Wednesday Afternoon Surfing

Finally some ok waves. Had to swap out for warm water wax and ditched the surf booties. I've been out twice since my last blog entry, but the waves were nothing all that special. I'll include some pics. Had decent waist high sets coming in if you could find them; but the waves really didn't want to break. I had some pretty decent rides. Also had knee to thigh high waves close to shore that lined up pretty well. Couldn't ride these waves very long though. Wax wore off throughout the day, so staying on the board got tough. I should'a took a break to comb the wax. Hopefully have decent waves this weekend.

Thursday Surfing, Slightly smaller waves, sunny Thur 11Mar10

Spring break is getting into swing here on the beach. Make sure you got a parking permit if heading to the beaches. Waves were definitely cleaner than the past couple days. Not as big, but you just had to wait longer in order to catch them. I had a good number of rides. I feel like every time I'm out on my board, I get better. Probably my best wave of the day I caught before it broke. I rode it laterally, but found that if I got too close to the end, I had to carve back towards the center of the wave. When I did it, I was able to ride sidewards and I probably repeated it three or four times. It was definitely fun. Can't wait to get out tomorrow.

Big waves and Choppy Conditions, Tuesday 09March

Waves were a little bigger than the last time I was out. Still choppy and no kite boarders out, thankfully. I caught a good number of waves. I'm definitely making progress. I did get inside the break too often, and ended up getting slammed pretty good the last wave of the day. Weather got better throughout the day as well. Did have a couple of posers out there. I get a little frustrated with people at the beach who bring out surfboards but don't actually surf when there's waves. I guess it's good that it keeps idiots out of the water, but it's still annoying.

Cloudy day to sunny sunset at N. Packery

Hit up N. Packery. Sky was very overcast and I was the first surfer out there. Later on the sky cleared up. I caught decent number of waves, I really love this KG Orca board. I found that most of the time it was easiest to catch waves all the way to shore then walk over and catch the rip back out. There was decent sized waves, but sometimes the waves would steepen and you'd try to catch it, then they would slacken and you wouldn't be able to catch it. It would push you out of the break, if you let yourself get pushed too far, you'd get in a sideways current and wouldn't be able to catch any waves. There was a decent number of windboarders out. I really hate those guys. There was one retard who had a surfboard like board that only had a traction pad and no foot straps or leash and kept losing his board. Talk about dangerous. He also kept stealing waves. I was about to catch the best wave of the day and this fool comes buy and cuts me off. If you kiteboard you are not a surfer, just a yuppie bitch!

Old, but good pics

Port Aransas Surf Competition

Drove up to Port A to take a shifty at the surf comp going on. Overcast conditions and waves seemed smaller than yesterday. Still cool, nothing spectacular though.

Sunny Saturday at N. Packery

Drove to N. Packery today, I wanted to try out my kg board. It was sunny with a few clouds, water was about 60* and waves ranged anywhere from knee to waist high, growing throughout the day. The beach was packed with tourists, mostly people with huge trucks who lacked self confidence. There was alot of beer bellied girls and a fat dude who looked like a washed up Brad Noelle of Sublime wannabe with his stupid tattoos. I took a back way in to the channel that cut a couple miles off the trip, but I came close to bottoming out my car several times. Finally got out and got suited up.

I hit the waves, riding the light rip out along the jetty and paddling north into the break. I didn't have much luck at first, I wasn't used to paddling the new board and had no idea where to position myself both lying down and while standing. It was also pretty packed and the waves broke and petered out before breaking again, it was really a longboard day. I stuck with it, I was out for a total of three and a half hours. It was pretty busy in the lineup up until 5pm, when everyone vanished and it was just myself and one or two other surfers. Of course then the waves started picking up. I improved throughout the day, the last wave was definitely my best, I caught it and rode it laterally and was under control at all times. Saw a dolphin pop up not more than thirty feet from me while I was down by the end of the jetty too! I like dolphins cause they'll chase away the sharks. I could've stayed out for another half hour but was pretty beat so I called it a day.

Getting back to my car, saw some fool get his huge truck stuck in the sand. Duelly without four wheel drive. I just couldn't resist driving my little Subaru by him just to show off. If he had been another surfer or hadn't already been getting towed out I would've helped, but I couldn't resist emasculating the guy a little further.

Also including some pics of my boards, I waxed them inside before I went, I had pretty good success, works alot better when you wax a board in a climate controlled sand free environment. Put on both a base and topcoat.

Cinco Day Marcho or Sundown Sunup

Started the day out on a trip to Wind and Wave surf shop. I had been in early this week and they were expecting an order of boards, hopefully some kane garden epoxies. The owner said he thought there was a 6'6" orca, turns out he had order a 7", which is exactly what I wanted. So, after shelling out some hard earned cash I was headed back home. Only problem was that I needed to wait 24 hours for the traction pad to finish adhering.

