Beachies
A good beach break session
will leave you feeling 10-
foot tall and bulletproof.
You can throw yourself
into lips and over ledges
with reckless abandon
as there will only ever be
sand to cushion your fall.
No sharp reef to tear you
open, or hard rocks to
knock you out.
Have you ever surfed a new
beachie and found nothing
but closeouts, and got pitched
over the lip, while some salt-
encrusted local – surfing right
beside you – is backdoor’ing
the take-off, making sections
and finishing every one of his
waves up onto dry sand?
Yeah? So, allow us to
introduce you to landmarks.
Landmarks are your friend.
Find your landmark on the
beach where the peaks are
consistently breaking and stay
on top of it. The landmark
could be a tree, a power pole,
some lucky prick’s home. A
crevice on a sand dune. Look
where others are sitting, and
after they catch a wave, paddle
over and sit there, align
yourself with a landmark, or –
better yet – with two that you
can sit between!
With a good landmark,
you’ll see how the currents
are moving you down the
beach or out to sea, or maybe
the tide is sucking you into
the impact zone. Gain your
bearings of the lineup with
a good landmark, and never
forget them.
Surfers go to the grave
without divulging their secret
landmarks. You should, too.Kai Otten with his landmarks on lockdown and wrapped tighter
than an airport sandwich at his home beachie.
PHOTO: RESPONDEKWhere the land is
always soft(ish)