| SURFING LOG - Some of my surfing experiences since I started surfing in September 1999. A lot of days are missing because I couldn't remember exact dates after I started the log. The log is nearly complete from November 27, 2001 to the present , with only a few dates missing in May 2002 and one in June 2002. Switch to menu version with photos |
September 1999 - Second Beach, Middletown, RI. As I was looking at the files for a website I created for a web development class, I ran across a couple photos from Second Beach. It looked real nice and clean, and at least waist-stomach high. If I remember right, this day was in late September and the water was very greenish-yellow. The water was flat except when a super-clean wave came in that everyone wanted. The waves were spaced somewhat far apart but beautiful. I remember some guy asking if I was there yesterday, because it was bigger.
|
December 31, 1999 - Point Judith, Narragansett, RI. The only reason I remembered this day was that it was new years eve of the so-called millenium. We went down to PJ and it was a cold day. I probably only stayed out for an hour and a half at most before I got real cold. The 4/3 just doesn't cut it in the winter. I think the surf was about waist-chest high. Thank god for hot water after the session.
|
September, 2000 - Cowell's Cove, Santa Cruz, CA. Laura and I rented a bic 7'10" and a shorter fiberglass board (about 7') and went to this area which is on the inside side of steamer lane. It is kind of a beginners area, but has good small longboard waves. It was very crowded with beginners, but easy to catch waves, as not many others could. Laura caught a couple long ones too. Very fun and relaxing. You had to go down a long, steep set of stairs to get to the water.
|
September, 2000 - Spot Just South of Pacifica, CA. We decided to try aan area other than Santa Cruz, since we were here and have the whole coast to explore. We drove north towards San Francisco with the 7 footer. We checked out Pacifica which looked ok, but then decided to go to a spot to the south that was much less crowded. This was a spot down from the cliffs. I talked to a guy who was impressed that we had MA plates, and asked if there was any surf in MA because he is moving to Boston. I told him about Winthrop, which he said he had heard about. There were a couple guys out, but I was solo in my section. It was kind of freaky because I kept thinking a shark was going to come up and bite me. I was kind of wondering why there were so few people around. The waves were about chest high but really difficult to judge. They would rear up real fast and then pound down without warning. I could't catch anything. This was getting stressful. I got wipped out a few times and finaaly went for it. Something went wrong and the wave ended up throwing me onto my board arm first. The underside of my lower left arm hit the edge or fin or something(it happened so fast) and it felt like something broke. I couldn't even paddle with that arm, it hurt so bad. that was the end of my session and I ripped my suit in that spot. I ended up getting an xray at the hospital in Burlingame. Sucked.
|
September, 2000 - Pleasure Point, Santa Cruz, CA. I had to wait until the end of the week to go out again, cause my arm was bruised. I rented a bic 7'10" which is the same board I owned at the time. We checked out Pleasure Point, which has a parking lot and an overlook to the surfers down below. The bathrooms were out of order and there was a jiffy john which was absolutly disgusting, but I had to go. The toilet was filled to the top with poop. It is a steep walk down to the surf here into a very crowded lineup. The surf was very manageable, glassy, clean and waist-chest w/ acc. shoulder high waves. So weird though. It's like there is constantly surf here, but a long wait in between sets. In fact, it can get completely flat for minutes at a time. So there's really not enough waves to go around. There were big chunks of kelp that kept getting caught in my leash and slowed me down. I caught a few nice ones, but had to snake people or just go to do it. There seemed to be a lot of beginers. I had my own 4/3 wetsuit which was perfect for this time of year here. A very rewarding and relaxing surfing experience.
|
October or November, 2000 - Pegotty Point, Scituate, MA. I can't remember weather this day was in October or November, but this was one of my most memorable days because I had one of my best rides to date here. This was a session with Larry and the surf was big maybe chest-head. They way pegotty is (a point break) youhave to be in the perfect spot to catch a wave. Too far to one side and you get nothing. I was struggling for a while and not having much luck. Finally, my wave came. I launched at just the right time and in the right spot and had the ride of my life. A shoulder high quick left that took me all the way down the line. I was stoked! The day was worth it for that one ride.
|
January or February, 2001 - Pegotty Point, Scituate, MA. This day was memorable for all the wrong reasons, but worth the entry. It was cloudy, raining and in the 40's. Larry convinced me to go to Peggoty that day, and it was misserable. Cold, Cold, Cold. I stayed in the water for about 45 minutes after being whitewashed several times and having my hood torn off my head by a wave(which Larry thought was hillarious). I scrambled back up to the car and cranked the heat. Did not catch one wave.
|
August 25, 2001 - The Wall, Hampton, NH. This was more of a general beach day than anything because the the surf pretty much blew. Surfed with Terry, Ned and Matt. It was a beautiful summer day, but the surf was knee to thigh high wind chop. It's always fun to get in the water in the summer.
|
September 14?, 2001 - The Wall, Hampton, NH. I think I got the date right on this one. I only remember because it was right after September 11th. Met Larry at the wall for some pretty good surf. I think it was chest high, but I can't remember. I know there was good surf that week.
|
October 2?, 2001 - Good Harbor Beach, Gloucester, MA. I met Terry in Cambridge after work on this very sunny blue day and we drove to Gloucester. There were cars with american flags on them everywhere. I think Terry had a better day than me. There were definitly some bombs coming through. I was getting wiped out and had to stay on the outside a lot.
|
November 25, 2001 - Jeness Beach, Rye, NH. Can't remember, but I think it wasn't very good.
|
November 27, 2001 - First Beach, Newport, RI. Cloudy day with fairly sizeable waist-chest surf at First Beach.
|
December 1, 2001 - Town Beach, Narragansett, RI. This day was awesome because it was December, but it was still warm and sunny (indian summer). Town beach was knee-waist+ and fun. The rides were very short though. I stayed there for a while and got a lot of short rides. I then checked out Monahans Pier and it was awesome (waist-chest) except very crowded in the small area that is actually surfable. I took a ton of pictures.
|
March 31, 2002 - Second Beach, Middletown, RI This was my first time out since December 1, so I hadn't surfed all winter. No hood required as it was a pretty calm day. Waist high very sparce sets, but pretty clean. Laura got some photos from the purgatory chasm cliffs.
|
|
April 13, 2002 - The Wall, Hampton, NH. Waist-chest good all around waves. Cloudy skies. Used my Bic.
|
April 26, 2002 - Pegotty Point, Scituate, MA. Went to Scituate on a "crap shoot" hoping there would be surf. Wrong. Egypt was crappy and Pegoty had very small, not surfable nice waves. I took some picture because I could (Digital) and called it.
|
May 30, 2002 - Waikiki Beach, Oahu, HI. Knee-Waist longboard waves. My first time surfing in Hawaii! We (Laura and I) were on our honeymoon. These waves would be impossible to catch without a longboard. I rented a 9 or 10 footer soft-top and caught some fun waves. You had to paddle way out to where they were breaking and there were a ton of people out there. Very peaceful, warm and beautiful. It was an amazing view of Honolulu and Diamondhead. Went for a session in the morning and one in the afternoon.
|
June 4, 2002 - South of Lahaina, Maui, HI. This started off as nighmare trying as we had these gift certificates for free surfboard rentals at Boss Frogs. We went to the Boss Frogs in Lahaina and had to wait like a half hour for anyone to even acknowledge our presence, only to say they had no boards. So we checked out the other Boss Frogs about 10 miles north. Long wait and no dice there either. So we had them call the store in Kahei who had an 8 foot fiberglass board. So we drove the 40 minutes there for more bad service and finally got our rental. So, on to surfing....We went back up the coast at the area south of Lahaina which had a lot of cool breaks that weren't overly crowded. Surfed for about an hour and half at a spot where there was only a couple people out. The wasves were pretty good. About waist to chest and crumbly. I caught some nice rides with a local cheering me on. We then went to a spot slightly north where there were more people and a stone shore. The waves were bigger and I was trying to get Laura out there on here boggie board, but to no luck. I caught a couple and got pummeled by a couple. The best and scariest ride I had was on a clean chest high wave where I was zipping by people and I could see the reef below through the clear water. We went to another spot up the coast that seemed to be even bigger. At some point in the day, I ended up cutting my foot on the reef below. Overall the biggest waves of our trip.
|
June 7, 2002 - Lahaina, Maui, HI. This was our last chance to surf in Hawaii before we left. Of course, it was 80 degrees and beautiful out. We went to a spot that is just south of the main strip and downtown area in Lahaina. There were boats moured beyond the break and a stone pier where surf end up at. The paddle out was is very shallow water with a reef underneath until the water got a little bit deeper where the breakers are. I used the same 8 foot Xit board which works really good as a long board in this kind of surf. The waves were waist high and clean and fun. Caught a lot of rides, but there were also a lot of people to avoid, especially beginers.
