who here has been surfing this week?

You know it's going to be sketchy when there is no one in the parking lot and you cannot hear the waves from the lot. The waves were small and choppy and the ocean was cold by Florida standards (@70) but it felt great to paddle out and get salted This morning, trying to shake off a bad cold and asthma...the ocean is like the best treatment.... It felt like the very last bit of easing groundswell in that what wave that was there had some energy in it.

It's easy to get careless in these conditions, especially when my game is off... My board slipped out of my hands toward the end of a wave, and the wAve picked it up and plowed the rail into my thigh, ---(I could see it coming in slow motion)--which now has a huge bruise and swelling on it. It hurts to do stairs and to rise from a chair, otherwise not so bad, could've been so much worse...

And I managed to ding the board on the car. So the board is being repaired right now.

So I got a body ding and A board ding all in one morning. There is swell coming for tomorrow. My plan is to show up, but might only get to watch, depending on the body and the board...

 

Same thing this morning.

 

I had the honor of surfing with Yankee and his GF at my local spot this morning. Conditions were really fun. Chest high with HH sets rolling in. Wind was light NW keeping things mostly clean and offering up open shoulders.

Two rides stick out in my mind, one was a punchy right that gave me enough speed for a backside roundhouse that felt great, another was a left bomb that I remember laying completely into my bottom turn hand dragging and back up the face for a top turn and then another big bottom turn. The fish was flying!

Best of all it was cool to meet Yankee and his GF. I don't want to ruin his rep or anything but he's a nice dude and a pleasure to share the lineup with. His GF is a good surfer as well. Very fun morning for all.

 

yesterday was solid with a couple friends before hi noon on the LBs. Waist hi, came in sets. The wind died from Saturday's chop, which i was glad i didn't try for, good bit of drift that day too. Good Sunday leftovers, waves led to the left but it was just as fun going right. When those guys left, i made sure i got in again before hi tide. Plenty of waves to be had, and for the first half of that session i had the overly friendly dolphin by the side for about 30 min. Made good for the tourists going down the beach, i'm not too fond of them in case i drop in on em and cause a bloody massacre, ostracized from the beach. But yea, plenty of waves - would've been better if they were chest hi tho

 

This morning was a lotta fun. Still holding around the waist - chest range, some sets maybe a tad larger. Clean early and then semi-clean as wind started to increase but didn't affect the wave much. Great form, consistent, good work out to start the day. I rode the fish againe. It's been getting a lot of attention lately. Gorgeous sunrise, February feeling like April.

 

Very fun you met up with the Yankee and his GF. I hope he enjoyed his time in Florida.

The waves were shoulder high, we went further upcoast as they were breaking better, but getting over URI, so I just hung out in the whitewater section and paddled around some, breathing in salt air. I was sure if a wave beat me down, I wouldn't be able to hold any breath, but my crew scored some fun ones and a day paddling around is pretty much better than any day not in the ocean. It was so warm out too! Gotta love Florida winter.

 

It sure was Betty. They both seemed stoked for sure. His ban should be lifted on the 8th if I recall correctly, at least that's what he was told, so he should be back in a couple days.

 

Another warm and beautiful morning here today. I wore the spring but felt I could of skinned it. E / ESE swell still hanging around in the waist to chest high range on high - mid outgoing tide. Most spots weren't doing it but my trusty high tide bar was consistent and fun.

It was semi-clean with slow rollers, perfect for the LB. I had lots of fun rides but i'd say my best one was the one to end the session. Chest high set wave, glassy and clean, went left and did a bottom turn mid face and drug my hand, beat the 1st section, dropped down for another bottom turn, came back up the face and top turned as the wave was beginning to crest and rebounded off the lip and dropped down into the flats from the tail, walked to the nose and rode the reform, picked up speed and got back on the tail and rode some more till it was time to belly it in for the last few feet to make sure I don't snap my fin / fin box in the sand. Off to work / home I went...

 

Nice DP, good write up. I felt like I was on that ride you described it so well.

 

Thanks Betty, that one is stuck in my mind for the day, maybe two.

 

I am up to 14 session for 2017 in a year I resolved to surf more frequently than I ever have. Had an awesome session on Sunday, chest high plus on the sets and clean as you want. I logged it with my good friend for a couple hours then hit a Super Bowl party. Monday I met one of my boys for dawn patrol. It was waist high and soft, but very clean with the sun shining through the waves, making them look nice and green. Paddled out again this morning in some knee high dribble. Managed to nab a few rare waist high set waves, enough to wet my whistle and send me off to handle my day with a smile. 2017 is also the year I became self-employed, so I have the ability to mold my schedule around the wind and the tides. Not sure I would tell my clients that, but managing my own time and answering to myself (and my wife of course) has led to a substantial increase in my quality of life. Hopefully makes me a little more adept at wave riding and more fit.

 

Congrats againe duder!

 

Nice! I'm hoping to get 2-3 days in for the next 3 days. I think I've only surfed 3 times in 2017, maybe it was only twice? I'd have to actually look at this thread to see, as I probably posted about it every time I've surfed. I got 3 days in a row in on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day/Boxing Day.

