Corky's Corner

Corky Carroll getting into the meat of why size matters

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 12 February, 2009 : - - Somebody was asking me this morning what size waves are the best to ride.  This is an interesting question really.  The answer is totally different for any number of people for a whole bunch of different reasons.

Lets start with beginners.  They don’t want waves very big.  And they don’t want waves very gnarly either.  Nice little fat mushburgers are perfect.  Mushburgers are waves that are sort of flat and mushy, they don’t break very hard.  But the term “little” can be slightly deceiving.  You don’t want it so small that the waves have no push to them. 

Beginners tend to think a two foot wave is really twenty feet and it is hard to convince them that a wave that at least has some power to it is easier to ride because it will make them go faster.  Going faster makes the board more stable and therefore is actually easier to ride.  Going slow is harder due to the fact that the board is more tipsy and it is harder to stay in the wave for very long.  Anyway, long story short is that beginners like small surf.  So let’s say that two to three foot surf is best for beginners.

Then you have little kids.  Even small waves for them are big because they are small.  Take a kid that is maybe eight to ten years old and is already a fairly good surfer.  He still likes small waves because he is too little to handle the stronger currents and hold downs that bigger waves come with.  So, waves under six feet for little kids even if they surf good.

Then you have your intermediates.  This is an enormous group and has many different varieties.  For the most part you would have to say that small to medium size surf would be best for them.  But, and amazing as this may sound, many of the most well known big wave riders over the years have actually been intermediate surfers.  But they have been excellent swimmers, divers and all around watermen. But many of them were not good surfers. 

I won’t name names here out of respect for tradition, but I can tell you that some of the most famous big waves riders, especially from the early years of riding big surf, were actually not good surfers at all.  But that is really just a small percentage and should not really affect the standard.  In general you would have to say medium size at the biggest for intermediates.  Much of it would have to do with water experience and confidence.

Then you have good surfers.  This is where it gets sort of weird to answer this question.  Different surfers have different preferences as to the size and structure of waves that they like best.  You have guys like Laird Hamilton who like it bigger the better and bring on the juice no matter what without fear or regard to life and limb.  Then there are guys like former East Coast surfing champion Gary Propper and many others who are great surfers who prefer small to midsize waves.  Gary could rip a two foot wave like nobody else but hated anything over ten feet. 

My personal preference is waves from double to four times overhead, depending on where they are at.  These would be waves that let’s say have faces on them that range from eight to twenty feet.  For me this is a size range that produces plenty of power and speed and is exciting enough to satisfy what’s left of my thirst for thrills.  But it is not into that range that could be fatal for a fat dude over fifty.  It is a fact that you just cannot take the same sort of punishment as when you are twenty. 

I like a nice long walled up ten footer as much as anything.  My days of surfing heavy Pipeline and Puerto Escondido have gone by.   Those are spots that feature waves that have a structure that is very hard to deal with if you are not right on the money.  They break very fast, hard and are extremely powerful and gnarly.  Waves like that hurt old people.  I do love watching video of Jaws and Mavericks and that monster left tube in Tahiti. 

So, there is my best shot at an answer to what size waves are the best to ride.

www.corkycarroll.com

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