Great waves over the weekend

This weekend was really good for July... punchy thick 5 to 6 foot waves. I had a Friday afternoon session with my daughter, a Saturday Morning session with my son, and a Saturday afternoon & Sunday afternoon session all to my self. The most consistently fun and powerful waves were Saturday morning. Another swell is due in tomorrow but I'm a bit under the weather so I probably won't make it out.

Stay Stoked,
DH

Giving Longboard Surfing a Try

An acquaintance of mine (our kids often play together at the beach) offered to let me ride his long board recently and I decided to give it a shot. First I'll have to say that I've often seen longboard surfers casually paddling and moving past me at notable speed, even in strong currents, and I envied what appeared to be an ease of movement afforded by their surf craft. Having given it a try I'll have to say the ease of movement is an illusion... paddling a long board is a lot of hard work. The waves were 2 to 3 feet and weak and I only managed to catch a few and barely stood up on those. All in all it was a lot more work than I thought.

Afterward I watched my friend catch wave after wave without a problem... a testament to years of practice in the water.

I love bodyboarding, especially when the waves are big, but when the waves are small and weak, as they often are, I think the longboard is a better choice. It also has the benefit of providing a nice upper body workout. Excellent cross training potential.  I'll probably try picking one up at the end of the summer cheap.

Stay stoked, what ever you may ride,
DH

Bodyboarder bit by shark in Jacksonville, FL

There was a minor shark attack (29 stitches) recently near where I surf. The video interview says that they were boogie boarding -- normally I'd protest that it should be called bodyboarding, but from what I can gather they were just playing around on some cheapo boards so the term is appropriate.

It sounds like they'd gotten kind of far out and I didn't hear any mention of swim fins so that probably means lots of kicking and splashing splashing which is why it bit her foot. Other contributing factors were very murky water, being out near a sandbar and the time of year which is known for bait fish and shark migrations. Fortunately her injuries were minor. Unfortunately, though she knows the odds, she's decided not to return to the water.

Stay Stoked, Stay Safe,

DH