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Comment by throwawaylinux | Hacker News Reader

Not knowing anything about surfing, why can't you casually paddle out anyway, and get your pick of the good stuff when it comes. Do you not know it's good until it's further in?

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You can, but there is variability and it's not entirely predictable. So you can be sitting alone out the back waiting for that odd big wave to come along while other smaller waves pass you by and are caught by surfers closer to shore. But you could be waiting 20 minutes between waves, or you could be out there for more than an hour waiting for that bigger wave never comes.

Not a surfer, but isn't the unpredictability part of the joy? I'm an avid amateur photographer and a huge part of the enjoyment comes from the fact that you don't know what you're going to see or when.

It is part of it. But consistent perfect waves is even more joyful.

Kelly’s Surf Ranch has shown that this probably isn’t true after all.

I'd argue to opposite - surfing in the ocean is free, but people pay ridiculous amounts of money to surf at the ranch.

Because you’re probably waiting with the crowd near where the smaller waves are breaking so you can catch those. Some people do just wait further out for the bigger waves, but they miss out on all the smaller waves breaking closer to the beach in the meantime. If you had more warning you could go out before anyone else sees the larger set coming in. Other people will usually see it in time to get there, but you’ll be first in line.

That said, I don’t think it would be worth it. You usually don’t want to take the first wave in a big set anyways, because if you miss it then you can get stuck in the impact zone for the whole set.

Big sets like the one he’s talking about don’t come by very often. If you sat outside waiting, you’d miss 20 minutes of catching smaller waves.

And if you just watch for bigger waves from where you can catch the normal ones, then you’ll have a dozen other guys to fight for it when it comes, since that’s what everybody else is doing.

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