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[AM_Glass]

This will be the last caffine induced thesis writing avoidance posting of the day. This seems counter intuitive but powerful and I'd like to discuss it. I've found that the safest place to be on a breaking wave is inside the barrel. There may be exceptions to this but whenever I pull in gung ho and don't make it I get a minimal shakeing. At best I pop out the back of the wave and I'm off for another.

Another option when you see the lip coming down is to try to get to the flats, here's three reasons why I don't like that option. One, you decide too late and get the full force of the lip on your back (or head) as you are trying to run out to the flats. The worst result is a face first into the bottom kinda like a bully pushing your head into your hot lunch, only you're eating sand/rock/reef that day. Two, you head out to the flats too early and loose all speed as the wave catches back up to you. This can end with the lip hitting you (see above), or getting pulled up the face and lip launched with all it's varous results. Three, what if you could have made it? what if you had misread the section and it was going to hold long enough for you to get the tube of a lifetime? You'll never know.

How about pulling out? Well if you know your wave this is the safest option and reduces possiblity of injury and board damage. If you ride unpredictable beach breaks than you often don't know what the wave will be doing far enough ahead of time to get up and out safely. If you're too late you get lip launched maximizing the possibility of injury/damage. If you're too early you may be missing the best part of the wave and for me when I'm determined to get out over the top I spend most of my ride out on the shoulder so that I can safely escape when I want to. Boring.

So what do you think? Am I a hellman or idiot, or do I just live in weak soft Santa Cruz?

[rodndtube]

The barrel has mutilated me too many times to call it the safest place, be it a collapsing and pummeling washing machine expedition or the sucking up the face and pitching over the falls experience... both aren't the favored routes on medium-shallow reefs. That's my experience
_________________
rodNDtube
"Prone to ride"
I love my papa li`ili`i

[tumak]

I suspect that conditions at the time warrant certain ideal escape routes. Tide, wave size, and bottom conditions will call for certain approaches. There are days when I know that conditions allow for off-the-lips as finishing moves on every wave, because the sand bar (here in FL) is pretty narrow and the wave is actually pitching into deeper water than where most of it has broken.
Close to the beach? We have plenty of days here in FL in which shorepound is suicide no matter how you slice it. My mind goes back to Wedge footage from the 60's where the guys pretty much went straight through the barrel to whatever awaited them. Body surfers would often just dive straight down, perhaps doing a spin in the process.
Perhaps outrunning the wave at the end has the most merit, if it's timed right; I think the very last nuance of the ride should be a little turn back into the white water! That's always fun and stylish!

[Nels]

I was thinking about the comment Rod made about reefs...I come from Southern California point wave surfing, and there is no question that my early years have totally controlled how I look at all that, including exit strategies. For me it's primary to make the wave, not something which translates well to beach breaks. If I can't make the wave I look to exit, as in our prone equivilent to kicking out on a surfboard. This has led to many trips over the falls at beach breaks. With a small enough board (like a mini paipo) I can duck through the back. This of course doesn't work with the mat, and is certainly hit or miss with a bodyboard. Neutral bouyancy a major plus.

I've spent so little time in reefs since my early twenties I realize I don't have much of a clue on that. Must be getting time for some R&R....wait, make that R&D...

[kage]

If I can see it coming I'll almost always try and beat it ( the lip) and almost always get nailed. Why? Who knows, it's like dogs chasing cars. If it's big enough where I could power up and charge back through, then it's too big to bail on. Riding out in the flats feels like wasting a wave plus it's bound to push me farther in than I want to be. I am biased I suppose by not having to ride beach break very much. A sequence of me riding beach break sounds like:
A wave a wave, oh yay oh yay, oh sh*t oh sh*t, whomp whomp whomp!
A wave a wave, oh yay oh yay, oh sh*t oh sh*t, whomp whomp whomp!
repeat.

[Poobah]

Another (small) wave option is to drop down low on the wave, crank a turn straight up the wave and bust through the lip of the wave. The water blinds me at this point. I rely on my sense of balance and timing to come down with the breaking wave and head toward shore. Sometimes I make it. Even better sometimes I make it, recover my vision, then race around the white water to catch up to the shoulder. Surely some of you folks that ride twin fin fishies must do this, too???

[PaipoJim]

The tube is definitely not the safest spot for me but that doesn't prevent me from trying to get there as often as I can. I probably don't make most waves where I get tubed. On head high or less I like to turn into the face and punch out the back like Nels. This can work pretty well with a small or neutral buoyancy board like an HPD. On larger stuff I'm still exploring the seemingly infinite number of variations in regards to body contortions that can occur in a heavy wipeout in the tube.

I also ride a lot of beachbreak (or reef transitioning into gravel /sand beachbreak) waves with unpredictable walls which can section at any time. I like to shoot up the face and through the lip to the back of the wave at the last second and try to scramble back out to the lineup. Of course if i was on an early wave of a big set then I'm positioned exactly in the impact zone.

[PaipoJim]

[PaipoJim]

[Nels]

[John Galera]

When teaching new riders I always emphasize the SIT (stay in the tube).
In Hawaii where tubes are common, I have found that if you stay in the tube until the last second than dive out the backdoor, in most instances you come out the better. In the other instances, Well you got to pay the piper sometimes...

[tumak]

This is such a great thread. I love hearing this stuff from other paipo riders from all over! Paipo surfing is so much fun, and it's so special. I think we're really lucky to be able to see the merit of riding these little boards and actually DO IT. Lots of people I meet make comments like, "You've got the right idea there, buddy." But, you know...they're never going to do it because they can't free up their mind enough to actually pursue it. I think you have to have a little kid inside you that, for one thing, is not afraid to be different.

Reading these replies about technique inspires me and makes me feel really stoked. All of us are spread out far and wide, but a thread like this allows me to see a definite brotherhood here. It's cool.

Regarding playing with the lip: just in regular surfing down the line - not necessarily at the end of the ride - I just love playing it real high on the wave and playing with that lip...flirting with disaster...it feels really good up there where there's so much power and potential.

[AM_Glass]

I'd like to add another item to my original post. As I found out this morning, if the wave is to small to get INTO the barrel and you instead get hit in the back, or back of the head, with the pitching lip, that is the worst place to be. Of course if the waves are that small you can normally power through the back and not worry about it. I tried and tried to get barreled this morning on my knee board but kept getting pushed face first toward the shallow reef. I had a helmet on, but my nose, mouth and chin were wide open. A friend recently got lacerated at this same spot probably doing what I was doing, so be careful out there.

[MTbarrels]

[tumak]

MTbarrels - Man, that's kind of a scary story; I'm glad your friends were there and that they took such good care of you.