I visited California last year when the surf was reaching 8-12 feet. We’re talking Big Waves. Though I’ve never been on a surfboard, I wanted to try my luck on a boogie board, but ultimately didn’t get the chance.
My question is: can it be done with a decent boogie board? Or, do the cheap boards produce too much drag? FYI, I rented a boogie board two years ago in southern California and its foam bottom seemed to create so much drag that I either couldn’t get out to the biggest waves–the surf kept pushing me toward the shore–or the waves ran me over.
I’ve noticed the expensive boogie boards have hard, super-slick bottoms, much like a surfboard, that seem designed for larger waves. True? Call me fearless, but an 8-12 foot wave doesn’t scare me. (Of course, not that I’ve been right under one…)
Can a boogie board handle an authentic 8-12 footer?
I used foam boogie boards when I was a kid and never had a problem with the big ones out there. It’s been awhile but I seem to remember a slight learning curve of maybe 3-5 passes. It’s not that tough.
Being on the wave isn’t the scary part. It’s when it crashes down on top of you smaking you into the bottom of the ocean, turns you upside down, and won’t let you come up for air is when it’s scary.
People need a board to surf? Sheesh. Try body surfing. For big waves try using flippers, but if you get good at it, those are absolutely needed (but still a big help, esp. in swimming back out).
But then again, my max. has been 6-8ft. And for that big you have to know when to “fold in” before you get smacked to the bottom. If the waves don’t overly curl, I can stay at the top of the curl and ride the crash down. That’s the best…
If you aren’t scared by 8-12 foot waves, you either:
[ol]
[li]aren’t really witnessing 8-12 foot waves[/li][li]grew up in the ocean and are a strong confident swimmer[/li][li]grew up in swimming pools and are a fool.[/ol][/li]I’m guessing it’s option #1. But if accurate, those are large and powerful waves! If you ever have the experience of going over the falls (getting sucked up the face of the wave, pulled backward, snapped down over the top, smashed down to the sand and held there for 8-10 seconds)on a wave that big, you’ll change your tune. How about getting caught inbetween waves and having a foot of water to dive into as 3 tons of water crashes on your head? How about doing that 3-5 times in a row as a huge set rolls in? Don’t ever underestimate the power of the ocean or you’ll be a floating corpse in no time…
I’ll assume that you are a novice bodyboarder. If so, you will be putting yourself in front of a breaking wave and heading straight to shore in a perpendicular line. If that’s your goal, you could do that on a piece of wood - a rented board should be fine.
The slick bottom helps more experienced boarders gain the speed to drop into a wave before it breaks (fins also help with this) and ride the wave down the line. This is a much more complicated process and you won’t be doing any of this until you devote much more time to the sport. However, if you’re having trouble swimming out to the waves, you should learn how to duck dive. Extend your arms and place all your weight on the board. It will sink under the water. As breaking waves near, follow the submerged board with your body and you will duck under 90% of the wave’s force.
Pros ride waves up to 20-25 feet. They get so much speed going that they literally skip across the face of the wave.