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When:
Where:
Weather:
Surf:
Tides:
Who: |
Mon,
9/2/02 - Morning
48th St., OC/MD
Cloudy, air low 70s,
water ~74F (trunks)
3-7', ENE 8-10 sec;
offshores and current
Low at 9:45am
Neal, Robb, Mike Law,
Dan, Foon and Rod |
Mon,
9/2/02 - Afternoon
North Shores, Rehobeth,
DE
Same.
4-6', ENE 8-10 sec, offshores,
no current
High at 4:45pm
Neal, Dan King, and Rod |
The Build-Up:
Foon Report, Saturday
at 4:00 pm: Check the buoys boys. We've had an uptick in size
over the last 5 hours. Now waist to chest, 6 second periods. The downside
is the wind is onshore strong at 20-25, the sideshore rip is a freight
train North to South.
Rod' s Saturday Evening
Message: Thanks for the on-the-scene updates, ASC friends. Having
read your eyeball estimates and local TWC reports, scanned the buoys and
marine forecasts, plus tapped into the NOAA and Navy models, I agree that
tomorrow is probably lined up to be more slop but that Monday is promising.
Therefore, recent SoCal migrant worker, Dan King, and I will venture down
to the DelMarVa coast on Monday morning, bright and early. Any other takers?
Foon's Saturday Midnight
Report: If you're looking at the buoys, believe every bit of
that 10 foot swell figure. It is humpin' hard here, driven by hard on shore
and VAS conditions. Side rips are carrying guys down town fast. There are
many long walks after go ins. Tonight at dusk I saw three pairs of surfers
being whisked by and it was only chest to head high then. There's a driving
hard rain coming in with this wind but even I can see big waves breaking
far offshore. I expect major beach erosion tomorrow. The Sunday forecast
is for even more wind and rain. Basically a monsoon, peak winds tomorrow
25 mph. If I were going to make a guess I'd say Monday is a better call.
The weather system should be mostly by and maybe a wind reduction or shift
will accompany it. Sunday looks like a total swash. I will give a morning
report to confirm, but unless there's a huge drop in the wind, this big
surf is just going to roll. Periods are at 5 seconds with surf constantly
pouring in. I saw guys swimming desperately with their boards trailing
behind them on a leash to get out. Forget the paddling and duckdiving with
8 waves stacked up and nailing you every 4=5 seconds, not to mention that
side rip. I'm planning a trip to the Caribbean tomorrow.
Flash
Wave Snob Surf Advisory:
Maryland Beaches - Including
Ocean City
1045 AM EDT Sun Sep 1
2002
HEAVY SURF ADVISORY
This afternoon
Rain likely. Highs in the
mid 70s. East winds around 15 mph. Chance of rain 70 percent.
Tonight
Rain likely. Lows in the
lower 70s. East winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60 percent.
Labor Day
Cloudy with a chance of
rain. Highs in the mid 70s. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph decreasing to
5 mph. Chance of rain 50
percent.
Rod to Foon: Hope you dig
(splash) out of this ok. Get set for tomorrow. Now to work on picking a
destination! |
Foon's
Sunday Brunch "Desperately seeking HIGH GROUND" Update: We made
a huge tactical error last night leaving the hurricane shutters open. As
a result, one third of our master bedroom was flooded this morning with
leaks from the window facing out to the ocean. Locally we've had 5 inches
of rain overnight and there are constant warnings of flash floods all over
Worcester and Sussex counties. The wind is driving off the ocean at 20
knots pushing sheets of heavy rain in front of it. Visibility is about
300 yards and all I can see is whitewater and ohead waves stacked up into
the haze. We've lost about a third of the beach and could lose more in
the next high tide. Streets are flooded. We didn't bring the SUV so going
anywhere is out of the question.
The beaches are closed even
to walkers today. The weather models called for more of the same throughout
the day with a warning of heavy thunderstorms this afternoon. Oh goody.
We're spending our day bailing the bedroom, reading and wondering how we
can get out to the store. If there's a break in the rain I'll hoof it.
