Any surfers out there?

[Tlri]

Just curious if there are any surfers out there?
East or west coast?
Short or longboard?
Sup?
I find time in the water as close as I can get to a day on the hill.
Sunrise session this morning was almost as good as 1st chair on a powder day.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Welcome!!!!

I became a surfer and a consummate beach girl when i lived in southern California. I got spoiled for 15 years by the beaches and waves and it changed my life. I sold my longboard when i moved back to the northeast. I also got way into bodyboarding as there's something wildly exhilarating about going face first down the face of a wave. I still have my board and fins but CT is on the sound so other than a couple trips to newport every summer i don't get out much. When we move back out west or north I will change that. I'm primarily a mountain girl but I'll always be a surfer and i got way into the Huntington beach surf culture. I'm still not over Andy Irons passing, couldn't watch the recent movie. I miss those dawn patrol California sunrises.

Where do you go out in Rhode island. I love second beach in newport.

 

[Uncle Louie]

I haven't been out in several years but had my share of time in the water.

I started in the late 70's at the southern end of Long Beach Island, NJ which wasn't too bad of a drive from where I was living in Southern CT. We also made a few trips over the years to 2nd Beach in Newport where we quietly slept in the dunes at night and raided the campground shower in the early morning hours. (ah, to be young again!)

Most of my time in the surf was when I lived on the Outer Banks of NC (aka OBX) Surfing was the culture there and "the beach" basically came to a stop when the surf came up. It was the norm to leave work (no matter what you did there) and head out for a few hours. After 8 years there I moved inland in 2007 (stupid move) and except for a few "vacation like" trips to the Southern NC and South Carolina coastlines the only board I kept has sat in the closet.

I rode a short board all those years and the only one I kept is a custom made 6' fish design made by Mike Rowe who was my neighbor. (www.Hookedsurfboards.com ) I'm about 20 lbs lighter than when I moved from the beach in '07 so hopeful that board will still work if I ever manage to get out again. and yes I still have my wet suits, booties, sex wax, board shorts, a repair kit, a spare leash and an extra fin set. I even have an allen wrench key to change my fins if needed on all my current key ring sets.

Ride on duuudes !

 

[Fuller]

I started with a 9' - 6" Hobie on Siesta Key FL in 1966 or so. Surfed every cold front and hurricane on both coasts of FL for a long time. Did the Hatteras trips, camping out at the lighthouse and Buxton Woods. Surfed in Hawaii for 4 winters back in the late 70's early 80's.

Surfing is a young man's (or woman's) sport. My theory is that as you get older your skills decline as well as your tolerance for going out in crappy conditions. Which is exactly what you need to do if you don't want your skills to decline! The 2 curves meet at the point where the conditions are undeniably excellent and you have no excuses for not going - then you get out there and have a miserable day because you now suck at surfing. Then you quit.

That was about 4-5 years ago which coincidentally is when I took up skiing!

 

[Tlri]

Nice to hear there are other surf/ski addicts.
I live outside providence but surf all over. Most often 2nd beach or Narragansett town beach but sneak to little Compton, Matunick or north to NH coast from time to time. Most of my time is summer when waves are smaller but days are long but get a few good winter sessions when the beach is empty.
I’m longboard all the way being in NE.
Rides are
8’ Walden mega magic
8’4” Bing pintail lightweight
9’6” Phillips magic ham deluxe
9’8” Nuuhiwa Noserider
10’ Bing original noserider
10’4 Rick dry Harrison improviser
10’6” Laird Pearson arrow SUP

 

[steve pickard]

It's been a long, long time since I did surf. Too old and heavy to push the body up in time to avoid disaster. Bought my first board from Dewey Weber about 1959. It was a 9'6" Velzy jet tail. The shop was in Venice (Dog Town) where I grew up.The first few years the local break was off Pacific Ocean Park pier, then Bay St in Santa Monica. Always jaunts to other breaks such as Malibu, Topanga, Secus, Rincon, Mexico, Trestles, and points in between. When Dewey opened his own shop I had to have one of his boards, an 8'10" pig. I eventually got a 9'6" 6" square tail Jacobs. Became good friends with Ernie Tanaka who built boards in the 60's so had to have one of his if we were going to ride together. Ernie shaped for Con surfboards for years before he opened his own shop and later after our lives went in different directions he moved back to The islands and built boards there. I moved to the mountains in 1978 and, sadly lost track of most of my old friends. I get together with a couple of the old crew when I go to L.A. Lots of good memories of good times and good friends.

 

[Tlri]

Nice stories Steve. Sounds like you had quite the surf crew in the day!
You keep track of your old boards?
Plenty of people looking for the vintage Webber, Tanaka, and Con boards these days.

 

[steve pickard]

Nice stories Steve. Sounds like you had quite the surf crew in the day!
You keep track of your old boards?
Plenty of people looking for the vintage Webber, Tanaka, and Con boards these days.

