Understanding the term: heavy wipeout

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Photo: Heff
[Burger, charging head first.]
Understanding the term: heavy wipeout
Water is weird. Most of us rarely think about the simple H2O molecule,
but it almost wholly comprises the aqueous environment in which we
surf. Almost two-thirds of the world is covered in water, with nearly 97
percent of that being ocean saltwater. We truly live on a blue planet.
As surfers, we’ve all marveled at the various moods of the ocean,
and when we do we are looking primarily at the water. Water can be
transparent or murky, ominously dark or crystalline light, rock hard or
soft as silk. Of all the things that determine our surfing experience,
water is truly the essential element. Whether it’s rushing through your
hair on a duck-dive, raining down on you from wind-driven lip spray,
or gliding through your fingertips in a perfect barrel, we surf in a world
of water.
So what makes water so special? One of the most amazing
aspects of seawater is its density, a physical property acquired from
its concentration of “salts.” What this means for surfers is that we
actually surf in the most dense form H2O has to offer and we all know
in its liquid form, water can pack quite a punch. Take pipeline for
example: if you fall from the very top of a 10-foot-plus set wave, you’ve
almost reached 20 mph by the time you hit the water (and hopefully
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By Jack Kittinger & Logan Mock-Bunting
not the reef below). At that speed, the water you just blasted through
has become thick and unforgiving. Once you’ve absorbed that impact,
you’ve got to handle the weight of the water in the lip chasing you to the
bottom. A cubic meter of water weighs a ton—literally 2,000 pounds. In
Hawaiian-style 10-foot-plus conditions, a worst-case wipeout scenario
will result in over 30,000 pounds of force coming down on you, the
equivalent of eight mid-size cars. Ouch!
Depending on where you are and how the wave hits you, this force can
feel like a huge pressure spread over your body, or a direct hit. All this
has the effect of feeling like an underwater train wreck, and has resulted
in serious injuries, knocked surfers unconscious, and pulverized boards
into Styrofoam scrap. How bad can it get? Just ask Buzzy Trent or Titus
Kinimaka, both of whom suffered broken bones from taking direct hits on
big wave wipeouts. To mitigate serious poundings, most big wave surfers
have developed wipeout techniques to avoid the most critical part of the
impact zone.
Ricky Grigg, a coral reef biologist and pioneer of big wave surfing
on O‘ahu’s North Shore, quantified how big winter swells impact coral
reef ecosystems. Unsurprisingly, reefs that are highly exposed to large
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northerly swells undergo a tremendous seasonal impact associated with
the pounding surf. It turns out reefs, like humans, can barely survive the
intensity of the impact zone. As a big wave charger, Dr. Grigg has felt that
intensity first-hand. Dr. Grigg estimates big-wave surfers are contending
with around a 2% chance of dying when surfing 20-foot-plus surf. Of the
500 or so big-wave sessions he’s surfed, “at least 10 times in my life
I thought I was going to die. I thought, I’m done, this is over.” By his
calculations and experience, it basically boils down to one near-death
experience out of every 50 big ones you attempt.
As scary as water can be when it’s your adversary, its density properties
are also the reason we’re able to surf at all. Your buoyancy in the water
is actually the result of an upward force that is equal to the weight of
the water you displace, known as Archimedes’ principle. This means
simply that the ocean holds you up. This same principle illustrates
why we’re so lightweight in the water. Since our bodies are primarily
comprised of water, it’s no surprise we’re almost equal in density to water.
Our surfboards are much lighter, enabling us to paddle on the surface.
But when we take off, another force takes over—hydrodynamics. The
hydrodynamic force of moving water actually pushes upward against your
board, the result of deflection of water against your board surface. It’s this
force that makes us seem more buoyant when we’re riding a wave than
when we are sitting in the line-up. Of course, a board’s surface creates
a lot of drag, and shapers have been working for decades on designs to
minimize drag, as your acceleration and speed is determined not only by
your board, but by the wave and how you ride it.
The ocean can be beautiful and downright intimidating, serenely
smooth or whipped into fury. Some believe it’s this changeable face of the
ocean that makes our surfing experience so hard to define. Is it an art,
a sport, a hobby, or a religion? Surfing can be all of these things, but for
most of us the true definition is that surfing transforms us when we get in
the water. The strange physical properties of water and the invisible forces
at work on you make up part of the magic of surfing. So, next time you’re
paddling out for a session to recharge the batteries, remember, it’s the
water that keeps you afloat. [Pau]
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