Thursday am photos from St Pete Beach- my daughter Cassia surfing small GC leftovers. We are having fun being tourists.
Cassia headed out while Nonno watches on.
at 96- Old man and the sea
Set wave.
Look dad no sea urchins! Cassia loved the little waves.
Wednesday 6/12 Manatee Cnty Photos below by Micah Weaver/aurasurf.com, Thursday update below.
I had a blast surfing the gulf. Thanks to Andy Malloy for this photo.
Steep sections.
Mike Dolan.
Beach Scene.
Good to see old friends.
Purdy, sorry for missing your barrel!
Andy the Legend!
John and Andy splitting a peak.
Wedge.
This how I started surfing- boogie board in fun windswell hooked on the rush of riding a wave like these girls.
Vert.
Mikey shreds!
6/12 Summer Surf on the GC: I went at 2pm with low expectations and the waves were surprisingly shredable. That sand bar is rad! For 3.6ft at 5-6seconds the waves had some juice an steep sections. The water was blue and the waves were fun and it was good to see old friends and I got really sun-burned. Just another day with waves on the GC. Stoked, thanks sincerely to everyone who has reached out to me. You guys are awesome and world class.
The Compound
Thursday 9am WFL: Surfed for 3 plus hours in the gulf yesterday. Then I slept hard, surfing is so good 4 u! Buoy is a little smaller this am. On the beach it looks like knee high wind waves. Some storms may try to form and move in again today. You can probably find a LB wave today. Small chances it will bump up again. Tomorrow as the high takes over the winds are forecast to go calm and then a flat weekend is on tap. Hope you got some…
Wednesday 8am WFL Report: Doh! waves look weak this morning in the knee high range. But we expected that… winds are supposed to pick up today and by afternoon hopefully it will double in size at least. Yesterday I got more reports of fun rideable surf in Manatee Cnty. Hoping for that again today, board is in the car, just waiting… A small possibly fun leftover tomorrow am and then calming down by Friday.
Mon: Chance for fun waves at best spots in the am, then forecast to fade but maybe still some waves Monday pm.
Tuesday: knee high range as the gradient relaxes.
Wednesday: Coming back up in the mid morning/afternoon- thigh high plus range.
Thursday: Knee high range
Friday: 1ft or less, back to calm.
Lets Surf!
Even though we left Rincon at 8:30am to go up to Penya Blanca there was no traffic and only 2 guys out. I think everyone moved to the US. Excellent water shots by Mo Lelii.
Going without and Hurricane Prep: I knew when I moved here that the 3 months in the middle of summer were basically flat… but this has been the flattest summer of the 9 I’ve experienced here. I’ve surfed 3 times this summer and I have not surfed in August. Going w/o sucks! I’m grumpy, moody, depressed and overweight despite hitting the gym. One good thing about going w/o no matter what it is: If it’s something you love to do and you have to go w/o it- it undoubtedly makes you appreciate it all the more. When the surf finally comes back in a week or 2 from now it’s going to be sooooo good like getting reunited with an old friend. The glide, the stoke, the sunburn, the soreness in my ribs, can’t wait… Last night at worship we talked about disaster preparedness. I did some reasearch and the 1st written record of a hurricane hitting PR unless some Taino drew it on a cave wall, was around the time of the Spanish discovery of the Antilles. Columbus reported a hurricane hitting PR and pushing his boat onto the beach 500 years ago. Shoot, the word ‘hurricane’ comes from the Caribbean Indians! Those guys must have had PTSD also. Over the last 500 yrs hurricanes have hit PR sometimes every other year, every 4 years, every 20 years. In the grand scheme of things it’s SO RANDOM! it depends on how things line up(NOT how sinful people are, that’s what some here think…) the Bermuda high the tough, blah blah blah. Some places get it more than others. IRB never gets it right? Elena 85’… Eleuthera gets hit on avg every 2 years! Point being- you guys should get ready now. Before the mad dash, get your crap together now- food, water, batteries, gas bc WFL I hate to say it is a bit over due right? 1921! the last time… Eventually in the grand scheme of 500 years Pinellas will get it at some point… It’s good to be ready.
Warning- Nostalgia Alert:
Hiding from lightning.
This current pattern reminds me of when we were kids growing up, we lived in Seminole. This suburb boarders the Madeira and Indian Shores beaches. The surf is not that good there, esp after re-nourishment started. Not as good as AMI or Nokomis/Venice. Still we loved surfing more than anything. We had Vision skateboards and surfed the flat side walks, an occ back yard ramp, no parks back then. Summers were mostly hot and flat but every summer had a few days of strong SW flow. We knew instantly that meant waves to surf. We would ride our bikes to a beach between Indian Shores breakwater and Redington long pier. In the am when we arrived on our bikes the surf was knee to thigh and rideable for a grom in his early teens. Then these massive t-storms would sweep off the gulf with lightning. we would seek shelter under the condos until they passed. Right after the storms the surf would bump up to solid sizes. As a 14yr old it was head high at times though that seems over much now. I have some pics somewhere. I think in an attic in Florida… someday I have to dig them up. That was the highlight of our summer, getting to surf those SW trough days when the storms bumped the waves up.
The song playing in our heads as we surfed: