surfers unite.

[Lockedin]

Addition to the above:
Rode a 5'11" Quad with Mayhem fronts and KS rears - seems to have just enough drive and the right amount of release. The 5'11" itself is not the sexiest board - 5'11" X 20.25" X 2.5", standard shortboard nose, but VERY wide swallow tail - 15.5" ---
Sort of a "fat penguin" outline, but for me (5'10" X 180#), it woks very well when spots like this are small.

 

[FL shaver]

Finished work at 3:00 and checked the local bouy, 42099. 8+ ft at 12 seconds WSW with light winds?! What?! Strongish front ran out of gas just off the FL coast. Ran out to Sanibel for some super fun waves with my son, 85 air and 75 water temps. Skinned it Dec 29th! Only a couple others in the water despite the heaviest traffic I have EVER seen out there.

 

[Lockedin]

Sounds fun!
We have waves, but we also have weather along with it. I'm planning to photograph a bit on Thursday, it's supposed to be 10-15, but NWS is calling for bigger sets. A bit out of my league these days, but should be a lot of fun to shoot!

 

[FL shaver]

Looking forward to the shots. East coast of FL got some sizable swell with clean conditions yesterday. Gulf will see smallish waves tomorrow.

 

[Lockedin]

This is C-Street as viewed from about a mile away at Grant Park - the Cross in the foreground was built when we were still Mexico!
Waves were about 3X overhead, but the water here is FOUL right now, so I had to be choosy about where I paddled out (a few miles away, and upstream)

 

[FL shaver]

Great shot! Sounds like some serious juice. Too bad about the filth in the water. Looking forward to some fun cold front surf tomorrow. The El Niño winter means more rain, more fronts, and more waves, for the Gulf Coast of Florida. Unfortunately, there was an EF-2 tornado within a couple miles of the house Saturday and another tornado 4 miles away today.

 

[gearchow]

Love that corduroy. One time while I was living the in the Pleasure Pt. area of Santa Cruz and attending UCSC, I caught the Live Oak bus to the campus and as it chugged up the hill, I looked out and saw corduroy to the horizon. I just stayed on the bus - making a big old Santa Cruz loop, blowing off classes - got back home and hit the waves. Would have saved a lot of time if I had just took the 10 minutes to walk to the point and looked first.

-jim

 

[FL shaver]

Local buoy over 15 ft but with 20-25 knot NW winds today. I know where I can get some head high lefts, but not feeling motivated to go out in the wind. Tornadoes again early this morning with fatalities in Manatee County north of here.

 

[Lockedin]

[MENTION=26615]gearchow[/MENTION] - I love Santa Cruz - great waves!
[MENTION=26309]FL shaver[/MENTION] - That's a lot of wind! Head high lefts sound fun, but that wind is probably knockin' it around bad.

My gf & I met with our new landlord, and he very generously let us move in early, so we're now officially residents of Oxnard, steps away from the sand! Our local was a bit lumpy & the tide was too high, but there were still some overhead sets on tap, so a friend & I paddled out for a few waves - pics to come.

 

[FL shaver]

Looking forward to the shots! And I meant head high rights! Tried to get out to Captiva Sunday, but the road was blocked for 3 hrs due to a head on. Settled for clean waist high leftovers. Bummed I missed some shoulder + clean stuff, but more waves coming in one of the most consistent Gulf Coast winters I can remember.

Bummer about the guy up near San Francisco, eh?

 

[Lockedin]

Finally had conditions to paddle out by my house! First session:

Paddle out was fairly long - about 10 duck dives before I got to green water and still had to scratch over a set. Gotta love sandbar beachbreaks! The water here got COLD after our last wind event 30-40kt NW with 50kt gusts blew all the warm water out. Waves were fun, head+ A frame peaks and only a few guys out. Maybe an afternoon session, once the tide drops out a bit.....

 

[Lockedin]

Last night, at my house. I'm discovering just how tide sensitive it is here. It was completely flat at dawn - very high tide (6.0). But on the low tide it was a foot or two overhead. Then, when I took this shot in the evening, it went down to chest high and close to shore - too deep of a tide to hit the outer sandbar.

 

[gearchow]

beautiful!

and about that same time, 900 miles or so north, this was what I was looking at

Hood Meadows early evening skiing


Frozen ocean brought by storms that bring waves.

-jim

 

[Lockedin]

Moody Clouds - gorgeous shot!

 

[Lockedin]

Had an amazing experience this past weekend. A couple weeks ago, we lost one of our locals at Leo Carrillo, Steve "Stretch" Leadford passed away from pancreatic cancer. A few of us connected to arrange a paddle out for him this past Saturday. We expected about a dozen people to show up, but this was the result (photo by Laura Holman):

 

[FL shaver]

Great send off!

 

[Lockedin]

Throwback video - my friend & I were reminiscing and he brought this one up. Your's truly gets one at 4:27.

 

[MrSpeedy]

Gents, I'm going to zombie this thread in hopes of getting some advice. My eldest son (almost 12) is at a surf camp this week and loves it. I think he's fallen hard for surfing. Thinking of getting him his own board for his birthday. What would be a good starter board? What else should I get with it (wax, I assume)?

I've no idea what he is learning on, but he said it was about 8 feet long. Did some research online and it's probably a soft surfboard/foamie. Would one of these be good or is there a better option?

 

[MidnightMatador]

Gents, I'm going to zombie this thread in hopes of getting some advice. My eldest son (almost 12) is at a surf camp this week and loves it. I think he's fallen hard for surfing. Thinking of getting him his own board for his birthday. What would be a good starter board? What else should I get with it (wax, I assume)?

I've no idea what he is learning on, but he said it was about 8 feet long. Did some research online and it's probably a soft surfboard/foamie. Would one of these be good or is there a better option?

Your son has found an awesome sport! I really don't see anything wrong with a foam-topped board, though he will probably want to upgrade as time goes on. An 8 foot board would be a good place to start if that is what he was learning on.

I'm more of a long-boarder myself, as I find the ride to be long, easy, and relaxing; however if he really gets into surfing --- he will be searching for a shorter and more maneuverable board.

Another thing I might suggest is looking into getting a paddle board in addition to a surf board. He can use this when sets are too choppy, and there are SUPs in all price ranges.

Wax and a comb are accessories I always have on me when I go surf!

 

[MrSpeedy]

Your son has found an awesome sport! I really don't see anything wrong with a foam-topped board, though he will probably want to upgrade as time goes on. An 8 foot board would be a good place to start if that is what he was learning on.

I'm more of a long-boarder myself, as I find the ride to be long, easy, and relaxing; however if he really gets into surfing --- he will be searching for a shorter and more maneuverable board.

Another thing I might suggest is looking into getting a paddle board in addition to a surf board. He can use this when sets are too choppy, and there are SUPs in all price ranges.

Wax and a comb are accessories I always have on me when I go surf!

Thanks, James! I think I'm leaning towards getting him a foam-topped board for now, and do an upgrade next summer. We heard it might be possible to buy - cheaply - one of the boards he's learning on. If so, I'll probably do that. Whenever he gets his board I'll be sure to post some pictures.