I threw my freshly repaired NSP 8'7" on the roof and headed to south Packery, didn't feel like dealing with a riptide or a longer drive. I got there just after 5pm, sunset was slated for 6:33pm. I squeezed into my surf booties, only to find a fellow surfer get his pickup stuck in the sand (gotta love all wheel drive on my Subaru!) He was close to the water, but had got in some soft sand and had begun digging himself in. Ten minutes of digging trenches got him out. It was a pretty good pre-surfing warmup, something that I don't do enough! After that I was out catching the choppy swell, ran anywhere from knee towards waist (mostly thigh high) surf. I had a good number of rides, didn't go to far out along the jetty. It's getting alot easier for me to ride laterally on a wave, or just keep going if its mostly closed out. I did have a spell of not being able to catch any waves, I decided to experiment and slid further back on my board before trying to catch a wave. Boom! I'm hitting a good number of waves and had my nose up so it wouldn't pearl or dive. It started getting dark, but some high clouds came through and pretty much acted like mirrors with the setting sun, letting me surf for twenty minutes with it being as bright as daylight conditions.

Waves should be getting bigger and cleaner all weekend, there is also supposed to be a surf competition going on this weekend up in Port Aransas, so I'm hoping to go up there and see some great surfing! Water in off Padre Island is up to 60* and should be rising, still glad I have the wetsuit and booties though!

In like a lion... March 1st riptide adventure

Finally got my board back after my jetty jumping adventure, and almost ran into more trouble today. I didn't get out until after 5:30 today (sundown was at 6:30); I misplaced the three screws that attach my fins to my board. Turns out that I had put them in my key pocket on the eightseven's leash. Wind has been picking up all day, it's gotten even worse while I've been back and as I write this blog entry. I decided to check out the north side of the Packery channel jetty. The wind was gusting from the North West and fine sand was blowing across the beach like snow across the field in wintertime. After parking near the north jetty, I angled my car into the wind and cautiously took my board of the roof. I left the upwind strap attached by loose to make it easier to get my board on and off my roof. I'm not a big fan of getting smacked in my face with the board! I finally got it off my roof and did my best to apply a coat of wax to the board. I didn't have too much luck because the blowing sand kept getting into the wax. With every intention of surfing a couple small waves and getting out well before the sunset, I stepped out into the 56 degree gulf. I managed to catch one decent wave, I sorta rode it while standing on the tail. I found myself close to the jetty, so I tried paddling directly away from it, I knew there was a rip there, and I didn't want it to pull me out into the big waves past the end of the jetty. Meanwhile, the sun ways on the horizon. I kept stroking away from the jetty, I was able to gain a little distance, but I began to realize that I was getting pulled closer and closer to the end of the jetty. I started getting a little afraid, last thing I wanted to do was to be pulled way out past the jetty and it be too dark for anyone to see me. I managed to catch a small wave, but it was headed for the jetty and put me back into the heart of the rip. As I got further out, the waves kept getting bigger, but didn't break in the rip. I saw a guy further out than me. Once far enough out, he was able to catch a big wave and ride it into shore. I suddenly realized that the only way to get back to shore, was to let the rip pull me further out. As I got further out, the rip began to lose the lateral pull, and I was able to swim out to where the waves were breaking. Now the sun was just below the edge of the western sky. I had to make sure not to catch the side of the wave that ran back towards the rip. I managed to catch a wave and have it carry me closer to shore. I stayed on my stomach so I could ride it as far as possible. I caught a smaller wave and I was close enough to put my feet back on solid ground (if you call fine beach sand that) and get back to shore.
That rip was scary because there was no way to escape it without trying to be a daredevil and scale the jetty, or let it pull you far enough out until you could swim laterally. Also, it was getting dark and I didn't have a good coat of wax to be able to setup a good angle on a wave to get further away from the rip. The good part is that I have a better understanding of the rip, and it is way cleaner to use it on the north side to get out into good waves. The waves were big, but they weren't all that violent. The waves out here are alot less violent than those at Pensacola beach.

Jetty Jump Disaster 04FEB2010

Went surfing today, waves were big and pretty choppy. I picked up a pair of surfbooties, water has been really cold and it's hard to surf when you can't feel your feet! After catching a couple decent waves, I made the mistake of trying to jump of the end of the south jetty, unfortunately, I got caught by a little wave (for that day anyway) that swept me off the jetty. I scrapped my hands up pretty good trying to not to get completely washed off the jetty, and my board was dinged to the extreme. I thank God that I didn't have the leash on and that I was using a tough NSP board. The nose and tail had some pretty thick cracks. While I was swimming away from the huge granite boulders of the jetty, I saw my board getting flung by the waves. Luckily, it got washed off the rocks and I was able to swim over to it and get back to shore. Last time I'll ever try a jetty jump again. The waves at the end of the pier were massive. I felt pretty lucky to make it out with a board that only needed $90 worth of repair and a couple scrapes.