Being Held Down

Even the idea of being held on the bottom or stuffed under a ledge of reef can start your heart pounding–and that’s exactly what you don’t want to do. If you’re relaxed and calm you can easily hold your breath for 30 seconds, with practice 60 seconds is easy. If you’re panicked and thrashing around it’s more like ten.

Even a fairly small wave can catch you in exactly the wrong spot and pin you. A big wave has all kinds of unpredictable things happening under it. You might pop out in just a few seconds after a wipeout on a big wave, or you could be down on the bottom looking through a curtain of foam, trying to figure out which way is up.

When everything is going bad, time gets haywire. A big wave period (the time between waves) is 15 to 20 seconds. If you are held down until just before the next wave comes, that’s probably twenty seconds maximum.

A two wave hold down, which is pretty rare and considered to be pretty horrific, is at the very most, 40 seconds, and more likely 30 seconds. It might seem like you’re down there for ten minutes, but even a really bad hold down is in the easy range of holding your breath–if you are calm and relaxed.

Of course calmly holding your breath in our living room and doing it while you’re being bounced across a reef are two different things. But the living room is a decent place to practice. You might also want to try the classic hold down exercise–carrying weights underwater. Good training if the prospect scares you. It doesn’t have to be a fifty pound boulder, twenty pounds of dive weights will give you valuable experience.

Here’s some things to consider when the wave is dropping on your head:

1. Why don’t I have some floatation? You might think it looks dorky, but don’t tell that to Laird–he’s usually wearing an impact vest with floatation when he’s charging big stuff. So do an increasing number of tow-in surfers. Even light ones aren’t as comfortable as no vest is, and they can be a liability in a crowded surf spot–it’s tough to dive under a board that’s headed toward your head if you’ve got a vest on. But when a double overhead lip falls on you and you pop up in the foam four seconds later, that vest feels REALLY comfortable.

2. Your paddle can help. If you held onto your paddle when you fell, it adds a little buoyancy and will help pull you up. When you get hit by a wave, putting the paddle behind your head tends to push you upwards. I don’t know why that works, but in my experience it does help. Once you get out of the impact zone you can toss your paddle towards your board and swim unencumbered, or tuck it in your rash guard for a little added float.

3. Don’t fight the power. When you’re being held down, relax as much as possible during the turbulent stage. You can’t swim against the wave’s currents and you’ll just burn up O2. Wait for the bubbles to start to rise, and follow them up. Watch for your board as you surface, no point in adding a head injury to your challenges.

4. Duck and cover. The most important element is simply being calm and getting breaths when you can. Try to control your body by keeping your arms in and your knees bent and clenched while you’re in the wash. And take your time. Kicking like crazy for a breath works some of the time, but one day a lip will fall above you just before you reach the surface.

5. Take the ride. If the waves are breaking outside your position and you can reach your board, get a good grip on it before the next set hits. If the sets aren’t huge and you are getting hit by mostly whitewater, sitting on the board near the tail, holding on with your hands, and dangling your feet will keep you above the whitewater. If nothing else you’ll get pushed out of the impact zone in the whitewater. Just make sure there’s no one barreling down on you as you sit there like a bobber.

6. Bail if necessary. If the lip is headed straight for your head, or other surfers are headed towards you, conditions might be better a few feet down. Get as big a breath as you can, and duck under, diving towards and under the wave. Arch your back and kick forward and chances are you’ll pop out the back quickly. Just make sure you’re deep enough that you don’t get sucked backward over the falls. That’s always bad.

Retrieve your board, and get the heck out of there. You probably only need fifty feet to be in safer water.

One of the beautiful things about surfing is that you’re on your own. In the toughest times no one can really help you. Maybe not as much as when you jump out the door of an airplane, but how things turn out in the surf is pretty much up to you. A little conditioning, a little practice, and some mental discipline will go a long way to making sure they turn out well.