I've become addicted to Swell Info. It's the app on my iPhone and my iPad that tells me what the waves are like and what they will be like for the next five days. I'm sure I've mentioned it before because I rely so heavily on it. However, I think I've also noted that occasionally it is wrong. This weekend the forecast indicated that when the first strong norther of the season came through on Saturday, it would be accompanied a slight chance of rain and also enough (but not too much) wind to cause some clean 2-foot waves. (Don't laugh! 2-foot waves are fabulous for long boarders.) However, that didn't exactly pan out, but more on that later.
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The waves were perfect for a
goofy-footer like me. |
Friday, during my regular surf day, my surf friend in Galveston told me that it was flat. I could tell it from the webcam. In fact, it had been flat for most of the week last week. So, I wasn't even expecting much for Friday. While talking with my surf friend (the surf dude), I told him that based on what I was seeing on Swell Info and based on the weather that I thought there would be waves on Saturday afternoon. He said he didn't think so because there wasn't enough of a swell...he wasn't even sure about Sunday. And, he was right; at least he was right about Saturday. The waves never materialized. By Sunday morning, though, the wind had shifted, was out of the east and was causing a little bit of the swell. In order to play in it though, it was best to be on the west side of the jetty. When I got there, no one was out except for Dude with his lessons. They were in the white water. I took the rip current out and once I was on the outside, I tried to line up for the sets. Next thing I know, I was halfway down the beach. So, I paddled back by the jetty. A few minutes later a couple of SUPers and a short boarder was with me. The short boarder was amazing in the swell taking wave after wave and working them a short way. I actually prefer longer rides than he was taking, so I made up my mind that I would ride the line as far down as I could. And, that's what I did. I caught several waves! Because of the east wind, I felt like it was perfect for a goofy-footer like me. In fact, I don't feel like we get enough of these types of waves. I was able to work the board enough to catch the next wave, once my wave fell apart. My rides were long and smooth. Every once in awhile, I would be caught on the inside and pearl, but most of the times, I surfed the waves that were coming for me. I had a blast!
This week, a friend of mine sent me an email about a surfer named Terry Tracy dying. He was one of the "original" surfers at Hermosa Beach in California. In fact, he was the model for the Big Kahuna made famous in the Gidget movies. He earned this notoriety when a young woman befriended him on the beach and started surfing. He was nice to her. She would talk about him and the other surfers she met with her father who went on to write the Gidget novel, which led to the movies with Sandra Dee and the television show with Sally Field. Here's the obit that ran about this fascinating surfer's life in the NY Times. May the big Kahuna rest in peace.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/us/tubesteak-tracy-surfer-featured-in-gidget-dies.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
