It's getting harder and harder...

...not to lose our minds, yo?

If the waves don't return soon, there will be more insanity than I care to imagine.

Oh, wait.  The waves will surely come back this Friday and Saturday when I am scheduled to be sequestered with two toddlers while their parents and older siblings take a trip to SEA WORLD.

Stay tuned, the surf will rise then.

In the meantime, let the milder, more entertaining forms of insanity begin...

Paying it forward

Except for sugar, damnit

First Decent Day

...in awhile.  We were actually smiling out there today.  Andy caught some good ones on his new LB Firewire, Tom had a few choice ones. But the best wave that stands out for me, was the last one Andy and I both caught and rode.  He went right and I went left.  As soon as I paddled for it, I was on heaven's doorstep because I could see it was the biggest wave I had seen all morning and it was stacking up steep and all the way to the inside and I was in position.  As soon as I stood up, I heard DC hooting, and I could not believe it was actually a really good wave.  I remembered what to do with a real wave, from Panama, and all the way to the inside.  When I paddled back out, Tom paddled all the way over to me to say, "Patience pays off!  That was a good one!"

It had started out as usual this morning, from Marineland to Mary Street, driving all over for closeouts and - Dude, where is that sandbar?  Turns out the best one was at the last place place you would expect because it has been so disappointing lately. 

Summerhaven.

For some reason, it was wedging up there and peeling off, but everyone found out pretty quickly and by the time I left it was getting so crowded it was taking the life out of it.

Overall, a very surprisingly fun morning.  I felt the glow of it all day...

And, still high from the surprise party last night, too.

Happy Birthday Pee Wee, Aaron Paul, and me!

That last episode of Breaking Bad, I agree with you Mr. C...  Aaron Paul deserves an Emmy for that performance. Things are going beyond the beyonds from here on out.



I know you are, but what am I?

OLD!  Reflections on turning 60...

I still walk around the block and think I can jump over that fence, and would like to go explore that creepy abandoned house with my cousin like we did when we were ten years old.  Maybe I will never grow up.  I have now grown old, yes, like everyone else has or eventually will, hopefully.  No one gets out of here alive. But, grow up?  Highly unlikely, since it hasn't happened yet.

Went surfing this morning in choppy junk, but actually had fun!  One hour of warm water and sunshine is just what this old lady needed. It looked like seven hells from the beach, but Tom and I decided that it was only going to get smaller, so we just went.  Four feet at nine seconds is nothing to ignore at this stage. My first wave, as an official old fart, was pretty damn good! At this point, it will be fun to see just how long I can last.  Pressure is off, striving for stuff will now become a thing of the past.  From here on out, it's about enjoying the ride.

Yeah...

Thought for the day...

Even the junk has disappeared

There's always this:

Orange is the New Black

Thanks, Netflix!

Smaller, cleaner junky junk

But, it's always better with friends out there.  It was Andy, Tom, me, and D.C. sharing junky junk this morning at the inlet.  It dropped a foot in size, and as soon as we grabbed our boards and walked back out, the wind turned onshore. Ack! Can't seem to catch a break, but the water is still green and 82 degrees, and Andy was styling on that Firewire Mann shape longboard for our entertainment.  We found something to ride, and it wasn't half as bad as it looked from shore. Plus, a day in the water is better than not at all, right?

Bigger junk, so I go!

Mark was looking at it before dawn, said it looked horrible.  He decided to go to his workout instead.

I was not going to waste the perfect tide (high at 9:27 am), swell increase (3.9 at 8 seconds), and warm (82 degrees!) green water, no way.  No matter the wind stayed onshore all night.  We can never get everything in the right combination, it seems.  Hence, the incredible pain when it happens - and you can't be there.

And the incredible joy when you can.

So, hard-headed me (Yes, Dad, you were right) went to the inlet, despite it all, because I had a feeling I could find something there at high tide.  I walked out with my board, didn't even look, and found some chunky walls coming in, bigger than yesterday, so one in sight.

I love this time of year.

Too early to skip class for the high school kids, and too early for the Flagler College crew to be here. No one ever even checked. Andy said he was going to work, and Bob is still healing. The boys of summer were no where to be found.

Well, it wasn't anything epic, but it was fun.  Lots of ramps and lips to hit, and the water was a mint green, glazed with silver from the reflection of a tropical sky overhead, showers all around, the wind a bit too much onshore to make it epic.  But, if the winds had been offshore, let me just say that this would have been a day to remember.  No one would believe me if I said there were chest high walls pouring in, but there it was, and no one ever even looked until the very end, when I left at dead high tide. A girl named 'Cat' showed up in the parking lot, smiling, asked me how it was, and headed out for her own solo session.

