There are a lot more bobbing heads. And with that comes a lot more danger. Photo: Jeremy Hall
As the numbers of surfers increases, so too does the chance of being hit. This weekend, my time was up.
It was a busy day; perhaps fifty or more people in the water, all hustling to catch the best waves on a chest-to-head high offshore day. Fun surf, in other words, with a lot of people in the water. I had just caught a nice little wave and did a few turns that (in my head, at least) were as style-filled as Tom Curren’s. They probably weren’t exactly how I pictured them, but that’s beside the point. I was having fun. I paddled back out, keen for a repeat, when I saw an elderly gentleman on a huge board taking off on a wave. No drama, I thought. It’s a right-hander peeling away from me. Oh, shock! Horror! He, of course, went left. I still wasn’t too phased, as I was fairly sure he would just head towards the beach and miss me. Instead, for whatever reason, he headed directly towards me. Looking back, I think he was just a really average surfer with zero control of his board. Whatever the case, I paddled as fast as I could to get out of his path, but he followed me. As a last resort, I tried to duck dive him, but was unable to pull it off. The end result was his boat plowing right into my hip.
After this, heated words were exchanged. “What do you think you’re doing, buddy?” or something similar (maybe worse) than that. What struck me as odd was that the guy had zero remorse for what he had done. More annoyingly, he seemed to think that he was in the right. I caught a few more waves in anger and went in. Walking up the beach, I reached down and touched my hip. What I felt was hole in my wetsuit, which didn’t improve my mood. I got back to the car, got changed and discovered a 10cm hole in my hip that was deep enough to see the fat.
Long story short, I got it fixed up, and it was all good.
But it got me thinking. What if this guy plows into some kid’s head next? With so many people in the water who seem to have zero idea of etiquette these days, incidents like this are sure to become more common. Not long ago a New Zealand surfer was killed after being run over while surfing at Lyall Bay. The guy was a dad, taken much too early thanks to someone being negligent. But what can be done about this?
What do you think? Can the issue be addressed in a way that will keep everyone happy?
