who here has been surfing this week?

This week looks swell challenged.

 

brought a shorty with me to Ormond Beach which was better than a LB once i got down there. Only took it out Saturday morning, but wind, cold, plenty of chop in what i thought was f'n Florida. Just several rare waist highs to be ridden, and i was outta there. Excruciating cold walk back especially for the tingly fingerz. def the water was warmer, but it was a weird, lousy FL weathered wknd

 

Yeah dude, i'm ready for some sunshine. Flat today, another cold morning. Not looking to promising but maybe a LB wave before dark, we'll see.

 

Barely knee high this morning with long lulls between "sets", I didn't paddle out but I got some pics of the sunrise while checking it. It was about 40 degrees first thing this morning.

 

I miss Ormond Beach! I drive through there once every year, when I spend two weeks in Florida in July. Spent summers there as a kid, when my grandmother was still alive. That's where she lived. It had its cold spells once in a while. I remember a couple cold Thanksgivings/Christmases where I thought I never even left Jersey!

 

Flat this morning. Anybody else having any luck?

 

Flat up here with nothing really on the horizon. Looks like a mid-winter flat spell. Time to get shiiiit done.

 

Some little ones coming through today in NJ. Hope there's something left this afternoon.

 

Got out for a little under an hour on the longboard this morning. Waist high but felt super deep even at mid tide. Caught a few that seemed to be lining up nicely but all of them faded out much sooner than I was hoping for. This is different, but in a sense consistent with my experience last Wednesday too... in that case I was at a spot that usually works well at dead high tide but it was practically breaking on dry sand. Today, at a different spot during mid tide, it appeared to be breaking 50+ yards out and starting to peel perfectly but then faded pretty quickly to the point that even on a longboard I couldn't stay on it. Different problems, but both boil down to the tide feeling higher than it should for that spot/time. I'm guessing this is the result of the storm early last week and it's gonna take a couple swells for sandbars to get back to normal (or perhaps more accurately, to a new normal that's more optimal than the current situation). We will see. Nothing special but the only halfway-decent session I've had in a week and a half so no complaints.

 

^^^ I totally agree with the sandbar displacement. Belmar has been funky ever since.

Did a first light dp this AM before work. Looked knee high from the beach and boardwalk. Funny how the darkness totally misrepresents the actual size. It was solid stomach high. Spent way too much time deciding if it was worth it but I had already driven 45 minutes and was glad I did. Got much bigger lookin as I paddled out. All rights and mostly backside for me but that's good because I neglect it so much. Went on a couple weak lefts. Glad to at least get something in this week. Looking extra flat for the days ahead...

 

Lol at first glance I thought this read "I totally disagree with the sandbar displacement. Belmar..." and I simultaneously felt the urge to get defensive but also semi-elated because I thought you were about to say Belmar was breaking perfectly now and that would present a simple solution to my frustrations.

Oh well. Similar feelings about the session and the sh*tty forecast ahead.

 

Got some last Wednesday and it's been pretty much flat since. Praying for waves this weekend, forecast calling for some 2-4 foot waves with light wind. Funny, all week I have jogged a few miles on the beach in the morning and the tide and the wind have been perfect. The shore break was perfect form and I could imagine being 4" tall and getting barreled.

 

Also totally agree about trying to judge size when it's still dark. It's getting light early enough now that I can wait for some visibility and still get a decent session, but that's such an issue in December and early January. And was even moreso for me last winter, when my workday started earlier and for a solid 2+ months I was almost always making the decision whether or not to suit up in complete darkness.

I feel like it's almost always better than it looks at first light (or in the dark), my general rule is if I think there's even a 1% chance it could be rideable and fun, I paddle out. I almost never regret it. On the rare occasions that I don't follow my rule (i.e. I think there's like a 5% chance it'll be fun but it's cold and I'm tired and lazy and whatever other bullsh*t excuses du jour I can come up with so I don't paddle out), I often (not always) regret it.

 

GI Joe waves!

 

Kinda going off right now! And it looks like last weeks storm finally moved some sand around too. Drove through LB and there were peaks everywhere that were actually lining up.
Hopefully it holds up this afternoon

 

Scored some really fun ones at sun-up in southern ocean county, had way more power than i was expecting. Looking like there still could be a wave to be found this afternoon - those sessions where you dont expect much and score are always best

 

Anybody else get out yesterday? Somehow, I got solo session in after work. Waist to belly high with the occasional chest high odd wave.

The water was absolutely opaque brown. Reminded me of that tidal bore video a while back. Nasty brown... but typical. It was totally cloudy, but as the sun was setting, for a brief moment, the sun broke through the clouds and shined horizontally on the face of a wave just as it pitched, turning it into shimmering gold. Wild...

 

This winter has been crap as far as Im concerned! Not one solid overhead swell yet WTF!!! Im shopping for new motocross bikes as we speak!! Maybe wed.

 

Finally got some! **i* *r*c*s was pretty good today. The SE wind was side-offshore and the biggish W swell was wrapping in and shrinking down off the jetty to Chest-to-Head. Lucky, because my typical spot was blown, town was zooed and poop soup, and everywhere else was blown outish.

Got a few fair lefts. I think I got slightly barreled on one, but it was so crumbly it was hard to tell. Kinda weak and small, but WAY better than not surfing. Only 7 guys out, which is pretty good for that spot. Maybe it was better somewhere else.

 

Caught some thigh high sliders before dark on the LB. Nice little rides. Good to be in warm water.