duck dive

About Ducks and Eskimos….and Turtles too

Or how to make it past the whitewash?

You’ve caught enough waves in the whitewash? You are bored with the small stuff? You feel ready for bigger waves? There is only one tiny thing that keeps you from charging amongst the big guns: How the bloody hell do you get out there? How do you get past the whitewash …yeye, the withewash….your friend when you are learning…all of a sudden turns into the worst enemy when you try to get out the back.

I remember watching surfers on the big days from the hill in Bondi. Not only did I watch their surfing but how elegantly and seemingly effortlessly they pushed the boards under and dove through the waves. Or, even today, I sometimes wonder how the guy next to me got the bloody 9ft mal out in 6ft waves?

Well, there is method to the madness. It’s not called ‘throw-your-board-away-when-a-big-wave-approaches’. There are two techniques surfers use to get past the whitewash ‘out the back’ as we say. One is the Eskimo roll (also known as turtle rolls) the other one called the Duck-dive.

Eskimo or Turtle Roll

You use the Eskimo roll mostly on bigger boards…longer boards or just really, really fat boards with lots of volume that are hard to sink. It’s not really rocket science. All you do is paddle, paddle, paddle to gain some speed. And just before the whitewash is about to hit you grab the rail and turn the board upside down and you turn with the board. Once the wave has passed over you and the board, you turn back around again and keep on paddling. Voila that’s it. I know it’s not the best explanation but check out this video for a demo.

Believe me it’s easy and it’s a good skill to have. Even if you are thinking, you skip learning how to do the eskimo roll and you move on to duck dive straight away, I would recommend learning how to do it anyway. I’ve started on the eskimo roll, and even though I quickly moved on to duck-diving, I’m still glad I’ve learnt how to eskimo roll properly. I now swap between short board and long board depending on the conditions. Even though I can duck dive my short board, there is no way in hell I can sink my long board. That’s when I’m glad that I’ve learnt how to do it.

Duck-dive

The duck-dive is the easiest way and fastest way to get out the back. In case you were wondering: Duck-dive because it looks a bit like a duck with one leg up in the air ). Ok, I have to admit it looks easy and it is easy once you get used to it. However, it might not seem that way when you first try it. Like with many things in surfing, it takes a bit of practice to master this skill but believe me it’s worth it. It will open a whole new world in surfing for you.

Duck-diving was a big step for me because I just got so much more confident when you know you can handle the odd bigger wave and you won’t get washed all the way back to the beach. You also can get out of the way faster which makes surfing much more pleasant, especially in a crowded line-up like Bondi.

Not only does it help you to get more confident but once you get the hang of it, you’ll actually enjoy duck-diving. I know it’s hard to believe if you are just learning. But trust me… as much as it’s pain to start with, you’ll love love love it. It’s an amazing feeling if you just get it right. It’s really hard to describe. It just feels good and if you open your eyes it’s just magic in clear water. If it’s a really big wave about to break on top of you and you just make it, you’ll get a massive buzz out of it. Almost the same like making the drop. Awesome feeling. It’s even fun if you don’t make it. Sometimes it happens…wrong place wrong time and you screw up your duck dive completely. I hold on to my board as hard as I can because even if temporarily it feels like you are wrangling a crocodile (that’s what I imagine wrangling a crocodile feels like anyway), it will shoot you back up to the surface as soon as the wave releases you. Sounds like fun? Up for it?

I’m not going to attempt to actually describe the steps. There are heaps of videos on youtube for the DIY training. That’s how you do it:

Also watch others in the surf or even better ask someone to demonstrate it to you in slow motion and then practice practice practice. Here are a few tips that might help you get to your aim faster:

• If you are on a mal or a buoyant board, borrow a friend’s short board and practice to start with
• Practice when it’s flat first to get the movement right without having to worry about the timings.
• Use your foot instead of your knee when you start first. It gives you more leverage.
• Speed and timings is everything. You know how it’s easier to ride a bike if you have some speed. The same with duck-dives…if you’ve got the momentum going it’s easier to push the noise under. Watch other surfers and check out their timing. You’ll get a feel for it after a while.
• Don’t worry about other people. Yes, it might look a bit funny if you practicing. But who cares, we’ve all been there.

