I just moved out to the vineyard last year, and i basically sat around last summer waiting for some decent surf to come, but i can only remember one or two days of head high wind chop at best. The winter was pretty good, but having to wear a 7 mil in 36 degree water isn't really my thing
Welcome to the East coast, I hate to say this, but its going to be a loooong summer. Time to take up another hobby.
Forget sand castles, sculpt slutty mermaids in the sand. Get good at it and post pics. Forget about surfing until September. I quit surfing every Summer so it doesn't matter how flat it is.
I'll surf anything stomach high or above with fair conditions, i'm just not going to waste my time with 35 mph sw winds blowing waves on top of eachother
surfed knee high short period with no power today...very sloooow rides. but i was the only one out (which probably re-certified kook status), and it was fairly well "organized" and clean (i use quotes because all the stuff i listed before it makes the well organized not matter very much). but hey...watched the sunrise, some lady do yoga, the sturgeon jump at who knows what, and had 3 or 4 "decent" rides that helped me through the day. it beat staring at a blank line on the bottom of a pool for an hour instead. take what you can get and be thankful...
I say this every year in response to a thread like this, but it really hasn't been that bad in the mid atlantic. I have surfed 3 days this week each time for 2 + hours. Nothing big but at least waist high with the bigger sets on the incoming tide. A few weeks ago was really good if I'm remembering right. And inbetween if you were desperate you could have " surfed", low to incoming tide, shallow sandbar and you could get wet. Summer goes so fast and before we know it it will be mid to late August with more constant surf.
^ that. I surfed 4 days this week. Nothing great at all but thigh to waist high. Had fun, took out diffrent boards, surfed. Can't complain about that. It's summer, it happens every year. We will get a few good days, then the crowd starts to thin out as it gets colder and soon enough we will be surfing head high and clean all alone......with 30 something degree water.
people always complain about summer and I don't know why.believe it or not nj has one of the longest surf seasons,basically from sept to may we have waves which is a pretty long season.3 months we don't have waves and everybody goes crazy.sure warm water waves would be fun,but this is the eastcoast.personally I hate summer,not because of the lack of waves but the heat and humidity.i like cold weather more.and who wants to pay 10 bucks to surf 2 ft waves with 40 other kooks?summer is not a time for surfing,more like sitting home in the ac sounds better.then we get a good groundswell,and 90% of the beaches are closed with police activity preventing u from going in the ocean.makes no sense,surfing 8footers in 40 degree water is ok,but surfing 8footers in 70 degree water is that much more dangerous.yea regular swimmers shouldn't be out,but real surfers who know how to handle the conditions should be allowed.i remember hurricane bill in sandy hook,it was the best conditions I ever witnessed,but nobody was allwed in the water,so I went down to the inlet to try to catch a wave from 200 other people.hurricane earl was half decent,huge but very unorganized.i wasn't out for Irene as my town was flooded and the pkwy closed,sandy nobody was out.i cant recall all the storms I can only remember the ones worth saving.ts are always fun,its cool when ur go to spot u basically jump off the seawall directly into the water which iv done and seen a few times.hasnt really been any epic storms(summertime swells not winter) in the past 3 yrs.andrea looked fun,but I wasn't there,and that was the last storm with epic sandbars before they replenished the entire coast
Can't believe that's still happening at Sandy Hook. I was there at the start of that. I surfed every swell from big to tiny on that spit of land from the mid 70s to the late eighties. Sometime in the late 80s early 90s there was a hurricane and someone drowned in LBI I think. Well they shut down all the parks in the state to swimming and surfing. It was rediculous since Sandy Hook was no bigger than waist to chest. Closest I've ever been to being in a riot. In hind site maybe we should have rioted back then rather than let the PC / safety monitor beurocrats consolidate their control. I was hoping it had calmed down after that, I see now the heavy boot has gotten heavier.
Summer is the flat time around Southern New England. Body Surf whenever you can especially those waist high days when 150 people are out and fighting for the set waves. You can catch about 5 waves to every one on a surfboard, plus it helps build up shoulder strength for Fall and Winter. And definitely use FINS! A must for the weak Summer waves. Join the YMCA. Great time to get in shape for the September - December surf season. [video=vimeo;68507463]http://vimeo.com/68507463[/video]
Just came home from another fun session in 2 foot waves. Third such session this week. Very typical summer waves for Delmarva...the wrong spot at the wrong tide will be unridable shoreslap....a better spots at the better tide was pretty cool looking. almost real waves when a rare set would roll through. Some friends of mine just call it flat and get into other stuff, and pretty soon they haven't surfed in a month and its been a terrible summer for them. Others find some kind of board that makes knee-thigh high waves fun and just adjust. That's me...the water was ridiculously warm this evening - we were thinking 76-78 easy - rays were swimming around and looking really cool flashing by just below the surface. This board is making knee - thigh high waves really fun this summer. Its 4'11" and super wide.
I had a lot of fun at AI on longboard this weekend. Its something, hardly flat out there, and the winds haven't really ruined it. I noticed lots of rays too.
Dear mr vineyard, Dude- it happens. Every summer. Just like they said you gotta make the best of it. I use it to train since I know that before I can think about it Belmar, nj will be going off - but you gotta be in shape since it's always 3x or 4x bigger then anywhere else. So I work on my bench presses down on the beach in Belmar. I mean - it's funny how boring head hi waves can get when it's head hi every day in Belmar,NJ Yup pretty much the only thing left to do is grab some pizza with my old pal Gruvvi and wait for the waves. But it's ok- he always pays Hope this helps, Mr Belmar
Been doing pretty much the same this month. Have my board with me pret' near everyday, regardless of the forecasts. Been finding some surprise, fun 2-3 ft action here and there. It's a matter of timing/tide and sandbar location. Caught some unexpected fun ones around low tide this afternoon off Dam Neck (VB)
