Just for Fun, April 30, 2009

Who likes a stale blog?

Eastside Surfblog past entries

04/30/09

Looking at the surf on Saturday afternoon, I had already begun formulating all the excuses I would use to explain why my prediction of rideable surf posted on last week’s Weekend was bogus. Because all day Saturday, the surf looked pretty miserable. And, I should know, I checked it regularly. It looked so terrible on the IOP Surf Cam, I couldn’t believe it and had to go see for myself. So when Norman called me late Saturday and asked me to go check it with him, I didn’t have the heart to tell him how small it was. He sounded so enthusiastic, I thought maybe his stoke would make us paddle out. But looking at it just made it worse. Somebody had to do something. So, on Saturday evening, standing there on the dunes with Norman, I resolved to go surfing Sunday regardless of how terrible it was.

Being your full-service Surfblogger I feel that it is my duty to tell you the best ways to make yourself go surf slop. First off, if it is still wetsuit weather, put your wetsuit on before you leave the house. Just the legs, of course, because you will dehydrate before you reach the beach if you zip it up. Then, when you get to the beach, don’t go check the surf. Just zip up, grab your board out of the car and go. That pretty much works most of the time. You’re already dressed, you’re there — no excuses. Second, before you leave the house, tell your spouse that you will come home and (pick one) paint/pressure wash/re-shingle/vinyl side/stucco the house if there is no surf. If that doesn’t work, visualize having moved somewhere like Kansas and you haven’t seen the ocean for five years. You’ll pretty much paddle out in anything. This last method is dangerous, though, so don’t visualize being inland for any more than five years, or you will swallow your tongue or get a rash in your armpit.

However, all this “surf the slop” thinking was wasted, because on Sunday, the swell I predicted started rolling in. If you hit it Sunday morning, you had a nice waist-plus session. The thing that has surprised me, though, is that, as of this writing on Wednesday night, the swell is still here. So hopefully you have been on it, because the swell has built steadily since Sunday. The bros on the east and west sides reported waves in the chest-high range Tuesday and Wednesday at dawn patrol and after-work sessions. If you are hearing about it for the first time while reading this, you missed. As for the weekend forecast, you might have to use the methods in the paragraph above, because it ain’t looking too hopeful.

Something happened to the sandbar at my usual spot over the winter, and it hasn’t been looking as good up there, so I’ve been going to the spot where everybody else goes. So I’ve had a couple of sessions with Norman. We caught up with each other again Sunday evening, and he was getting in his van as I pulled up. He wasn’t wet, so I thought the swell had dropped. Talking to him, I found out he was thinking it would be better at the Washout and was headed there — even though Mrs. Norman was expecting him for dinner soon and would be pissed. Since I was all set to go, and it was getting close to dark, I just went ahead and paddled out and had a great session with fun long lines, just right for my longboard.

While I surfed, I contemplated the conversation with Norman. What, I asked myself, would compel him to drive 45 minutes for maybe half a foot bigger surf and me to check it 3 times the day before, knowing it was total junk before I even left home? And why would he knowingly suffer the wrath of Mrs. Norman — and I that of Mrs. Blog had the dinner thing been an issue with me? Something to ponder. For I would classify us both as fairly normal guys in most other respects: wives, jobs, kids, mortgages, etc. So having some days now to think about it, I have boiled it down to two basic tenets surfers must live by — and being your full-service Surfblogger, it’s my duty to share them with you:

1. The surf might get better.
2. Forgiveness is always better than permission.

Who likes a stale blog?

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Eastside Surfblog past entries

Read 04/23/09 entry
Read 04/09/09 entry
Read 03/19/09 entry
Read 03/12/09 entry
Read 03/05/09 entry
Read 02/26/09 entry
Read 02/12/09 entry
Read 02/05/09 entry
Read 01/29/09 entry
Read 01/22/09 entry
Read 01/15/09 entry
Read 01/08/09 entry
Read 12/31/08 entry
Read 12/24/08 entry
Read 12/18/08 entry
Read 12/11/08 entry
Read 12/02/08 entry

Useful links

Nosara Wildlife

Jupiter Inlet

Juno pier

IOP pier surf cam

Favorite surf forecast site

Click here to e-mail the Surfblogger.

04/30/09

Looking at the surf on Saturday afternoon, I had already begun formulating all the excuses I would use to explain why my prediction of rideable surf posted on last week’s Weekend was bogus. Because all day Saturday, the surf looked pretty miserable. And, I should know, I checked it regularly. It looked so terrible on the IOP Surf Cam, I couldn’t believe it and had to go see for myself. So when Norman called me late Saturday and asked me to go check it with him, I didn’t have the heart to tell him how small it was. He sounded so enthusiastic, I thought maybe his stoke would make us paddle out. But looking at it just made it worse. Somebody had to do something. So, on Saturday evening, standing there on the dunes with Norman, I resolved to go surfing Sunday regardless of how terrible it was.

Being your full-service Surfblogger I feel that it is my duty to tell you the best ways to make yourself go surf slop. First off, if it is still wetsuit weather, put your wetsuit on before you leave the house. Just the legs, of course, because you will dehydrate before you reach the beach if you zip it up. Then, when you get to the beach, don’t go check the surf. Just zip up, grab your board out of the car and go. That pretty much works most of the time. You’re already dressed, you’re there — no excuses. Second, before you leave the house, tell your spouse that you will come home and (pick one) paint/pressure wash/re-shingle/vinyl side/stucco the house if there is no surf. If that doesn’t work, visualize having moved somewhere like Kansas and you haven’t seen the ocean for five years. You’ll pretty much paddle out in anything. This last method is dangerous, though, so don’t visualize being inland for any more than five years, or you will swallow your tongue or get a rash in your armpit.

However, all this “surf the slop” thinking was wasted, because on Sunday, the swell I predicted started rolling in. If you hit it Sunday morning, you had a nice waist-plus session. The thing that has surprised me, though, is that, as of this writing on Wednesday night, the swell is still here. So hopefully you have been on it, because the swell has built steadily since Sunday. The bros on the east and west sides reported waves in the chest-high range Tuesday and Wednesday at dawn patrol and after-work sessions. If you are hearing about it for the first time while reading this, you missed. As for the weekend forecast, you might have to use the methods in the paragraph above, because it ain’t looking too hopeful.

Something happened to the sandbar at my usual spot over the winter, and it hasn’t been looking as good up there, so I’ve been going to the spot where everybody else goes. So I’ve had a couple of sessions with Norman. We caught up with each other again Sunday evening, and he was getting in his van as I pulled up. He wasn’t wet, so I thought the swell had dropped. Talking to him, I found out he was thinking it would be better at the Washout and was headed there — even though Mrs. Norman was expecting him for dinner soon and would be pissed. Since I was all set to go, and it was getting close to dark, I just went ahead and paddled out and had a great session with fun long lines, just right for my longboard.

While I surfed, I contemplated the conversation with Norman. What, I asked myself, would compel him to drive 45 minutes for maybe half a foot bigger surf and me to check it 3 times the day before, knowing it was total junk before I even left home? And why would he knowingly suffer the wrath of Mrs. Norman — and I that of Mrs. Blog had the dinner thing been an issue with me? Something to ponder. For I would classify us both as fairly normal guys in most other respects: wives, jobs, kids, mortgages, etc. So having some days now to think about it, I have boiled it down to two basic tenets surfers must live by — and being your full-service Surfblogger, it’s my duty to share them with you:

1. The surf might get better.
2. Forgiveness is always better than permission.