Good luck trying, my eager gidgets. Don’t give up.  I promise it’s worth it and it’s fun.

Two more pieces of wisdom before I leave you to it…one of them passed on to me by a wise man who we shall call Uncle Wes (watch this space…)

Remember, the easiest way to get out the back is through the channel. If you are lucky, you don’t even encounter any whitewash. At beach breaks look out for the ‘don’t swim’ sign – a safe bet that there’s a rip that will take you out the back. Or watch other surfers where they paddle out and you might not even get your hair wet if you get it right.

And last but not least…Uncle Wes says: “If there are more than three lines of whitewash, forget it, mate.” So what he’s saying. Either find a channel or stay on the beach even the best duck diver will struggle to get out there if it’s just whitewash as far as you can see.

Good luck

x

Clauds

Busy…huh?

My local is Bondi. Love it or loathe it…one of the things you’ll have to deal with sooner or later if you surf Bondi are crowds. I try to get out of town most weekends to avoid them. Last weekend I’ve stayed local and it just reminded me of how busy it actually gets. Sometimes, it still gets to me but over the years I’ve learnt to cope with it – either by avoiding them altogether or just dealing with them one way or another.

First step to avoiding lots of people in the surf is knowing when it’s going to be busy. And you know it’s going to be busy in Bondi when…

…it’s the first day of waves after a flatspell

…it’s the first day of surfable waves after a week of storms and too big of a swell

…Uge from Aquabumps says one of the days is going to be good. E.g. he writes in his Tuesday newsletter: tomorrow is going to be the best day of the week…you can guarantee millions of people in the water on the Wednesday even if turns out to be shit.

…it’s a sunny weekend. There does not even need to be a wave. If it’s a nice weekend you’ll have a crowd sitting out there even when it’s close to flat – It’s true! I’ve seen it.

Well, this is stating the obvious but you know it is really freaking busy when…

…you don’t have enough space to duck dive

…when there are 5 people paddling for every wave

…when you have to fear for your life trying to paddle back out to the line up (even if you paddle wide)

…when every person you have ever met surfing is in the line up

…when riding a wave turns into a slalom trying to dodge other surfers

Now it’s too late, you’ve ignored all the busy warnings and you find yourself amongst hundreds of people. How are you still going to catch a wave? Or how can you escape the crowds altogether?

…don’t sit where everyone else is i.e. there are usually 3 breaks in Bondi with some spots busier than others. People are like sheep and tend to go where everyone else is. Don’t do that. Especially, if you are just learning to surf you don’t need to surf where the best bank is. It’s more important to catch as many waves as possible. Just surf where there is a wave breaking and save yourself some grief.

…catch the small waves on the inside while everyone else is waiting for the big set. That means you have to sit a bit closer to the shore than everyone else and you usually see a couple of smart people doing just that. So just follow them. Having said that, before you do that you better make sure you have your duck-diving under control because inevitably you’ll get some of the bigger sets on your head. In general, that strategy is not for the fainthearted. You might catch more waves on the inside but when there is a normal set coming through. You’ll have about 20 people paddling towards you in the attempt to catch the wave.

…alternatively, you can sit on either side of the crowds and catch the bigger sets that are coming through (i.e. everyone’s too far on the inside to take off). Admittedly, this strategy requires quite a bit of patience and does not always pay off.

…get a longboard and catch the waves from further out than anyone else. This is a good strategy on smaller days but not so much recommended when it’s bigger.

…surf ‘off peak’ times. Know your shifts. Early mornings are busy most days. 6.00-7.30 especially, all the office slaves usually have to get out by 7.30 to make it to work in time …then there is usually half an hour window before the backpackers wake up and the surf gets crowded again. That’s my favourite time. (Tip: getting a scooter was the best thing I ever did to maximise my surfing time…it shaves off half an hour off your commute to the city = longer time in the water). Monday mornings are usually good too. Friday mornings are usually super busy. Also, find out local comp dates on the weekends and surf out of town when they are on (For Bondi: Girl Boardriders every first Saturday of the month, I think longboarders are on 3^rd Sunday of the month and not so sure about the Bondi Boardriders but you’ll figure it out when you see a little judging tent in the South corner)

I hate to be a party pooper but you need to be extra careful when it’s busy… here are some safety tips for your own and the other’s benefits

…it’s more important than ever to paddle wide when it’s crowded. You don’t want to get run over and you don’t want to be in the way.

