This is one of the most dangerous factors of tow in surfing, crowds. With twenty to thirty jet skis out at an average big tow session, and each moving towards one takeoff spot at speeds of nearly thirty miles an hour, things can get very messy very quickly. If everything goes well, the worst thing that will happen is for a few surfers to get tangled up on a wave and be forced to bail, or maybe a couple ski drivers have a miscommunication and get in each other’s way. Unfortunately, things can often get much worse when the waves are so huge and the ocean is as unpredictable as it has been known to be. Every surfer is familiar with the phrase, “being caught inside.” This is when a rouge wave, larger than the average size of waves that day, comes through a spot and breaks much farther out than the usual wave where surfers are positioned. This sends all of the surfers scrambling to make it over the wave in time before it breaks on top of everyone; all of the people who have the wave break on top of them and have to take the beating were, “caught inside.” Having had this happen to me many times, I can say that it is easily one of the least fun parts of surfing. When it happens on such a large scale, like when chasing tow in waves, surfers may be held underwater for minutes at a time, being dragged violently along the ocean floor in a vortex of mayhem and disorientation. When jet skis weighing nearly a ton are added to the equation, things get even more dangerous because surfer are at risk of getting crushed by one of these vessels. Even if a surfer avoids these giant fiberglass boulders underwater, if their ski driver gets caught inside, when they surface their is no one to rescue them, and they are forced to rely on any other watercraft that can help them. If I was taking waves the size of three story buildings on my head, had dismounted jet skis flying at me, and had no water rescue team coming my way immediately, I would start reconsidering whether this was a good idea.