Narragansett, 09/05/10

There were still some waves remaining today from Hurricane Earl. After today, that was to be it until our next swell, according to the forecast. I stopped in Narragansett at 6:00 PM, on the way to Jamestown with Connie. She relaxed on the beach for an hour while I surfed a clean, three-foot swell. It was a pleasant session. The water temperature is still fine for a shorty. The tide was coming in, and it wasn’t too crowded. There were perhaps a dozen guys in the water. It’s wonderful that the kids have returned to school. I Enjoyed a few nice rides, surfing until sunset.

Fenway, 09/02/10

Hurricane Earl is approaching, and we’re getting some nice surf. The weather is still particularly beautiful today, as whatever components of the storm that will impact us has not arrived yet, and we’re currently enjoying a high-pressure weather pattern.

So, I squeezed in an hour at Fenway this morning before the 10:00 AM cut-off. (Surfing is still closed during the day for another week or so). Air temperature is in the high eighties, water temp is probably still about seventy, and there were some clean, chest-high waves coming through. The best part is, the period between them was easily 15 seconds, so there was plenty of time to get out between waves without getting pummeled.

I rode my new 9’ Shane Smith for the second time today. I’m still getting familiar with where I want to position myself on it. But I got a great ride this morning on a chest-high wave that makes me optimistic that I will do well on this board. Also what was good today – there were less than twenty guys in the water, fewer kids, and fewer swimmers. Summer vacation is ending, and it is still spectacular at the beach.

a short video from this session.

2nd Beach Middletown, 8/29/10

The forecast for today was for spectacular surf. I wasn’t alone in noticing this. I arrived at the parking lot at 8:00 AM and paid $20 to park, and I was lucky to get a parking spot. There were easily thirty guys on the water. What was amazing was, the first of our Fall hurricanes that was supposed to produce the spectacular surf had petered out. We had a nice light offshore breeze that would have been helpful in large surf. But all that we ended up with here today were some barely ridable swells, for the most part. Occasionally, something shoulder high would roll in, but they were few and far between. You had to wait so long between them, the off-shore wind tended to blow you outside, so that when the occasional nice wave appeared, you’d be too far out to catch it before you realized it.

However there were still some fun waves. After paying $20 to park, I needed to get some time in the water. I surfed for two hours+ on my new 9’ Shane Smith that I picked up in Matunuck nearly two weeks ago. Today was the first day that I have been able to ride it. We had a few days where there were no waves, but I also missed a swell because I stepped on an old water ski and gave myself a nice slice in the bottom of my left foot that took some time to heel.

I was surprised that a lot of guys (kids, kooks) were wearing full suits in the water today. There is some red seaweed at 2nd Beach, but the water temp is still in the sixties. There was one guy catching just about every little ride he was attempting. He was shredding, and he was only wearing board shorts, although, he wasn’t in the water as long as I was in my shorty.

My parking pass was good for the whole day, so I returned at about 3:00 PM with Connie, Kenny, Meg and Brian, and I squeezed in another hour session. The waves were about the same, maybe not quite as good because the tide was out.

School will be starting soon, so although nobody is happy with the cold water temperatures, it will be nice to have fewer kids floating around in the line-up.

Fenway, 8/10/10

Todd and I went to Fenway tonight and got in the water by a few minutes after 6:00 PM. There were hardly any waves. But, there was also almost no wind, the water was warm, and I needed some exercise after a few aggravating hours at work this afternoon. There was quite a bit of waiting, but I got a few barely knee-high rides. Very small waves didn’t stop over a dozen kids from getting in the way.

Todd came out of the water with two strange abrasions on his board. He thought that I might have hit him once, (surely, I came close to it) but there wasn’t a mark on my board, and his damage was on opposite sides. His board looked like it had been hit hard with a belt sander in a couple of places. He didn’t think that he hit anything, so we couldn’t figure it out – but he definitely needs some repair-work.

The water temp is probably still in the high sixties. I rode the 9’2” Bruce Jones tonight. The Chanin needs to be repaired, or probably retired. It’s got some major stress cracks on the bottom.

