T-shirt logo from 2019 URT Womp bodysurfing contest
More than once I have been out in the lineup when another surfer wipes out, his leash breaks, and he loses his board. On a couple of those occasions, the surfer lacked the necessary swimming ability to swim the short distance into shallow water to retrieve his board. Instead, he relied on another surfer to paddle over to him and then paddle him in to shore.
Similarly, a few years ago, I was working as a divemaster on a boat in Hawaii. On this particular dive we would swim through a shallow water cavern. The cavern has a skylight that, during slightly bigger surf events, opens right in the impact zone. The breaking waves alternate between pushing water down through the skylight, and sucking water up, out through the skylight. When you get sucked up, you are right in the breaking surf. I had briefed my divers accordingly, prior to beginning the dive. I had three divers with me that day. Just as we were about to exit the cavern, a bigger set rolled through and the water started moving in and out through the skylight. Two of my divers followed directions and were fine. The third did everything wrong and was sucked out before I could grab her.
I led the remaining two divers out of the cavern and instructed them to stay put. I ditched my scuba gear on the bottom, surfaced, and swam/body surfed to the victim diver. By this time she had been pushed into knee deep water. She was laying, face up, on top of her tank. She looked like a turtle on its back, unable to right itself. In between waves washing over her face, she was calling for help. She made no effort at self-rescue, which would have only required releasing the buckles on her scuba gear and rolling over. I released her gear, helped her to her knees and told her to stay low so she wouldn't get knocked down by the incoming surf.
The surf was only a couple feet high, but because it was coming from deeper water and breaking on a shallow shelf, it was moving a lot of water. The reef was rough lava and coral so it was difficult to maneuver across. We were in a remote area, so getting out on the beach wasn't an option. I dragged her equipment and assisted her in crawling/swimming to the edge of the shelf. I threw her equipment out into deep water, timed the sets, and told her to jump in to the deeper water. At this time, she told me that she couldn't swim without her scuba gear. A bigger set was quickly approaching. I reminded her that she was wearing a full wetsuit, that she would be fine, and I shoved her off the ledge. I quickly followed her and towed her away from danger. I helped her into her gear, escorted her to the boat, and returned to finish my dive with the other two divers.
Because she was wearing a full wetsuit, she came out of it pretty well, with just a few bruises. I was trunking it, with a long sleeve rash guard. I was full of urchin spines and pretty cut up. Some of the cuts were deep enough that I still have the scars. And, I still have the mental scars of trying to understand how someone can be a certified diver and not now how to swim. And, she wasn't the first, or the last, diver I met who basically couldn't swim.
If this "70's era Red Cross poster doesn't make you want to learn to swim, I don't know what will. Learn to swim or you'll look like this lady.
When I was nine years old, I wanted to buy my first surf board. To do so, I had the earn the money and pass my Dad's swim requirement. In the early 70's you could get a used board for $25. It didn't seem to matter if the board was manufactured or homemade, big or small, or in good or poor condition, it was $25. I bought my board from an older guy ( when you're 9, everybody is older), who must have wanted to help me out so he cut the price to $18.
The swim requirement wasn't as flexible. My dad never surfed in his life. He did have common sense, and he read the occasional newspaper articles about people drowning off our coastline. He asked other people, who did surf, about a reasonable swim requirement for me. The answer came out at a pretty consistent 250 yards. I think my dad thought it would be years before I reached that ability and that by then my interests would have changed. I took advantage of every opportunity I got to swim in neighbors backyard pools. By the ripe old age of ten I managed to meet the requirement of swimming 250 yards. Because I was swimming in a backyard pool, most of that distance was probably push off and glide, but I went for 250 yards. I don't think my dad was too happy, but a deal was a deal, I got my board. Only years later did I find out how much he worried about my ocean activities. Of course this was in the days before leashes. If you were learning to surf, by necessity, you had to be a decent swimmer to constantly chase after your board. One of the downsides to equipment that makes the ocean more accessible to the general public`is that people don't "earn their salt", by learning the hard way. When something goes wrong, and the hard way is the only option left, you may not be up to the challenge.
I have no idea what this poster is trying to say, but it is unique
During my marine related professional life we often used the slogan, "Some people shouldn't drink water, let alone try to recreate in it." If you are type of person who goes to a lifeguarded beach, who wades out into waist deep water, and stands there, or who rides a body board in on the white water, I can see why you would not need to be a reasonable swimmer. But if you are going to call yourself a surfer, skin diver, body boarder or body surfer, shouldn't you be a fairly strong ocean swimmer? If you are dependent on your equipment or on someone else to make up for your lack of ability, isn't that taking a foolish risk? Equipment fails- leashes break, fin straps break, PWC motors quit, and BCD's rip. You should be comfortable in the water with just you, alone. You don't need to be an Olympic swimmer, in fact many pool swimmers are really not comfortable in the ocean, but you should be able to swim at least several hundred yards without stopping. If you come from a competitive swimming background, and you are comfortable in the ocean, all things being equal, you will be a better waterman than an average swimmer. Just your feel for moving through the water will give you an advantage. If you know that you really aren't a very strong swimmer, even if you've gotten away with it for years, start now at getting better. Find someone who is a better swimmer and commit some time to pool workouts, or disciplined ocean workouts. Limit your use of equipment during your workouts. You can wear goggles to protect your eyes, but go without those too on occasion so you are not dependent on them.
Having ranted on all that I also need to say that I am a firm believer that there are some places in the ocean where human being just shouldn't go. Massive amounts of moving water are not something that humans are made to swim in. There are currents, that no human can swim against, that will take you places you don't want to go. Don't put yourself some place that you can't get yourself out of. You can watch videos all day long of tow-in surfers riding massive slabs and getting away with it. These athletes have often trained for years to handle multi-wave hold downs and other extreme conditions. They are the best in the world. Still, they are largely dependent on well trained PWC operators to come to their aid. When everything goes well, everyone survives. That doesn't always happen.
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