Wednesday surf! Owen Weaver my brother from another mother shredding in SRQ county. Photo: venicejetty.com
Surf looks to be 1ft on Thursday and Friday. The gradient is backing way down and the sea state is mellowing rapidly. Big disparity between the have south swells and the have not south swells today. The best south swell spots that typically get it were good today and the rest were knee high range… I wish all of you got what a few got, chest high nugs like the one pictured above. If you did score well props’. Let us know how you did in the comments many already have. I jumped this swell last week and the cold front end fizzled. So I’m glad the south swell part delivered for those who scored… Im taking Thursday off to celebrate my family. 22 years with the same chica, my soul mate. My anniversary gift is a surf day and swell coming so I’m out. I will be back on Friday with an update… Thanks to everybody.
I was looking on google maps and I found a stretch of what looks to be some kind of reef in the water down to the right of middle beach behind some houses. I’m curious to check it out
There is a reef there but not good for surfing,good fishing though
Any idea how deep it is I’m gonna take my spear pole there next weekend
Chris I have a Hawaiian sling I’ve been wanting to take down there forever. Are you going with tanks or freediving?
Free diving we actually just went out for the first time at boca last weekend an we did pretty well. I was looking for spots on google and saw that reef can’t belive I never noticed I surf literaly half a football field from it
Some of the old fishermen used to tell me about spots out there. Oddly enough I can’t find a group in Boca, either.
No hard feelings either way, of course, but if you ever need another tagalong I’d love to go with a group. I don’t want to go by myself because I’m worried about a shallow water blackout when no one’s around. Also I don’t know which fish are which except for the really easy ones like snook and grouper.
Shallow Water BlackOut -New Vocab word – had NEVER heard of this b/4 – thx Jack !
sheese… had no clue – seems my solo snorkeling is mighty stupid….ain’t gonna do that anymore
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shallow_water_blackout
Evy, there seem to be two different ways people use the term. The first is a blackout that seems to affect people after a deep dive (12-15 meters or more) on the way to the surface. There is a tendency, because of pressure changes possibly, to black out in just about 3 meters of water during ascent. That’s the kind I’m referring to. It’s dangerous because there isn’t an agreed upon means of preventing it.
The other denotation is used for any blackout that happens in shallow water, which is a very preventable kind of accident. When someone drowns in a pool practicing hypoxic stuff, for example, it is erroneously (in my opinion) referred to as a shallow water blackout.
In any case, I think you should be fine snorkeling without having to worry about it as long as you’re not diving deep — again, more than 12 meters — and resurfacing. I really don’t think blackouts and drownings are commonly associated with snorkeling. Sorry about the confusion.
Just read the wiki. Maybe I’m the one using the term incorrectly. Anyway, what I was referring to what they call the “deep water blackout”.
In either case, like they said in the article, they’re both associated with breath holds not commonly used for snorkeling.
Sorry if I’m over-posting.
Any updates from AMI this afternoon?
Super fun session out on AMI during the slack wind after the storms. Tons of barrels.
funny how today worked out for me. Hit the Zoo early, first one out. Was told, by a guy that was leaving with a board in his truck, “it’s all gone nothing left to ride”. Good thing I have never been one to listen, to anyone LOL. Went and looked… waist high clean waves. KOOK didn’t know what he was looking at HA HA HA. It was definitely getting a favorable incoming tide push. And when I was ready to call it a day and go to work I got a call from one of my installers saying he needed work as he finished his job yesterday. So I told him he could do what I was going to do, and then I went back out. Faded kind of fast after that but was still fun on my bigger fish. FUN FUN FUN 3 days of surf.
found the dude w/ the kahuna board – and had a grand time…. really sweet at T-beach
Funny how life works. Yesterday I was miserable — had to leave the amazing surf after only an hour because of an injury. Today I took my new fins out just to swim around with them and wound up catching a few waves before sunset and having the time of my life.
