Updated 1/11 Surf Forecast Below…
Dylan Graves from Isabela taking the gulf late and over the top, Ikers 2008. Photo: Florida’s best friend Carlton Ward Jr. Do follow Carlton on IG? If you love Florida-You really should.
4333 S Tamiami Trail Unit F, Sarasota, FL 34231
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Sunday 1/12 WFL 7am: This am the waves are 1ft. Best south swell spots look knee high and rideable for a grom or big LB. Check out @calooosa on Instagram. Eric is one of the best at finding waves to ride in WFL when there is not much going on. He has some short videos of surfing very small waves yesterday. It stokes me out to see surfers making the most of what they have. I think that’s cool, I can relate to that… The sea state is forecast to stay the same or gradually drop today. There is chance it could get slightly better but probably not… The rest of the week is SE winds. Like winter has totally gone on a break as the very large High pressure in the ATL is the dominant feature this week. A cold front is on the maps to pass WFL next Sunday 1/19 but it is not looking that great at the moment. Have a good day.
Saturday 8am WFL: the waves look 1ft or less at south swell spots this am. Maybe it will get rideable late today but keep the expectations low. Just too much east in it. Tomorrow looks small also. Then the gulf goes on a break next week. Looking at the extended- the next real front door front is on the maps for 9 days from now. Stupid anomalous high pressure in the ATL is blocking everything including surf for WFL…
PR 1/11: Another 6.0 crazy quake just a minute ago. Rincon is ok, just rumbling. The south coast gets it way worse. Many people down south are sick with anxiety. NASA shows the ground west of Ponce sank almost 6 inches from that 6.2 earlier in the week.
NW PR: The extended forecast shows surf for next weekend in PR 1/18 and beyond if you were thinking of timing a swell. Airlines reported a price cap on PR flights after the earthquake, not sure if that means cheap flights but check it out in case. AirBNB’ers are about to get desperate, ask for a cheaper rate… Things are trying to get back to normal here. The Surf: I surfed Pistons last night with my daughters(waist to occ chest) then Indy(they went in) Indy was better. Lots of windy NE swell this weekend.
Looking for Future Quad Fins(rant): My 1st board in 84 was a twin. I rode quads in the 80’s and still do. I think I have something against the center fin. I think that boards w/o center fins are slightly faster to me, IMO. I am so frustrated that all the glass/carbon rear quad fins I have found are symmetrical in the foil! That is retarded to me. Both front and back fins should be foiled flat on the inside, IMO. I had bamboo symmetrical fins on my twin and I swear to God it felt like the E brake was engaged when I caught a wave, so slow! IMO, if you ride a quad the fins are super important, too big and it will track. So I was riding FCS 1 for years and with the latest boards I switched to Futures thinking they would be stronger and have less problems. If anyone has glass/carbon future rear fins for a quad (with a 1/2 inch base not 3/4) that are 3.75 base or less and you don’t want them let me know. I will post this in the comments also I want to hear your take on fins. But I think it’s idiotic that all the manufacturers are making the rear quad fins symmetrical now. It slows the board!
Hey! Our house is still here! Alternating between Joy and Blues in the Caribbean.
NW PR after the quakes: Trying to get back to normal in PR. Seems we have had one disaster after another. Here in Rincon it’s business as usual starting today. We got power back yesterday pm but to my understanding 100’s of thousands of people are w/o electricity indefinitely as our main power plant in Ponce was severely damaged by the 6.4 quake. That 6.4 seems to be the main event as we move away from the date. So far we have not had another even though we all were scared to go to bed. Most all residents including myself and my family have PTSD and we are all stressed an anxious worse than Maria bc with hurricane you know it’s coming. It’s like every night we go to bed exhausted wondering if we will be awoken by another strong earthquake. If our houses will collapse. In the am, the last 2 morning we awake ‘oh, we’re still here, the house is still here’. Under the surface stress. Besides that we’ve been really happy during the days. Life has slowed down a bit. The surf has been good. The weather is awesome. Don’t be scared to visit PR. The earthquakes are done at the moment NW PR is getting electricity back (more reports later). We need you to visit. Thanks for all the concern and help thru aurasurf.com, this website. It means a ton to have so many good friends back in WFL.
Me destressing at Pistons yesterday. Photo by Julie with the new for us Canon 7d Mark ii. $650 on ebay like new. We had to upgrade from the dinosaur we were using. Thanks for your help getting it.
Dogman’s was going off. Taken with the old camera.
Right after the 6.4 UI taking to the air to get off of the quaking ground.
PR scenery before and after. I should have gone here bc now it’s gone. PR has dynamic geography!
Need an attorney that understands you? Check in with Scott.