If not, just get soaking wet I guess. If things don't change a lot by tomorrow
morning, you may want to reconsider the day trip out here. Weather forecasts
are for rain in the morning then just cloudy as the weather system moves
off. If the wind comes around and cleans it up, it should be epic. If it
doesn't
then it will be major VAS until the wind calms down. Another report late
this afternoon and tonight. -Foon (Bumming and bailing) |
Rod's
Flash Update - Meet at the Parole Station at 5am: Check the road
conditions if you can - lot's of flooding on the Eastern Shore,
8 inches
of rain in Salisbury over 24 hours into 8am this morning.
|
Maryland
Beaches Including The City of Ocean City
410 pm EDT Sun Sep 1 2002
HEAVY SURF ADVISORY
Tonight
Rain likely... mainly this
evening. Windy. Lows in the
upper 60s. East winds 20
to 25 mph becoming southwest at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60 percent.
Labor Day
Mostly cloudy. A chance
of showers in the morning. Highs
near 80. Southwest winds
around 10 mph. Chance of rain 30 percent.
P.S. Foon: Go light
on those martinis and easy on the bones... you'll need them tomorrow. I
like the forecast of NFW winds!!! |
Foon's
Sunday Dinnertime Report: "We Made It" Update: It's over for now. The
town is drowned. JoAnne went out at 3:00 and the road were under feet not
inches of water. BUT...... the weather is changing. Right now the swell
is out of control, yet die hards are attempting and mostly failing to get
out. Those that do get killed on big ugly thick and heavy brown walls.
It's sickening how drilled some of these longboarders are getting it. BUT......
Forecasts are for almost clearing conditions by afternoon tomorrow and
North F**king WEST winds, which should do a lot to straighten this suicide
swell out. We've lost almost half the beach in Uptown OC which is damn
good since it looks as though that sand has now formed some excellent offshore
bars. Tomorrow could be a most excellent day to die.
More tonight if I'm sober.
We're celebrating something with martinis. Rodski, call me around 7:00
am and tell me where you wound up. And be sure check your road conditions.
I hear roads are closed in Millsboro and in many little towns east of 113. |
Rod's
Sunday 9pm Plan of Attack: I've made my posts and followed up
with a number of telephone calls. A team of Mad Trippers is meeting up
at 5am in Parole for the trip down. Foon, we will call you upon our approach
(around 7am) to the Delaware beaches. Winds are currently blowing hard
NE in Lewes (steady 35 mph with gusts of 45 or more) http://www.aws.com/aws_2001/asp/single_site.asp?id=UNVDE
but not as strong in OC (in the 20 mph zone)
http://aws.com/aws_2001/asp/single_site.asp?id=OCITY
Believe this is the whip
tail of the system as the buoys indicated a down turn between 1pm - 6pm
before kicking up again.
Monday
Morning, 4am Buoy and Live Weather Check: Lewes and OC/Md continued
showing similar conditions with Ocean City winds beginning to decrease
and turn NW -- but the NWS reports were holding steady with predictions
of lighter NFW into the day. |
Last
minute weather checks before Dan shows up at my house -- the motor transport
is packed with supplies. We are ready to go. The cell phones
are synchronized. We blast into Parole Station shortly after 5am,
rack up boards and transfer necessities and hit the road, Rod followed
by Mike Law. Pit stop at WaWa, check the wind and continue eastward.
Pull into the NJs neighborhood around 7:15am for our first surf check.
Foon reports via cell that conditions are improving in OC.
Annapolis
Surf Club Shoot Gallery - Late Labor Day Morning
Muffin on a small one.  |
Mike Law making a drop.
 |
Muffin in one of many slams.
 |
New ASC'er, Dan King.
 |
Dan slotting. He enjoyed
our East Coast curls!
 |
Was this intentional, Mike?
He was slammed but good!
 |
Mike dropping in behind
the peak on a rare right.
 |
Satisfied
after a morning's good surf.
 |
Why are these guys all smiling?
They just finished a 3-hour hammer session! Each and everyone of
us had a blast and was blasted in or by a wave.
Morning
Session Warriors
(L-R) Mike Law, Dan King,
Rod Rodgers, Foondoggy, Neal Carver, Robb Smith
|
The Foon Report - "Huzzah"
(Monday afternoon)
ASC represented well today
at 48th street Midtown. Smoking barrels and ugly asswhuppings was the order
of the day. I saw some of the best rides of the season and some of the
worst plantings ever in OC/Md. First prize may have to be shared between
Rod for his top to bottom death grip dive straight down off the top of
an o-head plus macker into the deepest ass crushing pit of
the morning, and President
Neal Carver's in the barrel cartwheel witnessed by several of us that look
both acrobatic and just plain sick. Tube time was logged by all including
your truly who had the unique fun of taking a very steep drop then riding
the wave with my hands the only thing touching my board as I literally
body surfed the pocket a foot or so above the deck of my board. And this
is one I made.
