Surfed Tres last night with Chris Chin from Venice, super fun 8ft plus sets. Camera phone pic.
This is Sp wall yesterday pm, came home to really good waves from Matthew. Thoughts and prayers to everyone in Jmaica Haiti and Cuba. ‘it could’ve been us just as easy’.
Big Waves.
Bridges
Table Rock today, Raul Hernandez in the barrel. I thought I was shooting the North Shore. Photo: M-Dub.
This guys was surfing Spanish Wall on Tuesday, absolutely ripping and you dont see that too much in Rincon. Jorge Rivera.
Really good surf at Middles.
Mauro Diaz, the next QS’ chance for PR.
Josie Grave’s wife won the women’s event. Josie got knocked out in Rnd 5.
Woah! David Freaking Speir -Blast from the SI Past.
Hector Santmaria was on fire!
Leif Engstrom is a super nice young man. I’ve been watching him surf for years and he is surfing big waves now and more than that landing the majority of these airs that he does like this. He got a 10 for one of these air’s yesterday at the Corona Pro in Isabela, PR. Photo:M-Dub.
Yesterday.
Flay away.
Super Bowl.
Caribbean update: Epic week of surf. Super hot though, no trades and lots of humidity. As soon as Florida gets good weather all the heat is bottled up in the Caribbean. Not too bad if you can find some a/c, at least the surf has been really good. More swell on the way. It’s still OH this Friday fading thru the weekend but not going flat. The new swell should start filling in Monday. Tuesday looks like the biggest day, south winds firing up and then surf all next week also if you can make it down. Hard to think the quality could be better than this last week but this next swell is LP NNE the best direction and period for my pueblo, probably Tres will be the call if the wind cooperates but if it’s south winds it will be Table Rock, the bay breaks and Survival. Speaking of Survival, lot of rumors flying about Damien Hobgood and Yadin Nichol being here. Can’t wait to see the Surfline post. All our shots are on rinconsurfphotography.com if you want to see them.
About the forecaster: My name is Micah Weaver. I’m from St Petersburg, Florida. I started surfing and forecasting the WFL gulf coast in the mid 1980’s. I currently live in Rincon, Puerto Rico. Thanks for visiting aurasurf.com
PR October 2016: Swell from all directions will effect PR in the next 2 weeks. It does not look to go flat. Waist to chest clean with good form this am. Great time to fly down. Check jetblue.com for sale fares.
Guide Services, photography and video. info@aurasurf.com[/caption
Caribe had really good waves for 4 days last week today is 1ft or less and flat, we are not expecting much from Mr 90% out there, some east swell on the N coast maybe, pretty quiet everywhere right now
https://www.change.org/p/mayor-stop-dumping-sewage-into-tampa-bay?recruiter=596505905&utm_source=petitions_show_components_action_panel_wrapper&utm_medium=copylink
please go sign this petition to stop the POOP!!!!! Someone I know started this petition, as she didn’t see one anywhere out there yet. This dumping of millions of gallons of raw sewage, into our surrounding waters we play in, fish in, and even(for some) make a living from. We need to force St. Pete to make changes, and add new facilities to handle their poop, and not make it EVERY single person in Pinellas’ problem. ******SHARE THIS WITH AS MANY AS YOU CAN PLEASE******
it may be time for someone to burn and offer a board up to the Surf Gods….watching these seedling storms get snuffed by shear and Sahara dust – geeeeze – what I’d give for some of that groundswell I surfed with Dolly *sigh*
also what y’all think about this?
http://www.surfingmagazine.com/news/surfers-enact-coup-wsl-judges/#4WjDtvOGCIBpHqlb.97
I liked this dude’s letter:
Some unsolicited suggestions on how to promote greater transparency/accountability in judging:
1. Provide the judges’ nationalities with the scoreline. Every other judged sport on earth does this. So, why not surfing? Particularly as there are often big discrepancies in scores, like two judges throwing an 8.5 and a 7.0 for the same wave, which happens more frequently than it should.
2. While we’re at it, even out the demographics of the judges themselves. Why are there two Australian judges, mate? Pick one judge from each of the top 5 most predominant surf regions/countries.
3. Better yet, do away with the concept of the head judge altogether. Why is there a head judge, anyway? What does he do, exactly? The whole idea reeks of taint.
4. Eliminate conversation between judges. Period. There should be no consensus as to who gets the push in any given heat. Each judge puts down a score and THAT’S IT.
5. Re-think the scoring system. Break each of the 5 criteria–progression, variety, speed/power flow, whatever–into its own box, score each box on a scale of 1 to 10, average the scores. Provide a visual of this breakdown to accompany every score dropped.