Nice to surf with ya MW!!! Twice!!! Haha! I hope you have a blessed rest of your year, and thanks for all the knowledge your passing on! Some different weather coming up it looks like?! And I took some pics of ya at SJ, tagged ya on IG!
Hopefully the bacteria count will drop off before the next front @ VJ, otherwise I’ll be sitting it out. š
Good surfing with you guys too. You guys were ripping! so much stoke…
Don’t bother today unless you have a canoe…
you mean a brew canoe ^
I had a nice session with the grom this am, put him down the line on a few prone/tandem waves. He was stoked! Scored some for myself this afternoon during naptime. Knee-thigh sets fun on the big LB but had a run in with a fisherman/tourist casting right into the lineup with a shark rig. I asked him to stop but he didn’t want to listen even though there were kids and swimmers in the lineup. He cast one over my head 5 min later so I tied the most epic of knots with his 150lb wire leader and braided line. He’ll be trying to untie that well into next year ???? Stoked for this weekend’s forecast!
Fuggin
I would have paid to see you tie a knot in his line. Some people have no idea what common courtesy looks like. We’ve all seen it at the grocery when there is just one cucumber left ha or a rare spring weekend when we get good surf.
Be safe and Happy New year everyone. See you all in the water this weekend and see you later 2019 it’s been a good one.
Get in my way Iāll bowl yo ass down?
Haha the look on his face when he reeled it in was priceless! the younger me would have been more aggro after that 1oz sinker whizzed over my head. I thought the super knot was a wise choice instead. Must be getting soft in my old age. Hope everyone scores this weekend. Sat looks chunky, will Sunday deliver the goods? ???
Forecast is looking pretty good for some sizable surf…
11am Knee-thigh maybe pushing waist soon already in N. AMI. Taking out the 8’6
That sounds about right. Thanks man!
There are some lines out there, but gonna wait for some more chunk so can spread out from the typical crowd…
Man, taking a while for it to switch around…
Waist + and windy in Sarasota around 3pm. Gonna try to catch a few.
No chunk at all and the winds switched too far around. Hope it builds overnight?
SRQ was solid waist plus and consistent sets with some good push. Wind was better direct and much lighter than anticipated.
Buoy is finally up, surf time!
did you see that Saturday wave photo on gulfster? crazy left tube… sick man looked like the panhandle!!! south swells hit some spots better than others.
Surfed N. Pinellas Zoo this morning. It was pretty fun even with the heavier winds. And once the wind layed down it got even more fun. The crowd and the swim buoys(that need to get moved) made for a fun time of playing dodge everything ??āāļø?
Nuclear nugs detonating on a srq sandbar. lol. Can we please be a little more realistic. Was waist high and not as good as the hype made it to be. Thanks. Go surf itās fun. Have a great one.
V S J was fun all morning! Surfed 7 – 12 super toasted haha.
Fun day! š
Solid Chest in Manasota with wide open lefts and longer rights. Actually Clear Skies, too.
from a aurasurf.com reader: “Thanks for keeping up the good forecasting even from afar. I guess I missed you while you were in town, hopefully next time youāre here we can surf together. Otherwise, Iāll reach out next time I come down your way. I almost came this weekend but the Sunday forecast here looked too good to pass up. Iām not sure why, but it didnāt pan out nearly as well as expected, possibly the strong north northeast wind and extreme low tide. I surfed Saturday at the Piers mid morning around the time the rain moved through, wind was light but swell with kind of weak. It got real good that evening, the wind died for a few hours surprisingly and the swell filled in but I missed that. I was on it early Sunday morning at *******, there were some good ones coming through but it was pretty inconsistent and super crowded.”
how’s that shallow sandbar in Venice? anybody score it?
Whoever wrote that take is basically my own as well. Lots of West in the swell, but my go to spot that holds deep swell wasn’t working due to winds. Drove further south to everyone’s wind protected place to surf … smaller and really crowded (passed that too). Drove more … found a clean relatively uncrowded wave … but it was inconsistent waist high and breaking really fast. Kinda got over that place – so went back north mid morning in hopes that the wind would be cooperative at my go to spot … it wasn’t … so drove home. Wasn’t feeling it.
bummer Rob, thanks for posting… hope somebody scored
this is another note I got(all posted with permission): ‘The donation to aurasurf.com was money well spent as you help me score more quality over quantity GOMEX surf. She is such a fickle beast. Great seeing you at Sunset last month. Surfed ****** yesterday for 3 hours & it was pretty fun. Crazy drift and a little NW angled but fun little barrels. Iāll be in touch as I hope to chase a swell in PR in Jan or Feb’
Did a little ride south on Sunday to vsj- the crowd was insane.
