Catching a Few On a Tuesday Evening

A little over a week ago, a front passed the coast at just the right time with just the right energy. Those who had the day off or took a little time off, had some of the best waves of the season so far. Waves were rumored to be 6-8 ft., although I always find that hard to believe when I'm looking at the webcam. Because of the angle of the camera at 43rd and the placement above the coast the waves always look small. The waves looked a little bigger on the 37th camera, and although I couldn't tell if they were 6 or 8 feet, I could tell that they were beautiful. Tons of surfers were out, and I was jealous of them. I've been on deadline with a big project so taking time off was not an option for me. Later that night, many of my surfing Facebook friends talked about their afternoon and it sounded glorious. Although there were  few lingering waves on Friday, I still couldn't make it down to 43rd and, by Saturday, it was flat.

Tuesday night surf session was fun

Monday afternoon started to show promise. And the forecast for Tuesday was even better. It was correct. Since the SwellInfo forecast had predicted such good waves on Tuesday, I loaded my board on the off chance that we would have a repeat of the previous Thursday. Tuesday morning, Galveston once again had 6-8 ft waves. By that afternoon, the waves had gotten quite a bit smaller, but were still well-formed and 3-5 ft. When I made it to 43rd, at a little after 4 o'clock, I found about eight surfers still out. I paddled out and immediately caught a wave. I struggled a little after that because the waves were more intermittent and less easy to read than they had been earlier in the day. I played for another hour or so and had a ball, despite the trouble I had reading the waves. I caught about four or five before it got a little too dark. As I got out of the water at dusk, five or so surfers were still out. But they only had about 15 minutes before it was too dark.

By Wednesday morning, it was flat, and it has been flat for the rest of the week. The forecast doesn't look good either. A couple of fronts have crossed the coast since Tuesday, but the waves haven't built enough for the fronts to clean them up. We need a strong South or SWS wind to build mushy disorganized waves so that the next front can clean it up and build the waves. Maybe next weekend? Keeping my fingers crossed.

A New Year Filled with New Adventures

I've been neglecting my blog lately. The holiday season combined with some added responsibilities at work as well as marathon training has kept me from having the time to sit down and write about my surfing. Of course, all of this coupled with weather has also slowed down mine surfing. While I had ten used to surfing twice a week, the last couple of months, I've been only surfing once a week at best. Although Texas had a couple of cool spells in the fall, the first part of December was pretty warm. By Christmas week, temps were in the 70s and I was lucky enough to have some small waves to surf on Christmas Eve.

I loaded up my 9' because of the wind and the thought of having to control my 9'6" as I walk from my car down to the shore. I also brought my 5-4 wetsuit, and I'm very glad that I had it because the water temps were in the low 60s, which is just a tad too cold for a 4-3. The waves were weak and small, and although the dude I was surfing with didn't have trouble catching any waves, I had a more difficult time. I paddled like crazy, which was not only necessary because of the weakness of the waves, but also because of the strong current caused by the winds. It was hard to stay close to the jetty, which was necessary because that was where the surfable waves appeared. I caught a few though, and that always makes a session worthwhile.

Surfline originally promised waves for the last week of December. All of the surfers were betting on at least four good days of waves at the end of the year. However, just as weather forecasters cannot predict the weather, neither can surf forecasters predict waves. Although I, too, had been hoping for lots of surfing during my time off from work, I only ended up with my Christmas Eve surf. Since the holidays, the waves have been awful…except for when I'm at work. In fact, this past week, those lucky enough to get to Galveston during the week had two exceptional days of California-like surf. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it unfold on the webcam and reading about it in the many Facebook posts of surfing friends. Waves were gorgeous, and I hope that one day soon, we can have waves like that on the weekend.

Right now, my focus is on the Houston Marathon, which is next week. This will be my fifth marathon.

I have another one scheduled in February, but will more than likely, drop back to the half marathon distance. After that, I plan to take a little break from full marathons. I won't say "never," but I want to quit the training for full marathons for a little while. That might actually give me a little more time to surf. We'll see. Keeping my fingers crossed for nice waves throughout the rest of the winter and into the spring and summer. Happy 2016!

Finally, Some Waves

I stayed away from the water for the past three weeks for a number of reasons. One reason, and the biggest reason, is that I was busy with my

Although it was rainy, the waves were actually quite
nice at the 43rd Street Jetty. The photo doesn't do it justice.

final weeks of training for the Marine Corps Marathon. Although my training went well, I didn't finish as fast as I had hoped. Although I planned for a 4:15, I didn't finish for thirty minutes after that. My final time was 4:44. It was a great run, though, and I would do it again if I had the chance even though it is impossible to PR because of the crowds and the hills. My favorite memories of this run will be the Marine Corps band playing the Marine Corps Hymn at about mile 10 and the Blue Mile that honored Marines who had lost their life serving the country. What a touching run it was! I will recommend this run to all my running friends. And, if I ever get a chance to run it again, I hope that I can get a better time.

This weekend has been a good weekend for waves. But before this weekend, we haven't had much for surfing, which is yet another reason I haven't been out. Beginning on Friday, the wind started blowing and the waves started building. Surfing reports on Friday suggested the current was strong and the waves were rough and surf would be better, hopefully, on Saturday. By the next morning, the waves looked much bigger, but the current and consistency of the waves looked rough. The forecast was for the waves to clean up a little, but they never did on Saturday. The next forecast suggested that Saturday would be the day that things cleaned up. And, while the waves were building, the weather was stagnate  and only offered clouds and rain. One forecaster said that the sun would start coming out on Sunday, but by this morning, it didn't look like it would be clearing soon. And, the current still looked awful.

I was determined to be in the water this weekend. I felt a little relieved when the weather didn't clear up and the waves didn't build on Saturday as first forecasted. I had a family party to attend that would take most of the days. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and the gatherings, but I would have been a little disappointed if I had missed the best wave of the week/month. I noticed late on Saturday, that the prediction for clean waves had been pushed to midday on Sunday. Perfect!! The weather forecasters had also said the weather would clear, which didn't happen at all. But, the waves cleaned up. Not only were the sets easy to read, the waves were big. The only problem I had was reading them correctly. I either paddled to soon or too late. I caught a couple but it was after they had broken. What a bummer! I need help with the timing aspect of surfing. I had fun nevertheless. And, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a few more waves at least one day this week. I love surfing!