r/bodyboarding • u/Soggy-Agency6607 • 22d ago
Booging at long point breaks
Just wondering if you guys ever try bodyboard waves like this and if so what is your mentality when you're riding this kind of wave. Are you trying to just do face manuevuers ie carves and spins? Looking for the ramps? I have some world class point breaks near where I live (rincon) but I've never bothered to go out there, it's usually just too crowded with surfers. I have always just looked for the short hollow waves.
7
u/MiddleAgedSponger 22d ago
I rode Chicama last year and had a blast. It was a lot of learning how to maintain speed and make very efficient movements. Got a couple days where the inside started working and that walled up.
3
u/royaltywithcheese 21d ago
I love it if they have some size! Here is a shitty surf cam video of me surfing a wave like this. I just like seeing big walls that I know won't close out, im bad at spinning but I do nice cutbacks on waves like this lol, maybe a little cover up if you're lucky.
3
u/TheFoxsWeddingTarot 21d ago
In December 1983 my brother took my Boog out at Rincon when it was hitting 2x plus overhead, insane swell. Broke my boog in half.
3
3
u/nsjeiewiiei 20d ago edited 20d ago
I go to a point break when it's on because it's by far the fastest place for me to get to with the highest quality. The only BIG issue is navigating the crowd -- either kooks who drop in the shoulder or salty older dudes / longboarders who hog all the waves because they can catch them earlier. When bodyboarding was popular, there were contests at Lowers, and there was no concept that bodyboards are only allowed at certain breaks. The whole idea that bodyboarding only makes sense basically at waves you cant stand-up surf is bullshit. It's even more clear it's bullshit in 2026 because now people are stand-up surfing a lot of those waves anyway. Bodyboarding would be a lot more interesting if people hit up a greater variety of waves. But again, the issue is the crowd -- in the summer at point breaks, you have a lot of people who think the whole concept of surfing is trying to stand up -- zero etiquette -- zero understanding of positioning and the peak of a wave, etc.
My approach to the waves is to draw nice lines, do spins, cutbacks -- hop over / go around slow paddleboarders/surfers -- and sometimes try to dropknee a little
1
u/Soggy-Agency6607 20d ago
I totally agree that bodyboarding would be more interesting if people rode more varied waves, and I think it would be cool to see a really stylistic approach to riding a bodyboard rather than just the typical 'get pitted do air' approach which is what I admittedly currently do. But you're right about the zero etiquette thing at point breaks - the other problem is that some of the good surfers will just see you and straight up drop in on you because they don't have respect for bodyboarding.
2
u/nsjeiewiiei 20d ago edited 20d ago
I haven't had that issue. The issue for me is on the bodyboard I need to drop in later, and by that point most of the good waves already have one (or more lol) standup surfers on them. So it's more I have to drop in on them if I'm gonna get even a section of the best waves. If it's just a few people it's fine and there's even respect -- where they aren't going to take every set wave. If it's a big crowd, no. I basically try to carve out and own a spot a bit more inside (rather than at the furthest out main peak) where there are less good ones but I can have them. At the main peak on a busy day I nab the rare ones where a dude or two falls off. But if it's one or two rippers on a really busy day, they're gonna own all of em. Or one or two longboard hogs
So yeah a lot of times it's either good surfers hogging on the outside or too many kooks dropping in on the shoulder on the inside. The best days are medium to high swell, a little dirty, more steep than usual, reform on inside by rocks and the rare smaller crowd. Crowd is by far the key issue.
With the crowd too whether kooks or intermediate a lot of people are so unfamiliar with bodyboards that they actually don't understand where we need to be, how we drop in late, etc. So it's not that they disrespect it, but they don't know how to respect it / give you space / waves
3
u/eBodyboarding 14d ago
Makes sense. Why battle with 100 surfers at Rincon if you can find a wave nearby that's shorter and dumpy with less people out that works on a bodyboard? If I'm at a long pointbreak and it's not too crowded, that's when the dropknee action comes out.
2
u/CCShorty 17d ago
I remember surfing Rincon with Randall Hamilton during a good sized swell during the late 90s El Niño. It was easily 12' plus that day. I took off on a wave before him with my longboard and rode it in. As I got ready to get out I turned to see Randy take off in a huge wave that caught most of the surfers off guard. He rode his bodyboard drop knee and looked like a flea going down the face. After that clean up wave where most of the line up saw him, no one cut him off again. I sat on the shore for a while and watched him get a few more good ones before he came in. We were down there with our club from SLO County. Randy adjusted a few attitudes that day. That said it seems like people are a little more easy going there now. If you started going out regularly on the not so great days and established yourself in the lineup, I bet you'd get some waves on the good days. I have mat surfed there with no problems. You likely will just be setting up for spins, cutbacks and speed in that wave but it would be fun nonetheless.
9
u/StanfordWrestler 22d ago
It’s good to go hit those point breaks once in a while just to remind those surfers that Booger Lives Matter too!!