I just had the first real weekend swell of the season and had a great time! Throughout the last five days, though, I saw the best and worst of what surfing is in 2013. Here's my list...add as you see fit. Best +Nine year old learning to surf - and people giving him room +People taking turns in a crowd of around 30 +People getting off other peoples wave without having to get yelled at +All by myself on glassy, shoulder high fading swell at 630AM (Tuesday AM - everyone must have been done after it being a couple of feet OH all weekend) +My wife coming with me that day and snapping a couple of nice pictures from the beach. Worst -A guy on the beach asked to borrow my board as I was leaving so his GF could snap a pic of him coming out of the water like he had been surfing (!) -Beginner SUP dropped in on me. My new board got a crack in the nose, we got tumbled together and his rail hit me in the face. Black and blue on the bridge of my nose for a couple of days. -People yelling you off waves and then missing them -People yelling at you to go on what will clearly be a closeout and then dropping in on the perfect peeler that you could clearly see behind it ("Sorry dude, but you didn't go on the last one") -Forty something veteran having a screaming b*tchfit at a 15 year old because he ran into him and broke the tail of his board. From what I saw, the veteran was paddling out through the impact zone and the kid had just dropped in on a wave. IMO, equal parts fault because he could have paddled in around the break, not through it. -Same forty something going on about how he had been riding DOH yesterday and came to this (mellower) spot because everything else closed out...this one annoys me because when you go to a spot there's someone always bragging about how they usually go to the next most difficult spot. Dude, you're here, which means you couldn't handle the place you're bragging about so shut the f up. And wait your turn like everyone else. -Veteran in crowded beginner spot riding a foamie (presumably so his nice stick doesn't get dinged) snaking and dropping. Two things wrong with this: One, if I was riding a foamie I could catch anything all day long - so you are not impressing me. Two, veterans riding foamies are not afraid to run into people so they will get in your way and snake and generally behave like kooks. What's worse, when a kook acts like a kook or when someone who clearly knows better acts like one? Regardless all of the above - fun times, fun times.
I went out yesterday around about dusk off VB for an hour. Waves were 2 foot and dwindling with the incoming tide. Had the beach to myself. SW winds had dropped off, and air temps dropped to high 40s. Clear sky and a nice sunset. Heard the evening colors played from the base at Dam Neck. Caught a handful of unremarkable rides. But it was nice to be on the water. The dolphins were out, as was a near-full moon. Waited until the moonlight was shining on the water for awhile before heading back in and going home.
'What is surfing?" Man, so many things come to mind, but I'm too exhausted to expound on them, except for this one, and I hope the owner of this board hears it from his son before he reads it here. He broke his dad's fun type longboard today in the impact zone-it was approaching dbl. overhead, and he has to tell him tonight by phone... sorry, dad, if you read it here first, but, that's surfing! Cheers!
Hit the Jupiter Inlet at high tide before dark session yesterday eve - shoulder to head high random chunks and disorganized but shreddable peaks/bowls. Lots of kids totally stoked and very capable of committing to the shore pound. No mean mugs. A few older guys out, half that had no business out there, the other half very comfortable and catching nugs. No women, what's up with that? Etiquette was adhered to, no drop ins, no snake jobs. Lots of fun. There is hope for the future, if you can keep up. A bit of chatter about trips to Costa Rica, Nica, and California. No weed in the parking lot. No booze in the parking lot. No fights in the parking lot. No break ins in the parking lot. Family fun, surfs up. Snap shot of surfing circa 2013, November 14, Florida East Coast. Love it!
