Dawn Patrol:

In the aftermath of the storm surf and the unfortunate loss of a local surfer several people asked me about safety and surfing.

My girlfriend told me that if I were missing she wouldn’t know what to tell the police other than, “He’s parked near the beach somewhere between Palos Verdes and San Onofre.”

She’s only exaggerating to make a point, but in reality I rarely know where I’ll end up going out and almost always I’m traveling by myself. I never think to tell anyone where I am. That brought up another subject — if we’re taught never to swim alone and never to dive alone, what about surfing alone?

I don’t remember “never surf alone” being part of a wave rider’s credo, but it’s hard to argue against it.

I know as a young surfer it wasn’t an issue. I couldn’t drive so I was always at the local, well-attended beach and I was always with friends.

As I got older, with everyone’s varying schedules, it became increasingly difficult to go surfing with a friend.

Eventually I embraced solitary surfing. A lot of times there are other people in the water with me, but from a safety standpoint, I’m not on anyone’s radar. If you’re surfing with a friend you’re subconsciously always keeping an eye on your buddy.

Other times I’ve been a quarter mile offshore and a mile walk from my car – alone, no one in sight. That’s not safe, but for some of us it’s also part of the spiritual essence of surfing, one of the best feelings that ever can be experienced.

With leashes and tiny, light surfboards, getting hit isn’t as much of a concern as it was in the days of heavy longboards.

We learned to avoid being hit by loose “logs” washing in like horizontal guillotine blades, and to make an effort to hold on to our boards so they didn’t hurt someone else or get dinged-up.

Some of the new longboard and SUP riders who don’t use leashes need to acquire that awareness.

Those older boards pearled a lot and flew into the air.

I learned the hard way to surface with a hand over my head when I jumped up and got axed in the shoulder by my fin. Those were my first stitches.

I asked my friend Dr. Laird Hayes what he teaches his Orange Coast College surfing class about safety.

He told me, “I teach them: Always surf with a buddy; Never dive head first off a board (if I see any of my students do this I flip out!); Never run into the water at a fast clip — one could hit a hole and go head-first into a sandbar; Never run into the water and dive head first; If you’re pitched from your board get your hands out in front of you as fast as you can.

I show my class ‘Project Wipeout’ a spinal-cord prevention video that was made by Hoag Hospital in conjunction with the Newport Beach Lifeguard Dept. It’s a must. Every lifeguard in Newport sees it as do all the Junior Lifeguards.”

Good advice for sure.

JOHN BURTON’S surf column appears Fridays. He may be reached by e-mail at hot_dogger@mac.com.