[surferguy]

I can swim but I am firmly planted in the "not the best" category. I can tread water but I am not going to be the guy swimming across a lake. When I go surfing I like fast beach breaks, mostly because they tend to be hollow waves that are about 30ft from water you can stand in.

I remember the first time I left the place I really learned to surf - a small punchy beach with waves that will toss you around but there was not a lot of water moving. Fast forward a week and now I am in the southern ocean of Australia (next door to Bells Beach). I paddled out about a 100m to the break not really knowing anything about it. The waves were consistent, a solid 9 ft wall about every 20 seconds. I went for the first one available, which was a big mistake - mostly because I will stilled gassed from the paddle out.

The surf here was much different, tough to describe but the wave was more of a wedge vs a peak. I was too late and was taken out by the white water and pushed over the front of my board. Down I went, down down down...ever tumbling in the dark unknown below. I did know at this time to just go into a ball and wait for the laundry machine to stop but i couldn't because the force of the wave had grabbed my board and was dragging me along by my leg rope, which then snapped and I was alone.

Panic set in and I did my best to scramble to the top but I was still lost in the wash underwater. Finally the wave passed me over and I get some traction to swim to the surface. When I broke the surface I toke a massive breath of relief only to figure out that I was now 300ft from the shore, with no board and trying to tread water. The tough part was that the sea surface had about 4 inches of foam on it, so I had to tread water hard enough to keep my face above that in order to breath properly. It was very tough.

On top of all of this, the waves were still coming - lather rinse repeat. Getting caught in the impact zone of serious surf without a board led to one of my scariest moments in the water. I fought very hard to stay afloat. I took about five waves on the head before I realized that I could just turn to shore and dive under and let the power of the wave push me back to shore. Once I figured this out the panic subsided and I quickly made my way back to the rocky beach. It was very enduring and I was bagged. I sat there for an hour thinking about what had just happened. I never went back in the water that day.

In the end I was tested and barely made it out but now I know that if needed I could swim in a distance in significant waves. Now I will not surf alone, and will not go out at a break Ive never been to without watching and studying it from the beach for about 30 mins.

I went back out the next day in similar conditions and got some of the best waves of my life.