Entering the water when shore diving

[hurleyskis]

-Fins in hand (actually i put my left arm through the straps of both fins so the fins hang on my forearm).

-REGULATOR IN MOUTH (don't want to get knocked over and start sucking water and ...)

-As quickly as i can i get floating, look down and put my fins on.

 

[pasley]

I only have 130 beach dives, so I am certainly not the expert by any means. But IMHO fins off is the way to do it.

The argument for fins on is if you get knocked down, you have your fins on and can swim.

My argument against fins on: If I did not have my fins on, I could have moved out quickly past the surf zone and avoided the getting knocked down in the first place.

I enter fins off BC empty, and move quickly out until I can no longer touch bottom. At that time I am well past the surf zone. I then inflate my BC, and while floating leisurely put on my fins. I do not understand why some people try to hop around on one foot in a moving ocean trying to put on fins in thigh deep water.

Now about the empty BC. If I have missed my timing and a wave does come along before I am past the surf zone, I have two decisions to make, either it is small enough to just turn sideways and brace myself, or it is bigger and requires other action. If the wave is bigger, then I squat down low, lowering my center of gravity and dive under the wave as close to the bottom as I can get. The wave then passes harmlessly over me. If I had air in my BC I would not be able to go under the wave and the wave would tumble me towards shore. After the wave passes I just stand back up and continue my entry.

I am not saying one way is right and one is wrong. I am just saying each has their advantages and you do what you want. But, I have sat floating on the ocean more than once watching my dive buddies who entered the water beside me with their fins on, still struggling with getting out and getting the Maytag treatment.

 

[mccabejc]

Melvin, regarding the empty BC: If nailed by a bigger wave and with an empty BC, and the wave also knocks your reg out, I would worry that I'd be underwater with no buoyancy and no air supply, and a big tank on my back. Do you think the half inflated BC makes that much of a difference in whether you can dive the wave successfully?

 

[Robert Phillips]

I only have 130 beach dives, so I am certainly not the expert by any means. But IMHO fins off is the way to do it.

The argument for fins on is if you get knocked down, you have your fins on and can swim.

My argument against fins on: If I did not have my fins on, I could have moved out quickly past the surf zone and avoided the getting knocked down in the first place.

I enter fins off BC empty, and move quickly out until I can no longer touch bottom. At that time I am well past the surf zone. I then inflate my BC, and while floating leisurely put on my fins. I do not understand why some people try to hop around on one foot in a moving ocean trying to put on fins in thigh deep water.

Now about the empty BC. If I have missed my timing and a wave does come along before I am past the surf zone, I have two decisions to make, either it is small enough to just turn sideways and brace myself, or it is bigger and requires other action. If the wave is bigger, then I squat down low, lowering my center of gravity and dive under the wave as close to the bottom as I can get. The wave then passes harmlessly over me. If I had air in my BC I would not be able to go under the wave and the wave would tumble me towards shore. After the wave passes I just stand back up and continue my entry.

I am not saying one way is right and one is wrong. I am just saying each has their advantages and you do what you want. But, I have sat floating on the ocean more than once watching my dive buddies who entered the water beside me with their fins on, still struggling with getting out and getting the Maytag treatment.

Having almost half the experience beach diving as Melvin, I must agree with him and also add a few things.
If the surf is big enough to make you see the necessity to put your fins on and walk backward, you A. should not be diving at that location or B. May have to move quickly at any time.
If the answer is A. you should do the smart thing and find another place to dive or do it another day. If B. well, I think you can figure out the solution. You cannot move fast with 12-18 extra inches added to your feet.
I have entered a beach in high surf and low surf and no surf and always do it the same way. Even if I am dropping off rocks into deep water, the fins go on after I am in and clear. Take Treasure Island in Laguna Beach, CA for instance. You can do a beach entry or a rock entry into 18fsw, if the surf is big you don't want extra length on your feet, you may have to move fast to get out of the way of a rougue wave, or you step wrong and land in a hole. That can be bad news for an ankle or leg!
You should always evaluate conditions before making your way into surf, and be prepared. Always get past the surf zone quickly and don't dawdle if you don't know the timing between the sets. The people that I see get tumbled are the ones who spend their time in the wash and try to muck with getting their fins on. And spring straps do rule!

 

[lairdb]

I've seen an argument for - and tried - swimming out with fins in hands until past the surf line. For example, at Monastery beach in Monterey, CA., you have a very close, short and violent shore break (sometimes called Mortuary Beach 'cause people have died in the surf there). You time the breakers, and between them, with BC inflated, swim back-wards using the fins on your hands for propulsion. I tried it and it works great. Only down side is if you lose a fin, or have a problem you could end up with NO means of propulsion. This is not my first choice on surf entry, but I've seen it, tried it, and so I thought I'd toss it into the mix.

