Surfing Notes, Past and Present
Things to do before death: Tow-in surfing.
As I have blogged here and here, I am an avid surfer and love to get wet whenever conditions are good.
Recently, I was in Maui w/my family for the holidays.
Not surprisingly, I surfed a lot while I was there. Ho’okipa is probably my favorite place to surf- great
wave: reasonable take-offs, long rides on waves that get increasingly hollow, lots of peaks to spread everyone out,
and no attitude.
(Ho’okipa looking West)
I also surfed on the West Side a bunch, most notably at Honolua Bay. (Honolua is a great wave but the
localism is really a problem there. Not much of the Aloha spirit there among some of the greedy locals who want
to hoard the place to themselves.)
(Honolua Bay looking North West)
In any event, while I was there, I watched a bunch of tow-in teams riding some 25-30’ waves on the outside on the
North Shore. Tow-in surfing is using a waverunner to tow a surfer into a large wave that they would be
otherwise unable to padlle into.
I have to say, it looks like a total blast to be charging down the face of a monster wave on a mini, heavily
weighted tow in board. After talking to several tow in surfers, I come away thinking that this sport is more a
head game than anything else.
To be successful at tow-in, it seems you need 3 things:
- a good, reliable team mate whom you can trust to set you up properly and to pick you out of the impact
zone
- the right equipment including a waverunner, sled, and proper board. I would also probably want to wear
one of the super-bouyant impact vests too, though that is optional.
- most importantly, the presence of mind to keep your head together as the wave breaks behind you
I think the last requirement is really the key. Tow-in (at the less extreme places, ie not Jaws) does not
seem to require particulalry unique or different athletic abilitues beyond those needed to paddle into double
overhead (beyond being able to hold your breath longer). It is largely a matter of focus. (Don’t get me
wrong, I think you need to be in great shape to do tow-in (and here are some
training tips designed to prepare surfers), but I
maintain that I think the biggest obstacle to overcome is one’s own fear. I realize I am sort of talking out of
my ass here as I have not done it, but my speculations seem confirmed by conversations w/tow-in riders.)
Between all the climbing, yoga, and surfing I do, I feel I have pretty good mental discipline to keep it together
under intense physical conditions so I think I would be able to ramp up to riding bigger waves fairly quickly.
I think that if I were to spend a couple of months training w/a team, I would be comfortable taking off on a 20’+
wave. Now I just have to figure out where to find the team mate and time to spend a couple of months in Hawaii
training….
[The Gordon Gould Weblog]
8:56:03 PM 
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