Say the wind died, but you are close to shore. You are down wind away from the ideal sheltered exit spot that protects you from the waves and there are 4ft waves and a shore break.
What's the safest way to go back to the beach?

Time the set haha. never seen a shore break that's around ad infinitum. You just need to time it, sit outside the break and swim like hell when you get a chance. Or if you're too worried - swim up the beach to a safer spot.

if you have doubt that you can do it clean then deflate your wing, roll it up, lay on it on the board and paddle in. don't forget to put the plug back in after deflating.

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broVan said..
if you have doubt that you can do it clean then deflate your wing, roll it up, lay on it on the board and paddle in. don't forget to put the plug back in after deflating.

Great advice, thanks

Great advice to deflate the wing.
I tried to prone surf in with the wing inflated and it went downwind first, when you pop up on Foil, you catch up to it and rip the wing.

My friend likes to ride the break as far as he can staying high on foil and then jumps off in about 2 feet of water. I guess this is one option for the more daring and especially for sandy beaches. I haven't had the stones to try yet.

DC

Shallow water can be very dangerous too. The worst situation I have been in was about thigh/waist deep when there was hard shorebreak that was aggressively sucking back out between waves. Found myself connected to a board lodged in the sand + connected to a wing getting sucked out in the current + waves pummeling me + tangled in leashes + a sharp foil in the mix. Completely overpowered and helpless until my leash belt pulled off.

Since that experience my strategy in any shorebreak is to wear a board quick release connected to my waist leash. On a sandy shore I would rather ditch the board and have it wash up separated from me and focus my efforts on managing the wing. Theres a risk of the board / foil getting damaged, but in a strong shorebreak there is only so much you can do to manage the board with one hand anyways. This wouldn't work on a rocky shore or anywhere with people nearby.

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Velocicraptor said..
Shallow water can be very dangerous too. The worst situation I have been in was about thigh/waist deep when there was hard shorebreak that was aggressively sucking back out between waves. Found myself connected to a board lodged in the sand + connected to a wing getting sucked out in the current + waves pummeling me + tangled in leashes + a sharp foil in the mix. Completely overpowered and helpless until my leash belt pulled off.

Since that experience my strategy in any shorebreak is to wear a board quick release connected to my waist leash. On a sandy shore I would rather ditch the board and have it wash up separated from me and focus my efforts on managing the wing. Theres a risk of the board / foil getting damaged, but in a strong shorebreak there is only so much you can do to manage the board with one hand anyways. This wouldn't work on a rocky shore or anywhere with people nearby.

this was my previous strategy. the problem with it is that if there's a strong current and violent break it can be very difficult to get out without paddling on your board. also hard to get to a specific point and avoid dangerous areas without the board. wouldn't it be better to release a deflated wing to wash onto the shore (put it under your chest paddling until you get washed) ?

Before I go out, I always eye where a deeper little rip channel is. On a windy day I foil high right up to beach and launch off. But we have fine sand.
If the wind dies, as mentioned above, safest is to deflate, plug and roll up and paddle in.
Another option that works w sand is to slog right up to crunch zone, be patient, real patient, take off board leash, wait for a lull and Swim/Run as fast as possible.
Like I said though, try and spot a place where the waves aren't focused, usually won't be any surfers there as they are on the peak. If your gonna get throttled, send that board hard to shoreline and let it do what it's going to do. If you hold on to wing and board, either you or your wing is gonna take a big hit. Which takes us back to deflating if your in doubt about your odds.
Btw, we all pay at some point.

Here you go watch this video shows the best way through a shore break ..

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Velocicraptor said..

Since that experience my strategy in any shorebreak is to wear a board quick release connected to my waist leash.

beware of the 'quick' release. i bought a leash specifically for that purpose, and it didn't release at all through much pulling and tugging. it took two hands on the beach and a lot of manipulation to finally get it to release, so it was worthless. oddly, this same leash goes on via velcro only around my waist. so as i head to shore now, i always just rip apart the velcro (my version of quick release) and let the leash drag in the water. i've removed the 'quick' release contraption entirely in favor of a much simpler one that was already built into it. haven't ripped a wing since.

