Spearthrower wrote:

The_Piper wrote:I was laying on it in shallow water, and a wave caught the front of it just right, sending it nosediving into the sand and my rib absorbed the force of the fall, banging into the edge of the board. I had the wind knocked out of me, but luckily still had the presence of mind to not draw a breath until the wave crashed over me (I landed flat on my back underwater). I staggered along the shore looking for my friend, who laughed when he saw me.
It only bruised a rib or two but remained tender for a while.

That power of water - shit can get real unexpectedly fast. I had a friend who actually lost her eye a few days after she started surfing as she fell over the front of the board and it whacked her square in the socket.

My worst experience was in Sri Lanka where an otherwise quite gentle looking wave seemed to grab me by the scruff of the neck and bury my face in the sea floor for what felt like a minute. It was a very strange and cautionary experience - that's the last time I really relaxed while in anything other than a few inches of water.

laklak wrote:People get killed all the time in the Gulf of Mexico, despite it's reputation as a big salty lake. Biggest tourist killers are rip currents. People get swept out to sea and panic, not realizing they just need to swim parallel to the beach to escape. They tire themselves out swimming against the current, which they're not going to beat.

laklak wrote:Damn that sucks, did you actually discover them lying on the beach? Jesus.