Iām usually ok weaving my way through crowds, dealing with people, nbd.
The attitude of some of the guys out there was literally to get as man waves as possible – Some of these long boarders , where just hogging every single opportunity that came in front of them. Most sets where a wall of 5 Lbās competing for priority.
The worst thing that happens to me, and put me in a sad place for a min- was when I complimented a guy for a little nug he caught from the outside all the way in. We were right next to each other , he was to my left as Iām looking out to the ocean- ānice wave ā I said , and he looked at me and nodded. Another nice little wave was coming just then- a clean shoulder high right hander. Iām in position for it. This same guy starts paddling in front of me (out towards the wave). Takes my position to the theleft , and literately uses the length and power of the long board to drop in b4 me and push me out of the way. I was completely disrespected and burnt- right after complimenting the guy.
It was a nice wave- he rode it all the way in, and then turned around and paddles out past me and everyone else to sit on the outside and then picks off the NEXT set wave.
It was a surreal feeling. I had to hold to do a minor meditation out in the water- luckily there were more waves to be had- but on a short board my wave count was lowwwww.
Anyways- that Hog was on gulfster , and Venice jetty pics, and it all that Jazz. The footage looks nice, but the dude(s) behind the scene where just hoggin.
Probably should have drove a little farther south to the bend. Or brought a long board and surfed the shoal.
Hey guys we are okay but last night was crazy woke up at 4:20 in the morning by a very strong earthquake that shook the house we met the girls in front of the house we had a plan in place we knew this was coming… the whole island is without electricity right now lines at the gas stations kind of like Maria all over again thanks for your concern no update today there’s no electricity and no internet.
Abe I’m sorry that that happened to you that sucks especially for you- you surf really good… you’ve been surfing the gulf for decades and always bringing Good Vibes. You know it gets to the point where I don’t care if it’s windy and drifty I’ll go down the beach and surf by myself. that’s just a suck time…it sucks that there’s not more sandbars that people can spread out… I got the same attitude from a longborder when I was there he was on a red longboard just taking everything. you should Point them out if he’s in the pictures… hang in there man, you come down here I’ll give you any wave you want…
Glad you guys are all okay!
MW, my quick take on the past weekend swellā¦āNuthin to write home about.ā We didnāt get that wind break and groundswell like a couple earlier fronts that really brought the goods to S. Pinellas. Saturday, I surfed the SW windswell locally. Sunday I DPād down south to meet old friends, surfed central AMI till the side offshores got too unruly and messed it up. A lot of drift and waiting but some good ones to be had. Later midday surfed a sweet spot on LKB south of the madding crowd the other posts referred to. Not big but perfect LB wave that also went well on my fish. Thxs for all you do keeping the gulf surf stoke alive for old-timers like me! ?
Another quake in PR!? Crazy! Glad to hear you & fam are ok. I love the waves that south & north jetty provide but avoid that place like the plague especially on a weekend or no school day. There are a lot of really good surfers there(some noobs too) of all ages on every type and size of board imaginable but the “lineup” out there is some type of arena-free-for-all. My go-to spot did well on Sun am. I did a DP before work and found clean waist + long rights to the sand and a few fast open lefts. A few larger sets started coming through on my last drift of course. About 20 peeps out (which is almost too crowded, 30 starts to feel uncomfortable for me at this spot) but I surf with a respectable bunch and everyone spreads out and the drift usually prevails and will send you way down the beach especially if you catch a long wave. The conveyor belt in full effect as you walk back up the beach to watch (and cheer) as your buddies send it. When its super crowded, I always find another sandbar. Seek and you will find some hidden gems. I’ll take 2ft smaller and 50yds shorter by myself over crowded waves, dodging people in the lineup, and wasting energy fighting for position.
Whoa thats crazy. Everyone has different interactions and experiences every day I guess. I surf VSJ every winter all winter, and I know just about all the people that go out every swell. While there is alot of people, and alot of dropping in, I rarely get dropped in on. Surfed 5 hours Sunday and didn’t get burned once!!!! I ride a 5’2 also. I literally rarely RARELY get snaked. I also go ALL the time and know most everyone even though I live in St. Pete. Idk I guess every body experiences things differently.
Prayers out to you MW
It’s really not hard to look left or right when getting into a wave. Most people know whoever has the inside has priority, but the greediness of the surfers @ the Jetty has gotten out of hand. Take turns and hold onto your boards!
The jetties are fun, but I donāt go very regularly. I have generally had great experiences with other people out. I guess Iāve also avoided the weekend winter crowd tho.
