Owl

7'3" Owl in a used rack somewhere near Ventura...

Grant's find

9'10"

 

Diggin those rails

Nor'easter day after...

Packed heavy this morning with anticipation....

Howling offshores really turned up around noon.

 

The shortboarders were all over the rights by the rocks. I stayed on the lefts up the beach but didn't score the rides they were getting.

It was more of a challenge than fun this morning. Had a few good ones but the majority of mine were closeouts with a few decent beatings thrown in.

From Hurricane to Nor'Easter......

...its been wild these last 10 days.

Sandbars down on the CG base were looking good this morning. You'd be hard pressed to dodge all of the pilings and the old bunker in the line-up but the lefts were long and clean.

 

Nice left at Povs. The dunes actually grew taller in this area. Those blue signs were about 8' high out of the sand prior to Sandy.

Aloha!

Saturday after Sandy

View from the dune trail.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the sandbars at our beloved Rocks have been cultivated into a near perfect wave garden. And while we were so fortunate down here, there are so many in this state that were not. Getting back into the ocean this week was a treat that I was not expecting so soon after the storm. Although the destruction to our north has many friends barred from enjoying the leftover ground swell from Sandy, I felt extremely lucky to be able to get back in the ocean and give thanks for being sparred a much worse fate.  Surfed Thursday after work in near perfect waist to head high perfection and again this morning in some smaller but very clean 2' -3' fun log riding peelers. Stiff offshores this morning and a bit on the chilly side. Managed almost 2 hours before the wind chill worked its way through my 3/2. Think it may be time to break out the 4/3....

 

Another clean left

The dunes took a little damage but are still looking good.

The access road bayou...

Sandy gave us a pass....

Here on Breakwater Road we weathered Sandy with just some very minor damage. The winds and rain yesterday afternoon were the only real issues we faced. Sadly, many of the barrier islands along the NJ shore took the full brunt of this huge storm and were not as fortunate as we were. More news and photos can be seen here http://www.facebook.com/#!/JerseyShoreHurricaneNews

All the best & stay safe!

Cape May - Monster wave during Sandy. Photo from Exit Zero

Sandy's on her way...

Inside, down the beach.

Checked CM this morning. It was high tide and it had some size but not much form. Saw Chad D. get into a few of the better ones that rolled through. Stood on the beach watching and talking for about an hour then came home. And even though there were a few that looked good, it just didn't look worth the effort. I must just be getting picky as I get older....

                                                                  Be safe out there! 

High tide HQ line-up 

Yukon (left corner) shooting from the sand and another inside right down the beach.

                                                           

Tres Vaqueros

    My three Vaqueros

      9'2"  -  8'3"  -  7'9"
After diving into the world of displacement hull surfboards about 4 years ago, I found myself both excited and frustrated all at the same time. While I had fallen in love with a long hull from Scott Anderson, I was still looking to grow in my hull experience by trying out boards from other guys on the same trip. So while I was having fun on my 9'2" Anderson, I wasn't able to find that same stoke on smaller boards. The talk by many in the know was that these boards only performed well in long lined up point waves inherent to southern California and that they just wouldn't work in our east coast beach breaks. But having found a taste of how well this type of board design did perform in the waves in our area, I felt that people just hadn't really put in the time or effort to see that these boards do work over here.  Taking the advice of someone whom I consider both a talented and knowledgable boardrider, I began my search for a board from the planer of Marc Andreini. After a bit of research, it was quickly apparent that other than a small surfshop in Brooklyn, Marc's boards weren't readily available on the east coast. So after a few months of craigslist searching, a 7'9" was up for sale in LBI. I jumped at the chance and a few days later it was mine. Right away, I knew I had found what I was looking for. Easy entry into the wave and then so fast down the line with little to minumal effort on my part. Frontside, backside, just a, "sit back and enjoy the ride" type of feeling. Or, pump it a little and shift into 5th gear and let it run.  The board seemed to want to ride the wave as much as I did. So as time went by, I rode my longboard when it was small and my Vaquero was in the water for everything else. Since that craigslist find a few years ago, two others have since joined my quiver and I can possibly see one or two more additions in the future.
A 10'3' glider perhaps?  :)
Aloha

A rare gem by Del Cannon

I had the chance to slide into a few waves on this board at Bolsa Chica a few weeks ago. Truly a very special board. Here are a few words from the boards owner...

"It is 10'2", tapered stringer that is near non existent towards the nose, step deck. Outline and layout is that of a long "magic sam". I have seen quite a few DC logs that have a similar outline to mine, but I have yet to find anything as thin flexy and bladed out. Nothing even close. Being that he a smaller manufacturer, he didn't crank out a model like the big guys, so I'm thinking it was a one off."

This AM at the Rocks

Offshore and clean is always a good thing on an early Saturday morning surf check. Some fun 2' -3' surf with an occasional plus set showing up now and again. The sun was in full effect as well. After staring into it for minutes at a time, when I paddled for a wave I had spots all messing around in my vision.

View from the dunes

 

A couple of the fellas checking it.

And I thought I was the first one checking the surf this morning. Wrong! Saw momma and a few of her kids along the road on my way in.

The new board even makes old faithful look good! :)