… don’t go out if it’s too big for you. But definitely don’t go out if it’s too big for you and crowded. You turn into a missile and are a danger to yourself and others.

…learn how to duck-dive or to do a proper turtle roll at least. It happens to the best of us that you lose your board but don’t EVER let go of your board in crowded surf. I’ve had five stitches in my head and countless of mean bruises because of other boards flying around my ears. Not fair.

…look who’s in front of you BEFORE you take off. I’ve seen beginners take off on massive close-outs with surfers just in front of them. That’s a recipe for disaster…

AND don’t forget to smile…it’s easy to get cranky when it’s busy and it’s hard to catch a wave (I’ve been there…). Sorry, but if you can’t handle crowds, don’t surf Bondi. It’s a city beach after all and you’ll always have more people surf here than most beaches. And on the upside, getting used to crowds, only prepares you for the world’s best breaks. Being comfortable in a busy line-up will get you a long way on popular breaks like Bali, Superbank or Hawaii, you name it…..

Toy Stories: Meet Bruce

Meet my favourite toys  – my boards. If you want to surf you need a board. Well, unless  you bodysurf you get away without one.

 I’m the proud owner of five ½ of them. ½ because it’s my old flattie’s and she never got around to pick it up after she’s moved out.  So it’s been living at mine too but technically is not mine. Either way, I have a nice quiver (that’s what surfer dudes and dudettes call their board collections).

I’ll introduce all of them to you over time in toy stories. Maybe it even helps you when it comes to choosing an addition to your own quiver.

Meet Bruce first. Bruce is my longboard. Bruce is massive. He’s about 8ft 6 tall 22 inches wide and 2’’ 9/8 thick. I have to say it was not love at first sight. I’ve only surfed short boards until I got Bruce and in fact I got quite annoyed with the longboarders in Bondi who always catch the waves way out the back with no chance in hell for any shortboarders to catch a wave on a busy day. By the way don’t even bother to go for a surf when the longboard comp is on in Bondi. Chances to catch a wave are quite slim unless you are on a mal too.

It’s quite different to a shortboard and it took a few session to get the hang of it. When I did, I absolutely loved it. It so much fun on small days or when the waves are extremely fat and hard to paddle on to.  Surfing on a mal is super cruisy and makes small days fun.  Even if it’s super tiny and most surfers would not even bother, you can catch waves on a mal and just be playful. I usually fail miserably to hang 10 and stack it but it does not really matter because it’s so much fun trying. I’ve also heard riding a mal in between your shortboard sessions is good for your style. It loosens your upper  body which helps you surfing other boards too.

Bruce also gives me a good work-out, not only because I tend to catch more waves and spend more time paddling back to the line-up. It’s a mission to drag Bruce down the beach because he’s so big. It’s almost a mission impossible to drag the thing down on a windy day. I don’t like riding Bruce when it’s bigger than two foot, just because I can’t duck dive  and the good old Eskimo roll (that’s when you turn around with the board and let the wave wash over you and then turn back again – another work-out there) can only get you so far. In general, I feel a bit less mobile when I’m on Bruce. If you sit in the line-up on a busy day and you want to turn around to get into position to catch a wave, I have to be careful not to kill anyone. Also, I have not quite figured out yet how to turn Bruce properly on a wave which is a science in itself and not ideal on a busy summer day when you have lots of beginners floating on the inside and you need to try to avoid them. I also have to be careful not to get too greedy and turn into one of the mal riders I used to hate…

I would have never thought I would enjoy riding a mal so much. It’s a different style of surfing, super cruisy and relaxed. And if you are a beginner, you’ll have so much more fun riding a longboard as it’s so much easier to catch a wave.

(By the way, in case you are wondering, Bruce = Bruce because I thought Bruce sounds big just like my mal.)

