What is Digg?Sponsored by Travelzoo
Take Advantage of Ridiculously Low Holiday Airfares view!
travelzoo.com - Flights $52 and up for Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year. But move on it now.
57 Comments
- smacksaw, on 11/07/2008, -2/+18When I was 13 (in '87), we had a huge winter storm day in San Diego (I estimate 25'), and being 13 I decided to go out and try to ride. I got out. I almost didn't get back in.
The thing you don't really think of until you're out there is "would I make a 25-30 foot dive?" and the answer is "no"...and I am also a diver. If you stand up on a diving board that is 10m, if you don't land just right, you can really hurt yourself. That's from a standstill and entering feet-first.
On a wave? I can't imagine 40 feet. Well, I can - it's nuts. I mean, if you're riding 3' surf and 13' foot surf, neither is going to harm you. But the difference between 25 and 30 feet is a big deal, and between 25-30 feet and 40 feet is huge! It's not comparable to 3' vs 13'.
The other thing is that when you have that much water coming down on you, you just get crushed. I mean, it hurts. You don't just get pounded, you get flattened.
To finish my story, I realised that I had to ride out. With the curl, you don't think about dropping in, but when you drop in, you free-fall with your board quite a ways and hit hard. By the grace of god I actually caught the wave, made a turn and let it wash out and just rode the wall of whitewater until it overtook me. I got dragged. I ditched my board (bodyboard LOL) and swam underwater the rest of the way and got picked up by the whitewash again. Scariest 45 minutes of my life. This guy is 10x crazier and dumber than I was. I know today that big surf is cool to say "yeah, done it", but I could care less now. - inactive, on 11/07/2008, -1/+13In this situation a simple muscle cramp can cause death.
- oth1c, on 11/07/2008, -0/+12Those pictures would make awesome wallpapers if they were bigger.
- rockon4life45, on 11/07/2008, -1/+9"Wipeout: The massive wave begins to break and Kerby is seconds away from his biggest ever wipeout which left him with torn shoulder muscles"
Holy *****. - vroom101, on 11/07/2008, -0/+8More details: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/articl ... (www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article5104227.ece)
- slapded, on 11/07/2008, -1/+9its johnny utah
- billizm, on 11/07/2008, -1/+8A top secret reef? I hate closed source.
- cupajoe60, on 11/07/2008, -1/+8That's not top secret... That's Cyclops.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUb0PrkHqm8 - Khanvalescent, on 11/07/2008, -1/+8"Top Secret" reef looks like Cyclops, a heavy right off western Australia. It is well known for that little embedded wavelet at the end of the last picture - which is a frequent cause of wipeouts.
- brickbat, on 11/07/2008, -0/+7Anyone else notice how menacing the color of the water is? Nice pics.
- IILiLJohnII, on 11/07/2008, -2/+7His brothers name is courtney
- zip000, on 11/07/2008, -0/+4I don't know - I enjoy doing stuff that won't kill me.
- boneit, on 11/07/2008, -1/+5Maybe not. I wouldn't want to lose the use of my arms in that kind of water. If he went under and got caught in the current, he'd surely likely drown? But then this is the daily mail, he probably stubbed his toe on a crab on the beach.
- OfficialJoe, on 11/07/2008, -0/+4No thanks.
- creaturecool, on 11/07/2008, -0/+4buried for "bodyboard" and a lame story.
I would not call this man dumb. He is a professional, and he was well aware of the risks of riding XL waves. All XL surfers know that their life could be ended at any minute and hold a high degree of respect for mother nature. Yes for you or me, it would be dumb, but for him it's the way he lives his life.
oh, and 13' is double overhead, on a surfboard you could get throttled BAD. - inactive, on 11/07/2008, -0/+4No, Bodhi.
- diceau, on 11/07/2008, -0/+4As said, it's a rock shelf ... the rock doesn't go on forever. He gets hit (hopefully doesn't land on the shelf) and then rolls (I think he said something about doing 10 cartwheels? Was in the paper over here in Aus) and ends up far off the shelf but with a lot of water churning around him, and obviously pushing him very far down.
These sorts of breaks are generally pretty far out to sea, thus the whole 'top secret' thing, so the water is extremely deep once off the shelf. - diceau, on 11/07/2008, -1/+4Buried for burying 'bodyboard'.
Let the surfing rivalry bs go for a change, what are you 12? Still arguing about how Nintendo is better than Sega? - edebolt, on 11/07/2008, -1/+4I'm a FBI AGENT !!!!
- gaapgod, on 11/07/2008, -1/+4No.
- Khanvalescent, on 11/07/2008, -1/+4I've endured muscle cramps surfing in waist-high windslop, and they are painful enough that you are essentially immobilized. Not necessarily life-threatening in my situation (although a fin to the face would not be pleasant) but absolutely so at this wave.
- EELander, on 11/08/2008, -0/+3I grew up surfing in San Diego and completely understand what you're saying. Our surf gang had a
buddy who went out one day, only to find that within a half an hour,
conditions started to dramatically change, and the waves were going north
of 15 feet.
He didn't have the skill set to ride those and he had to be rescued from
sea by the lifeguards. At the time we joked about it because
he should have been paying attention and rode a wave in much sooner.
