Don't Blink

Evening Surfriders,
Happened to be in the right place , at the right time this morning for once . Super hard WSW winds didn't produce much this week , but some knee to waist surf this morning and the wind went straight offshore while I was the only one standing there. You can see the clouds and cold front approaching in the video. After about 90 minutes it swung around out of the NE as fast as it went offshore earlier. Feeling pretty lucky as the month has been very windy . The water is feeling great no ice cream headaches , here comes spring . Zog

Finally

Morning Surfriders,
Finally able to get out and catch a little something yesterday. Between work and not having any luck to catch these quick little wind swells lately , had a surf drought over last 10 days . Kind of small today , but at least the sun is out and the temps are rising , hurry up spring . Zog

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