|
June 23, 2002 - The Wall, Hampton, NH. Went surfing with bic and bought new board that day.
|
|
June 29, 2002 - The Wall, Hampton, NH. This was my first time using my new board, a 7' WRV. Waves were knee-waist+ high and clean and super fun. Caught a ton of waves.
|
|
August 12, 2002 - Town Beach, Narragansett, RI Very hot day with a lot of people on the beach. knee-thigh w/ occ. waist+. Jus t needed to get out. No wetsuit required.
|
|
Sept. 4, 2002 - Jeness Beach, Hampton, NH Waist-Chest semi clean. lots of people. Surfed w/ Larry, Lauren, Scott late in day. Caught a fair amount of waves and surfed for more than 3 hours.
|
Sept. 21-22, 2002 - Coast Guard Beach, Eastham, MA Part of a cape camping trip to Nickerson SP. Beautiful weather and knee-waist waves at Coast Guard (Nauset Light). Seals kept popping up. Could only surf at low tide because it flattened out at high tide. Its fun to surf in warm weather.
|
Sept. 28, 2002 - Jeness Beach, Rye, NH Morning session w/ Larry. Beautiful waist-Shoulder waves, offshore wind 15-25 MPH and green opaque water. It was rather hard to catch waves with the high wind. Water was still warm and no booties were needed. Someone told me that the waves were bigger and the wind less earlier in the morning. Board blew off my car roof at end of session, hit another car and almost hit a woman. I guess I lucked out, could have been a lawsuit. Dropped it off for repairs at CR.
|
Oct. 12, 2002 - The Wall, South Beach, Hampton, NH Went up to New Hammy to pick up board. Checked out the wall and south beach. The wall was chest-head+ and messy. Storm surf. Only a few people out. South Beach was waist-shoulder and a bid cleaner near the northernmost part. A couple guys out. Was bummed I didn't have my board until night.
|
Oct. 14, 2002 - Salisbury Beach, MA, Good Harbor/Long Beach Gloucester, MA
Met Larry at 11:00 AM. First time here. Man... it was huge and with a 20-25 mph offshore wind. Clean but still messy from weekend storm. Waves were head-double overhead out far and too big to catch without bailing big time. They were travelling so fast that they were almost impossible to catch. Paddled in when I got a chance and caught some of the reforming waves. Caught a couple waves, but overall a dissapointing experience due to the enormous waves. Drove to Good Harbor and saw some nice waves there. About 20 people out. Waves were chest-head and clean. Some real closeouts though. Long Beach had only knee-stomach (big difference between two beaches).
|
Oct. 17, 2002 - Nantasket Beach, Hull, MA Decided to catch this storm swell from the previous day's storm as today was sunny and lower 60's. I had planned to go to Scituate this day, bu after some hellish traffic on 128 and then route 3, I decided to abort Scituate and try Nantasket for the first time. I was pleasantly surprized to find waist-head, clean but semi-bumpy long lines. If you got in the right spot, you could catch some really long and fun rides. No closeouts to speak of either. The paddle out seemed almost never ending when the sets started coming in quick. Due to the swell direction and beach direction, almost all rides were rights. I ended up about 1/4 mile north of where I started by the end of my 1 hour+ session until dark. A really cool break for noreaster swells, but hard to get to. .
|
Oct. 27, 2002 - Jeness Beach, Rye, NH Today, I was supposed to go to RI with Laura and Alison, but after checking the reports, the conditions seemed bigger and better in NH. There was a nice solid wind and rain storm the day before, so this was after-storm conditions. I met Larry in Haverhill and we checked out the wall. It was about mid tide and the paddle out looked pretty tough since a lot of the waves were big dumpers. It was probably chest-head high, but looked like a workout. So we went up to Jeness where it was a bit mellower. We went in on the southern-most side of Jeness. It started out kind of lame, but really picked up. The waves had nice peaks so you could throw lefts or rights. I caught a bunch of nice lefts which were awesome and even some nice turns. Winds were out of the northwest at about 15-25 mph, so you got blown out to sea if you didn't paddle back in. We had this whole area to ourselves accept for one other guy that was kind of in the way. We then tried a spot up the beach a bit past a pack of surfers and again had the spot to ourselves. These waves were even cleaner but more of closeouts than the last spot. We switched boards as Larry wanted to try my WRV and I rode his Seasoned. Larry loved the board and got some real nice rides. I caught a few nice rights, then we got out to warm up but I was done after 3 hours of surfing. Larry tried his luck at the wall, as it was still waist-chest-head, but he couldn't catch anything. The entertainment value was high watching him, though. A super fun day!
|
Nov. 10, 2002 - Second Beach, Middletown, RI This was supposed to be part of our Newport Rhode Island trip. We planned to do the cliffwalk, some surfing, maybe check out real estate. The glich in the plan started the night before because we stayed out partying until 3:00 AM. We woke up and were pretty tired, but decided to go anyway. The forecast said waist high at Second Beach. We got to Second Beach around noon when the highest winds were there. It was real sloppy surf with a very stiff south wind (20-30 knots). The paddle out was pretty tough with the strong wind coming at you and trying to duck dive the waves. There were a bunnch of people out, some with kayaks. Did I mention that the wind was brutal. Anyways, you couldn't really catch the waves until they had already crumbled, and then you were pretty much riding whitewater in. Most of the waves, I just couldn't stand up on and ended up riding them on my stomach. I guess that was partly due to the night before. Anyways, it pretty much sucked. Then it rained and we couldn't even walk around Newport. At least we made it home in time to see a good Pats game.
|
Dec. 12, 2002 - Point Judith, Narragansett, RI I knew this day might be my last surf of the year until probably April. A rain storm came through the day before with some significant winds. Temps were forcasted to be in the low 40's and sunny so I hit it. Since I couldn't get a confirmatory surf report for Scituate, I headed to Narragansett where the wave cam and report both looked good. I checked out Town Beach which seemed pretty lame. A few guys were out just waiting and waiting and waiting for a thigh high wave. I didn't come all the way to RI for this, so I continued on to PJ. The left side was breaking nice, a solid waist-chest+. The water and air were freezing and there was sometimes a long time between sets, but the sets were very nice. Winds were a bit high, but not unworkable. A caught a nice long one where I zippied right by someone (about a foot away) and then the front of my board got tubed. There were a couple of seals that were about 20 feet away from me. It was a fun time except short due to the cold. Until next spring.
|
March 22, 2003 - Town Beach, Narragansett, RI I finally got back into the water after a three month cold and snowy as hell winter hiatus. It was 60 degrees out today but the water was still 38 degrees. Brrrr. Almost all the snow has melted except for those big parking lot snowpiles. I called Larry to try to get him to go, but couldn't get in touch with him so I decided to go on my own. My other mission in RI was to check out neighborhoods near Providence to possibly move there. Got there at about 12:30 and the air seemed a lot cooler on the coast. I actually had second thoughts about going in, but was very glad I went. I wore Larry's 2 mil top under my suit for added warmth. The wave forecast said waist to chest, but there were definitely some head high sets. The water was freezing the first time I duckdove, but I got used to it. I caught a really nice an powerful left about chest high, and a couple other decent rides. Also some wipeouts due to my fatigue in trying to move my arms with two suits on. Good clean waves with very light west wind. Fun.
|
April 12, 2003 - Jeness Beach, Rye, NH The reports said good surf for the whole weekend and waist to head for Saturday, so Larry and I decided to hit it on Saturday. We didn't get out until later in the day because I was sampling stormwater the night before and we wanted to wait for it to clear up. We checked out the wall and the point breaks north of the wall. The wall looked at least head high with only a couple guys out. The Redbull Ice Break was going on at Rye Rocks which looked like perfect surf. There were even surfable breaks on Hampton's south beach. We went in Jeness and both caught a bunch of good waves. There was almost no wind (very light north) so it was easy to paddle into them. The waves were very peaky and mushy so there were no nasty dumpers. I caught a bunch of great rides until I got cold and paddled in. I actually tried to paddle back out twice but was denied. Larry went back out and caught a killer long ride in. It was well worth the drive. Just wish I could have surfed longer. Afterwards, we checked out the final heat of the Redbull which had six guys including the guy from Pioneers. Photo is of Redbull.
