I learned an important lesson yesterday about riding waves. I knew it before, but yesterday I had it tattooed on my leg:
Do not stay on an overhead wave that is about to close out on you, no matter how much fun you're having.
Here's how I learned: On my third wave of the day I was shooting down the line (that's what it felt like...it's more likely I was modestly riding a nice right) 6-7 feet high, when I saw the closeout coming. But I felt so good I thought "maybe it will all work out," and stayed with it instead of kicking out or diving off.
The board with me on it inverted and then crashed down, hard. I rolled up into a ball with my arms around my helmeted head. About two seconds into the wash cycle my board hit my left thigh hard. There was a goodly amount of pain, and after I managed to get back to the outside I needed to sit on my board for five minutes until the pain mellowed. For the rest of the day I excelled in kicking out, jumping off, changing direction and petitioning the gods to keep me from riding into a close out.
Driving home after the sesh I noticed the thigh throbbing. When I got out of the van twenty minutes later, I could not walk. Nearly 24 hours later and my thigh is still swollen and in pain.
Do not stay on an overhead wave that is about to close out on you, no matter how much fun you're having.
Jon Ford and Scott have advised me thus every time we've been out in the waves, windsurfing or SUPing. I no longer need to be told.
I am in pain.
real sorry to hear that mike, you were having such a good sesh. massage, massage & get better soon theres more coming !
Posted by: scott k. | March 07, 2010 at 01:58 PM
I look forward to more soon! Meanwhile how about you wearing a helmet, as my board also bonked you on the head (in a different fall)?
Posted by: Michael | March 07, 2010 at 02:51 PM
war wounds
Posted by: george markopoulos | March 07, 2010 at 03:56 PM
yes my head hurts a liitle but its just about as hard as a helmet haha. hold onto your board as much as you can !
Posted by: scott k. | March 07, 2010 at 10:33 PM
Lots of ice packs 3 times a day or more. How about a pic of the damage?? Bet it's black and blue by now.
Posted by: Bunty | March 08, 2010 at 12:37 PM
No color yet, Bunty, but if it colors in the way I think it will I will post a photo.
Posted by: Michael | March 08, 2010 at 03:23 PM
kielt should have ducked, next time yell "Fore",Jeff and I saw the Bonk! Sorry to hear about your injury, it comes with the turf. you looked good out there! CD
Posted by: cd | March 08, 2010 at 06:19 PM
jeff wheres the video??? cant wait to see it. funny watching c.d. rubber legs getting s.u.p. down !
Posted by: scott k. | March 08, 2010 at 08:03 PM
Scott, I'm wading through 12 GB of video from the 3 days as time allows, but a couple screenshots have been submitted to the editor.
Posted by: Jeff, aka Peconic Jeff | March 09, 2010 at 11:31 AM
thank you jeff, my anxiety has been calmed a bit & my impatience cooled down.nice shots. i know the video is going to be awesome.
Posted by: scott k. | March 09, 2010 at 02:05 PM
do you guys even have ice packs? are you not immune to ice by now?
hope you're feeling better!!!
Posted by: bowsprite | March 16, 2010 at 08:54 AM
I dunno if this lesson will ever sink in for me, despite a couple of chipped teeth and some technicolor bruise memories. Ah, well, next life I'll worry about baling out just in time. This life, I'm grabbing every flippin' milli-second of joy I can.
Posted by: greg | March 19, 2010 at 07:27 PM
Sounds like a plan, Greg!
Speaking of plans, I had one to post photos of my bruised leg as the bruises came in, but the photos are...well...unattractive. Suffice it to say that large swathes of leg are black, purple, blue, and reddish brown. Normally I've got the basic pink skin thing going on, so two weeks after impact I've still got some healing to do.
Posted by: Michael | March 20, 2010 at 04:52 PM