Hold Yer Breath - The 12 second rule

Loving bodysurfing big messy beachbreaks and getting smashed and rolled is part and parcel..

Being comfortable holding my breath whilst under is important for me. It requires two things from you. Practice and peace.

This little rule helps with the second thing....


From" Bali and Indo Surf Stories blog"......Posted on February 28, 2011
(great blog full of seafaring/ surfing stories of adventure)..


The 12 Second Rule (of Wave Hold-downs)

Before reading further, hold your breath for twelve seconds.

Seriously. Twelve seconds.

Easy as a mouthful of black rice pudding, wasn’t it? (If you’re old Bali; if you’re new Bali, make that easy as organic tofu scrambled with sun-dried tomatoes with a side dish of wild brown rice, seasoned with natural sea salt and hand-picked jungle herbs).

One lesser known but quite relevant fact of surfing is that most waves, even ten foot boomers, do not hold you down for longer than twelve seconds, and of those that do, most let you up by fifteen seconds.

I was told this fact some twenty years ago by a heavy water man, an Alaska fisherman, North Shore regular, blue water speargun hunter. We were out at Nusa Dua. This was the wet season that Nusa Dua Did Not Stop, and after days and days of double overhead surf with spring tide currents to match, that afternoon was a pleasant overhead on a calm neap tide. I did not believe Mike when he told me. I said no way. After all, I’d spent not an insignificant fraction of my life during the previous week proving him wrong. Those hold downs were way longer than twelve seconds.

But then I started timing my hold downs, and counting others from cliff tops and channels and boat railings. And sure enough. He was right.... Read more...



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