|
April 20, 2003 - Long Beach, Rockport, MA Easter Sunday. Laura and I took a tour up the coast of Cape Ann through Beverly, Manchester, Magnolia, Gloucester and Rockport. Laura put up with me wanting to bring my board which was cool because there was a week-long swell happening. We checked out Good Harbor first. It was dead high tide. The waves seemed pretty damned big and I didn't feel like getting pummeled. Plus there was only 1 or 2 guys out. We also saw some kid do a cannonball off the bridge into 40 degree water. We then checked Long Beach which looked a lot more fun. It looked like waist to chest, but once I got out there I just got pummeled by big, fast, cold waves. Some guy sprayed me in the face while I was paddeling up a wave and he was paddeling into it. Some of the waves were overhead. I had to continually bail off my board and dive under the waves. I got cold and tired quick and couldn't catch anything. I kept talking about how I could'nt catch any waves to Laura and she kept getting annoyed, so I shut up and we got soft serve ice cream and went to Rockport.
|
April 21, 2003 - Jeness & Fox Hill Point, Rye, NH Patriots Day. I headed up to Larry's to hit NH. The day turned out very sunny despite the weather reports. The water, however, is still about 40 degrees. We checked out the South Beach that was actually breaking pretty nice and definitely surfable. It was low tide at the wall and it looked very big. There was no one out. We tried the spot at the southern end of Jenness again. The waves were very weird. There was a light onshore wind and the waves were crumbly and would form and then reform. We caught a few good ones that you really had to pump to keep going. Larry caught a real nice one and immediately wiped hard. It was pretty funny. I got cold, so we dedressed, ate lunch at Kennedy's and I bought a 2 mil long sleeve Excel top at Cinnimon Rainbow's. We went back in at Fox Hill Point to catch the left breakers. It was tough because you had to be in just the right spot. I caught a couple after a lot of paddeling.
|
May 18, 2003 - Jeness Beach, Rye, NH Can't believe it's been almost a month since I've been surfing. The day was forcasted to be very sunny and in the 60's on the coast with knee-waist high sets in NH. It was an east swell with almost no wind. I met Larry and Loretta in Haverhill and we headed up to meet Lauren at Jeness. Checked out the wall which was high tide and maybe a tad bigger than Jeness. But the wall can suck at high tide. There were a ton a people out there too. We caught a ton of waves at Jeness. The waves were easy to catch on any board, but I used Lauren's 9'4" and was sold. These longboard waves are sooo easy and fun to catch on a board like this. All in all I must have caught about 25 waves, but nothing epic, just real fun and easy. We surfed for about 2.5 hours untill we got cold. No hood needed from now on.
|
May 19, 2003 - Eygpt Beach, Scituate, MA I was pondering going all day today because I didn't know if it would be big enough. Finally I called the Noreaster surf report which said knee to waist and glassy at noon. So I decided to make the rediculous after work commute to Hull. After an hour ana half I got there and there was a solid on-shore wind, the waves were knee high and no one was out. So I drove down the coast through Cohasett to Eygpt Beach. The parking lot was full and after I quickly changed, I walked over the berm and there were about 20-25 people out there. It looke flat at first, but waves were definitly coming in knee to occasional waste and clean. It was just a wait between sets. There were very occasional chest high waves too. I caught a bunch of nice rides which one long right on the right part of the wave. This was "wrap-around" swell from the cape, so you had to wait for sets and make sure you didn't miss your chance. There were some long boarders getting some really long rides. Surfed for about an hour till it got almost dark. It was fun.
|
June 7, 2003 - Second Beach, Middletown, RI I got Laura up at the crack of dawn to catch the tail end of some leftover swell from the previous days. She was not happy with the early rise. We left at 6:20 and got there at 7:40. Second beach looked very small (knee-thigh) and almost unridable and we walked down the beach to check it out. Winds were light and out of the southwest. One other guy was going in with a long board, so I figured I would too. There was no one else out at all. I tried the area down towards the middle of the beach and was very glad I did go in. There were definitely some waist high sets coming in, with even occasional stomach high. I caught a ton of rides for 20 minutes and then it flattened out for while. I think the waves were a result of the incoming tide. It picked up again and a couple more people went in. I caught one really nice long left.
|
June 21, 2003 - The Wall, Hampton, NH It was low tide at the wall on this Saturday (summer solstice). It looked about waist plus from shore and there were a lot of people out. Laura went running while I surfed. Winds were out of the east (I think) at about 5-10 mph so it was fairly clean but super mushy. Waves were realy hard to catch unless you were lined up perfectly, and got pushed by the whitewater. Some other dude out there was complaining to me about how hard it was to catch these waves. I finally caught one and had a nice ride but had to pump it. You had to bail out early or get pummeled into the sand at the shore pound. It was weird...I've never seen shore pound like this before. I caught another one and jumped back over the wave as the shore pound sucked me back under. It was like getting hit into a wall and then getting sucked under to hit the bottom. Anyways, it was a lot of paddeling and not much surfing. I got 2 rides my whole session. Pretty lame. No gloves needed though. Checked out the sand scultures on the south beach afterwards.
|
July 12, 2003 - Coastguard Beach, Eastham, MA We went camping at Nickerson SP with Larry and Loretta for the weekend. Beautiful beach weather the whole weekend and a swell was hitting RI with wrap-around on the cape. Winds were out of the southwest when we got to the beach at around 11:30 and picked up substantially, so there were clean waist+ peelers. These were the type of waves where you had to be lined up right and just go for it or the wind would knock you down. Had a couple sessions, but only caught a few waves. The currents were pretty intense too. It was nice to use only my 2 mil top.
|
July 13, 2003 - Nauset Beach, Eastham, MA This was our second day on the Cape. We spent a lot of time at a fresh water pond throughout the day, and then went to Nauset late in the day after the parking fees ceased. It was definitely small than Saturday and was only breaking well in an area of no surfing until 6 PM. So I went out in that area and Larry tried an area that was breaking really close to shore. I thought he was going to get pile driven by the shore pound, but he caught a couple. I caught a couple small waves and called it quits soon cause the water was freezing compared to yesterday.
|
August 3, 2003 - Second Beach, Middletown, RI It was sort of cloudy, but then the sun came out. South knee to waist wind swell with light SW winds. Laura dropped me off cause parking was 15 bucks. Surfed for about an hour+ in warm water with 2 mil top and a lot of other people. Caught a lot of fun little waves, but the rides ended up in a thick soup of red seaweed.
|
August 10, 2003 - First Beach, Newport, RI This was one of the funnest days i've had in a while. Laura and I went down to Newport to get away and did the cliffwalk and then went to First Beach. Surf was thigh-shoulder and kind of mushy on most of the waves so you had to wait for one that was a little steeper and get it late. I caught a lot of rides which were all lefts, awesome! Only a few people out too. A had a couple of really fun long lefts where I was pumping it and turning. The water was super warm, almost Hawaii style, so again I was using only trunks and a 2 mil top. I stayed in until I was totally pickeled and prunned. No red seaweed this time. RI rocks when it's warm!
|
September 5, 2003 - Long Beach, Rockport, MA This was one of my half-day work Fridays and it was the beginning of the Hurricane Fabian swell. Laura and I headed up to Gloucester and got there about 2:30 PM. We checked out Good Harbor which looked like it was closing out close to shore. There was only one person out. Checked out Long Beach which had about 6 or so people out. The waves were breaking a little further out but were only about knee-waist. I caught a bunch, but they were all very short rides and nothing to get too excited about. Probably the best wave that came through, I gave to some joker that completely went out of his way to cut me off and then missed the wave. The size was kind of disappointing given all the hype online. Got soft-serv at Barbarinos afterward!
|
September 6, 2003 - Jeness Beach, Rye, NH More Fabian swell! Larry came in from western Mass. the night before and we got all pumped for this big surfing day. I dropped Lisa, Laura and Madison off at the airport and then met Larry up at Jeness. I checked out the Wall before which was cranking (the photo). South beach was cranking too and winds were only 5-10 mph. Perfect. We checked it out for a while and you could see there was time between sets which were up to head high. The water was a bright cloudy green which was really cool. Not much of a problem getting out because of the lulls. Larry's friend Scott S. showed up, so we had a tri-crew. There were some really beautiful waves coming through mostly in the waist-chest range with occasional head high sets. The water was glassy at times too. The waves in the morning were somewhat steep with some real dumpers and kind of tough to work the face without getting enveloped by whitewater at the end. Caught some decent rides and then we took a long lunch break and prepared for session 2. I definitely had better luck the second session. But man there were a lot of people (guys and girls). Some times it got too crowded in one area. The waves were the same size but less dumpers and easier to get into. A caught one of the best rides I've had yet. It was a super long left just workin the right part of the face the whole way then diving dramatically back in to the wave. Had some long rights too. Larry and Scott had some good rides too. This was just the perfect day. Warm sun...awesome surf...Saturday..and the water still warm too. But still not as insane as they hyped it up to be.
