who here has been surfing this week?

We hit the beach late due to early morning 45 degree weather which in Florida is like 10 degrees in Jersey. It hit 50 when we paddled out. The water was a bone numbing lower 60's, which in Jersey is like 33. But light off shores, semi clean knee to thigh high with bigger sets occasionally early on.

Due to the cold, there were very few guys in until the sun came out and the Mercury hit 65. Ahhh, Surfing in Florida. We had our wetsuits and Booties. One guy wore gloves, but he was in before sunrise. Surfing with booties and wetsuits feels so cumbersome, but it's nice to be warm.

It was totally worth it. After many failed attempts, I got three perfect waist high rides. My first one went on forever and was witnessed by a guy I respect. He turned to my surf Buddy and said, "Wow! Look at Betty go!" My buddy said I turned and went nicely across the wave, backside and looked very relaxed up there.

Life is good. I figured Valhalla was surfing south in Palm Beach for the warmth. Probably FLSURFDOG was still chipping the ice off his board from his cold but outstanding sesh earlier this week.

 

LB, that's a visual I can appreciate, thanks! Drove a hour and a half to a break in MAINE today. Came around the corner to 3-4' very clean waves, well worth the 3 hr round trip for a hr and half sesh! Stepped on a sand shark, I think.scared the shatt out of myself! Forgot all about that rascal as soon as the next set came!

 

Good stuff, Betty! Last time I surfed the inlet was on New Year's Day (you weren't there ) and we were trunking it. What a difference a month makes! Hope to see you and the golden girls again soon. Thank you for being a friend.

We've had some clean surfable swell these past two weekends so I've stayed local. Last Sunday was friggin' cold. Upper 40s air with 10-15 NW wind. Booties wouldn't help with mid 70s water but a hood might have been good for the wind. Some fun liners from the well angled swell. Lefts and rights until it became dumpy at low tide. Probably woulda stayed longer if the cold hadn't sapped much of my energy.

Another short term swell heading into this weekend, it showed up as predicted midday Friday. Got two hours of clean liners at my favorite sand bar until the sun went down. Nobody else out but I could see a few guys a half mile away down at the pier. I was essentially abandonned and I like that and that is great all the time as well.

Knowing the swell wouldn't last long, I met fellow Sweller feller RadderB at the pier early Saturday morning. We paddled out just after sunrise following a quick sand reconne. I don't usually surf the pier but the waves were lifting pretty good on some intermittant chest high sets. Watched RadderB get some shade on a really cool drop on a doubled up wave. Another guy shotted the pier. Waves were mostly lefts but I was enjoying going against the grain to the right riding many of them to the sand. I'd had my fill after a few hours as the swell faded with the incoming tide. I walked around with that "I just surfed and you didn't" glow for the rest of the day

I honestly don't know how you folks up north do it. Last Sunday was aboot as cold as I've ever been while out in the water. I can not imagine paddling out in a blizzard. Kudos to all you cold water surfers. Yep, we're a bunch of cold weather p*ssies down here. Whatever. Setting my sights on where my next fix will come from. Looks like some power choppe setting up for next weekend with another cold front.

Life is good. I feel sorry for people that don't surf.
I swear to got. All the time.

 

This is a long tread. PJ started it.

200 pages! Wow! And still going strong. Congrats! You're doing a great job all the time.

 

Nice write up Valhalla!

I don't know how you missed us New Years Day! There were six of us there before sunrise until about 11:00. We were at the middle boardwalk until the jetty calmed down and then we were staking a claim there. But it was super crowded that day. It was a small knee to thigh high day.

Occasionally larger sets came through and it seemed only right to let the really excellent surfers score them , so I did.

There were plenty of South Florida/NY type antics that day. One guy with a bare chest and huge gold chain tried to wrest a cell phone out of my hand to call 9-1-1 to report a jet ski buzzing the lineup . He didn't "feel like " taking the time to hunt down the park ranger. He buzzed off when I brushed him off. I know you or the DOG woulda jumped him if you'd seen him hassling me

Today we had the ocean to ourselves pretty much. We got a few fun rides-- and a lot of laughs!

There was one other guy in the water, his second time ever surfing. He was in trunks in the cold air and colder ocean. A very nice young guy from NY. He asked, "Are there any sharks in your ocean, because I just saw something with a black tip fin"-- I told him they're everywhere but not dangerous unless you hear the Jaws music. He said they don't have sharks in New York.