To a man everyone will say
they got their asses kicked with authority. But I didn't see anyone complaining
except for being undergunned in the chest to o-head smackers that dumped
like a waterfall and crushed like an ass compactor. I made the call after
they picked me up at the Bunker for 48th after the DP checked njs, IRI
north and south. As soon as we drove up the dune access road the boys knew
midtown was the bomb. As we walked down and started to suit up, over achiever
Rod retrieved half a board for someone. That's a nice thing to telegraph
what kind of surf we would be eating for breakfast. The cream of OC and
maybe the Delmarva was out with many folks entering the terrible tunnels,
but few making it out unpounded. I guess I should have known to be wary
when the first wave I was going to try for, encouraged by Robb, started
to pitch out too soon for me to catch. Instead all I had to do was punch
through the lip. I was 50% through and clear of it up to my ass, when I
had the sickest
sensation of my feet dangling
in the air, as in the barrel. Slowly but inexorably that sucker took me
by the heels and planted me feet first in about 3 feet of water. Not a
good feeling I assure you.
Tonight's glass off was much
smaller (waist to chest) but no less fun and the try to make ratio was
much higher with only 5 guys out at the Bunker beach trading tube after
tube. Rod, the little break to the north you guys were eyeing from the
balcony really cleaned up and provided several smooth as glass spitters
for the after dinner crowd. No rip, no wind, chest high fun spankers.
I'm toast. Hope to try midtown
again in the a.m. Will report then.
|
| Rod's Short Afternoon
Report (Session #2): We ended up somewhere between North Rehobeth
and Gordon's Pond... maybe it's called North Shores. It was firing nice
shiny tubelets between two jetties, lefts and rights, in the 3' to 6' range.
We all went deep, Dan scoring several deep pockets and myself soooo very
deep in the emerald palace on one. Neal finally mastered his shortboard
and even pulled an air!!! Overall, this afternoon's session was better
than this morning because of the consistently ridable waves. Dan mentioned
that he didn't realize the East Coast and our DelMarVa, could be as good
as Trestles.
Neal made incredible progress
on his shortboard during this session. I razzed him continuously
about trying to ride it like a longboard, trying to catch pussy longboard
waves, and make weak longboard drops. Nothing personal against longboards
(can you tell?), but you'll never make progress on your shortboard when
you only take it out under the most demanding conditions and ride the in-betweener
"fun board" shape (burn that puppy, Neal!) on days that the shortboard
can be used. This was a memorable session with Dan and Neal.
|
| Carver's Monday Report:
Sorry its a tad late. I was too sore to type yesterday. I knew it
was big out there. I anxiously anticipated a clean up. I rolled
over and whispered, “I’m not driving tomorrow... so... I’m not sure what
time I will get home.” She said, “Well, you'll be home by six won't
you?” I quietly replied, “ Not necessarily.” (More about that this
later)
The alarm went of at 4:30
and I popped out of bed and into my baggies. Jumped in the Crofton
go-cart and headed for Parole. This was a last minute trip that was
decided on in hopes of scoring a clean up. It's always a dicey decision
when trying to calculate the wind switch. Anyway, Law and Smith soon greeted
me. At that point I decided to leave the fun board in the car and
take the 6’6”. I figured if Rob (at 6’2” tall) could ride the same
size board, so could I. Rod and Dan pulled in shortly after and we
headed out.
At 7am we placed a call into
the Foondoggy. He popped out of bed and advised us that there was
sizable surf. We replied that we would check a few of the northern
spots and report in. Needless to say, the north wind was making a mess
of the north facing beaches. We headed south and picked up Foon from
the Bunker. He advised that the well-touted 48th St. still had the
best sand bars in town. We went direct, pulled up, one look, and
parked. The waves were on! We waxed up and paddled out.
Mike Law and I found our selves drifting south. We decided that we
would not fight the drift but just surf down the beach. After all, the
waves were
breaking everywhere. It
was 10am and we found our selves down at the tip of the boardwalk. We quickly,
marched back about a mile and realized that the lifeguards were not calling
anyone out of the water. We went back in for two more hours but stayed
close. The conditions were exactly as Foon described in his report.
Many of us got drilled. Unfortunately, I probably got my hindquarters
handed to me the most as I tried to relearn a short board takeoff.
