With the averge age of the kneeboarder these days this area should be used to post issues on health matters (surfer's ear, knee surgery, stretches, etc).
I just came back from scripps by the pier and it was a negative low tide and dumping. I pull into a 4 footer and do a cutty and snap a little late and the wave takes me and board over the falls.
I get up and notice a fin missing and look aroung and see a rip in my spring suit near my crotch. You can imagine what I was thinking. No blood so I underess and just see a slight scratch on my inner thigh about an inch away from my sack.
I am now convinced that it is time to buy Pro teck Fins. This call was too close. How many of you have almost been turned into a unic from your fins?
The worst one I ever had was when I was 17, took one a little too far into the shorebreak at Brook's St. and got pulled over the falls with my board under me. To this day I'm not sure what got me, whether it was the tail of the fish I was riding or one of the fins. Either way I stood up with a nasty gash right below the bikini line. The lifeguard (a friend of mine at school) turned green and almost passed out. It wasn't really painful or even bleeding a lot, but it was deep. The doctor at the hospital asked (jokingly) if there was anything I wanted taken out of there before he sewed it up. {"yeah doc, take one of my ovaries, turns out I'm not going to need it after all!" }
Anyway, 17 stictches and too long out of the water that particular summer ...
Small day,1-2ft.Caught the rail across the face.Opened the skin around the left eye[9 stiches]swollen eyeball-eye patch-pain drugs,months of agony-thousands of dollars in fees[worth every penny,bless the doc.s]
This is we suit country-there aren't that many issues as down there.
Fins are a big problem,and I'll generally soften leading and trailing edges-don't make much difference to me.Speed fins have a different config.Foiled outside,slightly foiled inside,hard to notice.Which means the forward and rear edges are more rounded.They've got the usual bevey of pros touting them.
My worst cuts (insignificant compared to some of those mentioned) have been caused by out of control other surfers. This usually happens by surfing at spots where there are heaps of learners. The Pass at Byron comes to mind.
I have had way too many cuts and bashes to mention. But I have learned to dull all my fin edges prior to sufing a new board. A poorly foiled fin can make a board 'hum' when surfing but dulling the trailing edge and tip haven't had that effect with my boards.
I gave up dropping into the closeout many years ago after catching the rail of my KB across the shin; thought I broke my leg. And here I was, a husband and a father of 3, little preschool children, taking crazy risks. So, I had to readjust my KB outlook......well, at least to not take the shorepound anymore.
Beeline, I agree on Zuma....that place can get REALLY HAIRY! I used to surf it for the big pitching barrels. One weekend during a nasty south swell, surfers suffered 3 broken arms and 2 broken legs. And thats not to mention numerous other injuries and broken boards. I saw God out in the water those days.
Zuma- westward zuma ,is the only place I have broken boards-three. I grew up riding zuma on Lis fishes and have great memories. When it's on in late spring - it is a fast, DEEP, tube with really clear water! There were some really great standups there in the early seventies- J. Riddle, D avey Hilton, Rich Meyers , really a hardcore surf spot back then. When it was on guys came from far to surf the deep tubes. Nowadays, it's a wierd mob scene......
Westwards was exactly the spot I was speaking about. When I moved to SoCal from Santa Cruz County, my friends all said that there weren't any good waves in SoCal. Westwards stacks up against any bone-crunching barrel in the world.
Its also the graveyard of more Duck Feet and Churchills than one could count. Once I went to the lifeguard station and asked them,"Did anyone find my Duck Foot?" They had a knee-high pile of swim fins in the back. We all had a good laugh!
I feel a whole lot better reading this lot...thought I was the only clumsy/unlucky kneelo out there. I guess its the proximity to the board during a wipeout - its difficult to jump while on your knees !
Has anyone been pronged by their boards nose ? This hasn't happened to me (yet), but I'm thinking of trimming off about 1/2" off the tip of the board I'm shaping and rounding it a tad.
There are various rubbery type dips used for tool grip.Try the hardware store.Stuff sticks real well to glass.
Generally,whe putting in new fins,I'll slightly sand the leading fin edge-I can't tell the difference,and it has saved me enough times from serious cuts.
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