 

o betty,

It's easy to explain why we didn't see you. Because it was a kinda small day we wasted time debating whether to make the drive or not. (Go before you know is still best practice). We didn't arrive until like 11:30. Some folks must have left by then cuz I was a bit surprised at how empty the parking lot was. Even got my favorite shady spot. While there were many beachgoers, there were not so many surfers and I found plenty of room to surf. Had a blast. I still can't get over how warm the air and water were for the first day of the year.

Yes! The way it should be!

Also, yeah right, NY has no sharks. If you've got an ocean you've got sharks. Sometimes you see 'em and sometimes you don't.

Our forecast is now looking better for next weekend as well and that is a great job and I like that all the time.

 

Had to get out yesterday after work, "flat " or not. Despite forecast, it was actually longboard-able. We had a warm spell, and air temp got up to 75. Water in low 40s. Stayed out until almost dark. Nice way to end the day.

Happy Groundhog's Day!

 

Fog session on the LB this morning, one of those days where visibility is about 5 feet at best. So thick you could taste the fog. Water felt colder today than it has all "winter", maybe 60 degrees, still not bad though, feels good to me. Just a couple people fishing on the beach, a Dad and his daughter suiting up to paddle out too, they disappeared as I walked to the beach from the parking lot, as did everything else except what's right in front of me.

I couldn't tell if it was breaking from the sand, all you could see is the shore pound, so I just paddled out in hopes that it was ride-able. The wind was calm and the water was too, paddled out really quick and realized I may have paddled a little too far out and started heading back in when I saw a set starting to form so I just kept going and ended up getting into the 1st one that came my way. Nice formed wave, not a bump on the face, had a nice pocket and it kept peeling down the bar slowly and methodically and then jacked up toward the inside and i raced the wall and beat the section and spun around and paddled back out.

Then the wait began. Another set wasn't coming it seemed, just kept searching in the fog hoping I was in the right spot. After sitting a while, couldn't help but think it was just me and the sharks. But never saw one, saw some shadows, but nothing confirmed. A stingray did jump in front of me though, so at least it wasn't JUST the sharks hanging out.

Sun was supposed to start rising but it never did, it just got more grey out, I could vaguely see the buildings through the fog, so I kept myself lined up with the same landmark I always use, but hard to tell how far from shore I was at times. When it got quiet, I just kept creeping toward the inside until something appeared out of nowhere.

I played this game for about 45 minutes and managed to snag several that were in the waist high range and then had to run off to work. I can still feel the coolness of the water on my joints, it's like packing my knees and shoulders with ice. Post sesh spliff and everything is irie!

 

Last night got fun soild 5' little barells was out till I couldn't see waves coming it sucked cause It whent glass 15 mins before dark if only there was another hour of sun or if it wasn't cloudy

 

Not me

 

Waist to chest high with light offshores yesterday... Nothing special except I rode a different board... a Pavel Rainbow Fish, PU/PE with glassed on keels. Nice floaty 6'2 with a beautiful seafoam green tint. Got tons of waves with a SUPer. Fun sesh. Started to rain, so it felt kinda springy.

Flat today.

 

I'm going surfing tomorrow.
F@ck you boss man. F@ck you job site vendor who staked out all the wrong locations for buried data, electric, and water conduits thus creating near catastrophic destruction. F@ck you left over Jonas snow melt/rain/mud/flooding mess.

 

BTW, great job on the tread Pea Jay. Congrats. It rivals the bong thread and NOYA in its greatness

 

You have a "bad attitude".
Straight to "detention hall"!!!! 5 days!!!!

 

o Barry

 

Turned into a goode day in the Panhandle. It was slop early but cleaned up. Water and air 60 degrees

 

Killer dude... and nobody out.

 

None, there are a few spots going towards Pensacola that can get crowded but good people. At my choice spots, a crowded lineup is when 2 others are within 100 yards but I don't see them very often.

 

surfed a rare spot ate this afternoon ...new (and temporary I'm sure) sand bars from the storm a couple weeks ago, SW winds lightened up late in the day, air temps around 65.

I know the Delmarva buoys are down to 45 or so, but I felt so warm in a 4/3 (and guys were surfing without hoods or in, one case, gloves) I have a hard time believing the water where I was was much if any below 50.

Tomorrow morning.....light NW winds, little shacks in OCMD hopefully