E's Surf Report

e—i really love the surprises you leave at the top
of the blog. today is no exception. as a teacher, i KNOW what a hard job parenting must be. the best part for me of getting to this age of peers having kids...is when the good ones have 'em...
good folks have good kids. from the list above...the
next generation of rippers is afoot.

glad to know that i did not miss too much this a.m.
seems stellar but a slammed week on the hilltop.

enjoy the sunshine folks!

snapwater or crapwater, that stuff is BROWN!

Yeah.. Jersey water looks comparable to the mar. I second Korewin. I work with k-5 kids, and the smiles they put on your face is awesome. Huge props to all parents doing a good job out there. That's a tough area to keep patience.

Go Giants!!!

i'm the guy with the tall blonde teenager. you described my world to a "T".

my groms just getting back into surfing. i love hearing her shriek with excitement when she cathces a wave. your surfing expereince is in your kids DNA. you can see it in there stance, how they hold their arms.

Thanks for the plug E... Whoot! Whoot!

As I drove by the mid on the way to work this am at 9ish, I saw somebody take off on a nearly 2oh right backside. Huge drop, big bottom turn and cranked a couple turns on the face. Looked like an 8'6 or 9' board. I was surprised to see it that big. Ruined my drive to work.

3 months and my monkey is getting swim lessons at month 6. I got him busting out sit-ups already in preparation for Fall '05. Yeah, he might be a surfer but only time will tell. Soon as he gets to wear his Billabong sweatshirt Uncle Korwin gave him, we should have a good indication as to how he is progressing.....

That water looks pretty gross! But that wave looks unreal!

Winds are calm down in South City. Gonna go check the bay inlet to see how calm it is. I need some waves!

The water in the NJ photos is fine, its just the color the water is out here. Does anyone know why that is? Why is the Atlantic from Montauk to NJ butt brown?

Seeing a buddy's kid grow and start to walk and turn into a kid is amazing.

Last night it was a washing machine. Tight windswell, 30+ paddle out, got denied, pissed, saw a buddy, went in a again, made it, duckdove a sneaker wave and my leash broke, bodysurfed in, 0 rides, 1,000 duckdives, 5000 paddles. FUN! i love when mother O shows you who is in charge. I love being out there and you really have no control of where you end up. Currents, waves, whitewater, froth, stoke.

tsm - being from NJ I can tell you the water is full of sand. The waves break real close to the beach, like inside OB. There are several inlets and rivers that stir up the bottom as well. Then of course, there is the Jersey Devil.

Hmm, Maybe the brownish color is because that part of the Atlantic coast has less coral/sand and more silt than our fair shores?

Both of my girls are great little swimmers, but my 6 year old has a goggle addiction, so it's hard to get her out without them. I guess I'll let her wear the gogs this summer just to get her back on the board.

8:45 - 10:30 Ram Adnil was surfable: clean waist-shoulder high, but mostly not steep. Often enough, you could maybe get a turn in before it mushed out or closed out. Two near head-ons: one not so bad, just converging speedily from different peaks; the other, this guy drops in in front of me as I'm on a left and he tries to go right--yikes! I guess that was me not so long ago.

Wheeeeee!

Being from Long Island myself, I definetly attribute the nasty water color to sandy water and mostly shore break. Doesn't make for nice photos but the waves can have their moments.

painting by Pamela Neswald

There definitely were some sweet waves this morning. Watched a few roll in as I was munching down my breakfast before heading to the cube farm.

I've had many great sessions in NJ. The jetties make for nice breaks in small waves, but I hated them when the swells got big. It seemed like a rock pile would be in the middle of each wall. They're so close together, only one block apart. The other complaint is there are way too many flat days.

really appreciated the intro today, e. i'll take it as a cue to go public with some personal news that is much happier than my tale of woe from the past weekend: i am on the path to parenthood myself. my wife is pregnant, due mid-october!

j.o.c. - oye muchas gracias for the info on valencia. i am psyched. its not a surf trip but if i can get some rides on some wind chop while i'm there then all the better.

loon - congrats!

Loon - if you haven't "found out", don't! You will be stoked...Congrats....Either way, don't listen to the evils that some preach. It isn't that bad. I surf just as much now as I did before........and I travel about the same as well......

Nice work! Bummer on the car though.

I like the new Surfpulse, nice lay out...

Loon Big congrats

Korwin, what grade do you teach??

loon

congrats!

yeah, loon, congrats. i'm not gonna let it slow me down either if i ever get knocked up. i'll just cut a big hole in the middle of the board and paddle on.
best thing about surfpulse, the buoys page, watching those wind bars turn from red to blue to green is a beautiful thing even if i do have to pull an all-nighter tonight.
second best thing, mexi's pics. is the new slw out? where can i get a copy?