Sand has been been shifting a lot a bit south and things have changed in the past couple years, but with some searching and walking Iāve scored some fun mostly alone sessions. This past swell definitely was a bit weird for my normal bar maybe the outgoing morning tide made it a little funky before the wind got on it. Otherwise the water was warm and the drift was manageable.
I’m ready for a nice EC swell. Waist/Chest with no wind please!
Wave Hogs 2 coming soon to a wave near you
Sorry that happened to you Aber. I avoid that place at all cost unless it’s super cold and I know it’ll thin out the fair weather surfers.
Those wave hog types give the place a bad vibe sometimes and I’d rather avoid it than lose my zen feeling disrespected, especially when just like you did, you give someone a compliment and they burn you Every chance you get.
Back in the day, a dozen people out was a crowd.
I drive south of the inlet and usually find a wave all to myself down towards the next inlet.
I’ll take a little less length of ride over a crowd anyday. Dont let that experience ruin your time. He may have caught all the set waves but his selfish behavior makes him a Jerk
MW, was that earth quake predicted or were you just being cautious and expecting another?
What a strange feeling that must’ve been.
Glad everyone is safe. Power outages on the island can last quite awhile. Hope that’s not the case.
Aye CARUMBA….. that was a nasty SHAKE !!! PrayersUP… this 6.8 was enough to relieve the fault pressure and things will stop rocking and rolling.
When I picked up my first board from Juan, I remember this like it was yesterday….he said avoid the crowds….. that if I wasn’t lazy and walked the beach I would always find a peaceful break for myself. I took that advice to heart, perhaps being an introvert runner…. running, surf, paddleboard… has always been an extremely private affair.
Below is a link I check every morning, having friends in PR and other quake prone places I check every morning to see how the plates are moving. http://quakes.globalincidentmap.com/
DP had some thigh+ sliders on low tide this am. Maybe something left for this afternoon
Thanks Fuggin stoked you got some thanks for the report!
Looking for Future Quad Fins(rant): My 1st board in 84 was a twin. I rode quads in the 80’s and still do. I think I have something against the center fin. I think that boards w/o center fins are slightly faster to me, IMO. I am so frustrated that all the glass/carbon rear quad fins I have found are symmetrical in the foil! That is retarded to me. Both front and back fins should be foiled flat on the inside, IMO. I had bamboo symmetrical fins on my twin and I swear to God it felt like the E brake was engaged when I caught a wave, so slow! IMO, if you ride a quad the fins are super important, too big and it will track. So I was riding FCS 1 for years and with the latest boards I switched to Futures thinking they would be stronger and have less problems. If anyone has glass/carbon future rear fins for a quad (with a 1/2 inch base not 3/4) that are 3.75 base or less and you don’t want them let me know. I will post this in the comments also I want to hear your take on fins. But I think it’s idiotic that all the manufacturers are making the rear quad fins symmetrical now. It slows the board!
I saw a guy drag his body across urchins and fire coral last night to preserve his fins, OMG crazy!
Im a big fan of the futures lost seaworthy. They are asymmetrical and have been great on my quad for years. I think the base is bigger than what you need though.
I did some foil fins last set that have a little cavity in the mid section of the fun- I feel like I got a speed boost and an easier turn now, but no digger bottom turns. And in Florida how many hefty bottom turns am I doing really?
I like 4 fins for the spray- 3 fins for the power feeling.
Side note: why fins gotta be so much $$$-
Pss- Check eBay for single fins and such
thanks guys good takes… it helps
I’ve been riding Chris Birch quads since about ’95. His boards just work for me and I’ve had MANY. I can’t say enough good things about his boards. And to top it off, Chris is an outstanding person. You can get quad fins from him -> https://www.surfboardsbychrisbirch.com/resources
Rainbow Fin Company makes his fins for him. And they have other options -> https://rdistributing.com/product-category/fins/shortboard-2/
Chris Birch is an awesome shaper… I’ve had one of his boards before. thanks for the tip…
Wow another shaker last night??
I just read that in the last 50 years there has been only 10 Earthquakes in PR that have been greater than 4.
I caught a few rides yesterday afternoon in SRQ. 1ft slider fun on the big LB. I have the board on the car in case its still around today .
Micah. Iām headed to PR in mid feb. I can bring you a set of Stretch or Lost quads. Those are only 2 shapers that have noticed the speed increase with their quads. I prefer Stretchās quad setup. Have ridden them for 4 years now. Tried fcs pc5 setup as quad and slow as balls. Lost controller quad is great for small waves and Stretch better for juice. Let me know and Iāll bring you a set amigo.
thanks so much- lost for sure. Mayhem knows his stuff. are the back foils flat or symmetrical? thanks for your research!