A Quiet Summer

This has been an unusual summer in G-town. For one thing, the seaweed has been the worst I've ever

Met pro surfers Teddy Navarro, Morgan Faulkner
 and Sunny Garcia while they were in
Galveston promoting the Mauli Ola Foundation.

seen. And, secondly, it's been unusually flat … especially on the Fridays and Sundays when I can surf. That hasn't kept me from getting in the water though. Thankfully, Dude B has been willing to let me rent/use a SUP. I'm even thinking about buying one. I've investigated a few. My problem with the SUPs is that I'm afraid I won't be able to carry one in my car or from my car down to the shore. The ones I've borrowed have been so heavy and long that carrying them across the beach is difficult. I can't imagine having to lift it to put on the top of my car, and I doubt that either of the ones I've used will fit inside my car. Hmmm… I've had a good time on them, and it definitely gets me in the water when there are no waves, but I can't decide if I should buy one.

On Friday, it was too flat to surf and dude wasn't able to bring the SUP. By Sunday, though, I knew I needed to get in the water.  Dude B thought the waves were nice enough for him to have lessons and even believed that if I had the right board, I might be able to surf. So, I packed up "Petal," my 9'6" Senator surfboard, which I don't surf often, and headed to the 43rd St. jetty. Fortunately, Dude B brought his 10'6" SUP too. I went out on the SUP and floated around for awhile, before deciding there might be just enough waves for me to go out on Petal. I got her out of the car, and I was glad I did. The waves were very small … so small, in fact, that I had to paddle really hard to get into them. In the end, though, I found a few small waves to surf. It may not have been pretty, but it sure was fun.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I will have something to play on this weekend wave-wise. Not completely sure that I will, but we will see. The surf forecast projects waves all weekend. The weather forecaster, though, also predicts some bad weather. As I mentioned in the first paragraph, I might even go take a look at the local surf shops to see if I can check out an SUP. Again, I will have to figure out how I will carry it. But, just going to take a look at them will be an adventure. And, I love adventure!

Holiday Weekends, Wind and Rough Waves

During the middle of last week, the winds shifted and G-town was flat. I was very disappointed since it was a holiday week, and I would have Thursday off to do some surfing. I opted for my other sports instead since the wind was light and it was flat. The flatness lingered into Friday, but an increase in the south wind caused the waves to get a little bigger by Saturday, and a strengthening of the winds on Saturday afternoon, made Sunday waves a mess. However, waves, at least, had formed! I struggled with whether I should head down on Saturday afternoon or take my chances and wait until Sunday morning. The weather forecast called for rain on Sunday, and I didn't want to be rained out of surfing. Of course, surfing in the rain is not a problem, though surfing in lightning is. After mentally leaping back and forth about whether to head down there or not, I opted to take my chances and wait until Sunday.

Rough and windy

I lucked out! The rain and, more importantly, the lightning stayed away. The wind had picked up and that, coupled with a strong current, made the waves a mess. However, I was itching to get back in the water, so I headed down. Just so happens I ran into a friend/coworker and his son out surfing. They warned me that it would be hard getting to the outside. They had opted to stay a little closer to shore in the whitewater. Of course, I had to give it a try. While the two of them stood on the end of the jetty, I took the rip current to the end of it. I immediately got pushed back by a wave. I tried over and over, but soon tired and decided that I, too, would stay closer to the shore and catch reforms. My friend/coworker said that he had also tried to make it to the outside and couldn't. Of the four or five surfers out, only two were on the outside. I watched a shortboarder manipulate his way past the waves and current by duck diving, which is impossible on my 9' board. I didn't give up completely. At least two other times during my session I attempted to make my way to the outside. Both times I collided with waves and disaster. I had fun on the inside whitewater, but even getting back out into some sort of reform line-up was difficult. All in all, it was great to be back out on the board since it had been two weeks, but I sure wish the wind had lightened up just enough to make it a little less difficult to get to the outside.

Hmmmm....maybe next week...

Busy Surf-less Weekends

I haven't surfed in almost three weeks. The past two weeks have been crazy, busy for me and, as usual, when I can surf, it's flat, and when there are waves, I can't surf. This past weekend was same ol' story. I was prepared to surf on Friday, but the surf reports indicated that it was a choppy mess. Although the surf dude has been busy with lessons, his early surf report said it wasn't worthwhile for surfing; that while it was enough for lessons, it wasn't actually worthwhile for going out. By Saturday though, that had changed. The waves, while not the best, were a better formed. However, I was already over-committed and, by the time I could have gone, it was quite crowded. (My Saturday morning included a necessary 18-mile run. Marathon training takes a lot of time.) Spring/summer is in full swing. Cars lined the Seawall.  Galveston hosted the annual Beach Revue, which includes a bathing beauty contest. People lined the Seawall to watch. Even if I had wanted to go on Saturday afternoon, I wouldn't have been able to find a parking spot.