Sandy Point, 8/7/10

Connie and I went to Sandy Point with Pam and Dave T. this afternoon in their boat. I brought the paddle boards. When we arrived, it was pretty windy, and the water was a little rough. There isn’t much surf there. I was just hoping for the wind to calm down a bit so I could get some paddle-boarding in. Sure enough, at around 6:00, the wind started to die, as usual. We were set up on the west, ocean side of Sandy Point. So I paddled west, crossed the channel, and headed in towards Walker’s dock in Stonington where Pam and Dave keep their boat. The water was warm and once I got inside, calm. I paddled for about an hour.

Fenway, 8/8/10

Connie and I went to Fenway tonight because the forecast said that might be something ridable. We got down there a little before 6:00 PM. There were still tons of people there because it had been such a warm, beautiful August day. I waited until 6:15 to go in, and lots of other people did the same thing The wind was on-shore, and it was kind of rough. I counted at least a dozen people in the water, and there were many swimmers. There was a guy out there swimming that seemed to be in my way constantly. There were only two other guys getting any rides, and one of them took a dump right in front of me and almost clobbered me. It seemed like there were tons of kids on surfboards, just floating around like corks, not catching any waves, and just getting in the way. It almost made me wish it was September, so that they would all be back at school or playing on their sports teams, and I could have the place a little bit more to myself.

Fenway , 8/6/10

I had a meeting in Misquamicut this morning at 10:00 AM, so since there was a little surf, I decided that I could squeeze in a session at the Fen first. I was in the water by about 8:15 AM, until a few minutes before 10:00 AM. I think that there were about a dozen guys in the water. A couple of them were pretty good. It was a good group. The waves weren’t all that big or clean, but we all got a few nice rides in. There was a lot of seaweed until you got out to chest deep water.

Fenway, 7/18/10

I surfed twice today – first at about 8:15 AM, and again at about 7:00 PM, both times at Fenway.

Connie and I woke up early, had coffee, and the weather was beautiful. Hardly much wind, and about three foot surf. She came with me to Fenway and hung out in a beach chair while I surfed for about two hours. There were about 25 people in the water. Mitch was just getting out when we arrived, headed for work. Betsy Gross and her crew were there, along with Roy Springer. I rode the 9’6” Channin for the first time in a long time, because I’m in the middle of a repair on my Bruce Jones board. It took me at least twenty minutes to get the feel of it. I wasn’t catching anything at first. But then I moved up a little bit and started doing much better. I wore my shorty, and got a few nice rides. Then we went out to breakfast.

I returned for another session in the evening. There were LOTS more kids in the water. Plenty of them were in the way. Not as many people catching waves as there was in the morning, but there were just as many people, if not more. I surfed until dark. I’ve got a busy work week ahead of me so it was nice to get out twice today.

Narragansett, 7/9/10

There are waves forecast for all of this week. This morning I went in at Narragansett town beach at 10:00 AM. As a non-resident, during a weekday, I paid $8 for beach parking. I surfed for just under an hour with a shorty. I wasn’t cold at all. At any one time, there were 25 or so guys (one girl) in the water with me. There was lots of seaweed; more than I’ve seen on any day so far this season. I was happy to get a handful of nice rides before I got tired and had to quit. I noticed that I’ve got a pretty good sized ding / crack in the rail of my board, (my Brice Jones) towards the nose on the left side. I’ll have to repair that after it dries out, before I get it in the water again. I’ll be switching to the Chanin until that sets up.

Fenway, 6/29/10

We had a 3.5 foot swell forecast for all day today in Misquamicut. I went to Fenway after work with Todd at about 6:00 PM. The parking lot was full, and there were at least 25 guys in the water, some without wet suits. Mitch was out there on his SUP. It was fairly clean, and occasionally some overhead sets came through. I got a couple of nice rides early on, but eventually I got tired, surfing until I could paddle no more. My arms were spent. I had all that I could do to catch a ride in. A great night. Nice weather, warm water, good exercise. It was bit crowded, however. Once or twice I had to pass on rides, because there were just too many people in the way.