After a very wet weekend staying indoors and having fun time with my kids, I was finally able to hit the beach on a relatively warm, but windy Memorial day. This was the forecast on surfline:
Small scale SE background swell in the water this morning. Surf appears to be knee high or less on the early incoming tide and suspect it will look near flat by the 1030am high tide. Conditions are clean with a light/variable to light offshore wind early. Look for light S winds to develop this afternoon.
Honestly, I expected no surfing and I was ok with it. I needed to get wet and get some excersize paddling. But looking at the cams I spotted a couple of knee high bumps. I figured my funboard should be able to grab a couple of those. Low and behold, thats exactly what happened. Actually, I caught a lot of waves, more then I expected, without much effort. It turned out to be a really fun day.
The wind was blowing pretty strong from the south adding alot of texture to the water, but there was enough of a swell if you were in the right spot, to catch a quick and straight ride. By the time I got out of the water it was dead on low tide and any ridable waves all but vanished.
I was glad I got to enjoy the ocean once again and was mindful to give a moment of respect to the soldiers that gave their lives to this country.
This was a rather flat and rained out weekend in jersey. On the bright side the Billabong Rio Pro finished up. I didn't get a chance to really see it since it seemed it always played early in the mornig here. Anyway check out the highlights.
On Mother's Day I got the opportunity to get a couple hours in the water. The conditions where 3 to 4 with a southern swell and offshore winds, which made for some fun conditions.
I was considering going out with the short board to get some more time on it. But looking at the conditions, it was going to be some work. I was indifferent as to which board to ride. Thankfully, I ran into Matt; one of the greenlight owners. Having just come out of the water he recommended going with the long board. Best decision I made all day.
Since it was reasonably warm I finally opted not to wear a hood. Wearing my 4/3 with gloves and bootees. It felt good to be on the long board. I noticed my paddling was strong and methodical. Not even a minute went by and I caught my first wave. A knee biter that was clean and gentle. The rest of the session went pretty smooth and I caught a bunch I waves. It was good to be surfing again.
I think trying to use the short board is having a positive effect. I noticed I wasn't hesitating when I was popping up and I was looking more at the direction I was going instead at the bottom of the wave.
On the down side I started to get tired after a good hour and a half of being out there. I'm not sure if it was due to having a lazy weekend with my kids. But, I really need to kick up my fitness routine. I'll post about that at a later time.
After getting a full liter of stoke, I hit Surf Taco and celebrated with some beers and burritos.
I would say midway through the clip is pretty much my surfing experience on a shortboard at this point. Funny little movie and congrats to the team that made it.
