Surfing a reef break

I'm looking at the same thing come October when i head down to Rincon PR for the 1st time. I've mostly surfed beach breaks in FL for the last 15+ years, but I have had a few experiences with rocky / sketcy bottoms. I too could use some pointers...

 

1)Don't dive in head first
2)Try not to hit the reef
3)Have a first aid kit on hand

But, it really depends on what reef you are surfing. Where is it?

 

Don't trash your knuckles when duck diving on the way out.

 

just don't surf at low tide

 

watch for bubbles. you'll know something big is close to the surface

 

Those all seem like common sense, I'll most likely being hitting up Maria's and Domes. I've heard they are some of the more forgiving spots, but that's all relative i'm sure. Sandy Beach is also nearby, which i've heard is a combination of beach break and reef. I surf short / long boards, but also SUP, so i'm sure it all depends. Is most of the issues in the shore pound / shallow area? When I surf the SUP do you think this is as much an issue?

 

some places in pr are tricky. just watch for other surfers and see where they are going out and coming in at. some spots the keyhole is only one person wide and you need to try to hit it on the way back in so you dont get urchined and cut up. a lot of places on the nw side of pr will have a north to south current on a big swell. so you may need to paddle up the point so you dont miss the keyhole on the way back in with the current. the keyholes are just sandy spots at the beach that lead into a part of the reef that isn't too deep to paddle over. its not anything crazy tricky and should be pretty obvious. at worst you will knock off a fin.

fall flat and dont put your feet down when your retrieving your board. you probably wont hit the reef though. no knuckle smashing or anything like that. watch out for the pistons in rincon and don't think you can climb up over that reef if your paddling in. find the sandy spot. other than that enjoy the waves, don't take off on any waves the locals are eyeing and if the locals start eyeing you, best get out of the water or paddle down to another peak.

 

yeah, scale it back a notch or two, listen to the locals, watch for boils, bubbles, strange areas of turbulent water, don't take off late, and don't ever think you are "safe" because the second you let that guard down you eat will eat it.

I took a wave left a marias and ended up pretty far inside. I thought I was in the channel so I just kicked out the back. Well, I wasn't, and I fell into a nice shallow pool of urchins. Spent the next few hours deciding whether or not to go to the hospital. I didn't, and I lived, but F**k!

Get comfie on a reef and you will own the beechies.

 

Excellent advice on here. The board under your feet is going to make a transition. Kinda like driving a pickup truck with no power steering down the highway to driving a performance sports car at the same speed (if it's glassy you're in for a treat). Smoother ride and more responsiveness in the little tweeks of the steering wheel. From a slightly different perspective you want to be cautious but not to the point where you are going to let your adrenaline and a major case of the butterflies interfere with your better judgement. Expect more power and push when you first drop in but in a good way. Hope you score.

 

another thing, if you're on an SUP and aren't that good be careful. rincon gets super crowded but is gringo'd up enough. if you head to aguadilla or to the north coast with it. you may get hassled if you don't know what you're doing. if you try to take more waves than you should (at jobos, that can pretty much be every set wave), they will probably call you out of the water. you'll probably be okay but fair warning if the boys are in the water. if you get called out..leave. no lip just hit the road.

one of the real concerns you should have is driving. it can be pretty balls to the walls and anything goes type a deal. be super vigilant and charge. watch out for death potholes..especially that **** on the 110 by the hp plant. you'll get full on airborne on that one. also locating surf spots can be a hassle if you dont know how to get there... especially in aguadilla.

 

I second what leethestud wrote. Look for the boils and surf where there are other people in the water until you become familiar with the area. While it may seem inviting to surf the empty break, there is usually a reason for it being empty. Being a Jerseyite, I think the water clarity is deceiving and makes the water look shallower than it really is. This also freaked out my son when he surf Marias for the first time. I too have taken many lefts too far at Marias and end up on the shallow section. But then I was a goofy foot at a right hand break and couldn’t resist.
All reefs are not the same. At Bathsheba in Barbados, Parlors and Soup Bowls are the main breaks. Soup Bowls is a hollow wave while Parlors is a mellower wave. I found Barbados to have better channels to use for paddling out than PR.
If you can handle the east coast when the waves are pitching out over the bar, you'll do fine.

 

Domes isnt a reef break....mostly sand bottom as i recall. There are "hazards" at Domes but of the human variety and mostly on weekends.

Maria's is reefy and the shallower parts are easy to spot. Get a long right and you end up kicking out right near some pistons from an old motor sticking up out of the water at low tide, and barely submerge at high. Definately watch out for that!

Be careful paddling out...its pretty easy to duck dive some inside slop and crack the nose of your board on a coral head or rock sticking up.

 

Common sense is often under-rated. Just use it and you will be fine most of the time. Avoiding the urchins is usually the most problematic, thus the first aid kit.

For the record, I have never hit the reef at Soup Bowls or Duppies and have surfed both in a variety of swells up to 9' and have eaten **** on many occasions. The only place I have truly planted on the reef in the 'Dos is at South Point on one of those freak right wedges.

 

domes reef is super mellow, i got slammed onto it once and it was fairly flat

 

mostly good advice, some not so good...I like the part about the hazards being the human variety.
And I disagree about domes not being a reef break...check the photo...these breaks here are what I would call 'random reef breaks'. Almost all are flat rock bottom, some with urchins in the little holes, some with a sprinkling of sand on them. Most if them break in deep enough water so hitting the bottom is not a concern--it is rare, but it can happen.
Like I said before, sup's have a hard time getting back out on good days because channels are hard to find and stay in. Live here a while and you'll be a paddler!
Here's one thing I've found..no matter where you surf on this island, if you can get just 30 ft. away from the next surfer, you'll always get a wave, and it'll prolly come right to you. That's the beauty of 'random reef' surf. Waves are refracting around these points and they come in at random places.
Don't worry about the urchins...but don't follow just anyone into and out of the water b/c lots of people are being cool and think they know where to enter/exit. I've seen a lot of people lately just walk onto rock/urchin shelfs thinking it's safe...doh!

 

Look down. The water's pretty clear.

Snorkel when it's flat.

 

If you are going to PR to surf reef for the first time stay away from Dead Mans, Indicators, and Table Rock for sure. I would suggest you have some experience with reefs before trying these spots. Stick with Marias and you will be ok. Remember to fall flat, do not go head or feet first into the water. If you need to rent a board, Clemente has the best surf rental equipment in the area. Much cheaper than paying the airline to damage your board. Green Room Surfboards.

 

Don't follow the puerto ricans back in. they are immune to the urchins and laugh at whitey getting eaten up