|
September 14, 2003 - The Wall, Hampton, NH I went to the Wall this day because of predicted swell from tropical depression Henri. The WAM was showing 3-6 feet with a nice long line/arrow towards NH, but the surf wasn't as good as I thought it would be though. There were an assload of surfers out at the wall and the waves were about waist high plus ocassionl bigger. Before I went in the water, some guy asked me if I surfed here a lot and if it is usually like this. He had just moved to Boston so I informed him of some other spots in MA. I got there about mid-tide and it was coming in almost to high by the time I finished. The waves were breaking kind of close in and were kind-of close-outs so the rides were really short. I caught a few fun drop-ins where I was teetering on the edge and then ate it into the whitewater. There were a bunch of summer kooks though. I saw one guy wearing a hood! All in all it was fun. I took a bunch of pics for fun.
|
September 20, 2003 - Second Beach, Middletown, RI OK..so I go surfing every weekend.. I'm addicted. It's also the best time of year to surf because the water is warm, the air is warm, there are storm swells... but there are a lot of people. This was the tail end of the Isabel swell but winds were out of the southwest at 15-20 mph, so it was tough to paddle out at times and it was pretty choppy and rough. Occassionally a large set would come through and if you were in the right place could catch an awesome ride. At least four of my rides were really long but you had to pump the face cause they kind of flattend out. I actually experimented with turning into the face at times. Waves were mostly waist-chest with occasional shoulder. Water was still warm so I wore my 2 mil top. I wish I could wear that thing everytime. Tons of red seaweed where you bail off your ride which can be nasty.
|
October 5, 2003 - Jeness Beach, Rye, NH Hurricane Kate! It was pretty far out in the Atlantic, but ground swell was coming through pretty good. The reports said only waist high, but these were almost perfect/epic conditions (not huge). The wall was about chest-head and super clean. Jeness was about waist-chest with occasional head high cleanup sets and super clean perfect waves. Only thing that made it difficult was the west wind which was about 15-20 mph. Could have taken about 10 mph off the wind speed and it would have been prrrrfect. The air temp was only around 50 but it was sunny. I declined the wall and went to Jeness. I caught a nice one right off the bat. There were some waits between sets but I definitely had some good rides. The waves were kind of hard to paddle into at times because of the wind resistance, and once you got up you had to crauch down or just stop in mid surf. I did get cold pretty quick because I got whitewashed a couple times early on. My last ride in was a killer left where I was right on the perfect part of the wave. Had to wear booties and gloves...and to think just 2 weeks ago all I had in RI was a 2 mil top. Fun but cold.
|
November 22, 2003 - Eygpt Beach, Scituate, MA This just wasn't worth the battle. We were going to an engagement party in Duxbury and stopped by Scituate cause it was supposed to be ok. It was way too sloppy, but it was the right tide (low). Whitewater after whitewater kept rolling in which made it impossible to get out, especially not having surfed in 6 weeks. There were a couple other people out complaining too. Conditions were crappy cause of the wind direction. I stood up on a couple of messy whitewater waves after riding most of the waves in on my stomach. Surfed for about 20 minutes, it was almost dark anyways. Waves (if you could call them that) were about waist-chest and it was about 50 degrees out. Wasn't worthy of a photo.
|
February 17, 2004 - La Jolla Shores Beach, La Jolla, CA This was part of our Phoenix-San Diego trip so I wanted to get 2 sessions of surfing in. The weather was beautiful of coarse, in the upper 60's, the water however was only upper 50's, so you needed at least a 3/2. I had my 4/3 suit. I scored with a board rental at La Jolla Surf Co. and got a 7'10" fiberglass board for 10 bucks for the half day, a total steal. Didn't even have to sign a waiver. The waves were like NH on a fairly big day, but kind of close-outs. I'd say about chest-head w/ occational +. Everyone seemed to be crowded in one spot that had the best formed waves, but I chose to stay a bit away from that spot at the closeouts. I caught a few, but nothing great. My best waves was a waist high wave that I rode near the crowd. There were definitly some strong riptides and currents that carried you out to sea though. Surfed for about 2 hours. It was so nice to get back onto a board!
|
February 18, 2004 - Fletcher Cove, Solana Beach, CA It was supposed to rain later today, so I descided to surf by mid-day. I rented a stupid, crappy, heavy bic at a surf shop named Mitch's. They were definitely not as cool as the other place. They would'nt rent hard boards and the putz charged me 25 bucks for a half day. That's full day price! So I got a crappy roof rack with it, and I took his suggestion on a location to surf which was right around the corner. It wasn't really a cove, but there were big cliffs around. I checked out the surf from a distance and it looked manageable. So Laura dropped me off and I went for it. Man, it was definitely larger and more stormy than it looked from a distance. It was almost impossible to get out through the contant white water coming and even harder with the bic. I was really getting pummeled trying to get out. I finally got out and it was kind of scary with the wave size and having that size and weight of board. I had to just abandon board several times and try to swim under the wave while the heavy bic pulled at me. It was pretty brutal. There was a pack up people out and off to the right, but I was by myself. I caught a crappy ride in and decided to rest for a while. At this point, I wished Laura hadn't left because I didn't want to go back in here. But I did and had a hell of a time. I caught some ok rides on smaller waves on the inside. One scary and sucky thing that happened to me was, as I was trying to duck under a wave, I fell off the board and the leash got wrapped around my neck and roped me. My throat hurt for weeks after. Overall = not very good.
|
April 17, 2004 - The Wall, Hampton Beach, NH This was the first warm weekend of spring with waves. Air temp was as high as 70 degrees inland but only upper 50s on the coast. The water is still only 40 degrees. I got there about 2 hours after high tide, but the water was still high. It was real choppy. The sets that came though were about waist high with occasional higher. I caught a ride right off, but then had no luck after that. No one around me was getting waves either. Waves would form in the chop, but would flatten out after they broke and then reform closer to shore. I tried to catch some closer to shore, but it was like going over the falls. The water was super cold if you had to duck dive. Managed to stay in for over an hour until I got bored with trying to catch crappy waves. Wore my hood.
|
April 25, 2004 - Pepper Beach, Fort Pierce, FL We were down in FL on vacation and meet up with Scotty V. The reports didn't sound to good, but this was my chance to "surf" in Florida with Scott. Around 4:00 PM we (Laura, I, and Scott) headed to Jensen Beach/Hutchinson Island to check out conditions, but it looked really poor, so we kept driving north and checking out other spots along the way. We got all the way to Fort Pierce Inlet and it was flat on the south side so we went around to the north and found a spot that was breaking about knee high (wind chop) in shallower water. There may have been a very occasional waste high wave. Scott had a 7' short board and a 7'10" fun borad both of which I used. We both caught a ton of short rides on small crappy waves but it was fun, especially only wearing a rash guard in 75 degree water and 80 degree air. There were these bait fish jumping and some jumped right over and into Scott as he was paddeling into a wave. It freaked him out. He also saw something huge jump way out in the water. That's me riding a knee high wave!
|
April 26, 2004 - Between Jupiter Inlet & Juno Pier, Jupiter, FL Day 2 of surfing in Florida. We went in the morning this time and decided to go south from Stuart and ended up checking out Juno Pier. Wind was out of the SE at 15-20 mph, so it was real choppy, and a real mixing bowl at times. The beach was almost deserted on monday morning though. It looked almost as pathetic as yesterday, but we found a shallow spot that seemed to be breaking a little better. It was a real battle against the wind and currents. Pretty tough to judge what to catch too, but I managed to catch a few fun rides. I caught one ride that was really long and felt like I was riding 3 different waves in as they would reform. On the Juno Pier chalkboard, some joker wrote under conditions: "16 foot barrels, shark activity, and krab poop". Only one other kid came out and planted himself right next to Vingers (out of the whole freaking empty coastline). Those are Scott's boards in the picture. A fun time and a better workout than yesterday.
|
June 6, 2004 - Town Beach, Narragansett, RI It's been well over a month since I've surfed and I missed the month of May completely. This day Scott and I originally planned to go to Hampton to buy Scott a wetsuit and catch surf...but the reports said flat in Hampton so I had to re-route Scott on his way down from VT to go to RI. It was a cold day for June...both the air and water temps were 58 degrees. Anyways, Scott scored on a purchase of a wetsuit for 99 bucks and also bought a pair of booties. Conditions at Town Beach were pretty rough and stormy/choppy. Waves were about waist-head high and it was tough to get out through the surf. The currents and winds were "out of bounds" and we didn't figure it out until we started getting sweept out to sea. Luckily there were these bright orange bouys placed for reference. There were some pretty big bombs coming through, but they were fairly crumbly. I caught one really awesome ride and then a few mediocre rides. Scott caught one ride that he said was the best ever. The downfall of my day was when I got completely wiped out by a monster wave that peaked right where I was. My fin hit my leg and I was pretty much done. Scott surfed a little longer than me and had a little bit better of a day. It was fun, but I wished we had surfed more towards the right side where the waves were a bit more tame with less current..
