Can you surf a Tsunami?

Question

We have read about a surfer who rode a Tsunami wave to safety during the 2004 Asian Tsunami, and we doubt this can be tru, anyone shed any light on this??

Answer 1

if you want to die.

Answer 2

Unlikely. Being so much bigger than a normal wave, the areas that you might normally surf on will be much choppier and rougher than you'd be used to.

Then when you fell off your board you'd be sucked into the tsunami's immense currents and then you would die.

Answer 3

Depends on where you are.  If a tsunami is headed your way, and you are in deep water, then it appears like a regular wave, but it's really long.  If you're closer to the shore, or in shallow water, then it gets really tall.

If you're close to the shore, when the wave reaches its greatest height, you are not likely to survive.

Answer 4

A tsunami is a wave that might be say, up to say 10 ft high, two or three miles wide covering a coastline for hundreds of miles around the most dangerous parts - which is why it goes so far inland, miles inland.  It doesn't rip and curl like Hawaiian waves.  Totally different phenomenon.  It spreads out the further it gets away from the source, of course.  I saw  a graphic of the Indonesian tsunami two-plus years ago saying that even Florida USA's ocean rose about a 1/4-inch for a couple hours after it passed from the Indian Ocean, around South Africa echoing up into the Atlantic northward.  

Wish I'd saved that website now....  Quite interesting.

Answer 5

Sure if you have the gumption to do it

Answer 6

I think you can. Not on a regular board though. You would need a boat-sized surf board with a motor on it. This way you can keep up with the wave. It would be extremily dangerous though. Plus from seeing video it doesn't behave like a normal wave. It's just a big movement in water out, then in.

Answer 7

It’s physically impossible.  Period.  No one has ever surfed a tsunami.  They have surfed normal swell waves superimposed on a tsunami wave.  Talking about people surfing tsunamis is false and irresponsible because it gives people the wrong idea about what they should do in the case they are in the water at the same time a tsunami is happening.

Answer 8

This is very unlikely, they could have tried to, but most likely would not have survived, it is way too dangerous!

I don't believe that it was true!

Answer 9

you might but i would not recommend it.

Answer 10

I have only heard of it in a science fiction novel and the guy crashed into a building.  I wouldn't recommend it as a sport, however, if caught in an unexpected tsunami and you have your surfboard with you, it might be your only chance.  A much better idea, if the sea draws way out, is to get to high ground as fast as possible.

Answer 11

Probably not. Tsunamis don't break quite like normal waves. They come in more of a surge, like a wall of water. It would be like surfing an unusually fast tide where instead of slowly rising it all comes in at once.

Even if you did get around the fact that the wave has a weird shape, there would still be all the debris that could hit you.

Answer 12

yes ,but the rental price is your life!

Answer 13

You probably can surf IT but i don't know if you can ride it to safety!!!

Answer 14

no way is that ture... its not really a wave that you can ride... just a whole lot of water moving toward land

Answer 15

have you ever tried surfing a wave say 100 ft high ..mmm could be dangerous ..don't you think

Answer 16

maybe-