Update on N. Packery Surfing

Hey Guys, its been awhile since my last blog entry, but I'll keep you updated on whats going on here in Corpus. Waves have varied between Thigh to Chest high and I've been trying to get out as much as possible. I hate to say it though, I'm taking the week off from surfing. I really need to stretch more, and I've pulled some muscles in my legs last week. It didn't help trying to surf some pretty big waves this past weekend either. I've definitely been progressing, however, I need to learn to stay more on the tail of my board, I've been getting too far forward and keep burying the rail or nose, which pretty much kills the ride. The book called the Surfing Manual is definitely a good guide, I keep flipping through it and pick up on things that I didn't know. It's not really a book to sit down and read through all at once. Hopefully, not before too long, I'll be on either the east or west coast and will be able to do some serious surfing, no more waiting for the Gulf to churn up some tidal action. Here's some pics I've taken since my last post, nothing too spectacular, N. Packery is sorta ugly and all....

Surfing Corpus in April

Surfing out at North Packery has been nice. We've been having pretty good weather and the water's warming up too. I've been trying to get out a good amount, even if only for an hour. I've been making good progress riding waves, a big wave coming at me isn't as intimidating as it was only two months ago. The best days to surf are during the weekday when the weather isn't sunny. It's nice because you don't have to fight for a parking spot, fight to the break, and fight the sun. Its also nice a quiet. I was out yesterday and it was just too noisy and the waves were breaking clean, but small. It was hard to find a spot in the crowd.

Surfing past sunset Wednesday 07APR10

Got a late start hitting up the waves today but boy was it worth it. Waves were breaking overhead and clean on the outer break, and waist to chest high and some higher. It was pretty crowded, even past sunset and there was a good rip running on N. Packery. I definitely had some awesome rides today, even with my eyes full of salt water! I've been scraping off the crudded up wax from a previous session (not all the way to the glass though) and putting on a fresh coat. I find that it definitely helps with turning and staying on the board. I've also been putting some wax up to the nose. I don't put as much as on the rest of the board, but I want some purchase on the nose if my foot gets up there. Waves were nice and lined up, it was amazing, I only wish I could've been out earlier and stayed out longer. The one thing that has improved my surfing the most since getting to Corpus has been to not look down at the board but look around to see how the wave is breaking. It helps both my balance (by seeing the horizon) and ride length. I had a really awesome ride on an outer breaking wave, it was definitely the best wave of the day (followed closely by a wave on the middle break I was able to salvage and ride). I caught a wave as it was about to break, nearly ran over two other surfers as the wave caught me, and ended up body boarding into a better position before standing up. I cut back towards the jetty and rode a cresting but already breaking line back towards the jetty. It's definitely in the top 5 waves I've caught. The first still's gotta be the wave I caught off Tourmaline with my Yancy Fish and rode sideways on a clean wave. The water was so clear I could see the rocks in the blue green water below me. That ride was a first because riding down the line really started to click for me. Gotta apologize for a lack of pics. I'm a couple sessions behind in getting pictures up, stand by. Still gotta figure out what to do about my go pro camera mount.

Monday waves

Waves were pretty decent today. Had some decent size waves on the middle break and good waves at the middle and lesser outer break. Only out for a little hour. Played on the inner break until I got pushed out of the break, then had a couple decent rides on the outer break.

Easter Saturday Surfing, Easter weekend with changing conditions

Today was an interesting and exhausting day of surfing. The weather was partially cloudy at first and the beach was packed. I wore my shorty wetsuit that I haven't worn since leaving Pensacola. I was worried at first but anything more than it would've been too warm. I caught many decent waves, non of them the best wave I've caught at Packery, but fun non the less. Skies began to cloud up throughout the day and looked like rain. Wind kept shifting from NNE towards SE, which made it necessary to try to find a good break every twenty or so minutes, conditions were changing that fast. I stayed out for nearly four hours, I left right before sundown with fog moving in across the water and covering the beach. Spent time in the middle break (no outer breaks taking place today and some time on the inner break. The inner break isn't as fun or as long of rides, but good for quick reaction training

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.

