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...

Top 20 Surf Destinations -- an Article to Make Me Dream

Blah! That's what the waves have been like lately when I'm off.  I was planning to go surfing Friday, but received a call saying that the waves were not worth it. In addition, since the Fourth of July is just around the corner, vacationers have invaded G-town for a few weeks. If I couldn't get there by 7 a.m., then it wouldn't be worth trying to squeeze my way in. The waves were wishy-washy and what ever surfable waves there were, they were loaded with surfers. I was bummed I didn't get to go on Friday afternoon, but it was probably for the best since I am also still fighting a cold I picked up in San Francisco. (I've since read that running a marathon can weaken a person's immune system.) Although ill on Saturday, I still managed to run three miles and cycle 45. I've had at least two people suggest that I'm not giving my body enough time to heal itself, but I think that if I feel like doing it, I should do it and that my body will recover on its own time.

On Sunday, I was looking forward to some pretty little waves. In a strange turn of events for June, the wind shifted out of the north. I wasn't sure that it would be strong enough to make a difference, but when I woke up that morning, I looked on the webcam and saw pretty little peelers with approximately five or six surfers already taking advantage of them. I had some early morning commitments, but hoped that the waves would hold until I could make it down around 10 a.m. However, a 9 a.m. phone call suggested that it was NOT worth a drive down. The waves, while still coming in pretty sets, had diminished significantly. Most of the surfers were gone. And, the beach was packed! I definitely could tell that it was the beginning of a holiday week. So, once again, I DIDN'T GET TO SURF. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this week. I might even try for an early surf session on the 4th as long as I can get down there really early and get out before the crowds get too big. (Surf reports don't look good for waves though.)

I really like Twitter for a number of reasons. One of the things I like about it is that I can follow many surf sites and receive information about surf equipment, trips and more. On Sunday I was looking at my Twitter feed and saw several of the surfing sites post a story from CNN about the Top 20 Surfing Destinations. I've posted about lists like this before...possibly even a list CNN put out last year. But, I never get tired of reading them and dreaming about some of the places I'd like to go. I've been to two of the destinations on the list this year (Freights Bay, Barbados and Tamarindo, Costa Rica). I hope to go to some of the others during my lifetime.

Happy reading!

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/30/travel/50-surf-spots/index.html?iref=allsearch

International Surfing Day and remnants of yet another tropical disturbance

On Thursday, June 20, all the surfers and surfing sites were talking about International Surfing Day.  I've since done a little research and found that different groups celebrate it on different dates throughout the world, but that the Surfrider Foundation celebrates on June 20. The local Surfrider organization was having a paddle out and surf session beginning early on the 20th. I was just returning from vacation where I had run my first full marathon, so I knew that I wasn't going to be able to make it down for an early morning surf session on the first day I was returning to work. I saw the pics on Facebook and it looked like a decent sized group that gathered in G-town. They had small, close-to-the-shore waves. According to the wave forecast, the better waves were going to be on early Friday morning. Unfortunately, I knew I couldn't surf then either and hoped that they would last until the afternoon. Tropical Storm Barry kicked up in the southern Gulf of Mexico and quickly headed toward Mexico. It was in the Gulf just long enough to cause some nice, well-formed waves to develop in Galveston.

Friday morning was definitely the best time to benefit from Barry. Many surfers were out, and the pictures showed them having fun. I kept my fingers crossed that they would still be around by Friday afternoon.  And they were. I made it to the 37th Street jetty by 1:30 and was out in the water by 1:40. The waves were not quite as big as they had been that morning, but the sets were still clean. With a longboard, they were definitely manageable. I paddled out to wait for waves with about three others who were already out in the water. (The 43rd Street jetty was packed...in fact, so packed that I couldn't find parking near there. Managed to find a spot across from 37th.) I caught my first wave and had fun from then on. I missed several, but, all in all, surfed so many more than I missed that I quit thinking about the ones I missed. After one successful ride, a guy on the beach applauded. I don't think he was clapping because of my style; I think he was just being nice because I rode it all the way in. Most surfers slap back down on their boards before getting so close to shore so they won't have so far to paddle back out. However, I hate to stop the ride. So, even though it makes me look like an amateur, I take the wave all the way in. All in all, it was a fabulous Friday for me to surf.

I hoped to go surfing this morning too, but it was messy mush. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things get better by the end of the week!