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Piros said..
Here you go watch this video shows the best way through a shore break ..

Lol! Yewwww. Great technique.

I personally ride behind a wave so there are no sketchy moments and ride high before ripping a turn sending my board upwind in water shallow enough to stand in.

Yeah I was actually peeling off the wave at the end but my foil clipped the bank. Both leashes became tangled with each other with my ankle leash around the mast as well . We were all tied together , it was a heavy coiled ankle leash which has caused some dramas in the past I should have got rid of it long time ago . Next time I'll stop and release the ankle leash start again and go through . Been chatting with a few other riders in bigger waves are loosing the leg rope all together.

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Piros said..
Here you go watch this video shows the best way through a shore break ..

Perfect opportunity to make an xply slick.

Whatever you do, don't do it this way:

www.instagram.com/p/CZFdWodLHTq/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Looking for confirmation bias but I found it works okay to flip the board over, grab the mast and lie backwards into the wave with your legs under the board.

It seems counterintuitive to get the foil out of the water, but you can use the mast to lever it and control the board instead of having it flop around or decide to take off from the speed imparted by the wave. You also aren't going to bash your foil this way. It's less intimidating with head gear given the tail wing but - except for the steepest slabs, it's okay.

As for the wing - yeah deflating would be ideal here. Deflate, and warp around the mast.

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koobzilla works okay to flip the board over, grab the mast and lie backwards into the wave with your legs under the board.

Can you explain further?
I have a hard time visualising what you're doing.

Was watching some young rippers in Maui yesterday. At a spot like Hookipa it's terrifying coming in. What they did was foil at speed then carve aggressively upwind, close to shore, so that the board almost does a 180 and because they were carving so hard the board then flipped over at the end of carving, grab board under one arm and exit gracefully! I haven't tried it but it looked impressive.

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robbo1111 said..
Was watching some young rippers in Maui yesterday. At a spot like Hookipa it's terrifying coming in. What they did was foil at speed then carve aggressively upwind, close to shore, so that the board almost does a 180 and because they were carving so hard the board then flipped over at the end of carving, grab board under one arm and exit gracefully! I haven't tried it but it looked impressive.

So they would carve upwind (like heelside tack) until the board was pointing away from beach and drop so the foil was upwind,am i getting it right?.
Then grab it and walk in tail first with wing in downwind hand?

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mcrt said..

robbo1111 said..
Was watching some young rippers in Maui yesterday. At a spot like Hookipa it's terrifying coming in. What they did was foil at speed then carve aggressively upwind, close to shore, so that the board almost does a 180 and because they were carving so hard the board then flipped over at the end of carving, grab board under one arm and exit gracefully! I haven't tried it but it looked impressive.

So they would carve upwind (like heelside tack) until the board was pointing away from beach and drop so the foil was upwind,am i getting it right?.
Then grab it and walk in tail first with wing in downwind hand?

I have done a similar thing here. You want to be following a wave as closely as possible so when you dismount the water is moving towards the shore. Hopefully taking you past the impact zone before the water starts pushing out.

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mcrt said..

robbo1111 said..
Was watching some young rippers in Maui yesterday. At a spot like Hookipa it's terrifying coming in. What they did was foil at speed then carve aggressively upwind, close to shore, so that the board almost does a 180 and because they were carving so hard the board then flipped over at the end of carving, grab board under one arm and exit gracefully! I haven't tried it but it looked impressive.

So they would carve upwind (like heelside tack) until the board was pointing away from beach and drop so the foil was upwind,am i getting it right?.
Then grab it and walk in tail first with wing in downwind hand?

Yes exactly

Hookipa, the launch is small, wind is always side to side-off. In summer the shorebreak is a bit heavier(strange, because not much swell), but a 6feet dumping on the shore like OBX...that needs a how to video for sure!!

I like the idea,will try.
My only worry is that walking in with the board tail first leaves a lot of "nose" behind you.If a foamie hits it will veer to one side very forcefully.

Guess the trick (and hard part) is to get really close in but not hit the sand on the turn.
I can see myself really screwing that up in a million ways :)