I noticed on the webcam that the
seaweed is back. It didn't look
quite as thick as it was in this
pic a couple of years ago.

Although the surf didn't look great on Sunday, I still would have gone if I didn't have to work. I don't have to work often on the weekends, so when I do, I really can't complain. Well, I can a little if I miss a good day of surf. But that wasn't really the case this time. I didn't miss much. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a morning or evening this week...maybe tomorrow. We'll see.

Sargasso weed takes over

When I drove across the Causeway last week and this week, I could smell the stench of seaweed.  Sometimes in late spring and, occasionally, during the summer, seaweed takes over the beaches.  This was the worst week of it this year. Approximately two weeks ago when we still had a little bit of an occasional north wind and pretty little waves, the water and the beaches were clean. The water was a pretty green/blue for a couple of weeks and the beaches were prepped for the upcoming summer traffic, meaning that it was almost as if the sand knew that it was like a carpet ready to accept special visitors. It looked as thought the city had prepared for summer by cleaning the beaches. However, this weekend, during a busy three day Memorial Day weekend, the beach was covered with seaweed again. It washes in and covers everything. The seaweed is quite thick in some areas and it's gross stepping into it to get to the water. Everyone has to walk into it who wants to be in the water. And, it has a sour smell to it. I'm not sure if it's my imagination or not, but, as I said earlier in this post, I can smell it the minute I get on the island.

Some of the locals refer to it as sargasso weed/grass, which is technically the real name for it. I looked in my Oxford English Dictionary to confirm the spelling and found a definition for it where it succinctly says "GULF-WEED; also a mass or a species of this." The earliest use found was in 1598 by a writer W. Philip, with many other uses found throughout history including a 1934 poem by Dylan Thomas and Arthur C. Clarke's "2001: Space Odyssey." (And this is why I love my Oxford English Dictionary!!) This sargasso weed/grass/seaweed is just plain nasty when it covers the beach.

Seaweed carpets the beach this weekend

The seaweed, though, didn't keep me from going surfing. I drove down on Friday afternoon and this morning, despite strong winds and sloppy conditions. Getting into the water not only requires stepping through the gross seaweed, but it also requires stepping into muddy-looking/brown water filled with the stuff. I managed to fight the washing machine-like current to catch a few small waves, but they were definitely hard for someone with my inexperience to read, meaning that I only caught a few and was surprised when I did. A couple of experienced surfers Friday and today made it look easy, but the rest of us were left guessing. Several times, I had to sit awhile in the water just to clean the seaweed/sargasso weed off my leash. It's amazing how one small piece can get caught in the leash and make it feel as though you are pulling a 2 lb. weight. I also heard that sea lice likes to nest in the stuff, and I sometimes feel like bugs are biting me when it gets wrapped around my foot/ankle. I can't wait for it to be gone. I thought last year's seaweed/sargasso weed invasion was the worst, but this one seems almost as bad. All I know is that I can't wait for it to be gone!

Eeewwwww...SEAWEED

Yuck!!! The seaweed is taking over Galveston beaches. It seems like twice a year, the seaweed becomes a real problem. It's everywhere. When I take the rip out by the 43rd street pier, the seaweed gets in the way. When I finally make it to the end, the seaweed gets tangled in my leash. As a matter of fact, just making sure that the seaweed doesn't pull me off the board becomes a full-time job. Surfer king Brian told me to put the leash up underneath me, but that is much easier said than done. He also told me to make sure that my leash is cleaned off once I get ready to catch a wave. But, again, that is easier said than done. While I have done a fairly decent job of keeping off the leash, every once in awhile, I feel the tug of the seaweed. It fact, it has pulled me off the board on more than one occasion. One might ask, "How can seaweed pull you off the board." But, my answer would be that it is really much easier than you think. Any little thing tugging on the leash can cause me to fall. The attached photo gives some indication how much seaweed is around. I went surfing on Friday and Saturday this week, rather than Sunday. Because I had already planned to cycle in an organized ride -- the Tour de Braz -- on Sunday, I knew that my only time to surf other than Friday would be Saturday. So, after a 40-mile bike ride on Saturday, I loaded up the longboard and went down to Galveston. Like Friday, the waves were very rough. However, it was much better than nothing. I got quite a workout and several long rides. I'm still working on turning the board so that I don't ride all the way to shore. But, that's going to take a lot of practice. I need to turn it and then plop back down to ride back to the outside. ummmm...Who would have ever thought that would be so difficult? But, it is for me. I'm finally turning a bit, but not quick enough. Brian told me to pop up, count to three and then turn. We'll see. I hope I can do that. I'll just have to keep practicing until it does.

P.S. The ride was okay on Sunday. I rode well despite the horrendous winds. I was hydrated well, but still felt drained by the time it was done. Although we had a little bit of a tailwind coming home, the wind didn't seem to be nearly as strong as when we were riding the first half of the ride.