No surfing today

Swung by Wind and Wave Surfshop today, I needed to pick up a board sock after getting smacked around yesterday. My board's tough, but it'll still get dinged up if hit hard enough. I found a Dakine board sock that was 9'6", a little long but it should do the job right. I also picked up a pair of booties, I figure that they'll last long enough and allow me to stay out longer when the water's cold. I also won't have any repeats of my cut toe like in San Diego. The guys at the surf shop said the gulf had "Victory at Sea" conditions, pretty much big choppy waves that are pretty dangerous to try to surf. I drove down to the beach and regret that I didn't have my camera to snap off a couple pictures of the conditions. Not as crazy as the tropical storm that hit P'cola, but I wouldn't want to try to surf it, not that I'd be able to drive on the beach to get to the Packery Channel.

Surfing at South Packery

I went surfing late today. It was cold, misty and windy but I sucked it up and drove out the s. Packery. Winds were out of the North, so waves would be drifting south so I could use the jetty to aid me getting out. It worked pretty well, I was able to get past the 3rd garbage can on the jetty. Due to time constraints and the distance I had to swim out to get to good waves, I only caught three waves, but each time I was able to stand up and ride it in. The final wave I caught and was able to ride it laterally south as it broke. It really helped to look towards where I was going. I find myself looking down, and when you lose sight of the horizon, you begin losing control and fall over. I would've been able to ride the wave further, but it wasn't lined up well enough and I wound up stalling at the end, I wasn't able to reverse and continue riding the wave. Still fun though. After riding a large wave, I'd catch a smaller wave back to shore and reposition myself. Need a board sock though, I'm worried I'm gonna ding my board every time I take it down to the elevator. Hopefully I'll be able to get out tomorrow. I have a feeling I'm gonna be able to use the jetty to crush some nice waves. Also, one thing I learned, if its windy out and your trying to tie your board down to a roof rack and cinch it tight, just tie one tie down with a quick release knot first, so your board doesn't keep flying off. It makes life tough and your head sore. And, on a side note, I got another transfer cable for my camera, so I've already been adding pics up. Of course, my camera doesn't charge when its on the cable, unlike my brothers, so I was only able to get one pic at the beach before the battery died and my camera refused to work. I'm gonna be breaking out my gopro board camera again, should be pretty ill.

Surfing Bob Hall Pier and Packery Channel

Yesterday I headed back out to Bob Hall Pier.  Met a couple of surfers out there short boarding.  I really didn't catch any good waves, the waves I caught I wound up falling off my board.  I finally broke down an scraped off the old crusty, disgusting wax off my board.  I've had that wax on there way too long, any wax I lay down on top of it just rubs off.  After having a frustrating day of trying to surf, I left and swung by Wind, Wave and Surf shop to pick up some more wax.  I grabbed a couple blocks of Mr. Zoggs Sex Wax Bumps, but it was a new formula for cold water that was advertised as twice as sticky.  I talked to the guys at the shop - really awesome, friendly dudes, by the way - and they gave me advice for surfing down at Packery channel. They also said you didn't want too much wax on your board either. 

I headed out around 4 pm today and finally broke down an purchased a beach pass from the Stripes / Valero gas station for $12 to keep things legal and headed out to the south jetty at the Packery Channel. The advice I was given was to get pretty close to the jetty where the waves were smaller and then cut out away from the jetty to catch the larger waves.  Conditions weren't all that clean, but there were big waves coming in and I managed to catch and ride a couple decent waves.  From there I would catch a wave close to shore and ride to the beach, where I would repeat the process and get back out to the break.  All in all not a bad strategy, I wish I would've timed the sets out better to get out further, waves break all over the place out here in Corpus.  Anyway, there's supposed to be decent waves tomorrow and this weekend, so I'll see how things are and report back.  Also, I'll be adding more pictures once I get another USB cable for my camera.

Until next time.