctor tells me that that was much better for me than having one of the disks ruputure.

[HMARK]

Many beatings, and as K7873 sez, more beatings than barrels.

Pain seems to follow me on occasion. Matter of fact, I think it makes house in my body 24/7. This one time I am really wondering what the hell I was thinking. Anyhow - Out at the crack of dawn (predawn) no light , supposed to be macker swell coming, but the winds are not cooperating, making things rather washboardish at T**tles. But what the hell, I love the process to get there (sans boat) and by the time the journey is pau, sun should be up. Walking out, I notice that it is macking, and it is not toooooo pretty. But braincells not withstanding, what the fuck. So on it goes. Get out, and it is howling prob 15-20+ winds. Oh well, lifetime of windage aint gonna hurt me now. Hahaha say the Gods.

Finally find one to go on, proceed to blow the takeoff completely, and get sucked over the falls. Sucked over with absolutely NO idea where my stick is. It seemed like a few minutes to finally hit the meeting point of lip/trough, but when i did, I met my thrusters 3 skegs square on the Left side chest area. All air = GONE. It felt like for sure it ripped thru my surfshirt, and the only thing I thought was how the heck am I gonna stop the bleeding? When I finally popped up, I feel thru the shirt thinking for sure the hand is coming back RED. Neva. Weird. But to this day, I still get the imprint of 1 outside skeg on my hip.

[megaprober]

the most memorable beating come from (you guessed it.....himalayas). it was a nice 6-8ft day with 10ft bombs west swell real glassy and quite crowded for that spot. it was for me big and i clearly remember mentally reciting the himalayas rules in my head "the biggest wave is the one you'll have to deal with". i get out there and there's even more people out there than i thought so i scamper around the pit and find myself frustrated due to lack of waves...after all i had put in time out there and felt i had the place wired....nobody has that place truly wired....maybe kelly. anyway anger drives me a bit deeper and a huge set stacks on the horizon and i immediately race for the channel and low and behold a 10ft wave arrives and stands right in front of me and there are no others that are meant for this wave. i turn and go.....it took only three strokes to catch that wave adnin that miniscule amount of time i KNEW i made a mistake and wasn't going to make the drop......man i tried though and i leaned so far back as that thing jacked and got to the bottom and fell backward on the flats. the lip comes down and hits me in the stomach cleaving me in half knocking the air out of me and then picks me up and over the falls....not once...not twice....but just to get the message across a third time at which time i was dog paddling for the surface. the icing on the cake it was the first wave of the set....so BOOM.....BOOM.....BOOM. as i was paddling back out all wide eyed i noticed that during the process my surf shirt was pulled off not just my arm, but over my head as well and was dangling off my left wrist. i feel that i now know how the place got its name and am convinced it COMMANDS respect.

[solo]

day after thanksgiving, 1986. jockos. almost died...

i paddled out without really checking the size. from shore, the damned waves were EPIC. i saw this one guy get soooooooooooo shacked and come out, i was ON IT!!!

in the channel, i realized i may havbe been in over my head. these waves were like nothing i'ld ever surfed before. every set was like a bunch of two story buildings just roping... i played channel marker for awhile, for two hours, as a matter of fact. i kept telling myself i was doing good, and i was surviving. i shoulda went in.

after two hours or so, i noticed there weren't too many people in the lineup, only two of us remained. WAY THE FUCK outside, about a 100 yards out from where we were, was the guy rasmussen from florida. i remember asking myself what the heck was he doing so far out, just as i saw the horizin go black.

i started hauling ass to shore, figuring that was the surest bet. but i noticed the water wasn't getting any shallower, and panic started setting in. i realized i wasn't going to make it to the safety of the inside in time, so i turned and faced the music.

the first wave was feathering as i went over it, then my stomache came up to my throat when i seen what was behind: the next one broke in front of me, but it crumbled from the top, like second reef monsters do in deep water. i dipped that wave, and let myself get sucked backwards over the falls. at this point, i was thinking just follow the leash to the surface. then i felt the leash give way.

under water, don't know which way was up, everything BLACK underwater. i held my breath, figuring my own buoyancy would bring me back to the surface. i surface as the second wave breaks. down again, with minimal air...

by the third wave, i was exhausted, and running out of air. i was sure i was dead...

then i looked around, and found that the set had dragged me all the way to the rocks on the inside. talk about dumb luck? i guess it wasn't my time to die. i crawled onto the rocks and spent 30 minutes catching my breath before drying off...

i remember telling people that i knew how it feels to drown: if you don't inhale water, you just pass out, knock out from lack of air.

haven't surfed jockos since. not going to, either...

[Bud]

holy crap, great reading! thanks for sharing all. keep um coming

[Bud]

Sunset gives Bud another lesson in breath holding

Wednesday November 15, 2000
4:30p - 6:15p
North Shore
Avg wave face 10-12 feet
Sets wave face 13-18 feet plus
Mostly sunny; Moderate to strong offshore winds

Buoy jumped overnight and by early morning the North Shore was cracking. Bogged down at the office, didn't think I was going to make it out, but a last minute call to surf from MM, with an offer of a 7'0" to borrow, no less... YEAH!

Buzzed Glenda (visiting ASer) on her cell phone and caught her taking in the G-Shock contest at Haleiwa; Traded info to try to meet up at Sunset Beach.

