October Surf Time, Cold Fronts and More

I've mentioned it before, but I'm thinking it about it again: October can be a good month and a bad month for surf. On the one hand, because we live in south Texas, we can sometimes have mild weather and southerly winds that give us messy, but decent waves. However, cold fronts also start moving through, which CAN, if the timing is right, give us a brief period of beautiful well-formed waves. That was the forecast for this week. SwellInfo had predicted that the cold front moving through this weekend would have strong winds and that the window for surfing would be very small and would probably be early on Friday morning. I, personally, wasn't sure that would even work out since the winds were forecasted to be 20-25, which is much too strong and would make the beach flat. I had a feeling that there wouldn't be any surf at all for me this weekend, so I was glad when I saw on the webcam on Thursday evening and the pre-front waves looked promising. They looked a little messy, but they were definitely surf-able and they were also a decent size: waist- to chest-high.

I left work a little early, loaded up the board and headed down. This time of year -- right before we "fall" back on the clock -- daylight fades away quickly in the evening. I knew that if I made it to the island by 5:30, I would only have just a little more than an hour to surf before the sun went down. I made my way to 36th Street, met up with the surf dude, paddled out and had a ball. The waves were incredible. I caught the first wave I went for and surfed it until it faded away. This time of year can prove challenging for a goofy-footer surfing a left break into the sunset. However, it didn't stop me. I caught several waves. I had one minor wipeout and it actually happened while I was paddling back to the outside. I got caught in a bad place on the inside and didn't time my paddle-out correctly in the inconsistent sets. (The only bad thing about surfing 36th is that there is no jetty to provide the comfortable  rip current that takes people out past the break. Using a rip current is like having an escalator to take you from one floor to the next; it requires very little effort on your part.) I had some fun rides. In fact, one of my rides still makes me smile when I think about it. I caught a nice-sized (3 or 4 ft) wave turned left, caught a re-form and sailed down the beach. I was moving so fast that it caught me off guard. I made a shrill sound as if I was riding a roller coaster. (IT WAS A BLAST!)  I surfed for an hour and 20 minutes just as it started getting dark. I needed a little light to load the board. I'm so glad I made it out Thursday because although surfers had some pretty, well-formed, small waves early on Friday morning, by the time I got off of work, it was just as I thought it would be: FLAT. And, it stayed that way for the rest of the weekend.

Here's hoping that there will be some waves one night this week so that I can get one last evening surf session in before the time changes. I also hope there will be some waves on Friday afternoon. Surfing is just so darn fun! I'm sorry it took me so long in life to discover it.

Great Way to Haul a Surfboard

Surfing was a bust this weekend! I knew that I would be going out of town for the weekend, so I kept my fingers crossed that I would get to catch some waves on Thursday night before I left on Friday. Unfortunately, it was flat! Friday was flat too, so I didn't miss any surf then either. I made an annual pilgrimage to Crowley, La., where I participated in the International Rice Festival 5K Race on Saturday. This is definitely not just a run, but a race. Many of the kids from the local high school cross-country track teams compete. Medals are given to the top three in categories split by age and sex. With my 8:07 a mile pace and a very small field of competitors in my age group, I was able to win the gold medal. It was very exciting, and the medal is definitely something that I will cherish. I won the 40-49 age group last year, but I wouldn't have won in that category this year if I was in it. Another 40-year-old would have beat me by more than a minute. Pshewww...I need to work on increasing my speed for next year.

What a great way to get a
surfboard to the beach!

This blog is about surfing though, so my surfing news really has more to do with something I saw during my surfing experience last week. As I said during my last post, last weekend was a fun weekend for surfing. The waves were a little rough, but at least they were surf-able and not only did I take advantage of surf, but so did many other surfers in G-town and beyond. A couple of the locals, though, definitely caught my eye when they showed up at the 43rd street jetty on their bikes. I've seen a couple of others arrive this way before; in fact, one of the ladies I surf with occasionally rides over on her special board-toting bike. At times like this, I envy their proximity to the beach and the special way they've set up their bike to adequately combine two sports. I think it would be fabulous to be able to ride my bike to the beach with  a board attached. Maybe one of these days I'll live in one of those dreamy G-town homes. Until then, I'll just be glad I can load my board either on top OR inside my vehicle.

