The Ledge

OK. Here goes. I need some help from you surfers. I have tried to ask this question to a few locals, but didn't get through.

What is this thing I call the ledge and how can I avoid it?

Here's what I mean, and it happens a lot: I'm going for a wave, and my timing is not perfect, but I am definitely on the wave, if a little late (or early: it's so hard to use these words in a way we can agree on), I'm going, I haven't missed it; but as I take off I can see that there is going to be a drop. The board is going to drop down and it's not "making the drop", in which the board slides down at a nice angle; no, my nose is pointing straight, not down, and there is a vertical drop coming up akin to, not angling down a wave, but dropping down an elevator shaft. On the size waves I attempt it's not a huge drop, maybe a foot, two at the most; but it's a steep one. When I see that I am on the ledge and there is going to be a drop, I don't even attempt to stand up, because I think that there isn't any point in standing up when you are going to drop down the elevator shaft and lose your balance. But even lying down, once you fall off the ledge you are likely to be separated from your board.

However, on the occasions when I have been able to stand up instantly on the ledge and prepare myself physically and mentally for the elevator drop, I have been able to stay up, provided the drop isn't more than a foot.

So what the hell is this and why does it happen?

I don't see it happening to anyone else, when I am watching from the shore. Either they make the drop or they hang up on top. No one just sort of halfway gets the wave.

To the extent that anyone ever answered this question, it was that the wave was closing out. But I get closed out plenty without getting ledged.

The ledge is one big reason why I hesitate on the bigger and even smaller waves, preferring to hang up over the top than to go over the ledge.

Oh, maybe I should explain better for my nonsurfing friends who read this blog (such as Susan and Kitty D., whose last name I cannot print here because she is too famous). A closeout is a wave that breaks fast and all at once, which is not good for surfing because you can't really ride it (not that I can ride a wave anyway since I don't yet know how to turn). What you want is a wave that just slowly spills over, unfolding in such a way that you can stay ahead of the breaking wave and be propelled by it. If you guys ever get to the seashore, you will see what I am talking about.