I think what a lot of these guys are doing that surf these gigantic
waves is to garner attention for themselves.
The unfortunate fact of the matter is that many guys get killed
and/or maimed every year at Pipeline in Hawaii, and other
spots.
Personally, I just love to go out and have fun. After a certain wave height,
my fun factor decreases. And yes, it can get very scary looking down
a 10 + foot wave.
I've done it just don't enjoy it. 3-5" is fine with me.
It's not that glamorous for sure. - ambi7ion, on 11/07/2008, -1/+4I was kind of hoping for pictures of his wipeout.. buried
- diggit83, on 11/07/2008, -1/+4There is a saying.....
"If no one ever died doing it, it cant be any fun"
How can you enjoy life if you never take any risks? - joebottherobot, on 11/07/2008, -0/+2are you kidding me? what a way to go... senior citizens' big wave surfing club, who's with me?
- inactive, on 11/07/2008, -0/+2Behaviour that lessens your chances of spreading your genes is biologically incorrect. But we all hope that SOME PEOPLE will do us that favour.
In the case of surfers, I reckon women will be impressed by their behaviour and that will help them get mates. But sensible women don't fall for men that are too reckless. Bravery should be about helping your kin and fighting for your tribe. Oh dear, now that is so politically incorrect! - taco767, on 11/07/2008, -0/+2"Mr Brown, who was surfing less than a foot above a rock shelf, was knocked off his board and received an enormous beating as the water crashed down onto him."
"He said he got pulled so far underwater he feared he would drown."
So just how far did he get pulled underwater? 11 inches? - obsessive, on 11/08/2008, -0/+2This isn't a wave. It's a hole in the ocean.
- robbiekhan, on 11/07/2008, -1/+3Dude!
- jordan314, on 11/07/2008, -0/+2Wow check out
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/11/07/article- ... - SingleMaltWSKY, on 11/07/2008, -1/+3EXTREEEEEEME!
- wint3rx, on 11/07/2008, -0/+2"Top secret reef" ??
- Juncti, on 11/07/2008, -0/+2Why would you attempt something like this and not video tape it?
- DinosWillDie13, on 11/07/2008, -0/+2First of all, do you really think it's necessary to link to the darwin award on digg? And second of all no surfer will ever get the darwin award.
- TexasKoz, on 11/07/2008, -0/+2What a great picture. Angry looking water indeed.
- ryusen, on 11/07/2008, -0/+2At the last Eddie, Bruce Irons, scored a perfect 10 on a wave with a 50' face.. .and wasn't towed in...
- OfficialJoe, on 11/07/2008, -0/+2Now somebody is going to ruin this story by saying "you mean by the grace of the flying spaghetti monster". 'Cause, you know, this is digg.
Oh wait. Story not so cool anyway. Go ahead. - EELander, on 11/08/2008, -0/+2I grew up surfing in San Diego and completely understand what you're saying. Our surf gang had a
buddy who went out one day, only to find that within a half an hour,
conditions started to dramatically change, and the waves were going north
of 15 feet.
He didn't have the skill set to ride those and he had to be rescued from
sea by the lifeguards. At the time we joked about it because
he should have been paying attention and rode a wave in much sooner.
I think what a lot of these guys are doing that surf these gigantic
waves is to garner attention for themselves.
The unfortunate fact of the matter is that many guys get killed
and/or maimed every year at Pipeline in Hawaii, and other
spots.
Personally, I just love to go out and have fun. After a certain wave height,
my fun factor decreases. And yes, it can get very scary looking down
a 10 + foot wave.
I've done it just don't enjoy it. 3-5" is fine with me.
And you're also correct, getting hammered freaking hurts.
I don't care how great a surfer one thinks they are. - civilizedevil, on 11/07/2008, -1/+3With a reef break this hairy every wipeout can be considered near death. He could have easily been slammed into the reef or drowned, just because he was lucky and escaped with a pulled muscle doesn't mean he wasn't seconds away from getting his skull bashed into whatever reef is causing the wave to jack up like that.
- diggit83, on 11/07/2008, -0/+2Zip, may I have 3 examples?
- Diggity75, on 11/07/2008, -0/+2Negatory. Try this:
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/01/09/big-wave- ... - dimplemonkey, on 11/08/2008, -1/+2They do have larger version that you could possibly use for wallpaper...
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/11/07/article- ... - pbarney, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1Wow. A wave is breaking on top of that wave that is breaking.
- Poblasai, on 11/07/2008, -1/+2While that's a wonderful little quip, I'll have to disagree. Now, my Xbox may not be EXTREME!@#$, but I do find it fun to play from time to time and to the best of my knowledge the 360 hasn't proven fatal... yet.
- VanishedRogue, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1All I can say is that this guy got guts.
- chillypacman, on 11/07/2008, -3/+4buried as the daily mail.
- dwsurf, on 11/07/2008, -2/+2You could totally be getting pitted on the top lip of that wave!
STUPID - oninbonin, on 11/07/2008, -1/+1Shaw! Glad he lived!
- mreade, on 11/07/2008, -2/+2***** me
-
Show 51 - 60 of 60 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is 