Loon, siiiick! Better get those sessions in while you can. So, after reading Things Fall Apart, I got pretty fired up. White Devil... Anyway, my reading rec's for the day are two titles by Huston Smith, The Way Things Are, and Why Religion Matters. I don't follow any one religion but try and draw a few things from here and there keeping 'ish balanced. So anyone have input on the books if they've read em? I'm trying to broaden my understanding since I'll be traveling to a few places that don't have such a high value on materialism. Do I sound like a hippy?

Clair Wendling

girls rule!

love that last painting with the red dress and the smile.

congrats Loon!

nice vons, glad you got the info. i was about to tell you to check it. valencia is out of control good times. surfalicante.com is a dope site. looking at the maps, you can see how an hour south of valencia is exposed to a much larger area of potential fetch from the med. sea.

for another good spot to catch crappy waves and look at beautiful topless girls, try south beach.

Ian,
'Why Religion Matters' is worth the read.
Smith's arguing against scientific materialism's insistence as the only path to 'truth'.
anyway, enjoy.
I'd also recommend anything by Karen Armstrong-
"history of God" is well worth it.

The NJ ocean bottom's substrate is of a very fine grain, it mixes readily with the water. Bigger swells can be very murky or "tea" colored. SOme of the inlets carry cedar-tinted water into the inlets and bays, too, then that mixes with the ocean broth.

I've seen crystal blue water days in NJ, too. MY favorites times were deserted wintertime swells in the 1980s. I like that everyone thinks it is polluted and gross. But that was 10 years ago; since then I like my OB just fine. ;^)

Speaking of kids, there was a kid I surfed with on LBI in NJ in the late 60's early 70's. His son now competes in the amatures out there and does pretty good too. And yes, the "old man" continues to surf and competes as well.

mexi...

i teach freshmen > seniors at usf.
which is an interesting mix..some are
adults and some are light years away,
regardless of what their licenses say.

btw—i hear you have a place in CR,
i'm headed down in may (12th > 19th)
west coast (playa hermosa/ esterillos, etc.
if you need anyone to check up on it..ha ha.

ah...kids! loon congratulations. it seems weird to me that I think I posted something on this here board when my first son was born...and he's now 3 and a half with an 11 month old bro!!! It goes fast. I hope to have 2 surfing hellions in a few years. My 3 year old is starting to get interested as to why his daddy keeps going to the beach. Swimming lessons this summer fo sure.

Some help needed here. Take a look at the picture below. The guy on the wave is 6'5" tall but obviously bent over through the turn. In your opinion what is the size (not hawaiian) of this wave?;

Korewin.. different world. I teach 7th graders.

Ian, A must reach for traveling to southern Africa is Cry, My Beloved Country, I forgot the authors name Maybe Wilson or Williams

Korewin, house has been rented for months by a guy from Jersey. Sorry. I'll be there from June to August, then I think the guy from Jersey is moving back in.

anon - you don't give enough info to guess size. What day of the week is it? What's the water temp. Is he mostly leggs or long body?

I'll guess eight to ten feet. Then again, it's hard to tell what angle we're looking from, and, moreover, I'm an idiot.

most surfers in Hawaii or Australia would call it waist-shoulder high.. maybe a healthy 3 feet.

no worries at all. next time, though....
damn i'll be in kauai when you are there.
i'll call you and tell what swells to look for!

more on teaching via mexi's comment...
yeah i have taught elementary school, middle school
and high school kids. all very different with different
needs, strategies and tactics to get points across.
candidly though—i found the elementary kids (1st and
2nd graders) the hardest to teach. not for behavior or
anything, just straight up voracious intake and little
of the baggage us grown ups or even teenagers have
about fitting in, being perceived as cool, or the limitations
of those few more years of socialization bring....

e- thanks for the shout... It made D and I smiley!
Wants he gets older, I'm sure he will greatly appreciate being able to visit funky uncle E for some sizeable drops.
kus

nice Kus!! that's so rad that you have a little gremmie. crazy shit!

Deleware River flooded like mad the other day. My sis had to evacuate! New Hope and Lambertville underwater. Yardley underwater!

Dennis - the picture is not OB. It is Ireland - water temp about the same as here. This photo won the Irish "Big-Wave" contest. They measured this wave as being 5.3 meters which equates to 17.4 feet (almost treble overhead) - this is ludicrous to me and just wanted to see people's reaction here.

too many pints in those old irish sea dogs, that thing is small potatoes

Photos from the flood in Jersey.. this is the town where my sis is setting up a restaurant. Usually the water is about 30 feet below the bridge.

12' face anon man

i think the guy in the Irish "Big-Wave" photo is a leprachaun. he's more like 3'2" instead of 6'5".

welcome loon. if you find out what sex it is, you can start calling the child by it's name while en utero. reading them stories, sharing your love for them. then upon birth you can look your child right in the eye and finally introduce yourself. i will never forget that moment seeing my daughter immediatly tune into my voice and connect with me. as good as a moment as any from the ocean.

arvo somewhere.

From Merriam Websters:
Main Entry: lep·re·chaun
Pronunciation: 'lep-r&-"kän, -"kon
Function: noun
Etymology: Irish leipreachán
: a mischievous elf of Irish folklore usually believed to reveal the hiding place of treasure if caught..........hmmmmmmmm.

Laird would probably call that day "flat" and settle for backgammon in the pub.

loon...adding my congrats to those heaped already. very cool. (...and, btw, i can vouch for Kaiser's claims...his son hasn't slowed down his dp or travel sched at all! very impressive.)

Ian...if you're looking for reads on Southern Africa, i've got a few recs in addition to "Cry, The Beloved Country" posed by Mexi (written by Alan Paton). first, my personal favorite is "My Traitor's Heart" by Ryan Malan. it is a gripping account of an Afrikaner who reports on the atrocities of apartheid (for which he eventually has to flee the country). powerful stuff and incredibly well-written. "Mukiwa" by Peter Godwin is of a similar vein (although not quite as good) with a Rhodesian/Zimbabwean setting. for a good adventure read that offers great insight into the incredible Kalahari region and its inhabitants try "Cry of the Kalahari" by Mark & Delia Owens. finally, on the lighter side, i recommend "Land of the Long Grass" by M. Maxwell.

Irishmen don't surf, they farm potatos. This just reinforces it.

That wave face is no more then 8-10 in that picture. And it looks like a soft Sloat day somewhere near a mid to high tide. On what OBD would call the "outer bar".

south africa books - "power of one" by bryce fyrestone (i think). it will beat you down and then uplift you. even better if you haven't seen the cheesey movie.

anon i would call that 10 ft.

I'd prolly say 8 to 10 ft.

I didn't get a kick out of seeing my kids initially...it was cool, but the personality is so vacant at first...then it emerges gradually, step at a time. The first time the kid sees you and smiles (about 3 months for my first), the first time sleeping through the night, the first "daddy" out of the mouth, the first steps, the first "why" question, the first days out of diapers (and nights), the first time throwing a ball, first times in the water (most SF kids learn to swim around 6 yrs old, hate to break it to you fellas with newborns)...for me its all about the journey...

the journey is the destination.

thanks for all the support/congrats folks. i've been watching your reports kaiser, impressed to see that you're still getting out pretty often. my wife and i have already begun what i suspect will be a lifelong discussion over how parenting duties will affect availability to surf. hopefully the little bugger will like to sleep-in as much as momma, and the dawn hours will still be available. and even before we conceived i did the math in hopes that paternity leave would be during the fall :)

we're currently planning to wait to find out the sex, wife's preference - i could go either way, but she likes the idea having that surprise info as a little extra incentive for labor.

i'm really appreciating our little community lately. thanks - especially to e.

Ian: another good African writer is Basil Davidson, especially his stuff re: Amilcar Cabral. Search For Africa is a good sampler.

Kaiser - allz i have to say about your continued impressive surfing frequency is that your lady is a SAINT!!! you're psyched man! My girl is always like, "Kaiser's wife must be an angel, that boy surfs an awful lot for having a newborn." Count your lucky ones Kaiser and hook your lady up HUGE next chance you get.

Always gotta treat the ladies right. Gotta remind myself that sometimes too. (Friend #1 loves the term "ladies")

Loon.. no worries man. I'm excited to hear about the whole process you'll be going through.

Isn't the destination a brand of board bags?

yes, they sell 'em at journeys

wow.. lotta good rec's.. thank you everyone for the hookup. How bout them giants?

Too weird. My daughter turned sixteen earlier this month and I and "The Fly" were holding down Middle Peak Saturday afternoon. Let me just say that gnarly left down there really doesn't have anything on being parents of a teenager.

you gotta love her, tease her, but most of all ya gotta please her. you gotta treat her like a lady and she'll give into you.