There's a T-shirt I saw at a Monterrey area dive shop that I wasn't smart enough to get at the time; it showed a typical yellow-diamond road hazard sign with a giant wave and a tiny little diver trapped upside-down in the top of the wave about to get pounded. Caption: Monastery Beach -- Caution, High Surf. (If anybody knows where to find this shirt again, let me know.)

The routine I was taught there was to get up to about knee-deep, arm-in-arm with your buddy. Face away from the incoming. Buddy looks over his shoulder to watch for anything BIG coming at you,while you brace with one hand on buddy's shoulder and fins-on with the other. Vice versa so you both have fins on. Continue backwards bracing on each other 'til mid-thigh depth if you can, then turn and dive into the face of an oncoming wave and swim like hell.

(Edit: just for kicks I spent a few minutes and mocked up my memory of the "sign".)

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I was taught if the waves were big enough to topple you over that backing up with your fins on wasn't the optimal procedure. We were taught to face your buddy with each others arms locked on the others and side step into the surf.

I've never done it either way... I always just make my way by foot into the water until I become bouyant(with BC inflated) and I slip into my fins. Its never been that much of a problem.

 

[gcbryan]

The only time I can think of where it might be best to put your fins on first is where you have surf and a rocky entry. This is the only situation where I've put fins on first. You sit on the rocks near the surf, put your fins on, drop into the water and kick away from the rocks and the surf area.

 

[Scuba]

I leave plenty of space between my buddy and I. If one or both should get pushed or tumbled by a wave, the last thing we need is to get hit by the other or his gear.

 

[pasley]

Melvin, regarding the empty BC: If nailed by a bigger wave and with an empty BC, and the wave also knocks your reg out, I would worry that I'd be underwater with no buoyancy and no air supply, and a big tank on my back. Do you think the half inflated BC makes that much of a difference in whether you can dive the wave successfully?

Note, I am not the expert here, and there are thousands with years more experience. But since you ask, Yes, I do. Particularly if it is a bigger wave, I want to be on the bottom holding sand in my hands, rather than higher in the water column where the power of the wave will be tossing me around. A partially inflated BC will not keep you from being tumbled. A fully inflated BC will not keep you from getting tumbled if the wave hits you at the wrong moment. In fact nothing will. All any amount of air does in a BC is increase the mass of the BC and give the wave more gripping power as well as keeping you from getting under the wave.

Being under the wave IMHO reduces dramatically the ability of the wave to tumble you.

Last but not least, once I am in water that is over shoulder high, I am normally past the surf zone. If I am not, then I am not diving because we are talking some monster waves. So since I am only in shoulder deep water, and if the regulator has been knocked out of my mouth, I just stand up.

As for the regulator being ripped from my mouth we are back to the chicken and egg argument. If you are higher in the water due to a partially inflated BC then you are more likely to get tumbled. If you are more likely to get tumbled, then you are more likely to lose your regulator. The wave has less power at the sand and increases its power as you go up in distance from the sand.

If the wave will strike me at mid thigh or lower, I go over the top of the wave by either just standing sideways and bracing and crouching low, or by just jumping over it. If the wave will strike me any higher than that, with my top heavy body and that 38 pound tank on my back making me awkward, I will go for lying prone on the sand under the wave by diving into the wave as close to the base as I can.

Naturally, that is just MHO and my approach. A different technique may work better for you. Others have more experience than I, but having done my share of Maytag tumbles (some pretty cool ones where I landed back on my fee like nothing had happened), I find I do less tumbling laying prone on the sand under a wave or just giving a small jump over it.

 

[tracker]

Three feet is a big wave if it's measured from the back. In shorebreak conditions a three foot swell will produce a six foot face. If you're in three feet of water you're looking up at a very large mass of water.
I don't feel comfortable at all in the sea without fins. When a wave is about to break on your head, even if there is only about a foot of water where you stand, get under it, kick hard and it will push you right out the back. These are body surfing techniques that work in 6-8 foot waves.

Good advice. I spent 4 years in San Diego area and spent most of my free time at the beach. Not sure where I learned the technique of diving into the wave but it sure suprised me how quick I got into deeper water. I remember the first time I tried it, I didn't dive fast enough and ended up being carried upside down. :11: BTW, that was at Blacks Beach in the late 70's and early 80's. I remember thinking about not being able to upright myself and my parents finding out I drowned naked.