The fact is, unless you live someplace remote, your break is going to be crowded, right?
Which begs the question, which would you prefer:
1) Victory at Sea Solo Sesh
2) Glassy Perfection with the Crowd
While I’m still able, I will always will take big storm surf over glass. Wish I could have my cake and eat it too, but not in this life.
Saturday and Sunday were two very different sessions around here.
Almost always prefer the solo sesh or at least surfing with the buddies I show up with... I have no standards... I will surf anything the east coast will throw my way... LB...fish...foamie...body surf...finless....HPSB don't care... jack of all trades master of none...J-ville has alot of surfers... and alot of surf talent... but it is large... I can almost always find a solo sesh at a decent bar even when it is glassy perfection like Thursday and Friday last week
Luckily the definition of crowded at my local break is anything more than 5-10 guys, so I'll choose to share perfection. If I were coming from California or somewhere else where crowded has a different definition, I would probably say victory at sea. Being from Mass though, I'd rather hassle for waves with a max of 20 other heads at my local breaks. Best part is that once it gets overhead at least half those heads disappear. I can't understand why, but I also can't complain :)
Saturday dawn patrol the wind was blowing 10-25 knots onshore, air and water temp both held pat at about 60, the sea was a big choppy mess and John Coleman (the greatest weatherman ever in my opinion) at KUSI said that there were 6-10’ waves which I can personally attribute as being a fairly accurate assessment. Took me 15 minutes of just shoving it under pounding shore break to paddle out to the peak. It typically takes me about a minute or two. I then proceeded to have one of the best sessions of my life. Surfed for just under 2 hours and it felt like 6. Every ten or 15 minutes a big storm set would roll through and just drop bombs. The rest of the time it was just solid paddling trying to stay on the peak. I had it all to my lonesome, something that happens so rarely in San Diego, I can count the times on one hand and never when there was a nice sized swell. While I was out, I only saw two other guys and a gal on a boogie board try to paddle out, none made it past the white water. Nobody else even tried. The only people even out where the real ol’ timers, standing on the cliff, reminiscing and nursing their coffees. Only reason I got out of the water was ‘cause the Mrs. had to get her toes epoxied and yelled at in tagalong and I had carpet weasel duty. Perfect day in what some would call “terrible conditions”.
Sunday paddled out late at 7AM and there were already 40 - 50 guys out, when typically there’d be only 20-30. Pretty much double the normal crowd since almost everyone had gotten shut out the day before. Clean, glassy, no wind, 3-4’ sets. By 11AM when I got out of the water, there were easily between 100-200 surfers, maybe more on 300 – 400 yds of waves. I was exhausted, my timing was shot and my arms were rubber the whole time from the day before and I just added to the general stink of people falling all over each other; so I just let anybody who wanted it have position and kept moving farther and farther off the peak. Catching an easy shoulder now and then. As it got more crowded I saw a ton of people snaking waves, dropping in and generally trying to prove that they were the baddest thing on a piece of floating foam. This is in 3-4’ waves. Generally, crowded condition, small wave surf-douchery. This typically wouldn’t bother me, but yesterday I couldn’t out paddle or out surf a 3 legged dog; so it was kind of a let down from the day before. Terrible day in what could be called “perfect conditions”.
surfing solo is overrated.. i use to think it was awsome because you can be selfish and greedy, but now it just seems lonely and some what dangerous.. ive done solo storm, and ive done crowded perfection. the best days lay inbetween those two options.
'happiness shared is happiness multiplied.' is the way i look at it,
but for the sterotypical surfer it seems that ' happiness shared is happiness divided'
In the winter in Delmarva, you can still find relatively empty line ups in the winter.
Big storm surf in the winter over here is no good... Hardly anyone goes out until the winds shift offshore in the winter.
I don't know but it seems like selfish or greedy means you're depriving someone else of what they need or deserve and if you're alone how can you be doing that? Lonely and dangerous, I get. Lately I've been thinking about how ego figures into it. Is a good wave better if someone sees you rip it up? Or is it somehow more pure if there were no witnesses? Do you surf better or try harder (not the same thing, i know) if you know someone is watching? Even if -or especially if - she's a smiling blonde non-surfing musher in carhartts and xtratufs getting pulled down the beach on her four wheeler by six of her best dogs?Quote:
Originally Posted by staystoked
And gaffer it's Tagalog not tagalong. Lol. Took me a minute to figure out what the hell you were talking about.
the best surf sessions i have ever had have always been with me and a buddy. Don't get me wrong i enjoy surfing alone, but its always better when you have a good bud hooting you on to take that wave you may not have, and you return the favor, i feel as though having someone similar to me in the water is what pushes me harder... im not a comp surfer but pushing in terms of self satisfaction. Maybe if it wasn't for that friend i wouldn''t have taken that late drop and had the best ride of the day... or maybe i would have.. all i know is for me its always better with a friend.
What do you mean by surf alone gaff? paddling out with someone or literally being alone in the water? Just curious. All my friends who surf are all away at school most of the year so I just go by myself most of the time. I just show up in the lineup and if i know somebody out there, great, if not o well. i just surf. Now if you're talking about actually lone wolfing it out in the lineup, im down with that too. I mean it can be sketchy at times, but i love it. there's no one but you and your thoughts. you're "allowed" to mess around, do things you normally wouldn't do in a lineup and express your self/surfing without worrying about hitting/pissing people off. I really froth hard when im by myself because im so stoked there's no one out in the first place. I guess what i'm trying to say is that i don't need anybody else, but if the conditions are sketchy, it's nice to have another person out for that extra confidence boost.
For me the best sessions is when it's just me and my friends. I surf alone a lot and I always wish my friends were there . I surf better and have more fun.. And for some reason I see a lot less sharks