We were running late and when we pulled into a space along the beach, I looked up & down the side of the road but couldn't find Glenda's rental car. MM and I got back to falling over ourselves, gawking at the surf while slapping in fins and
waxing up.

Walking down the beach, talking and watching the surf, oblivious to all the people on the shore, I hear someone say - "Bud"? It was Glenda, PWR camcorder in hand.... Quick - "stoked to see yas!" & intro, then we were out there.

Crowd was insane, but as usual, it was mostly the same people tagging the best & biggest waves. Lots of "names" were out and killing it - Padaca, Knox, Malloy, etc., etc.

Some sets were easily triple-o, and the conditions were good, except maybe for a too strong offshore wind. Many of the waves were coming off the north peak and offered freight trains all the way across the bay. Of course, waiting for those meant
putting yourself too deep for the west bowl and right in the impact zone for the bombers. But what a pay-off if you got one from the point all the way across!

First few waves on the borrowed gun were very awkward, and I never really got used to the board. But I was fully jazzed after dropping into more than my fair share of excellent waves, a couple of huge ones, too. Must have been doing something
right because people were backing off for me and weren't dropping in.

Paddled up to MM a few times, said he was having a frustrating session. Unusual for him to be out of synch, especially at this break he knows so well. Lots of others were more than frustrated, as we saw at least 3 snapped boards in the short time we
were out.

As the sun neared the horizon, a particularly big set poured through and I was in a bad place. The borrowed gun let me get good paddling speed but I was not used to ducking the extra thickness of a board made for MM. Somehow scratched past the
first 2 bombers, lips as thick as 55 gallon drums. Squeaking under, then punching out the back of the third one, I exhaled with relief. But before I could react I felt a moment of terror, suddenly weightless and flying backwards, back into the wave. A second later I was slammed sitting upright into the pit; The remaining air was knocked out of me and the explosion sent me cartwheeling in total blackness, holding the board with a death grip.

I realized quickly that I wasn't going "up" - the pressure on my ears, the blackness of the water and the sense that I was still flying along within the wave's energy underwater, instead of it passing. Feeling air & time running out, I frantically began a frog-kick without any idea of "up" - briefly considered letting go of the board, but held on.

Finally I broke the surface like a missile, bug-eyed and gasping for air. I let the incoming waves blast me while I regained my composure, until I was nearing the exposed bottom near Val's Reef (low tide). When I made it back over to the channel I checked the bottom of the rails of MM's board to make sure my fingers had not punched through.

It was nearly dark so I caught a relatively small one from the middle and went in... shaken, but still kicking. Phew.

[Haoleboy]

Aloha!..Here's my tale of woe from 2 years ago..nothing compared to you guys and the horrible beatings you're discribing, (how the hell some of you guys didn't die is beyond me..), but it was my moment of dispair nonetheless...

April, '02
After yesterdays session, I was so hopeful. Swell was still up, and hardly any wind. Pulled into the parking lot, and no cars. Grab my board, and checked it out. It had gotten really big! I was sketchy about paddling out alone, but I saw a figure streaking across a lined up wall, so out I went. As I paddled out, it was really rough. All this energy is just pushing through the gap in the reef. As I get out into the line-up, a few giant mackers actually close out the channel. Eep! I catch a couple, feeling pretty good, and paddle over to the only other guy in the water with me..another regular. Say our hellos, and talk a little about how nice it is. He says to me, "Yeah, but there are a few big ones comin' through."
And as we rise up over the little bump in the ocean and look out on the horizon, there they are..These great black behemoths marching towards us. We scratch like hell! Friend turns and takes off on the first one, solid 6' Hawaiian..which closes out, and snaps his leash, sending him a swimmin', and leaving me all alone. And then I see them. Feathering WAY outside...The first monster closes out across the horizon about 50 yards in front of me. No way I'm getting under this one. I ditch my board and dive under..It grabs me and ragdolls me around. I finally break the foamed out surface to see wave #2. This one breaks 15 yards in front of me and just drives me to the bottom, twisting and turning in this horrible blackness. It holds me under so long, my chest is aching, and the beginnings of panic set in. Finally break to the surface, grab another frothy lung full and get smashed again! "O.K." I says..."THIS SUCKS!!!"I haven't had a beating like this since the North Shore days. Finally beaten in far enough that I can grab a white water ride in. Paddle inside, get my friends board and call it a day. He agrees. I've surfed the South Shore for 20 years, and can't rememer taking a beating that bad EVER!!

[Guest]

haole boy, where was that at?

[Haoleboy]

Was one of those serious honker days off Kalanianaole...the funny thing..
Afterwards I called my friends to share my beating story with 'em, and warn them that it was pretty freakin' serious out there. Neither guy listened. One guy went out to the same spot later and was also beaten like a dog. Apparently went over the falls and was pinned to the (fairly deep) bottom to the point of dispair. The other guy went to "Honus", got caught inside, almost drowned and was washed into that lovely reef. At least I wasn't alone.... you know...misery loves company.

[surfer9joe]

Bowls, only about 3-5 feet. I am paddling back out after a wave and Johney boy gomes is coming down the line. I have to go deep and take the lip on the head right in the bowl on a 4-5 footer, Im not about to paddle for the shoulder and take a chance angering johney boy. Somehow Im in the perfetly wrong spot so when I go to duck the wave it flips me over and slams me into the reef on my back still holding my board!

Paddle in, my back is just bright red bloody hamburger. Thanks bowls and johney boy!