surfing etiquette

Doom

Please answer this thanks.
When in the water who should give way swimmer or surfer?
Btw no areas sectioned off for either!

stevire

Surfer should give way to swimmer imo.

Bit like the bicycle vs car debate, they may not always be in the best position and may be in the wrong but the reality is the chances of them doing harm to you is slim the other way around however and it could get nasty

Doom

Thanks.
I was in Keel in Achill, a couple young lads doing some surfing lessons kept crossing into where swimmers and kids on body boards were, one hit my 8yr daughter in the upper arm (a couple of inches higher she would have got hit in the neck) ...worse thing was he wasn't even looking ahead, too busy looking to show off to his mates.
He got a colourful telling off, I hope someone from these surf lesson camps reads this and gives warnings to these young lads!

seachto7

Odds are the lads in that lesson didn't have a clue about surf etiquette. Maybe it was their first time on a board, but yeah, they should have been tipped off, though it's hard I'd imagine to keep an eye on everyone in the water if you are an instructor.

spaceHopper

If they were with a surf school then the surf school should have had flags up so the swimmers should not have been there or should have been asked to move by the surf school.

Were they wearing coloured tops, if so then it was lessons.

What about body boarders what's to stop them hitting a swimmer?

Hope your daughter is ok.

Doom

spaceHopper wrote: »

If they were with a surf school then the surf school should have had flags up so the swimmers should not have been there or should have been asked to move by the surf school.

Were they wearing coloured tops, if so then it was lessons.

What about body boarders what's to stop them hitting a swimmer?

Hope your daughter is ok.

A body board is foam and about 2.5ft long, the surfboard was fibreglass and about 7ft long!!
IMO the guy from the surf school had too many on the water at one time, anyway my daughter is ok, just a nasty bruise on her arm.

pauld81

Mixed equipment is frowned upon in surf lessons; bodyboards have different needs than surfboards. This also applies to mixing hard and soft boards.
Level 1 Irish Surf Association qualified Surf Instructors are supposed to only teach students on soft/foam surfboards.
Level 2 Surf Instructors can't teach on hard boards.
The Keel beach is lifeguarded, the lifeguards should be keeping the surfers out of the swim zone.
Theses matters need to be logged with the appropriate bodies, ie: Mayo County Council for the lifeguards and Irish Surf Association to report the surf instructors/school. The chance they are reading these boards is very slim..

Doom

This guy had a hard board and was with a learner group....maybe a buddy of a learner jumping in on a lesson.
Any how the guys running the lessons were not paying attention to surfers crossing into other water users.

keryl

As someone said, it's best to tell the Surf School and/or lifeguards. It becomes a free for all there sometimes.

Hope she's alright. I can understand it's frustrating.

carav10

In Keel last week, no surf/swim zones so it's kind of a free for all. I did think looking at some of the lessons going on that the instructor to student ratio was a bit big, not sure what the norm is but the groups were pretty big.

Definitely surfer gives way to swimmer but then you're dealing with beginners who have no control over their boards. It's usually better to give surf school groups a wide berth if you are a swimmer...

Had to warn a dad one time about his young son having gone in to swim among a pile of kayakers messing in the white water, wasn't the best of ideas! Lucky his dad was one of those who thanks you for the advise instead of telling you to eff off!

pauld81

carav10 wrote: »

In Keel last week, no surf/swim zones so it's kind of a free for all. I did think looking at some of the lessons going on that the instructor to student ratio was a bit big, not sure what the norm is but the groups were pretty big.

Definitely surfer gives way to swimmer but then you're dealing with beginners who have no control over their boards. It's usually better to give surf school groups a wide berth if you are a swimmer...

Had to warn a dad one time about his young son having gone in to swim among a pile of kayakers messing in the white water, wasn't the best of ideas! Lucky his dad was one of those who thanks you for the advise instead of telling you to eff off!

Irish Surf Association regulate surf schools and instructors in Ireland, client : instructor ratio is 8:1.

carav10

pauld81 wrote: »

Irish Surf Association regulate surf schools and instructors in Ireland, client : instructor ratio is 8:1.

Can't be certain but it did look like more students than that. But I could also be wrong and didn't notice the other assistants. It was more a quick observation on my part rather than actually sitting there watching for too long so I wouldn't want to wrong any of the surf schools there.

As a p.s though, I did fall in love with Achill! What a beautiful place.

martybike

I was in Keel a couple of weeks ago on blustery day and the surf was slop. Went out surfing with a pal just for something to do. There was a surf school beside us and I'd swear that the instructor, who was sitting outside his pupils, was on the phone! Maybe he was just trying to warm his ear. Either way, he didn't seem to be giving much instruction.

VNP

Keel is miles long why leave your kid go out where there is the slightest risk of being hit by anything? Surf schools are only trying to earn an honest buck, and life guards are usually underpaid students trying to scrape by, 9 time out of 10 very dilligent and helpfull by international standards. This moan is the sort of crap that causes more rules and regulations for everyone who uses the water , whereas the slightest bit of common sense on the part of a person in charge of small kids could prevent any problems. Im not friends with a lifeguard or a surf school but the people ive met in surf schools have been ridiculously over qualified and not ones to mess about.