Defining "landlocked"

Anybody offended by my comments, please realize I'm speaking from experience and just telling it how it is. And btw, being land locked doesn't mean you are less of a surfer, but being content about it, I believe does.

 

Having a 18 month old and a pregnant wife has landlocked me a bit the last couple of months... I'm looking at waves from my bedroom window and still have surfed less than ever. Not that I'm b!tching about it. I just seem to always have something to do right now.
It'll be way easier once the kid comes and the wife feels better

 

My granddaughter also has me tied in for a few days every now and then.. But you know, I am glad for it. Surfing is nice, but it pales in comparison to listening to my granddaughter discover her vocal chords. She is really using them!!

 

When I lived in North Jersey, it took me an hour to get over the Driscoll Bridge and down to Manasqan Inlet. I could shave some time off if I hit Asbury or Long Branch. I surfed just about every decent swell, but missed a lot of sessions that would have been "fun" caliber if I was 3 blocks from the ocean. But didn't consider myself landlocked.

When I lived in Michigan, I was landlocked.

 

moved to the midwest for a year surfed lake erie twice and was 30minutes from the lake...landlocked 100% would just drive to marlyand or home when decent swell came though.

 

TREV & KAN make solid points. 'Landlocked' is a state of mind: sometimes it is one's physical existence, sometimes the intangibles, sometimes both.

Knew a guy who lived in Old Beach in VB, 4 blocks from the water. He thought bicycling over to check the waves was too much effort.

By contrast, when I surf my 'local' break' it's approx 3 hrs drive each way. Depending on time of year / sunrise, roll out at 330am, arrive at TPTSNBN approx 6am. Check a few spots, sometimes paddle out, sometimes nap & then paddle out. Surf a few hrs. Eat, nap, drive back. Always worse heading back: traffic = 3-4 hrs. Who cares. Stoke maintains me.

It is what it is, you make your own reality unless you're a dolt. Who gives a fukk.

I also look at it another way: I'm 10 mins from DCA, 30 mins from IAD, ergo 8 hrs total travel time to tropical or other good waves. Which, having the wherewithal to travel madly, I do about as much as I do the local run. Again, you make your own reality; you deal with the consequences. Sometimes I score, sometimes I get skunked, sometimes both.

 

when you live 5minutes from the water biking is to much effort trust me been living on da coast meh whole lyfe. why ride when you can drive.

 

As the saying goes, everything is relative.

As the other saying goes, wayne likes his young male relatives.

 

I think the best part about when I was living inland was that I was only 45 minutes - hour from the Gulf, and 2-2.5hrs to the East Coast, so I was still able to sneak after work sessions in during the week if the Gulf was working (today it was) and then the East Coast every weekend. What I liked most was I hit so many different spots since it didn't change the distance too much from where I was at. I was anywhere from Ponce Inlet - Sebastian Inlet and anywhere in between. Or the Gulf it was anywhere from Clearwater - Venice, 1-1.5hrs away. What it comes down to is committment.

Being land locked isn't a bad thing necessarily, if you have the means to still make it happen often enough to feel fulfilled. I found myself as a surfer being land locked and putting mad miles on my vehicle. $90 tank of gas to ride knee - thigh dribble sometimes, just to feel that connection with the ocean.

You obviously know what it's like because you do a similar routine going to TPTSNBN and various locations around the world, but just think about the prospect of going surfing not being such a project every time you want to go. That thought is what motivated me to find a way to make it a reality. Now, I find zero stress regarding surfing anymore, that's what breaking the shackles of being land locked will do for you. I don't want anybody to take me the wrong way, I'm not bragging, I'm encouraging you and those that may want to be closer to the water, to follow your dream and don't look back, it's worth it.

 

Dude, for sure - - in fact, guys like you, Barry, Keed Rock, I think it was Trev maybe, also MIS13, who all made the commitment to the surfing life by re-locating closer to the water are inspirations.

I clearly recall when you first started posting. And how geographically distant you were from the ocean. After awhile.....You pulled the trigger. Really good stuff. My hat's always been tipped to you, as you know.

 

Living close is great but it's easy to get spoiled. I guarantee that most of you guys that live inland have been more on it then I have been in the last 6 months. I live close enough to hear the surf when it's big, and there have been many days that I just passed because the conditions were just a little off. Once you start doing that it gets easier and easier. I promised myself I would get back to my prime weight and surfing ability over the next six months. Even with that promise I missed that nice swell last week but that was because I had to bring my son to the dentist during the only time I could have gone.

 

Seems that kinda sums up human nature, Z. Not just regarding surfing, neither.

As I close things out & cash the hell out this year, heading to the ocean, this remains a pretty substantial concern. What if I get bored or tired of surfin? What if it is, you can have the thing you love every day in unlimited amounts.....for me, that would end in boredom. Always has.

Pump always said 'have other things you like to do!' Pretty adamant about that.

DPSUP made the switch & still has the motivation, drive & stoke.

Time ..... will tell....

 

Age is a huge factor to motivation and stoke.
I will continue to surf as long as I can, but as I am now closer to the beach, I need not go surfing just because I made a 45 minute drive, as before. I can be pickier- I can now surf mid-day, mid-week, when maybe the swell and conditions are at its best.
I figure I am good for several more years, as long as I stay healthy. Time...ALWAYS tells, yank....always.
Age is the biggest hurdle of them all. One step more and it is permanent.

 

Right on dude, and I appreciate the kind words. I just didn't want it to come off the wrong way is all. As for getting bored living by the water, I think that being on the East Coast, it's flat enough or blown out enough to still be hungry for it. The quality days are far and few between. We'll get a run of swell and you'll be on it, and then a run of poopoo and you'll be doing those "other things". Nature dictates.

 

For landlocked surfers that surf my area this view is iconic. I took this yesterday.

 

I was working at the Reagan building in DC for 6 months and had a fairly posh setup in Reston, VA with a rental car, even though I took the Metro to work daily. At the time, 2 1/2 hours to OCMD or 5 hours to OBX seemed like nothing to get to the beach. Made the trek every time I thought there'd be a bump, 40 degree water be damned.

Paddling out is another story though. It's gotta be pretty good for me to paddle out, and lucky for me it was pretty good pretty often. Think Mitchell's photos good.

The point being that not everyone has the same froth levels, and distance is relative. It's easy to bag on guys that make long commutes to go surfing. Maybe we should applaud them instead for their level of stoke.

 

That looks really familiar is it on the way to Assateague ?

 

I live within walking distance or a short bike ride to some of some of the best surf in South Jersey. These days I find myself looking at it and not paddling out because of the number of people in the water. If there are a limited number of peaks and I can't find one that's uncrowded I go do other things. A downside of living so close is that you don't want to venture other places. If I lived inland a ways I would probably venture other less crowded places. As it is I often see how crowded it is, get pissed and don't bother.

I will say this, if I lived inland up the AC expressway Ocean City would be the last place I would head towards to surf. I don't get why so many people flock here to surf. I blame the Surfline and other cams. There are better waves with less crowds that I would be heading to when I reached the junction of the AC Expressway and the Garden State Parkway.

 

You are correct