I definitely had more wipeouts and missed waves than rides. After
that brutal session we re-energized with sub sandwiches and brews at the
Foon Bunker.
I was not ready for a second
session. I was a whipped dog. However, I could see a wild haired
look in Rod’s eye (and it wasn't the G&T's). Dan was also eyeing
the glass off the started to occur outside the Foon beach. We loaded
up and headed north. It was about 4 o'clock as we checked some northern
Rehobeth spots. I must admit, there were still some big waves rolling
in. The wild haired look in Rod’s eye got even worse. I knew
we were headed out for a second session. I decided to call the wife
and advise her of my whereabouts. I said hello and could tell
she was not real happy. She asked of my location. When I advised
her that I was still at the beach... the conversation abruptly ended.
I hung up and said to Rod and Dan, “I did not even get a chance to tell
her we were headed back out for a second session.”
We paddled back out to some
chest to head high semi hollow waves that were a little slower than the
morning's feast. There were rights and lefts. Shortly after
we paddled out, we had it all to ourselves. I was getting better
rides but still missing allot of waves. Rod came over and coached
me with his mellow encouragement. He was finally able to talk the
longboard mentality out of my head and I began catching twice as many waves.
I ended up having a blast. We surfed till dusk and then headed for home,
happy, thrashed, trashed, tired and sore. I got home just in time
to help put the kids to bed and get a glimpse of the wife's evil eye.
I
guess nothing comes with
out a price!
|
| Dan King's Pit Report:
I don't think that EC surf is good enough for boogie boarding very often.
Tim sold the board that would probably have been most useful to him.
That said, we scored very
good surf on the DelMarVa on Labor Day. Head+, board-breaking, spitting
grinders with offshore wind in the AM in Foontown. Pitfest! It kind of
had that OB Frisco feel, what with the shifty beachbreak thumpers and the
hellatious current (I'm glad I rememberd my paddling gloves).
After lunch and laughs at
the Foonbunker, Suicide Rodriguez blindfolded me and Neal Carver, and took
us to a secret spot for the
late afternooon session.
This may well be the heaviest and most consistent secret big-wave spot
in the world. We scored sweet, glassy head+ Trestle-esque rights,
with just 4 guys in the lineup.
It was much better than I
expected - definitely good enough for a boogie board. I even got spin-cycled
and held down a couple of
times. Fun!
I don't know how often it gets like that, but so far I have no complaints.
Crag
"Get in the pit and try
to love someone!" -- Kid Rock
I don't read any responses
to my posts.
|
| Muffin's "Monday Surf"
Report: Guys, it was good to get in the water again. But man
am I sore today. While it does appear that Neal and Rod are the contestants
for the worst wipeout award I would like to be considered for most frequent.
I need a bigger board. Thinking of like a 6'10 to a 7'2" tri with FCS,
rounded squash with a domed deck for more buoyancy and float.
Figure this would be something
for Costa as well. Any opinions?
P.S. After getting a shower
last night I broke out the q-tips and extracted half a coquina shell from
my right ear. I got pounded.
|
Mike Law's "Monday Surf"
Report: Finally back on line after a week outta-d-loop.
Great to meet Dan, Robb and the notorious Foon for the first time yesterday.
To add to Foon's post, I had a good - ol - fashioned arse whuppin yesterday.
Felt good. It's
somehow inexplicably more
fun to eat it on an overhead bone-crusher than a two foot knee-slapper...
I know, I'm mental buy hey, it's tropical season.
Surf: Big
Conditions: Near perfect...
A bit too much offshore early but it got better--- I still maintain it
would've been more fun if it was a Southie but I'm a Reg-Foot so I'm biased
Location: 48th = >
29th (Neal and I made the mistake of not fighting the drift nor electing
to get out and walk back so we had about a 15-20 min walk back after the
first sesh)
Any more details would spoil
it. Good to be back...
|
Foon's "Labor Day + One"
Report: Bright, Sunny, offshore winds and perfect chest high
cylinders right out front. Two bars at the ends of 134 and 135 are just
reeling. Incoming tide should make it that much better for a noon sesh.
Downside, ultrahigh glare from the sun off perfectly glassy ocean makes
it hard to see those headhigh cleanups coming in. Heavy poundage in the
shallows, so you tend not to ride them all the way in. I got smoked, pitted,
drilled and ragged all on the same wave. AND what's
worse, not a soul in the
water!!! How will I ever endure this!??? |
|
