| Sunday
Wetsuit Shopping and Oh Yeah Surfing. Well I have to say after
seeing Brian's photos I don't feel as bad about missing Saturday, well
mainly because ASC owned 8th Street on Sunday. Brian Stringer, Tim and
I decided to start out at a reasonable time, seeing as low tide wasn't
going to be until after lunch. We met up at the Antiques Mall at
8AM and loaded the car quickly to get out of the wind. The parking
lot was a ice rut mess and worse yet, there were only two cars in the lot
leaving, we both left at the same time with the other group of folks ahead
of us. They met another car coming in and decided to have a converstaion
blocking the entrance/exit of the mall. Couldn't they tell we were
on a mission to go surfing on this fine morning!!
The trip to OC was fairly
uneventful, aside from a dog that seemed hell bent on getting run over
and a vehicle in the median. We planned in enough time for Brian
and Tim to do some wetsuit shopping before we hit the waves. We first
checked out Chaunceys and they didn't have Brian's size in the 5/3 that
we were looking for. So we ambled on down to Malibus and Lee helped
Brian and Tim with a couple of good deals on 5/3 wetuits and I was treated
to the news that both boards I had on sale were sold. Properly geared
up, we started our search for waves.
8th Street was clean but
a little on the small side, or so it seemed from the boardwalk. 48th
Street was bigger but there were about 10 folks out and not too many of
the peaks were working. The bar just south f the Foon Bunker was
doing ok. 37th Street, and State Line were closing out. We
decided to head back to 8th Street and at least not have to fight for waves.
We suited up and headed out into the water to time it perfectly, we were
just about to reach the outside bar when the set waves came in and slowed
the progress out. We made it out shortly after that and floated down
to the groin at 7th Street, which seemed to have the most promise.
Brian caught a few right off the bat and was slashing on down the face
on his semi-gum. I had a few false starts that turned into body surfing
sessions and then hooked into a real nice left. After a stalling
bottom turn, I stalled the board a bit more and tucked for the cover up,
but alas it was not to be and the wave broke just behind me. That
wave made the trip worth it for me and I was blessed with quite a few more
during the day.
Some of the set waves were
overhead, but generally they were chest to head high with clean faces.
It was tricky getting in with the heavy offshore pushing you back, but
when you got in you were frequently rewarded. Tim caught a few and
found that if you stayed high on the wave you would get blow back off the
wave. He was stoked and going for the waves despite some of them
being very late take offs, I think he said he went over the falls on one
of them. He was smiling at the end so I take that to be a good session,
or maybe his face was just frozen that way:-)
Alas my day ended with a
fall on the rail of my board and some bruised if not broken ribs.
We loaded up the car and headed home, tired but satisfied. At this
point I am hoping my ribs don't keep me out of action for too long, because
Thursday may be working. The good news is that the club has two more with
the rubber to go deep into winter. Brian tried to weasel out of going
again until spring, but I know where he lives. All in all, a very
good day, sorry we didn't have more takers.
Chris S
PS For anyone interested
Whitetail opened on Saturday.
|
| Veteral
Paul - More Sunday Wetsuit Shopping and Oh Yeah Surfing. Yeah, we looked
pretty hard to find anything rideable sunday. The NE direction really doesn't
work anywhere from Cape Henlopen on down to Fenwick it seems. Decent size
but tending to close out...we went out at Olive St in Reho and messed around
for a couple of hours. Got maybe 2 decent rides, nothing special. It was
pretty chilly too! I picked up my new Ashton 8'0" "Desert Island" yesterday
and it is a beut. I can't wait to give it a test drive...
- (Old Timer) Paul |
New Guy Tim - More Sunday
Wetsuit Shopping and Oh Yeah Surfing. My first ASC trip a success.
Thanks Chris and Brian. Chris you are a great steward of the club. Your
gear advice and help meeting the guys in the shops truly made my day enjoyable.
Getting in and out of suits in that wind was a mission in itself. The waves
were fun, plenty big enough and challenging. Mostly long lefts, which are
not my favorite but I had fun. Getting down the face (sometimes on the
board, sometimes without it) in the wind really was a challenge. Brian
caught plenty of waves and Chris had that long left which was
a highlight of the day.
I'm already looking forward
to the next adventure, but hope there is some southerly flow in the forcast.
Tim |