|
June 7, 2004 - Jeness Beach, Rye, NH Caught some leftovers from yesterday's swell in NH after work. Laura came with and went running. Checked out the wall first but it was dead high tide, too high for the wall. The water is still #$%#ing cold here so I wore gloves, and the air temp was about 10 or 15 degrees colder than inland but sunny. There weren't many people at Jeness, which was nice. Wind was out of the southwest and light and the waves were about waist high with an occasional larger set and mushy. You had to catch them late to get em at all. I had a bunch of mediocre rides. Caught one nice one at a peak and pumped it in. Overall it was kinda nice to be in smaller surf after yesterday. Looks like thats it for surf for a couple weeks. Wish Scott could have come.
|
June 29, 2004 - The Wall, Hampton Beach, NH The reports have been knee high max for about a month now, so I wasn't expecting much. But I had my board with me after a training day in Portsmouth. I found out from Laura that Scott was surfing today, so I got to the wall at 4:00 PM and low and behold, found his car there...and him surfing shin high. What are the chances? I wasn't even expecting to surf with anyone today. So I went in and caught some anke-Knee high waves. They were hard to catch on my 7 foot board and again I wish I had a long board. I tried Scott's board which is like a cork, much easier. Anyways, there was virtually no paddle out because you could stand in the water and wait for waves. There were about 7 other desperate people out there too. The water was super warm, no gloves worn and it was sunny and warm. It was fun though.
|
July 14, 2004 - Deveroux Beach, Marblehead, MA OK I've found the secret to NE winds with solid SE swell. Deveroux Beach faces almost due south like the Newport Beaches. Scott had gone to Hampton and said the waves were messy and disorganized, so the Deveroux light bulb went on in my head...figured I give it a try. This was part of a long cloudy, misty 65 degree week. I couldn't believe how awesome it looked when we got there!! These were absolutely perfect conditions. It was about waist-chest high, 10 mph NE offshore winds, easy paddle out, no crazy currents, and beautifully formed pealers! There was an area off to the left and far out where a bunch of people were crowded in, but I chose to go in right off the parking lot where only a couple young squirts were out. I caught a nice left within the first 60 seconds of surfing which Laura got a nice photo of (above). I must have caught about 10 nice rides, a mixture of rights and lefts. My area started to get crowded with a bunch of people, so I missed some perfect opps, but I had one ride where the wave crashed behind me and pushed me farther. My 7' WRV was the perfect board for these conditions. I wouldn't have wanted a long board today. Felt like leftover hurricane swell. Poor Ving! One of the funnest solo surf sessions I've had. AWESOME!!!
|
July 17, 2004 - Coastguard Beach, Eastham, MA Forget Costa Rica...we have Cape Cod! This was part of our camping trip at Nickerson SP with the McKeons. Scotty V. Met us at about 11:00 AM. There had been a low off the coast for days giving a south swell. Ving got the surf report from Pumphouse which said knee-waist occ. chest. At the entrance we asked the park ranger how the surf was, and he said knee-thigh and mushy. Ok, this guy couldn't have been more wrong. We get there and its consistent waist high with chest high sets and clean with a 10 mph offshore SW wind. There were hardly any surfers in the 55 degree water too. Even though it was sunny and in the 80s, I'm glad I brought my full suit. We get out there and it is AWESOME! The waves are perfectly formed peelers and super easy to catch. I have never caught so many rides and so many good long rides in one surf session! I must have got 30 rides, rights, lefts, some of them real long like 12 seconds on the face of the wave, even did some carving. If you crouched really low on the biggest waves, you could almost get tubed. We surfed for over 3 hours and I wanted to surf more, but we had to leave. There were a bunch of those boxy headed seals not far from us either. I think there were actually more boogie boarders out than surfers. It was awesome, you could move to any location and still get great long waves. My WRV worked AWESOME in this surf. I wish it was like this every day. I'll even be bold enough to say that this was probably my best day surfing ever of anywhere I've been!!
|
July 24, 2004 - The Wall, Hampton Beach, NH Me and Scott met at The Wall this rainy Saturday morning and it looked pathetic. It was clean when I first got there, but the waves weren't breaking until shore. In a matter of minutes the wind switched from NW to NE and made it choppy. It was so small and pathetic, but we went surfing anyways. There were about 10 other people out too. It was about knee high occ. thigh rides into shallow water. I got about 2 decent rides.
|
July 25, 2004 - The Wall, Hampton Beach, NH I went to the wall for the second day in a row because Laura was going to Hampton to meet friends. I dropped her off at the mobbed south beach and I went to the wall. It was pretty crowded with surfers, not because the surf was good, but because it was a nice summer day. The surf looked pretty lame, and when I paddled out it was even lamer. There were a ton of people crowded into the only breaking spot and the waves were only breaking on shore. There was an occassional chance of getting an outside wave, but they were really flat. I caught one on the outside after paddleing my arms off, then decided to catch the shore break with everyone else. The last half hour I was out, it actually started to pick up with the incoming tide and the NE wind calmed down to almost nothing. The waves started getting more definition, size and length. It was about knee high for the first hour and knee-waist high for the last half hour. Overall probably a little better than yesterday.
|
August 4, 2004 - Jeness/Wall, Hampton Beach, NH This was the very start of ground swell from Hurricane Alex but it was pretty weak. (Reports in RI were chest and clean.) I met Scott at 2SI after work and we checked out the wall. It was about 80 degrees with no wind so the waves were clean, but the tide at the wall was too high so we went to Jeness. The waves reminded me of Cowells in Santa Cruz because the water was flat and super calm with no wind and then a knee or thigh high perfest wave would come. These were perfect small longboard waves. I got some long rights where I was crouching down low on the face of the small wave like longboarding. We stayed at Jeness for only about an hour and then went to the wall which was kind of disappointing. It was smaller, weaker, more crowded. You had to wait about 10 minutes for something that was big enough to ride. If the waves at Jeness were a foot bigger, these would have been ideal conditions. It was fun none the less. We surfed until 7:45 PM.
|
August 7, 2004 - The Wall, Hampton Beach, NH I guess the wall is offically my home break. I coordinated with Scott to meet him at the Wall this Saturday morning, but conditions were questionable. We went to Pioneers and CRs and Scott traded one of his boards for a WRV fish. Winds or lack there of were good, but size was a bit small. There were a ton of people in the water and the summer surfing zone was between the red lines. Waves were pretty pathetically small to start out (for about the first 1.5 hours.) Then waves suddenly picked up on the incoming tide. There were actually some nice clean rides to be had in the waist high range and occasionally bigger. I caught a ton of rides, as many as I could without getting in the way of other people. We surfed for about 4 hours straight until our arms were spagetti and the tide was so high that catching a wave became dangerous. A fun day!
|
August 14, 2004 - Jeness Beach, Rye, NH This has been an awesome summer for surf! Me and Laura met Scott and Alysa in Hampton for swell from tropical storm Bonnie on this sunny Sat. We met at the wall and it was big and clean with some people really ripping it up. Scott was gung-ho to go out at the wall, but I looked for a while and saw some overhead sets and some nasty close-outs that made me think twice. There were definitely some barrels. I convinced Scott to go to Jeness and we paid 10 bucks to park cause the lot was full. Jeness was definely more tame and fun looking than the wall, but the water was frickin freezing! Winds were out of the WNW at 10 mph so it was perfect! There were beautiful clean sets coming throug in the waist to occasional head high range. I got a lot of good fast powerful rides, but most were rights and a lot of them closed out at the end. Scott was getting even more rides than me. A lot of them were hard to judge and you had to catch them as they were almost peaking. No too crowded with surfers either considering the good weather and surf. My arms were jello by the end of the day. An awesome day of hurricane-like surf! Best day since the cape.
|
August 28, 2004 - Coast Guard Beach, Eastham, MA This was our official yearly camping trip to the cape so it was a crap shoot as to waves. Scott, Alysa, Larry and Loretta were camping with us. The WAM looked pathetic as the wind chop arrows were going out to sea, but when we got to the beach it wasn't all that bad. There were a lot of other people with surf boards. It was clean and about knee-thigh high and I actually scored some half decent rides given the small conditions. Larry should have brought his board, then we could have all surfed at the same time. What a goon. I hope he reads this. Seems like there is always some surf on the cape because it is so far out to sea. The water was super cold again and I only had Scott's shorty to wear. Nothing all that great, but fun.
