Getting Through The White Water

So in the last post, I talked about getting outback through the white water. Unsurprisingly, if you paddle straight at a wall of white water, the chances are that it will wipe you out, push you back as far as you've just paddled forward and send your board off in a totally unwanted direction. Generally speaking, it gets a lot easier and you make more headway if you end up either doing a press-up or a turtle roll.

A press up is exactly what is sounds like; you have to do a press up on the board. This however, is far from simple when you're balanced on a fibre glass board a couple of feet wide while sitting in the middle a wall of white foam.

The second method, and slightly more interestingly named, is the turtle roll. The name is a little bit of a misnomer though as you don't actually roll yourself at all, just your board. The idea is that you turn yourself into a sea anchor for your board by spearing yourself down into the water just prior to the wave hitting you. It's a little hard to visualise, but if it is possible to imagine yourself being vertical underwater holding onto your board above your head, you end up being in a T-shape. The wave hits the board and you being vertical and deep in the water helps to stop the board from being pulled too far away.

The only downside to this method is that you when you surface after the wave has passed, you can't really tell what you're surfacing into. It could be another wave, another surfer or simply open water. Whatever is waiting for you, the idea is that you get back on your board as fast as possible and start paddling again, despite being blinded by the salt water in your eyes.

I suppose in reality I mention these techniques simply because I think anything that is called a turtle roll will amuse me!