I wish. Pretty poor in those days so always traded them in. The Tanaka board I gave to a neighbor kid when we moved to the Sierra. I would imagine the Velzy would be the rare one as he wasn't in business real long. I think he got in trouble with the tax man. Was in contact with Ernie's son Tommy who still shapes for Town N Country on Ohau. Sadly Ernie passed many years ago. The regrets I have for not keeping in contact with old friends. Stay close to your friends.

 

[Wasatchman]

I am an aspiring surfer, and have been trying to make a go of it during some of my time in New Zealand. I bought a 9' soft top longboard to try and learn on after taking a lesson.

First off, wow, what a hard sport! Seems MUCH harder to progress at surfing than skiing. My perspective is that a big difference in surfing vs skiing is that the conditions are far more variable in surfing. The water is constantly changing, unlike a ski hill which is relatively constant. I have a big education ahead of me as far as just learning to read the water. And then there is patience. After spending so much energy just paddling and getting out there, I have to teach myself to be more patient and wait longer to try and catch the right wave rather than my extinct of just going for it at the next reasonable wave I see.

I love the challenge of trying to learn how to surf so far. I'm not sure I'm going to get there at my age and limitations, but I'm definitely game to give it a go. Even though I may only get up once or twice every time I get out and try, just the thrill of those 10-20 seconds of success over 2-3 hours that I'm out there tyring keeps me interested to keep at it for now.

 

[BMC]

I’m a surfer, in Oz. Been surfing since around 13 years of age in Sydney and still surf. Now I’m 50 plus I don’t surf a pointy nosed short board as much, but still do surf one provided the surf is overhead. Otherwise I surf a hybrid 6’4” single plus side bites a bit like the Michael Peterson board from Morning of the Earth for below head high days, or a 7’4” also 2 plus 1 if it’s tiny - I like my board to fit in my car - I hate fiddling with roof racks - so while I also have a longboard I might only use it once every 3 years or so.

Love it in Sydney. It’s a 5-6 hour drive to the snow. But I got to spend 9 days on snow last week, and had a nice surf this morning. Not too many places in the world you can feasibly surf and ski in the same day (not that I ever had mind you!).

 

[river-z]

I was gonna go surfing today but the ocean went flat so that didn't work. I went to the gym instead.

As soon as ski season is over my Friday-day-off aims at the beach instead of the mountains. When conditions look good I go catch some waves. I live in LA, almost up against Orange County and normally surf a 7'9" single fin at a nearby state park.

 

[oldschoolskier]

Surfing only if you attach a sail to it, with the wildest being 50kts+ in Hatteras, was windsurfering on my Dave Hill custom and a borrowed 3.2m sail (even that was on the big side).

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I miss being close enough to the beach where I could just go out and surf before work. I live in CT now only 2 miles from the beach but it's the Long Island sound so that doesn't count. I lived 2 blocks from the ocean in Seal Beach, CA and that spoiled me rotten. I had a short board I had made but found I preferred cruising on my 9 foot long Bic board. The only thing I didn't like about the Bic was that it was HEAVY so if I ever had to turn turtle it was well heavy. If I got another board it would probably be a 9'6" or so nice and light fiberglass board. One of the best surf days in Cali I ever had was an afternoon session with some friends in Huntington, nice offshore winds and it was fire season so there was a fire burning off in the distance somewhere and there was what I called BBQ smell in the air. The waves were gentle, long cruisers and we surfed until dinner time. That was a great day.

 

[Wilhelmson]

We've been doing a lot of boogie board and body surfing this year so I though I'd take a surfing lesson with my kids. I'm not ready to go all in and buy all of us boards but I've been watching craigslist. It sounds like a long board is the easiest to learn on, is this true?

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I personally love body boarding because it's very exhilarating to go face first down a wave. Yes learning on a long board is best. Long boards float well and provide lots of stability for learning how to pop up. I once had a guy surf with us who had a 12 foot board which is a bit long for a long board but his tag line was "I never miss a wave" lol. Long boards are the cruising caddy's of the surf world.

 

[SKI-3PO]

I tried a surfing lesson last year when I was in Huntington Beach. I was terrible so I don’t think that will be happening again.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I tried a surfing lesson last year when I was in Huntington Beach. I was terrible so I don’t think that will be happening again.

I'm sure you weren't terrible. Its challenging to learn sometimes. How were the conditions. HB can be tricky depending on where the lesson was. Was it at the pier or at corky caroll's at bolsa chica perhaps? I love the surf school in seal beach. The surf there is usually more mellow and their surf school is awesome. Maybe you'll try it again one day

 

[Bad Bob]

Surfed a couple of times (or tried with a lesson) at Waikiki and had a ball at it. Always used to body surf on Kona when we would go there; thank God for sandy beaches to get rolled up on.

Loved surfing standing waves in a kayak when doing that. It was great fun to sit in one place and control yourself by basicly angulating at the waist, then drop a paddle blade and dart in behind your a rock. You could work one rock for as long as you chose, and no paddling out.

 

[Tlri]

3-5’ and clean tomorrow in RI.
Heard it was great in NJ today.
If you surf in NewEngland tomorrow looks like the best day of the past few months.

 

[AlpsSkidad]

My 6 and 8 year olds just started learning last week in Huntington Beach CA. Not bad for first timers. They loved it.