who here has been surfing this week?

A barrel, is a barrel, is a barrel. I don’t care what anyone says. I love small barrels. You still get the time warp, but there are less consequences. Stoked for you. Sounds like it was fun.

 

I caught about a dozen or so waves this morning on the LB. It was knee - waist weak windwell, semi-clean with a light breeze out of the S / SSW. I missed a few that I paddled for being that it was so slow and soft but every now and then one with a little more power would roll through and I would get a suite little ride. Glad to get some sliders this fine Monday morning.

 

AM mid to high tide yesterday was just like that perfect Summer session. Thigh to waist high, glassy, mostly rights, in warm water. No one really out except a couple of us old heads. Brought out the egg for this one. No thinking, just flowing and fun.
And to top it off, my buddy's nephew brought his fiance down to the beach to meet everyone. Yep, you guessed it, she was Vietnamese. Stunningly beautiful woman on a stunningly beautiful beach day.

 

Our local beaches have been swamped with sargassum seaweed all summer. There are piles of it rotting on the shore and the water is black like tea making it not very inviting. So the wife and I have gone to the secret inlet the past two Fridays to try to find a wave and a bit of beach time. We stay for a few hours until we get our fill and then go do some other things in the area.

The first Friday was ridiculously small. Probably the smallest waves I've ever surfed and I ended up doing mostly belly rides on the LB just to extend the rides some. But the water was nice and waves were clean. This recent Friday was much better with clean waist high liners. Water was noticeably warmer. We stayed until the tide went out and the family crowds came in just before the rain arrived.

Forecasts have us getting some short period SE choppe over the next several days. Yay. This will be the first time we've had anything to surf down here in the shadow since freakin' Memorial Day. That's right, over two months without waves. It will be nice to surf my local spot againe even if the waves aren't great and I hope this will blow the nasty sargassum out of here. Of course, this all depends on the forecasts actually coming true but the wind is blowing and I already see more motion in the ocean than I have in a long time.

I'm over summer. I can skip the tropical systems. I'm ready for a good cold front.

 

Another fun day. Smaller. Low tide. Light offshores. Waist high on sets but walled up. Definitely a fun day.

 

Got a lil' sump'n Friday and Saturday. Arrived Friday at sunrise to some nice lines rolling in, splitting into rights and lefts, and no one was on it. Probably in the waist+ range. Got on it quickly with a couple of the other early birds, and had a couple hour sesh before hitting the day job. Saturday, repeat, empty at sunrise, but a little more choppe, and light fog. Got some nice rides for the first hour, then the wind broke it down early, but that was ok, I got my share of nice rides, and I had to get on plenty of tasks on the Saturday list.


Buoys still on it

7/28

 

There's still a rideable LB wave out there today, nothing special but I caught a dozen or so in the knee - waist range. It was mostly clean with almost calm wind so that was good. These weren't long rides but fun enough for a Tuesday morning before work. Afterwards some older lady pulled up in her car as I was loading my boart in the vehicle and asked me if I had fun and told me I looked good out there. I thought that was nice of her, even though it wasn't great waves at all.

 

One fish, two fish...The food chain was very active out there this morning, my friends.
Very fishy fragrance. Certainly didn't want my soaking tootsies on the breakfast menu.
Gray sky and pewter sea. Thigh high, clean and semi-glassy. Water 80, air a little cooler.
When the tide is right, mornings make the best sesh.

 

fun waist high this past week. Got a few good sessions in. Ready for some ground swell.

 

Thanks man! A surfing weekend is a good weekend. The time warp is a good way to explain the barrel feeling. Hopefully we get a hurricane swell in the next few weeks and some more barrels!

 

Hey, the incident occurred just north of the New Bern Avenue break, my guess is about 150 yards north of those steps down from that parking lot....

 

I checked 3 spots today and finally found a small but rideable wave. I paddled around on the LB for a while trying to find the right sand bar and when I found it I managed to get several waves one after another until it was time to go. It was pretty weak and slow and only coming in around knee / thigh high and a couple were about waist high. Conditions were mostly clean, better than the other two spots I checked at least.

It's been really sharky lately. Yesterday a spinner came flying out of the water and spun around about 10 yards from me, today a small shark hit a pod of fish about 6-7 feet from where I was sitting. I almost went in but then told myself I wasn't letting this little shit run me off, so I vowed to rip it's head off if he decided to make a move on me. He disappeared after I gave him a good stare down....

 

I kind of forgot about this place. Well, really, I’ve kind of lost interest in a lot of things recently. It’s been a tough few weeks for me. Manopause or something? Maybe. Have had a few stupid things going on in my life and I almost can’t wait for summer to end and to get back to work. This one has sucked. My bowels aren’t working all that great, either. That’s actually true, but added that in for comedic value.

I have surfed a few times. Can’t even remember what day, but we had a really suite day last week. Can’t remember if it was Wednesday or Thursday. Was probably the best day of the summer. I’m gonna be honest, though, I’m counting down the days till this summer ends. It was a gigantic bust. It’s also shown me that I never wanna retire. 365 days a year of this? No way!

 

It was probably those speedos you were wearing. HA HA HA

 

The hot pink ones?

 

^you and Z discussing speedos after the SI meet up....hmmmm?

 

What happens in FL, stays in FL.

 

...Gave 'im the ol' stink-eye, did ya?...

 

for me anyway, August 1 was as fun as any day in July....it was freaking A-Framing! surfed DP and late. had a blast riding a 5'11 x 19 3/4" squash tail that (for me) is a return to narrower boards. from the late session