Images of surfers 'duck diving' in Hawaii
A photographer captures surfers using a cool technique to avoid incoming waves.
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I used to surf on longboards from 1962 to 1969 in southern California and I have SCUBA dived since I was 12 years old off of Catalina Island and Malibu, California especially. I have boogie boarded on inflatable mats since 1953 and only almost drowned once at Zuma Beach in California when I was 8 when I and my cousins were taken about 1/2 mile out on a inflatable mattress before I could swim then at age 8 in a really bad rip tide. It took 5 lifeguards wearing themselves out with four floats to save all of us and even then having to get crushed by 5 to 7 foot waves coming in and bouncing off the sand on the bottom and having the air knocked out of my lungs multiple times by hitting the bottom was about as "out there" as I could have survived at that time in my life before I had learned hot to swim.
So, body surfing and boogie boarding I never completely stopped doing. I also snorkel still whenever I'm in Hawaii even though I'm now 65. (I usually now go to Hawaii once every year or two now).
So, what I'm trying to say is that there are many tricks above and below the water so you don't drown while doing all these things. How you land when you fall off a board, looking at waves and understanding what a wave is going to do to you and knowing all the different types of waves, knowing what is just under the surface like hidden rocks or coral will save your life. Unless you really understand the conditions you are in you are always better not to go in the ocean over your head ever.
And the problem is it usually takes years to fully understand enough to stay alive in the ocean. So, if you are going to do something dangerous at least make sure one of you is really experienced enough to save the rest of you in some kind of unexpected emergency.
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