|
September 6, 2004 - The Wall, Hampton, NH Worst surf (if you could call it that) of the summer. This was supposed to be the tail end of Hurricane Frances swell. I knew it would be a little messy with a SE wind, but the reports said knee-waist and the WAM was showing a 3-6 long line. The waves that did come through wouldn't break until the beach. It was really lame. There were a ton of people around with boards, but not as many in the water. I stayed in for about 15 minutes and called it a day. This is almost not worthy of an entry and there was no point in taking a picture of a choppy lake.
|
September 10, 2004 - Good Harbor Beach, Gloucester, MA Its been a while since I've been surfing in Gloucester. I am still on half day Fridays and the report was waist-chest+ for today. I think this was accually the remnants of Frances. Scott and Alyssa were in town so I met them at Good Harbor. It was a half decent day with WNW winds, but the winds were about 15-20 mph when were were surfing at about 1:15-2:45 PM. The surf was definitely clean and about waist w/occasional chest, but they were total close-outs as you can see from the photo. Still it was pretty fun getting into the waves, but the rides were real short. We heard that it was better in the early AM w/ bigger surf and less winds.
|
September 24, 2004 - Jeness Beach, Rye, NH Sizable ground swell from Hurricane Karl which was in the middle of the Atlantic. I took this Friday off, but I was surfing solo. Nice weather sunny in the upper 60's with no wind. Checked out the wall first which was flat with big sets far apart and kind of closeouts as usual. Parking meters were also still up in Hampton so I went to Jeness. ON my way up I saw someone ripping it up on a big wave at Foxhill. Jeness was about the same size as the wall, but you could catct a left or right on the waves. As I paddled out there were definitly some bombs coming through. There would be periods of almost flatness and then a monster set would arrive where you'd have to paddle out not to get wipped out. Some of the sets were head high and bigger, but not overly menecing because they were somewhat mushy. I surfed for a while on the most northern end of the beach, but I had a hard time catching a direction before the wave closed. Nonetheless, I caught some big ones! I then tried down on the main beach in my usual location and caught some nice lefts on some chest-head high waves. I was able to drop in and then carve back up the face and drop in again to try to work my way around the white water. It was pretty cool. A lot of paddleing and a real fun workout.
|
October 3, 2004 - Jeness Beach, Rye, NH Met Scotty V. for some surf on Sunday morning. The air temp has cooled down to the upper 50's but the water felt really warm. Surf was kind of a mix of ground and wind swell with pretty choppy conditions. The water was a soupy mix of seaweed and brownish-green cloudy water. Winds were out of the NE at 5-15, but were out of the NW before we got there at 9:30 AM, so that messed it up a bit. We went in on the southern end first wich pretty much blew. The waves were really mushy and hard to catch but we did manage to get a few rides. We were kind of bummed before we went back in on the northern side of the beach and wind calmed a bit. There were some waist high maybe bigger mushy sets coming through. I caught a bunch of pretty decent rides, some that actually had some length although a lot were closeouts. Scott didn't have as good of luck with wave placement and being in the right spot. Could have used a longer board today too. Surfed for about 2.5 hours. Fairly fun.
|
October 17, 2004 - Jeness Beach, Rye, NH Scott came down the night before to watch the Sox playoff (disaster) game and stayed over. We checked out the wall which was pretty clean and about waist-chest high with some closeouts. Decided to go to Jeness and park along the rock wall. It was about the same quality but a tad smaller but with a lot let people. The air was only in the 50's and wind was out of the southwest at 10-15+ mph so it was chilly. I wore my hood and then went back for my gloves. Alright, lets talk about surf. I got some good rides rights and lefts, but the winds and cold were a little harsh and frustrating. Scott had a few long good rides. They were nice and peaky so you could catch a direction, but it was tough to get around the white water and back into the wave. My best ride was nice long right that kept me going for a while. I got a couple of pics of Scott on his last and best ride where he did some cool turns. That's Scott in the photo. Surfed for about 2+ hours. Fun, but cold.
|
October 31, 2004 - Jeness Beach, Rye, NH Halloween. The last 4 times I've gone surfing, its been at Jeness. It seems to be a consistent break regardless of the tides. This was the tail end of a week long of head high surf that we both missed. Scott and I arrived at the wall at almost the exact same time. The tide was WAY to high to surf, but it looked like it would have been good if the tide was lower. It was clean (WSW winds) ground swell in the knee-waist range. The air temp was nice and warm in the 60's, but the wind was 15-20 mph. I wore my gloves and Scott wished he had a pair. The tide was real high at Jeness, but the waves were breaking much better and there were a bunch of people out, but it was only about knee-thigh high. Still these were reael fun waves. They didn't have much power, but the wind held the wave up long, so you could get long rides. I was getting lots of really good rights and some lefts. You had to angle yourself into the wave as you were paddleing to stay on the crest and get a nice long ride. Some of the rides you either had to pump or crouch down real low because of wind resistence. We had a 2.5 hour session and then checked out the wall again but the tide was too high. Scott went back in at Jeness, but I called it a day cause I was cold. Would have been a great long board day. Fun little waves regardless! Didn't bring a camera.
|
December 12, 2004 - Jeness Beach, Rye, NH Guess what?... We went to Jeness again. That's were we surf now, and its OK with me. Air temps were in the low 40's, water temps around 46, but there was almost no wind, so that kept us in the water longer. I wore my 2 mil top underneath my suit which is very restricting. I gotta get one of those hooded vests that Scott bought. So it was the three of us Scott, Larry and Me surfing together for about 10 minutes cause Scott was real late. He didn't get my messages the day before. Anyways, the tide at the wall was way too high to surf, water was crashing over the wall. I was kinda worried I'd be real cold, but I kept the white-washes to a minimum and it wasn't that bad. Waves were knee-chest high and clean. Beautiful surf conditions to start out...I was getting all kinds of nice long rights and lefts positioned on the face of the wave and rocking the board back and forth sidways to maintain speed and my position of the wave. The conditions changed a bit as the tide dropped, waves were more close-outs with less face. Had some nice drop-ins too, one where Larry said I could have got tubed if I went the right right instead of left and crouched. I ssurfed for about 1.5 hours, but Larry was in for longer with his winter suit. Took some videos with our new Canon camera.
|
June 5, 2005 - Jeness Beach, Rye, NH Well...Its been almost 6 months since I've surfed. But it was worth it because I have a new daughter!! The reports said about knee high with occ. waist so I hit it early. Got to the wall at 9:00 AM and it was a good solid waist high with some bigger sets. The tide was so high that I ended up at Jeness again. The air temp was at least 70 degrees but the water was absolutely frigid without gloves so I had to go back and get them after a half hour. All the summer beachers were out too. There were quite a few people mostly long boarders out, but managed to stay away from them. Waves were clean with no wind and quality was pretty good. I managed to catch a bunch of long rides, but my arms were definitley out of shape. I could have done much better if the water was a bit warmer and I had more arm strength. Surfed for 2 hours. I need to do this more often...
|
July 2, 2005 - Good Harbor Beach, Gloucester, MA This worked out good...we were going to a party in Beverly at 7:00, so Gloucester was close. There was a due south swell which works well at Good Harbor and actually gives the waves some more angle and less close-out. We got there a little past 5:00 PM which is when they allow surfing. It was about 75-80 degrees, dry with a 10-15 mph NW wind...perfect conditions for clean waves which were about waist high on average with some knee and some chest-shoulder high bombs. When I got out, it was sparce, but got pretty crowded in about a half hour. I had some good rides and the length of ride was above average for the usual GH close-out. I had one awesome ride where I got into the wave late to go right but stayed in the lip up high as the wind held it up. It was pretty cool. More rights than lefts. Water felt like the low sixties., not too bad. Wish I could have surfed for longer... felt like I was in better shape than last time. That's Melissa in the photo... and her hair showing the NW wind.
|
July 29, 2005 - The Wall, Hampton, NH Took the day off from work for this one. Tropical storm Franklin was out there producing nice swell. Me, Laura, and Mel went and the tide was on its way out. Air temp was around 80 and the water was pretty warm too. Wind was light out of the west. The lineup was pretty full, but you could find an open spot if you tried. Waves were great (bout waist-shoulder and clean)when I got in and I caught a few real nice ones before they started to break. Got some nice rides on the face of the wave and zoomed past some people paddeling out. As the tide changed, it got harder to catch the waves cause they flattened out. I think I was just in the wrong spot and got caught in a rip current. I went back in and the waves were much easier to catch as they jacked up quicker, but the rides were shorter. My best surf session of the year so far...
