Published on Thursday 24 September, 2020

Jumping waves can be an exhilarating pastime, however if you are like Mumina and experience auditory sensitivity you may need a little help and planning.

The first step is to choose the right beach.  A good jump beach is one that slopes gently to the sea and doesn’t get deep too quickly. This will give you nicely formed waves that break gently and have a nice long run in. This is crucial in getting your timing for the jump right. 

Avoid steeply raked beaches as these will produced large ‘dumper’ style waves that smash on the shoreline. This is important as waves like this can be extremely loud and produce sudden large impact noises as they break. Waves like this also don’t give you enough lead in time to get your jump right. 

If you are wearing pants roll them up far enough so that the bottoms still get wet.  This is very important. If you finish your wave jumping session and your pants are dry, you may not have had enough fun. Next time either keep your roll lower, or head further into the waves.

Once you have your waves and pants in order, you will need your Jump Buddy.  A good Jump Buddy is somebody who can help pick the right beach, and also get the pants roll perfect. Most importantly your Jump Buddy should be able to recognise if you are feeling a little afraid or overwhelmed by the noise and motion around you. A good Jump Buddy will know when to let you chill but will also know the right time to take your hand and lead you to the waves.

Once in the water your Jump Buddy should hold your hand until you let go.  Your Jump Buddy should keep an eye on the incoming waves in case you get distracted. Your Jump Buddy should also be on the look out for obstacles and dangers such as seaweed, bluebottles and used shipping containers.  You can either run away from these or jump them. Blue bottles are best run away from.

On this day, Mumina’s Jump Buddy was her Support Worker Di. They chose Blacksmiths Beach for its gentle fall and softly breaking protected swell. Judging by how wet they got, they both had fun.  

Check out our simple wave jumping demonstration featuring Mumina and Di in the video above.