6. Every morning of a comp, the judges should inform the surfers, the commentators, and the viewing audience of what will be scoring and what will not, given the conditions on that day. Why should competitors have to guess at what the judges want? Just tell them! And if what’s scoring changes as conditions change, provide an update from the tower. Simple.
7. And if the judges insist on scoring wave size/choice on shoulder-high days at Lowers, MAKE WAVE SIZE/CHOICE PART OF THE CRITERIA. FFS.
8. Allow WSL surfers, WSL commentators, and surf journos to respectfully question the judging without fear of reprisal, so that the WSL doesn’t seem like a bunch of thin-skinned, tyrannical babies.
we are all down stream – sign the petition – similar problem on Siesta Key …. toooo much poop … Lady Gulf of Mexico is NOT a toilet bowl !
Signed it Russ. Not sure what the solution is when they’re at capacity from all the rain but a pure dump into the bay is out of the question. Maybe a reverse pipe line that follows the incoming pipeline that brings in the fresh water from pasco county. Not really sure. There’s lots of new taxes from all the new condo development downtown but I’m sure that’s accounted for. Either way, a solution needs to be discussed in the city council and county commission. Tax revenue is highly fought over and this isn’t in the budget.
I think by judging based on the suggested new scheme could very well help eliminate the continual discrepancies that happen all to often.
Oh I remember when they burned Corey. I never liked them to begin with but that just solidified it.
I’d be surprised if him and Shea or Damien and Cj would do the same against a cali guy. Jmo
Loved the video bro …
thanks guys!
Man that looks fun – Micah how do you deal with sea urchin spines, did you just get used to it or did you ever resort to foot gear
fbc- i pick em out with a fresh razor blade or pin, i still get them despite trying to avoid them usually on the way in from the surf, booties fell heavy and awkward, nobody really uses them… I posted the video on the Caribe page… thanks
I love those urchins! Just paddle down to marias to get in haha! Works 100% of the time every time
Sick little edit. You got some great waves, and your girl is on point.
thanks guys I tried to get my kids to surf but so far they only surf socially with their friends, they do not have the bug like their dad does. The 7’4 fun shape is great for them when they do jump in the water.
Surfline Cam of the day is Soup Bowls in Barbados and it looks like its firing with fun swell, sucks that PR isnt getting any.
OJ! what’s up? Jobos has some waves c’mon back! it was like yesterday we surfed that! best wishes to you and your fam. I surfed pools this am, LB waves waist high but super soft and I was on too small a board…
doh! 2 ec scores and herminer over the last 3 weeks, please keep it going with waves need more
yeeeee hoooooooo!
If I could surf w/ your girls … I would be beyond happy –beyond.
come visit Evy, early 2017 no mosquitos, thanks!!!
Family beach time is the best!
Micah – I have an answer to your question. As you know, models are nothing more than computer programs that analyze and process data … I can almost guarantee with certainty that part of that data is drawing a “conclusion” simply based on what time of year it is (with Cape Verde being peak of hurricane season) … and not taking other “hard” data into as much account. Willing to bet that chances are upped in the program by default just because of the Cape Verde aspect …would be neat to quiz the program writers about this.
rob….. that is interesting think ! I just want the red tide gone and some lil wave to ride before the fricking wetsuits have to come out
wb man. Red tide on the beach currently. You should hit up bro bowl 2.0 while you are here for some crete surfing.
sounds great Abe I am going to go skate
red tide would happen maybe on avg once every 2 yrs when I was a kid it has gotten worse in it’s frequency and duration
crazy how the outbreak is manifest 4-5 weeks after the flooding rains and sewer letting that happened during Hermine
red tide prevailing…. I know Red Tide happens.. there are records of it back from the settlers…. but what has changed is it’s duration & potency, man-made nutrients are protein shakes feeding this toxic algae
–crankyinSRQ
Seems like the red tide comes about 2-3 times a year now definitely more frequent than even 6 years ago when I first started surfing…
4 WEEKS ago TAMPA dumped their sewage – now this
http://www.fox13news.com/news/local-news/208707603-story
Enterococci bacteria is an indication of fecal pollution.
so even if there’s a lil something for the longboard….. there’s too much toxic crap in the water
Regarding Matthew and “what if scenarios” … What if he continued on that westerly track a little longer than anticipated before making that abrupt turn North? What if he struck South Florida and rode up the middle of the state? All the models are banking that he ride up the ridge of that big high but … as a home owner, I’m still biting my nails. You never friggin’ know with storms. Nobody can predict with 100% certainty …
Weaver – Also … I just noticed the family picture … all that Rays swag is the stuff I sent up to you, yeah?? 🙂
yeah bro thanks! home’s gotta rep!