Junkjunkjunkandmorejunk

Are you still there, readers?  I doubt it.  Nothing to report here except more of the worst summer of surf I have ever seen since I moved here in 1979.  I am not even posting a photo of it, who cares?  Tom talked me into going out at Crescent Beach this morning, but it was more closeout one to two foot wind swell. At least the water was warm!  Meanwhile, I will try to remember what real surfing looks like... oh, yeah.  THIS.

Yesterday in Nicaragua.

Delivery: 2 foot with lots of wind on top

It's a Despair Parfait!

We finally get some long lines this morning, 3 feet at 9 seconds, but served with a slathering of onshore winds on top.

Oh, well, I am still getting over last night's latest episode of Breaking Bad.  They left us hanging at the end, at least I didn't expect it to end right there. That was just cruel.

Squeeze is singing, "Summer is over, I can count the cars..."

My mind is a maze of trying to hold my head up in the face of the worst summer ever, with winter just around the corner. Next week they are calling for waves, finally, but guess what?  A NE'er comes with that prediction!

I swear it feels like a test of everything I have been preaching since my return from Panama. We really are lucky, aren't we, we just don't see the big picture - and what we have all around us.

Okay, I will be okay.

So, this morning at Mary Street the surf was pathetic again.  High tide, onshore winds, with me and Mark scrapping for what one wave sets tried to heave themselves onto the too deep sandbar.  Just try to keep moving, forget about a tube or hitting a lip,  What lip?  After two or three, I headed for the inlet, where it was breaking decent at high tide and the water was mint green.  The wind was the thing.  If it had been offshore winds, I would still be out there rather than sitting here writing this.  I had hope because I saw surf vehicles, one with the Pit Surf Shop stickers, the PRAY FOR SURF stickers on a truck, and there was the Spy van.  There were some rippers out there, white bellies of surfboards were flashing in the sunshine.  SMACK!  At least you could do a maneuver out there.  I stayed for an hour before the wind just ruined it for me, totally.  Okay, here comes our mantra...

Maybe tomorrow.

The kids are back in school...

...so where is the traditional back to school swell?

I went out anyway.  It's been flat all summer, by world standards, and this was the biggest it has been in awhile. Sad, that. The water temperature finally caught up with summer today, as summer vacation for the kiddies ended.

It was pathetic.  Close period swell, one footers coming in sets of three back to back.  But, every ten minutes a set came in that was like something saying hello from far away.  Almost waist high. They say it is supposed to build today, and be a whopping two feet tomorrow, woo hoo!

I am thankful, yes I am, that I can go out if that happens. Sometime you forget the simple gifts that have been bestowed upon you.  Some people, Bob, in particular, may be cut from ANY surfing for awhile...

Right, Bob?

Probably wouldn't be in a good way

That's about right

Oh, waves!

Still nothing

Okay, it's the middle of August, already!  Everyone agrees that this crappy summer of no waves has become beyond ridiculous, wave gods. You must have something really silly good in store for us, right?

Remind me, again, why I decided not to move to Panama?

Meanwhile, some decisions are good.

Took my young neighbor surfing this morning...

She was so cute walking out there to the surf, recounting the tips I had given her during her last lesson.

She recited the most important things she had taken from that lesson.

#1: "Relax!"

So much of surfing, and life, is about not thinking too much and letting your fears and worries get the better of you.


#2: "Sharks are not out to get you!"  You are in much more danger riding in or driving a car around on the road than ever being bitten by a shark. They don't like the way we taste, and going back to number one, they sense fear and will go after an animal they detect this in.  They are essentially cowards.

So, relax.  I was quite pleased that these two things were what she remembered most from a surfing lesson long ago.

Still pretty sad...

...but surfing with friends makes it more fun.  Andy, Tom, and I shared a few at Mary St. this morning.

Best moment: When the stingray jumped out of the water beside Andy and he screamed like a girl.

The stingray looked pretty shook up, too.

It was sad...

...but I went out for an hour, anyway.  A couple of them actually were more fun than yesterday, those two random walls that rolled in, but for the most part the word "sad" seemed to sum it up best.

Here's something kinda funny...

That pic I posted in my last blog reminded me of me and Andy out there today, and then I just found out it WAS really us out there in the water today.  Life is so funny sometimes...

When will this flat spell ever end??

