23
May
Almost every surfer has been there. On the paddle out or in a wipeout, at least one wave has pushed each of us deep underwater and held us down too long, so long that a little panic crept in: “I need to breathe. I have to breathe.” And if the hold-down continued, “Am I going to drown?!”
That time underwater can feel like an eternity, but in fact, most hold-downs last only five seconds. In large surf, that may stretch to 12 seconds. Even a big-wave surfer subjected to a two-wave hold-down will be underwater only for about half a minute. Objectively, it’s not that long … More