I kept my fingers crossed that the waves that began building on Saturday afternoon would hold up until Sunday afternoon. Well, they did...kind of. The waves were rough and created from strong SSE winds that made the surf quite choppy. I knew that I would be home from my race by early Sunday afternoon and had planned to load the board and head down until I received an email from the surf dude who said not to bother coming down. He said there was "...strong wind, bad current, lots of chop and slop." So, after that, I decided my time would be better spent on the mainland. I was a little sad though. I hate missing a weekend of surfing. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for next weekend!

Yet Another Weekend at the Beach

A great image I saw on the door
of a surf shop in California

I was sure that this weekend would be a bust at the beach. The surf forecasts weren't great; although, they did show some bumpy stuff on Sunday with a big chance of rain. However, the forecast wasn't completely correct. On Friday, I spoke to Brian who said that the while the waves weren't great, they were certainly surfable. That was all I had to hear. I needed to surf! Although my week wasn't particularly tough, I still had a busy one. And I look forward to surfing away the stress on Fridays and Sundays. On Saturdays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, I cycle away the stress, while on Wednesdays and Saturdays I let go of stress while running. Unlike my other sports though, I'm completely dependent on mother nature for surfing. This time of year, surfers like me are waiting for the cold fronts to come through and bring in north winds that cause pretty sets and bigger waves. No front this weekend, at least, not until late tonight. So, I had to surf the raucous waves being stirred up by the east/southeast winds.

Lots of people were out on Friday, probably because the Gulf had been flat for a few days. People were just happy to finally have waves. Instead of going out with all the others, Brian suggested that I surf at 45th Street. The only bad thing about that is I don't have a rip current next to a jetty to help me easily out into the waves. I was back to maneuvering my way to the outside through a beach-breaking waves, just like last week in California. I managed to do okay, although I must admit to being caught on the inside and falling a few times. I also had a couple of mishaps when catching the waves that caused me to pearl, which is something that hasn't happened in a while. The waves were hard to read and would occasionally close out way too fast for me. I saw "the dude" pearl twice too, and I've never seen him pearl. One time, I asked him what happened. He just said, "I pearled." He offered no explanation, but I'm sure it had to do with the "inconsistency" of the waves.

Sunday, was a little better. Although rain had been forecasted, it never materialized. I surfed at the 43rd Street jetty, where the waves were rough, but accessible. I caught my first wave, but the rest of the day, I only caught the the powerful whitewash from the waves. Had a ball though! I paddled to the outside several times (waves were breaking way out) and caught some powerful whitewash and practiced turning and standing positions. I'm sure there is still quite a bit I can do to improve my pop-up. I continue to work on looking forward instead of to the left side so that I can get a better position on my board. I think I'm still bending too much from my waist forward and not from my knees. I can't complain though. I had a lot of fun in the water today.

My big concern lately has to do with my left leg or rather hip. I first blamed running for the pain I was having on the inside and outside of my thigh where my leg met the hip bone. But, it didn't hurt after my half marathon last weekend, so it had to be my cycling. However, it didn't hurt bad after my ride yesterday. I hadn't thought at all that it might be from surfing, but it's really bothering me tonight. My board is attached to my left leg, but I can't really understand why that would cause it to hurt. Even when the board gets away from me and yanks at my leg when caught in a wave, it doesn't feel like it is pulling my leg very hard. And, why would that be bothering me now after four years? Hmmm...I'm going to have to give this some thought. I have a few weeks before my next big surfing trip. Hope I can figure it out before then.