Andy and I couldn't take it anymore.

We paddled out this morning.

 It looked really small, but there was something.  

You could stand up.  

And then, we started going for everything and actually having fun.  

It was breaking close to shore, but when you are with a friend and laughing, it makes even the worse day more fun.  And it was worth it to see Josh Cabana's smiling face, out there surfing with his kid.

Shark Week

My sister was standing knee deep in the ocean this week and there in a crystal clear wave appeared a five foot shark riding casually through it. She had to call me right away, and I have never heard her so excited.

Let's not discuss it right now

From the depths of our despair...

... comes some of this country's most interesting characters.

Super Nanny

What?  You mean I can't buy all these?

No waves forecast for a week...

It's a good thing the waves went flat

Time to get back in the kitchen.

Bye Bye Dorian

You were a tease...

He never regenerated, but it's not his fault.  Damn winds sheared him like a sheep.

But, that didn't keep me and my little sister from having fun today.  I got a nice surprise when I made the scenic trek, along 38 miles of A1A, to see her and her new house in Ormond Beach. We scored a fine little session together.

She lives one block from the beach now, the lucky goofball!  We walked the two minutes to the beach to find a nice little swell, glassy and clean, and the water was almost crystal green.  The sun was out, and the sandbars were groomed to perfection.  Little A-frame peaks kept rolling in, about thigh to waist high, that allowed for some mini-tubes and open faces to race across and smack.  She was delighted to catch some on my mini-longboard, and I was thrilled to finally have waves that broke right.

Afterwards, we went to a great Mexican restaurant for some beans, rice, fresh guacamole, and fried plantains with grilled onions - and sweet iced tea with lemon.  Sweet Jesus, it was heaven.

I checked the waves the entire way back, giving Bob the blow by blow description the whole way back. The winds stayed offshore ALL DAY for once.

Flagler Pier:  TOO CROWDED, and most of the waves were closing out at low tide.  Full on beach scene there, mega tourists and no parking.  Sun was blazing.

Marineland:  Probably the best of all, slightly bigger than anywhere I saw the entire way back, with a nice little right zipping through.  Note: Keep an eye on this spot.

Summerhaven: The worst.  Brown ugly water and half the size of anywhere. WEAK.

The Inlet:  So so.  A few guys out, but mostly looked weak and closing out.  Water clarity: fair to good.

Mary St. had potential, saw a perfect A frame peak as soon as I walked up. I called Andy and said let's go in an hour. OK, BOSS!

We did, but the swell seemed to only drop and get weaker as we waited.  He caught a few good ones on the log and I had two memorable ones.  Oh, wait, I already forgot.

It does not look good here for waves for awhile, but it is just getting to the season, so...

Dorian fades, but...

... some are thinking he may regenerate and move out into the Atlantic tomorrow...

Well, I am not getting too excited about this storm anymore.  Maybe if I just write it off...

This morning I had to check it, thinking that if the swell dropped it might not close out as much with deeper water.  That was the case, slightly, and some of the tiny leftover tiny lines held up for a second before closing out today!  Woo hoo!

No matter, the water was still brown and cold and the winds were practically non-existent.

Like the waves.

Humbling.

More Pretend Waves

I swear, if this was what surfing was like here all the time I would QUIT!

All that energy, swell in the water, even bigger than yesterday - and all close-outs.  I think every wave I took off on today shut down the minute I got to my feet.  It looked best when Andy and I first got there, at higher tide, when the waves were at least holding up for a second.  By the time we got out there, and into that butt cold muddy water (76 degrees!? Come on, it's July!) it was already starting its annoying thing.  Oh, look, it is bigger than yesterday!  Woo hoo!  But just try to get on of those suckers without it shutting down on you before you can do anything.  I saw Andy pull into one and disappear only to see that tater get spit out like a dirty fry! But, we had fun laughing at each other trying to surf those shape shifters.  Once he left, there was no reason to stay - and I only started cussing instead of laughing.

I had one right after his covert cover-up, that peeled off, but it was so fast all I could do was race it to the inside.  Cut backs?  What's that?  There was none of that going on today at Mary St.  There is nothing more frustrating than hearing there are waves and then getting out there and seeing that they are only slamming closed on the shallow sandbar on outgoing tide and the inlet is one big raging current until afternoon when I am cut off completely.

Sometimes, this is the worst place to be if you love surfing.  Maybe tomorrow things will improve. Dorian might move out in the Atlantic, regenerate, the bars will get right, the tide will co-operate, and pigs will fly.