who here has been surfing this week?

Glad you're okay man! Sorry to hear that though. The vehicle's are a dime a dozen pretty much, your life is everything. I got into an accident in September, the day after Labor Day. I got nailed right in my drivers side by someone coming through that stupid Allaire traffic circle over where Route 34 and Allaire Rd meet in Wall Township. Totaled my 03 Mach 1 Mustang, which I bought brand new back in February of 2003. Almost 140K miles later and quite a few modifications all done by myself personally (and with the help of a few friends at times) and all gone that day. I knew it was gonna be totaled as soon as it happened.

I got a pretty nice check for it and it's still in the bank. Not sure what I'll do with it. I have two other vehicles (93 5.0 Mustang LX and 2000 f-350 7.3 diesel) and a bike (2012 Harley Dyna wide glide) so it wasn't my only vehicle. I've had the 93 Stang since 2000, so I've had that longer but the 03 Mach 1 I had since brand new. So it meant a lot to me sentimentally. I never put a board on it, I use the truck for that. Though I have gotten boards into the back of the 93 before, with the hatch open and the back seats folded down. I don't think I'll get another one. I have options. Can get a newer truck, another newer Mustang, take a surf trip! Haha. I'll assess things again in April or May, when I'm done working for a few months. Glad you're okay though! That's all that matters!

Wednesday's forecast for Monmouth sucks though. Was hoping for something on my day off. Of course, Thursday looks great though and I have to work!

 

Got two days of surfing in Saturday and Sunday with one of my sons.
Saturday was a little rough, chest high, choppy, disorganized wind swell. But Sunday AM was sweet.

Thank God for neoprene or I'd be out of the water for the foreseeable future... I missed a bottom turn and got rolled up good and caught a fin across my achilles. Looked down expecting billows of blood but 8 mil of rubber is pretty hard to cut through... Hurt like hell but it was early in the session and stayed out for another hour. Caught some really long fun lefts.
When I came in and pulled off my suite and booty, my heel was already black and my ankle was a nice shade of green and yellow. Today was first day I could fit my foot in a shoe to get to work. Now it's off again...

And Dos XX a Kia Soul makes for a nice little cheap board hauler. It's my wife's car and we haul all sorts of boards and what not in and on it.

 

I actually put a board on top of a Scion XB, after a good friend who surfs told me he put one on top of his when he couldn't use his truck a few times. I let a friend borrow my truck for a job for his company, since something was wrong with his. He traded me his XB to drive while he was using my truck. My other friend with an XB told me to strap it onto the roof using rope haha. He had some sort of straps he used, but I had to use rope. That's all I had.

The Soul is similar to an XB. I'd rather use my truck though, I have ladder racks for when I used to have my business and use it for work. I've considered a crossover vehicle myself, but I've never owned a vehicle that wasn't an 8 cylinder before.

 

Another fun morning today. A little bumpy with the light - moderate SE winds but not too bad. It didn't look like much from shore but I paddled out on my LB that I've been neglecting the past few weeks. Swell is fading but there were still chest high sets rolling through and they were somewhat peaky / punchy. Gorgeous morning overall, had it all to myself as usual. Hope there's still some left tomorrow but not looking too promising.

 

9 days i logged a tube bigger then me. Sessions ranged from 2-8 hours averaging around five. My arms are past the point of noodles and after the initial protest paddling out to the lineup in the morning they go numb and paddling no longer becomes a matter of exertion, much like walking. Im back in the surfing shape I was post fire season before i left for the east coast for the holidays.

Think im gonna give it a lay day and pack up my car for a northward road trip to spots that can handle the 30 foot xxl projected swell later this week and the howling south winds that they bring.

 

Trev, ya need to toss some pics up for us!

 

Hey effers. Last week was fun with HH windswell barrels at my lunch spot. Hadn't been surfing in fo eva. Missed two opportunities for bigger surf at winter spots Monday Tuesday. The latter half of the week doesn't look promising with all the rain and wind, but who knows? Gonna be bombing somewhere.

 

Easier said than done at some of the spots. Long wet muddy trudges down cliffs on the edge of nowhere.

And there's the whole "local" thing too

 

no photos allowed at the good waves. Heres the view at the end of my street when the points and reefs were going off double overhead barrels.

Can't tell without scale but this open beach exposure in the photo has 15 foot +faces on those blobs

 

Can't see sh*t in that picture lol

 

Thanks, Eastwell.
We may come out ahead after all. The old Mercury with 203K miles was going to require some expensive repairs (that I had put off) even without the accident.

 

Just the fact that it's a natural looking beach is amazing... not the typical New Jersey condos/road/boardwalk/seawall/pumped sand beach setup. Natural dunes, natural beach, natural waves breaking over natural sandbars. F'n awesome...

 

Another beautiful sunrise this morning. Swell is barely hanging in there around knee - thigh with some waist high sets. Light offshore wind, glassy long lines that came in every few minutes. Although, I paddled out on the LB thinking it was mostly flat and I would just get a paddle in before work and possibly get one or two if a set came through but it turned into a fun session as the tide started to come back in and I managed to have a 45 minute - 1hr window of consistent liners, and not too many lulls once it started pulsing with the incoming tide.

The pic below I took with my phone at first light, about 10 minutes before sunrise. It was drained out and in between sets, but I wanted to capture the sky so I didn't wait for waves to snap the pic, but you get an idea of the type of morning it was....

 

Who's been surfing? Let's hear it!

 

Today, no.
Tomorrow, weez got a swell with proper winds etc, forecasted.
I will wax the appropriate board for the morning surf!!!

 

Wax on, wax off...

 

[video=youtube;U9c_KttvQPU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9c_KttvQPU[/video]

 

Here's another sunrise pic from this morning, I pulled it off of Gulfster.

 

^ that looks pretty rad. I'm not sure when the sky looks cooler in Jerz between DPs or sunset sessions. Here's a recent sunset sesh photo my buddy got of me.

 

Definitely! I got a pretty nice check for it, not sure what to do yet. Already have 2 vehicles and the bike, so I don't need another. I've also saved a little bit on insurance since then. But that F-350 (it is a diesel though) has 340K miles and the 93 Mustang has 197K miles, though I've put a new motor and a couple nice clutches and a transmission in it already. I can afford payments on something if I have to, but I've got around $15K or so in cash that I could spend on something. I'll reassess come April or so!