How a pale ranga from a landlocked country turned into a sunburnt gidget (still ranga but)

The first time in my life I saw an ocean with actual waves was when I just turned twenty. I’m Austrian (not German). Austria is a landlocked country. Holidays by the sea were usually spent sunbaking by the Mediterranean sea aka massive lake. No waves there.

I came to Australia on an exchange semester for the first time about 10 years ago. I lived in the city. On the weekends I loved going to Bronte beach. It was love at first sight. I loved the waves and I would spend hours playing in the water. A couple of times lifeguards got upset with me because I swam out pretty far and got smashed in the waves. Little did I know that it could be quite dangerous out there (like most people from overseas – just watch an episode of Bondi Rescue). Also, I did not understand back then how surfers could be so rude and almost run over poor swimmers. Either way, I just loved going under, over, with the waves. Being tumbled around. Just loved it.

I returned to Australia a couple of years later on a round the world trip. In Byron Bay, I had my very first surf lesson. I was really lucky, it was just me and another dude and the instructor. That was back in the days when Byron was still a sleepy surf town. I will never forget the first words of my hot instructor: When you slide on your board, be really careful and tender, it’s like sliding onto a guy. Wow. I’m still blushing thinking back. I think that’s when I was hooked to surfing. No, no, ok I actually I think it was when I got the rush of catching a wave and then the excitement when I first managed to stand up. Not so much when I could not feel my arms the next day. What people don’t tell you about surfing: it does not matter if you’ve snowboarded or skated before, you first gotta get that paddle thing sorted which can be pretty painful at times.

My round the world trip was over eventually. Back to everyday life…for a bit at least. Until I met a guy from OC California in Vienna(random I know). I visited him in Newport, CA. He had a spare board and I paddled around in the whitewash a bit. One day, we got up really early, I mean really, really early, like 6 o’clock early on my holidays. It seemed like a crime to me (I’m not a morning person by nature). Well, he wanted to go for an ‘early’ one with his mate before work. Oh dear. I was not impressed. We picked up his mate who literally lived two minutes walking distance from Huntington Beach. He went surfing before work every day. It was a pretty yucky morning and the surf was rough. So I did not go out but I watched the guys and how stoked they were, especially theHuntington beach dude. All I could think was: he’s so lucky, I want that too. I returned to Californiaa couple of times. I’ve ‘surfed’ Trestles. I went on my first roadie to Baja California, Mexico. We had to climb over a fence, down a beach and found this amaaaaaaaaazing point break. Not that I could surf it. Quite the opposite, I almost drowned, being bashed against the rock. But I was sitting on the shoulder of the wave (before almost drowning) and saw all the guys who could actually surf, have an absolute ball. That’s when I found out what a point break was.

When I got back to Austria again, I was determined to be reunited with my big love – the waves. I’ve organised a Visa and moved to Australia, BondiBeach to be specific. I bought my first surfboard (thanks Luke for not taking the piss at the surfshop and for selling me an awesome first board) and wetsuit and starting surfing in North Bondi– the kook (beginner’s) corner. The very first time, I walked down there, armed with my board and suited up, a Japanese tourist asked me if he could take a photo of me. He probably thinks until today that he took a photo of an Australian surfer chick, but really it was an Austrian who paddled around a few times, but really had no idea. Too funny, either way, I went surfing every single day, no matter how the conditions were, small, big, onshore, offshore, and I was determined.

Fast forward, six years later, after lots of scratches, broken boards, a few assaults, sore shoulders, some stitches here, countless drop ins, I made it. I worked my way up from North Bondi to South Bondi to play with the big boys. Some of the surfers, who I looked up to and I was sometimes even intimated by, are now my mates. I’ve done some amazing surftrips and spent two months in Indo. I’m still frothing every morning about the surf. I get grumpy if I can’t get to surf for some reason. I love being in the water. I love getting up early to be greeted by a pod of dolphins. I love the feeling of duck-diving through clear water into the sun. And, there is nothing better than riding a wave.

I still love going back to Byron Bay, it always makes me smile thinking back to those first surf attempts. I’m so grateful that I got to learn to surf. You see the world through different eyes. Now, I am that lucky person who gets to play in the water every day before work.