I've had a pretty awful week of blown plans here. Was planning for 3 or 4 days in Rincon, but had to nix that because of an obligation in which I had to be back by Friday afternoon and I was unable to to make it worth with the crazy flight schedules and one flight a day in and out of Newark or JFK to Aguadilla. Originally wasn't supposed to be back until Saturday, but have to be back by Friday, so that didn't work for me. Then my best friend and I had planned to take a spur of the moment trip between Wednesday (as in today) and Friday to either OCMD or VB or something for 2 nights. Was even considering OBX, but it wouldn't have made sense, as we would have had to leave at 3:00 or 4:00 AM this morning. We definitely were gonna do OCMD and had it all but booked and to leave early this morning, before my truck crapped out last night. So I had him pull me back to my house with his truck. Only happened 2 miles or so from home, but it saved me on a tow truck. I can fix it myself, but the auto parts stores don't open until 9:00 AM or so and that would have been hours after we wanted to leave. He didn't really wanna take his truck either.

So have to stay home, but it looks like it will be a pretty nice day in Monmouth County and there should be some swell. Perhaps we can take the ferry and do OCMD on Thursday, but we won't be staying overnight.

 

Eatswell: Hasn't been all that much here in VB. I was out yesterday during lunch about an hour or two after low tide, and it was knee high at best. Only me and a dozen or so dolphin.
Maybe a tad higher today. Will try again. Water temp 45-47. Expecting air temps today in low 70s. Offshore breezes. Not bad. Rainy this morning.
But probably not worth a long drive down here. You may be better off where you're at.

 

First session in a week this morning. It's been a rough couple weeks for surf around here. Waist high this morning, semi-clean but super short period and kind of disorganized. Rode a 7'6" pintail egg that I borrowed from a friend, had a couple fun rides toward the end, but nothing I'll really remember after around noon today. Enough fun to remember what it's like to surf though, which means it got the stoke back up a little bit. Amazing how fast I get lazy about surfing... haven't had a good session in a few weeks and while I didn't actually consider not going up this morning, I would say my motivation level to pack up my work clothes last night, put the wetsuite on this morning, etc., as opposed to just chilling on the couch drinking coffee, was not nearly as high as it should be. Gave me kind of a terrifying glimpse of how easily I can lose the habit of surfing as many days as possible. I'm hoping if I had actually skipped it I'd be furious with myself right now, I think I would, it's just scary how fast I get used to not surfing and it ceases to dominate my every waking thought.

But on the upside, this morning's session was enough to reignite the passion, now I'm sitting at work cold, tired, and hungry and can't think about anything but waves. Which is the way things should be. So that's good. Have had a very mediocre session each of the past three Wednesdays, and nothing else in 2.5 weeks. Hoping things turn around up here soon, quite a letdown after a solid couple months of head high and clean at least once a week (that may not be absolutely statistically factual, but that's the way I remember it, which is more important to me anyway). Looks like maybe some longboard waves over the weekend, fingers crossed.

 

Longboart heaven this morning!

As I was getting my gear from my vehicle some dude in a car pulls up and rolls down his window and says "it's glassy out there". I responded by saying, "as long as it's breaking i'm good". He said, "no it's so glassy it's not doing anything". I said "thanks, have a good day!"

I remember what the buoy said and wasn't going to let him tell me there weren't any waves. I decided to go check it and it was about what he said at first glance but I saw some lines coming in that were looking promising but I still wasn't sure if I was going to have any luck.

I decided I was going to grab my boart and paddle out regardless, I figured if I got one great, if not, great, because it was such a beautiful morning. As i'm grabbing my boart I see someone I haven't seen in a while pull in. He goes to check it, I walked up from behind and said "Hey good morning!". He said "hello" and we exchange pleasantries for a moment. I ask if he's going to "give it a go". He said "no" but he pointed to my trusty high tide sand bar and said there may be something down there. I said something like "yeah, it's been consistent down there lately. I'm going to give it a shot and see what happens, have a good day!"

So I made the walk down there and the entire way it was looking flat and deep coming off high tide. I got to the spot and didn't even look at it, I just paddled out. Within 10 seconds I got my first ride. Knee - thigh high. As the session went on and the tide began to back out it got bigger and more consistent. By the end of the session it was breaking about waist high on the sets and it was consistent.

I must of caught 20+ waves in an hour and all of them were really fun. The wave had great form, nice little walls that peeled for a good 50-60 yards. They were breaking on the inside bar but it wasn't too close to shore and it wasn't too shallow either. The walls were so crispy, they were begging to be carved up so I rode from the tail most of the time but I did throw some nose rides in there when the moment called for it. My turns were smooth and I felt in rhythm. What a great session for these small but well formed waves. Happy Hump Day!

 

Just got home and dam! that was fun today, not big just darn fun...knee-waist with occasional chest. Wish I was wearing my 4/3. I was roasting in my 5/4.

 

Nice mrcoop, glad someone else got wet today!

 

looks like you had some good flow today...me too...finally, at least for my ability. I feel like I have had no rhythm all winter long. All the crap I gotta wear and my increasing age...combo of both Iam sure.

 

Yeah man, I was flowing for sure! Always a good feeling when it all comes together.