who here has been surfing this week?

Funny that you should bring this up. I recently shaped myself a small wave squash tail that i wanted to ride in waist to chest high average waves and get back to more of a grovel short board approach to riding 2-4 foot windswell. I didn't have any boards other than mid 5 foot mini simmons and a 5'8" round nose fish for those waves. all 21+" wide and flat rockered.

The squash tail is 5'11" x 19 3/4" x 2 3/8" nose is 13" wide a foot back. The tail is 7 1/2" across and 15 1/2" a foot forward. I expected to have to really work hard to transition to it, and struggle for speed. I had ridden my buddy's 5'9" Sharp Eye disco a few times and it felt like i had to really pump off the rear foot for any kind of speed, and once i set a line and put weight on the front foot the board felt slow. Feelings i'm not used to after 5 years on the Mini Simmons.

Well the new board i shaped feels like it flies from the get go in any kind of wave over thigh to waist high. I've been wondering why that is and the only explanation i have is that i shaped a deep (probably close to 5/8" near the middle two feet of board) single concave that transitions in from about 8" back from the nose to about the same distance forward from the tail and the last half foot of tail is just flat to just the slightest hint of vee. This along with very relaxed rocker...maybe 3.5" NR and 1.5" TR.

 

Mitchell pretty much covered it. I would add that wave selection and catching the wave at its peak and taking the best line available helps a lot. Some waves don’t last long while others you can really pump and work it down the line. When it’s weak and slow surf it helps to keep low expectations. Not every wave is going to let you do what you want, just take what it gives you.

 

I love every ride Bruh’. Every ride.

 

I havnt surfed once this summer.crazy thinkin about it,just havnt had waves.lookin forward to fall,only a month to go

 

There have been plenty of waves in MoCo this summer.

 

Another day of waist - chest soft but fun waves. Today I rode the LB, and got tons of waves. It was fairly consistent, semi clean with a slight chop from the light onshore breeze. I was supposed to go on the deep sea fishing boat but plans changed and I’m glad honestly.

 

logged it late in the day yesterday 'till last light. Small but fun.

 

Delmarva was small this morning first thing with the dead low tide. I guess small long period swell usually has a hard time making it into the nearshore. At 9 a.m. it seemed like pretty much a skunking...small dribble...and real glassy to make it harder to leave. A couple hours after low things picked up and some actually swell lines started to pulse from time to time. Glad i stuck it out..ended up surfing 3 hours. Pic of a friend getting some nose time:

 

Took a break from my depression by going for a nice surf yesterday and a little more today. Actually, a couple different places I hit. It was pretty good. Not the best day of the summer, but better than most of the days? Shoulder high for a little bit.

Had longbort waves today, probably gonna go back later and do some more. I've still lost a lot of interest in things and feel like shit usually any time before 5:00 PM, but this happens with me every decade-ish. It could always be worse, I could have it every couple months haha.

 

Met up with the gulfsters as planned and found low tide around 830 ish picked the perfect spot and surfed for 3 hours maybe more. waste maybe? but fairly clean. sections seemed to line up and lots of push with the incoming tide. good times. grabbed some food just north of the inlet and said good bye to some new friends.

 

It’s been like that for the last four days up here. Today DP was out - glassy and ankle high shorebreak. This afternoon a few pulse sets every ten to fifteen minutes that were weak thigh high - guy let me use his Walden Mini Mega Magic and holy crap was it fun! Totally took some info from post about short borts and speed and tried it out...
I am really stoked to get my RBBT and try out what I’m learning on that with some good waves!!! Even with crappy swell this summer it’s been a great one for broadening and getting sharp!

 

Took the fam to the EC this weekend. This trip was all about time with them, but was able to get out before sunrise each day for 2 hours while they slept in. Forecast didn’t look great but scored clean waves each morning. Fun trip

 

Went longborting today. Brought the girl along. We scored some fun knee high waves for three hours or so. Lots of kids, kewks, sups and noobs out. More than I’d have liked to be in proximity to, but overall we had a good time and got our fill.

The Hobie really comes in handy for these clean knee high days. Got a couple sets where I’d go right for a ways and then cutback on the inside section and it would hold up while I rode her left, all the way to the sand.

 

Dudeski bro you gotta head a bit further and surf by where you work! Been a lot of fun days down this way- maybe not huge but a lot of waist to chest fun morning...
... that being said this upcoming week is looking fairly small for the first time in a while

 

Yea... pretty bleak.

 

Hey Eats, never one to outright tell people how to live cause I’m a friggin train wreck mess and have been since I was young, but one thing I’ve learned is we all desperately need some positives in our daily lives. And if we’re drowing in negatives we need to make changes or it WILL consume everything in your life - Including your love and pleasure of surfing. It will turn all of it to shit Bro’
And personally? If I were there and feeling like this I’d be miserable if surfing got ruined in the wash...
Make some changes Bruh’ even if their just inside of you. Make them because you deserve to feel some joy in life man. Make them to achieve a goal. Make them just to make a stand and say fuck that noise. From one who knows, just that one step, that one choice, can change your whole perspective...

And you’ll be happy surfing crappy waves again lol.

Cheers surfer Bud.

 

And the fall is coming!!!!! Swells and no speed bumps i.e. swimmers hahahah

 

Thanks for all of this! The main problem I'm going through right now is that my best friend, who is here for the summer, has recently relapsed into alcoholism. He's been drunk every day for the last 17 days. Today was day 17 and he's been drunk, drinking all day, it sucks. We need to get him clean before we go back to work next month. He's been mostly sober for 20 years now, outside of one relapse like this that lasted a few months back in the summer of 2010. He's kind of like a younger brother to me. His older brother was my best friend as a kid, but died 25 years ago. I've known him for 35 years now, since he was 7 and I was 12.

One other problem I'm having is that my other best friend (the three of us are like best friends) and I have recently come to the realization that we're getting up there in age. I'm 47 and he's 41. Basically, for the last 5 years now, we've lived together and we work together, so we've spent the entire summer together also, when we're both off work. Our other best friend (With the alcohol problem) visits us every summer, too. So, it's not that we don't want to spend time with each other anymore. We just feel like maybe we wanna both get some women in our lives, maybe settle down, not live like a bunch of teenagers every summer anymore? We know we still wanna spend a lot of time together, because we know we're lucky to be such good friends, but we also think that maybe we should also have other things going in our lives, like women, settling down. Stuff like that. I'm referring to this as manopause right now. But right now, we're really trying to get our best friend clean of alcohol. The two of us are non-drinkers, so it's not like we're enabling his habit or anything, but that's what my summer has been like.

We also talked a big talk about taking a trip to Oahu, but it's not happening this summer. I have the money for it, though. If we can help get him clean, maybe the three of us and their son's (they each have a 20 year old son, who I've often referred to as my nephews on here) can take a trip there between now and early September.

So that's a little bit what's been going on with me.

 

Haha nice!

But for me, the fall means nothing but work, so I don't have the time to surf anymore! Hoping for a killer August!

 

Sounds like he is coming to that same realization. Dealing with it very differently though.
Push a good surfing trip along with the help he needs - I swear sometimes it all comes clear when there’s nothing else there but you, the wave, and your demon that suddenly looks very small.
And that place is like the Garden of Eden for surfing, so where better to get some healing and good material for this thread?!?!?!