Yeeew. I’m honored. I’m off Monday if you wanna try to get together. Give me a shout.
This looks like it may be a solid set up for some certain se fl spots to go off
This would be the perfect set up for that west coast P.R swell. So much dependence on north swells, it’s be really interesting to see how each break works on a solid south.
stay tuned JDH PR set to go off and tix are cheap
this is gonna be a rare SW, not since Sandy…
The Blob That Never Dies”, never seen any thing like this. I can’t imagine how a satellite area of disturbance can exist intact with the high level of winds around the Matthews center.
Good Levi video. Start at 10:05 if anyone wants to hear his take on beyond 4 days out.
I see I see!!! By tomorrow it will be on for sure!
Would be cool if there was a buoy closer to get a better perspective on what’s moving.
I sure would like to see if there will be a left breaking off the rocks on the left side of Domes.
Hey Rob, you may be right. Storm track continues west and that ridge is already stronger than anticipated.
It seems that little bit of drier air we got is being pushed out so to me it seems like the possibility is definitely there.
Hope that shoulder is strong enough to surf when we get our northerly shot from Mathew.
Love Levi – I know him back when he was a homeschooler in Alaska – good report – Always amazed how someone in Alaska knows the tropics so well – he’s never surfed : )) I think there’s a good chance we are going to get coned and while I like waves…this could be nasty Matthew is a stalling & slow moving storm. Some folks are thinking Matthew will follow those surface winds straight into Florida. It would have to bust through at 20mph and be veering out east immediately for a different result. Micah what’s your thoughts?
The official NHC track has indeed shifted to the West …. at this point, I am not even thinking about surfing …
RIGHT ON! Anytime now there is a storm like this where imminent landfall is certain, I’m reminded back to when sitting off the Gulfcoast looking out for perfect sets of waves from Katrina how a full sense of guilt hit me where I as well as many were receiving such a wonderful gift which we were getting so much joy from but on the otherhand people’s lives were directly being threatened and by that Sunday we all knew the impending doom was absolute. It’s such a conundrum.
Prayers going out to all who’s been and will be affected by this storm.
Looking imminently bad for the eastcoast. I can’t imagine what lys in the wake. The havoc it’s going to wreak on the formation of the beaches may very well be catastrophic. If you look at most of Brevard county there isn’t much beach left!
I remember when I first started going over in the early 90s how much more expansive the sand was along with more vegetation on the immediate dunes from the water. Cocoa still has relatively more sand than further south but as flat at it is, it makes it real susceptible to storm surge. It may not fare well.
I remember in 04 after Frances and Jeanne Flagler Ave in New Smyrna was destroyed and the houses on the bluffs foundations caved in from the surge. It looks like we’re looking at a much bigger storm than those with less beach to defend it. Just look when you go up to Valusia, there’s stretches you can’t even drive on anymore or only at low tide.
I sure am worried about our fellow Floridians over there. To stay on the coast could be a fools errand. To try to paddle out when the wind goes offshore is another fools errand. I’ve done it and put myself into a bad position where I barely made it in.
Anxious to see what happens. I hate waiting on possible tragedies. Storms already killed over a hundred people all ready. Let’s hope and pray we get spared from that.
thanks man!
Surf is fun in S Pinellas with wind protection, but the red tide is KILLER! After 20 minutes I couldn’t open my eyes. My lips are still tingling and snot is draining from my nose. Such is the life of a gulf coast surfer.
cb…. thanks for the red tide report – I came here to see if anyone mentioned it…. wondered if it blew back in ~ sigh
just can’t get in the brine when it’s around anymore…… my lungs took a bad hit the last time…
Still going to head out & check my spots… but I figure to be aware of that nasty crap.
Small and mushy thigh high surf..not very rideable down south of venice with the tide going out.. Red tide was surprisingly not bad down here. Was there for 30 minutes and no nose burning so maybe thats a good sign. A handful of people were on the beach already.
Ahoy Gulf coast peeps! Just wanted to say i miss all of you and im stoked to hear everyone faired the storm. Also was stoked to see all the pics from the last storm, you guys deserved it! It does sadden me to hear about the influx of redtide on the Gulf, that bumms me out! Micah, stoked for you! Hope to trade some peaks with you in the very near future!
dude we are all stoked for you! see u soon!