Fun Masonboro

Good Day Surfriders,

Brad , Brian , and I paddled over to Masonboro and caught some fun waist to chest + waves with an offshore wind and a max crowd of 7. Not a real good day for photos as it was drizzling and very gray , but I got a few. We had a super fun session , despite the cold and dreary conditions . Zog

Party Wave

Howdy Surfriders ,
Didn't get to catch super Tuesday as work called , but caught super fun leftovers for my birthday. Thanks to everyone for my birthday bash . Boogie , Brad , O.G. , Phil , Melissa and I had a great session early , and Keith W. and I caught it fun again in the afternoon . Maria thanks for the cake , and thanks to my beautiful wife Melissa for making it such an awesome day. Zog

We Came , We Saw , We Raced and Chris Hill Wins Cold Stroke Classic !!!

Yo Surfriders ,

Drake and I wandered up to W.B. and tried our hand at SUP Racing , and had a blast . We took 11'2" Hobie ATR's and rung what we brung . Drake finished ahead of me by a couple hundred yards as old Drakey boy is fast . It was a crazy 1 hour sprint{ 3.5 mile lap of Harbor Island } , don't know where I finished in middle of pack and don't really care as working that hard and just finishing was rush . Local hero Chris Hill won the 14 elite division , as those guys are bad ass paddling 2 laps at 7 miles . Here's a pre race shot , shot from the starting line to my left as I was in the middle and the initial sprint was crazy . Even popped off an action shot during race . Thanks Drake it was awesome running our first race together and I had alot of fun. Will post our times after banquet tonight. Zog

Surfriders Performance Lab - Hypothermia Experiment

Surfriders Performance Lab - Hypothermia Experiment - 1 -11 -2011

Lab Rats : Drake C. , Keith W. , Myself

Surf Break / Lab : Somewhere between Daniels Reef and Atlantic Tower

Experiment Time : 1:45 pm

Lab Conditions : Chest to Head , Air -35 Degrees , Water - 43 Degrees , Wind - 10 to 15 west / straight offshore .

Pre Experiment Nutrition - 1 regular size candy bar and 300 ml. water per lab rat.

Equipment - All lab rats rode some kind of shortboard , and wore their best wetsuits and all accessories . All lab rats glad to have a little post holiday belly fat .

All lab rats agree that you could reasonably perform / surf up to about and hour . The fumble factor is always high in full wetsuits , as all agreed it was greatly amplified by the freezing conditions . All lab rats crashed and " froze " much more often than surfing the same conditions in warmer temps . All lab rats agree that their toes , fingers or both hurt and throbbed during session . All lab rats agree that they had trouble with coordination and manual dexterity after the session , { I stayed out for 2 hours and had trouble walking out of water , and shivered heavily driving home} .

Experiment Conclusion : 3 out of 3 lab rats agree , it was cold as SHIT !!!!!!!

P. S . , But all lab rats caught some awesome surf , with hardly anyone out .

Daydreaming

Howzit Surfriders ,
Another cold flat day , sitting here watching Chasing the Lotus , got me daydreaming about great surf trips gone by . Here's a shot from 1986 {25 Years ago } damn I'm getting old . This little nugget is on the inside at Rio Nexpa , before it was popular . Just a few palapas on the point and about a dozen people in the water at a time , as the surf was on for most of the day , every day. No digital photography , just good old Kodak film and a prayer . Was riding my shortboard for the trip a 6'2" Rusty and and had a 7'8" for the bombs . What a great 2 month trip. Photo by David Nelson , the original owner of the Cove Surf Shop . Pray for Surf , Zog

Cold and Flat

Morning Surfriders ,
Yup it's cold and flat , link on over the the Surfriders Performance Lab { bottom of the blog roll } for a few exercise idea's . One day this winter going to be over . Are you going to be ready for crazy long sessions or how about a paddle over to Masonboro for a pumping northeaster ? There is no shortcut to anywhere worth going , so get moving . Zog

First Surf of 2011

Evening Surfriders ,

Since sitting around in fancy surf wear that we don't have , making excuses and waiting for mom to serve dinner isn't and option , we went surfing . Had a heck of a time with camera fogging with warm air and cold water tonight . Caught a couple shots of Melissa , a little blurry but you can see there were a few fun little waves . Hope it doesn't get to cold this week , need more sunny surf . Zog

Surfriders Performance Lab

Happy New Year Surfriders ,
Click on the link in the Blog Roll to the Surfriders Performance Lab . I will be posting idea's , articles and info on fitness and general health . Hope you can use something here to improve your surfing and help out with staying in shape in these cold winter months .
Surf Strong in 2011 , Zog