|
August 1, 2005 - Whitecrest Beach, Wellfleet, MA This was another vacation day (monday) that was part of a camping, cape, wedding trip this weekend. It was a nice day around 80 and we wanted to go to a new beach we hadn't been to before. It's a real nice drive along Ocean View Road and then there are two small lots for Whitecrest Beach with a steep decline leading down to the beach. There were 2 or three spots that every one seemed to be suring in and the other areas were flat. The spot I went in was a shallower point area where the waves broke. It was packed with people, mostly kids. The waves were about knee high with an occasional waist high. I don't know why I did this, but I rented a super heavy foam board for $15. It sucked. I caught only a few crappy waves and it was just a waste of money. I had only my 2 mil top and it wasn't that cold. There was a lot a seaweed, so it was kinda gross. There were also seals in the water. The waves weren't bad for a fiberglass long board, but those foam boards suck. I will never rent one again, no matter what the surf. Cool beach...I'd go back again.
|
August 21, 2005 - Jeness Beach, Rye Beach, NH I had to update my surf log at the request of Scott V...there's actually people that read this. Larry and Loretta stayed over the night before and me and Lar went up in the morning and the girls, including Melissa, met us there later. Larrys friend Lauren (the long boarder)also met us there. There was a low off shore. The day started off cloudy, but turned into a hot summer day. Surf was about waist-chest high and kinda mushy and bumpy in the morning but real fun. We got a lot of good rides. Got a nice long 2+ hour session in the morning before the girls arrived. There were a lot of people to avoid, but the water was warm and there were some sizable sets. A caught a few nice chest high lefts where I was crouched low and pumping past some people paddling out. I felt pretty cool. We went in for session 2 (bout 45 min) in the afternoon and it cleanud up a bit. Caught more rights this time. I was super tired after surfing this day, but had a load of fun. Can't wait till hurricane season.
|
September 8, 2005 - Good Harbor Beach, Gloucester, MA It's hurricane season! I met Larry after work and we carpooled to Gloucester on this dry sunny day. We didn't get there until about 5:30 and surfed until after the sun set when we were cold. This was long range ground swell from hurricane Maria which was giving all of New England good surf. Winds were light out of the south, so it was kind of bumpy and choppy, but there were definitely big sets in between the chop. Waves started out about waist high then it flattened out for 15 min and then it suddenly picked up with some real cleanup sets (head high?). There were times when you had to watch out for the big sets and not get caught inside. I had to jump ship a bunch of times and just dive under the big ones. I caught some nice lefts and caught one nice right where I cruised past Larry. My best ride was a wave that I got into way up on the peak and dropped in nice for a left. The wave just kept reforming and I had a nice long powerful left ride on the face. I thought I was going to have an easy dismount, but I just got piledrivin' into the ocean as the wave closed out on me. There were quite a few people out even after the sun set. Probably one of my funnest sessions at Good Harbor. I forgot to take pictures until we were leaving and it was dark.
|
September 25, 2005 - Jeness Beach, Rye, NH We made plans to meet Lauren at Jeness this day as we had seen her the day before at Larry and Loretta's wedding. There was supposed to be good long range ground swell from Hurricane Phillipe. The report in the morning said waist-chest and clean...of course that was before we got there and the winds switched. The ocean looked so ugly and disappointing. It was super choppy with a stiff south wind and you could barely see sets through all the chop. I was able to get a few rides, some even on a face, but it was a fight against chop and wind. Occasionally there was a cleanup set that cleaned up all the chop (and people) for a minute and left a lot of foam. I only stayed in for about an hour. It was just too ugly to take any photos. Hope I can get 1 or 2 more sessions this year.
|
January 30, 2006 - Juno Beach (north of the pier), FL Its been a while since I've been surfing. We were down in Fl for a whole week and I was hoping to a get a couple sessions in but this turn out to be the only one. Air temps were in the 70's and water was about 70. Scott came up from Boca Raton and we came down from Stuart to meet half way. I used his 6' fish and he used one of his short boards. It was monday so the beach wasn't very crowded. The surf was about waist high and mushy and there was minimal wind, but a strong northerly current to fight. Waves were pretty hard to judge and you had to get into them late. I did surprisingly well considering I hadn't surfed in 4 months, and I was using a fish. I only caught 4 or 5 waves in the 2 hours we surfed, but it was fun. The fish was awesome and I am sold on one. It is very floatacious and manouverable!! It was great to wear only trunks and a 2 mil top! My whole body ached for 2 days after. Thats me in the photo.
|
May 20, 2006 - The Wall, Hampton Beach, NH Its been 4 months since I've been surfing and 8 months since I've been surfing in New England. The report said kne-thigh high, but it was definitely waist-head high. The water was still very cold so I wore booties an gloves. My suit is starting to get old and I can really feel the cold water rushin when I go under. It was kinda tough getting out, being out of shape and all. The waves were definitely bigger than I bargained for, but I did manage to get a couple nice lefts on some chest high waves before I got too cold. It was fairly clean with a southwest wind. There was one head high wave that I was about to drop in on, but chickened out. I probably would have bit it anyways. Only lasted about 45 min.
|
July 2, 2006 - Jeness Beach, Rye, NH Well, I missed surfing in June, but we camped at Wakeda Campground in Hampton Falls this weekend. The campground was filled with RVs, some permanent residents. We went to the beach on Sunday and I managed to go surfing for a grand total of about an hour and 15 minutes which is pathetic considering how decent the surf and weather was. The linup was relatively uncrowded and the waves were mostly thigh high but fun. I caught a couple that I got good distance on the face and worked around the break into the face. The wind was rather strong from the south/southwest, but it didn't really affect the quality of wave which was good. The water still feels like ice on my hands and feet, but you get used to it. It was fun, but way too short. I could have surfed for another 2 hours. We checked out the wall the next day (beautiful and sunny) and it was super clean and about knee high but looked fun. However, I did not surf due to family obligations.
|
July 14, 2006 - The Wall, Hampton Beach, NH I got up really early on this Friday to go surfing before some field work in Methuen. The cam looked really small, but when I got there it was really clean, and knee high. There were actually a couple of waist high waves. It was like 80 degrees at 7:45 already, so it was the perfest morning to surf. There was only one other person out there, so I basically had the waves all to mayself. I actually caught a couple of nice long rides on the face of some knee-thigh high waves. The water was really clear too and you could see the bottom. It was just really nice to get out there early and have the rest of day to myself. I surfed for about an hour and 20 minutes until it got really flat. The water was pretty cold but not as cold as last time. I want to try to do this again!
|
July 23, 2006 - The Wall, Hampton Beach, NH We were supposed to meet Lance in Hampton beach but he totally bailed on us and went fishing at Sandy Point...again? I don't get it.. how can fishing be more fun than surfing? Anyways, the whole fam went up regardless and it WAS fun. There was a big low pressure system off shore after TS Beryl. The water was so warm it felt like RI temps maybe upper 60's. I could have trunked it. Mel went in too (up to her knees) and had lots of fun. The waves were about waist high and clean with a light NW wind at 5-10 mph. Really good conditions for learning, but loads of people. It was those kind of waves that build way out, but you have to wait to catch cause they don't materialize until close in to shore. I caught a lot of waves today, but most were pretty short rides or closeouts, however a couple were nice long rides. One of note that Laura saw was a long ride on the face where I had to turn to avoid some swimmers that I freaked out. I actually got tubed for what a waist high wave is worth. Surfed for over and hour and a half till I got tired, but I could have surfed longer. We took a ride down to Salisbury beach and there were some nice clean looking waves there too.
|
August 1, 2006 - The Cove, Santa Cruz, CA We are on vacation in Santa Cruz for the week! I didn't actually go surfing this day but tried body boarding for the first time. J.R., myself, and his friend Shante went to their favorite spot, a small cove in Santa Cruz. I borrowed J.Rs body board. This spot seemed treacherous because the waves came in fast around this rock and were rather large. It was tough because you had to use your feet (fins) instead of your hands which is tricky. Everyone was piled in the exact same spot to catch the wave, but when one came you just had to go for it and disregard the other people. I finally caught one, but was unable to get onto the face and ended up taking a wild ride in the whitewater....I swallowed some water and then got tangled up in the leash while more waves came. My limited opinion of bodyboarding is that it is more dangerous, more difficult and not as fun as surfing. The water felt pretty warm though.
|
August 2, 2006 - Capitola Beach, Capitola, CA JR knew I wanted to go surfing, so he called his friends Sara and Rebecca (twins) who had 4 surf boards. JR said they were sponsored. We met them at the beach and they had twin longboards (9') for use to use. This break was great for long boarding with about waist high clean waves. The main break was very crowded and almost impossible to get a wave. There was also lots of kelp to avoid. After about a half hour of not getting any waves, I paddled over to were JR and the girls had found their own break and the four of use were sharing waves. These were really fun little waves. I caught maybe 5 or 6 for about an hour. The waves would build for a while and you'd have to get in them when they were almost cresting, but you could get a pretty long ride. Longboards are fun! It was really cool of the girls to loan us the boards and it was more than I could have hoped for.
|
August 3, 2006 - Cowell's, Santa Cruz, CA After yesterday I was actually content with not surfing anymore, but Lance was in town and Chris was coming down with his board from San Fran, so I guess it was going to be another surfing day. I can't really complain. Chris and I decided that Cowell's would be the best place to go because it is mellow. Lance and I rented NSP epoxy boards at Cowell's surf shop. I got an 8'6" and Lance got a 9'2". Based on how flat it looked on Monday, I was a bit concerned it might suck, but when we got out to the beach it was going off...one after another for a bout 10 in a row. I was actually concerned for Lance and was giving him pointers to make sure he wouldn't get caught inside. By the time we paddled out, it calmed way down. The lineup was packed as usual, but you could still score waves because it is mostly a beginners area. The timing of the sets was really stange. It would be flat for 5-10 minutes and then sets for a couple minutes, then an occasional wave. Some of the sets were chest high. I caught several real nice long rides. My best ride was on a chest high wave and I got the face of it the entire way. It was closing in on both sides of me, but I kept riding it past people all the way until it collapsed. The waves would build and build but if you were too far out you would miss them. Lance took a beating on his way in from a wave and his arms got sore. We were pretty tired from surfing for over 2 hours but the water was warm again. The others didn't get any good pictures, just flatness.
|
September 4, 2006 - Jeness Beach, Rye Beach, NH Feels like its been forever since I've been surfing because the summer is slowly coming to an end, and August was very flat this year. Larry and Loretta came out this weekend so that me and Larry could catch some surf from TS Ernesto. The surf reports hyped it up pretty big, but it was very managable. Larry and I went up in the morning and the girls followed later. The waves were only about waist-chest and clean with a medium west wind, and actually dropped a bit throughout the day. I think it was bigger in the early AM. Waist-chest and clean is usually perfect, but these were the sort of wind swell waves that you had to get into when they were really steep and only got a really short ride (like 2 or 3 seconds). Just the opposite of that Cali groundswell. I got a lot of rides most all of them rights or straight closeouts. My best ride was one where I totally snaked Larry and got a nice long right. The water was pretty warm but it was really crowded. We surfed for about 2 to 2.5 hours. Fun waves regardless of the short rides.
|
September 21, 2006 - Jeness Beach, Rye Beach, NH I had been watching the conditions and forecast all week and this seemed to be the most consistent week of surf this summer. The swell was from Gordon then Helene. So I finally got some time off of work and decided on dawn patrol Thurday. There was definitely some ground swell from Helene, but unfortunatly winds were a brisk 10-20 mph NW which made it almost impossible to catch waves. The air temp was only in the 50's at 8:00 AM also so it was chilly, but it was sunny. There was a wait in between sets and when the sets came they were almost always total closeouts that were too steep to get into. I talked with some other guy who was having the same problem. I wore my booties which kinda stinks. I didn't get any rides, but from the looks of the picture, I should have.
|
September 22, 2006 - First Beach, Newport, RI After looking at the log I noticed it has been exactly 3 years since I have surfed Newport. We came domw to spend the day in Newport and to surf for about an hour. Actually I only got 45 minutes in, but it was fun. This was continued swell from Helene, an it was waist to head high. The wind was from the southwest so it was kind of crumbly. It was pretty hard to get out through all the white water past the breakers. The water was reaaly warm though and some people trunked it. I caught about three shoulder high waves which were easy to get into. I got a couple of nice fast long rides and the last one was a very long right on the face. I got one ride where the waves was clsing in on either side and then enveloped me in white water at the end. It definitely was not for beginners. RI is awesome in the fall. Better than yesterday.
|
October 9, 2006 - Good Harbor Beach, Gloucester, MA This was the first time I surfed MA this year...kinda weird. It was a beautiful day all sunshine, 70s and light wind from the SW so all of us went to the beach for the afternoon for one last day of summer? There was actually a lot of people at Good Harbor, but parking is free this time of year which is nice. The tide was super high and there was a strong current pulling to the north so I had to keep paddling to the south. The water was nice and crystal clear, not to cold, and you could see to the bottom. Waves were waist high and real fun and easy to catch. Wind was about 10mph from the SW which created sort of a chop. I caught a bunch of rides during my hour long session but no real memorable ones to write about. One wave I had a nice late drop-in on that was fun. Could have used a long board today, but it was pretty fun. We went to the new Brickhouse Surf Shop in Gloucester and Woodmans afterwards for fried hell.
|
July 15, 2007 - Good Harbor Beach, Gloucester, MA This was my first surf of 2007. We've been so busy with stuff this year, we haven't had the time to get to the beach. We left for the beach after Mel's nap at 3:30 and decided in mid drive to go to GH rather than NH. Free parking after 5:00 which is nice and the waves were kinda messy (south wind) and about knee-waist. There were bout 10-15 other people out. I caught some ok rides but you really had to crouch and pump to get anywhere. I got out of the water when the sky started to look like it was going to thunderstorm.
|
July 24, 2007 - Town Beach, Narragansett, RI Went surfing after EPA oversight in N. Kingstown. Didn't get out until almost 5:00 PM. The beach was super crowded as usual. Waves were typical Town Beach waves, knee-waist, clean, but closeouts for the most part. I only caught about 3-4 waves in an hour, but had a couple nice rights where I was trying to beat the white water. Used my 2 mil top and got kinda cold.
|
August 3, 2007 - The Wall, Hampton, NH I had the day off to go camping at Salisbury Beach with Mike and Lance, but we decided not to stay overnight. They were fishing at Sandy Point, but we decided to go to the beach before meeting up with them. (If i'm driving all the way to the ocean, I'm going surfing, not fishing.) We ate lunch at a really cool 50's diner called Fast Eddies, then got to the wall at around mid tide, but it seemed closer to high tide. It was really hot out and the water was really warm (in the low 70's). The waves were about knee-waist and clean with a SW wind. I got one great left on the face and had a nice dismount. Also some nice rights with good dismounts. There were tons of people and a lot of swimmers to avoid too. I had to bail out on one to not hit some swimmers. The tide eventually got too high and the waves flattened. Mel and Laura ran out of beach sand and were on the rocks. Used my 2 mil top again. Good waves and fun.
|
August 9, 2007 - Nauset Beach, Orleans, MA This was the first day of our annual camping trip to Nickerson. Good thing we went to the beach today, cause it rained the next day, although it would've been free parking. We paid the $15 bucks for parking at 3:30 PM. I only surfed for a little over an hour, but it was fun. It was kinda messy, but the waves were peaky and about waist high. Sometime an accasional bigger set would come through. You had to be lined up right at the peak and catch it as it broke. I got some nice lefts with diving finishes. There was a lot of seaweed in the water, but the water was warm. I wore my fullsuit to stay warm anyways. Seems like there is ALWAYs surf on the cape. We checked out Whitecrest the next day, which looked like fun clean longboard waves.
|
August 25, 2007 - The Wall, Hampton, NH I'm writing this about 3 weeks after the fact, so it is kinda hard to remember everything. It was a really hot day and surf was up, so we went to the Wall. The tide was low, so there was room for Melissa to play on the beach. The waves were about waist high ground swell, but there were some long waits between sets. There was an occasional chest high set. It was a warm south wind, but I wore my full suit anyways. I definitely caught some nice rides. Got some nice lefts and rights. Finally I took a picture, first picture of the year. We got ice cream afterwards that melted quicker than we could eat it. Pretty fun surf.
|
September 20, 2007 - The Wall, Hampton, NH The nesurf.com forecast gave it the green light for this day with waist high clean swell. So I decided to get in a mid-day session before going to my job site in Methuen. I got there around 12:20 and it looked lame. It was low tide and almost breaking on the shore. Maybe the tides have something to do with where it breaks at the wall. Seems like mid tide is usually the best bet there. Anyways, it was rather clean with a light SW wind. I had to be positioned very close to the shore break to get rides, which I got a fair amount of in my 45 min. session. But the rides were milisecond in length before the wave completely collapsed. I wore my booties, but might not have needed them. It was nice to be out surfing on a beautiful day regardless.
|