Darn commitments…couldn’t get out yesterday AM. Looked so fun on the incoming. Oh well, I got the EC last Sat. def. over there. Waiting for the next good day over there and maybe something here next week?
noaa is calling for a strong el nino this year whats that mean for us?
hopefully it means a troughy June and July with lots of 15-20mph southwest flow and consistent windswell along with the watch out for lightning and outgoing tide summer fun sessions
Kinda like last summer. There were a bunch of smallish SW days that were rideable. I’d be down with that!
I’d be totally stoked if we had a summer like that. One May, about 11 – 12 years ago I surfed nearly every day at Upham after work. There were a bunch of little troughs to the North that were interacting with an abnormally parked High pressure (it was parked pretty low from where it normally sits) … the result was 30 or so days of knee to thigh high wind swell that suited me and my funshape just fine. I’d be stoked if that happened this year, because this is going to be the summer (hopefully) where my daughter really starts to excel in her abilities. Perfect learning opportunities there!
I’d be totally stoked also as long as you guys dont mind some gringo-rican sharing the waves with you 🙂
DP could be fun in the am, 036 just hit 8ft from the WNW.
Didn’t quite happen down here in Venice before dark.
Though small, last summer was definitely consistent. There were lots of south swell days. I’d trade them all for a hurricane season like 2005 though.
Can we please turn off the FL wave machine for a few weeks, so I can get some work done. Then crank up the summer southies & bring on some cane swell!!! Just cleaned and hung up my wetsuits for the summer…
Any thoughts on tomorrow morn? 42036 @ 8.9 @ 8 sec… How long does that take to hit our coast?
Approximately 6 hours give or take 3 hours(joking).
Should be game on in the am. ill be on it for dawn patrol
Catch you in the am Fuggin. The bars been reall good the last few swells. Should be killer in the morning!!
Crazy fun on the big boards all morning in S Pine land…
I was only able to surf for an hour or so before I had to leave for work, but it was still gangbusters when I left at 10 a.m.
It even looks good here in Boca as of noon. I would say this is the day to leave work or school if ever there was one. Time to start faking those illnesses, people.
Any thoughts on later in the day, around 4 or 5? I’m greedy, maybe, but I’m kind of hoping to catch a little something at the end of the day.
yes go, it is still cracking on the cams, offshore winds and a full tide secrets will be good
whew that was fun!! finally enough days in the water the last month or so I think I remembered how to surf… if only this was the norm and not the exception.
I hear those waves calling…. velcro’d to responsibilities …..planning a 4:00 escape
*boss/teacher voice* “were is everyone?”
A gaping tube showed up to north Pinetrees today.
A shout out to Jacob Shields of Compound Boardshop for excellent costumer service, such a cool dude and to Jimmy Hannan, a sick shaper that put my theoretical specific longboard dimensions and brought it to life. The design and craftsmanship is undeniable. In all honesty, it’s perfect for my riding style and that I cannot explain. Stoked.
Support our local surf shops and our local shapers.
Hope you all scored…Peace.
SRQ on fire this morning. Solid wst to chest groundswell. GLAAAAAAAAAASSSSSS. Peaky, barrels. Oh my!
Fun skate park this morn Micah. It was not waist to chest but the bars are back & really walled up. I’d say thigh to waist with occ rib high sets. It was real fun but if it were 1-2′ bigger it would have been all time. Dumpster Diver type board made for some fun & lots of waves to be caught.
The Gulf is so fickle and can put your persistence to the test. Some days your expectations are low and you score fun surf. Other days you expect too much and GC does not deliver the goods. As a long time GC surfer you just keep your head up and hope for more days like this. Or travel more.
A great day on the Gulf is an average day East. A great day East is like an avg day in Costa Rica. An great day in Costa is like an avg day in the Mentawais. Where do I go from there?
the waves got so fun before high tide in N pinellas. definitely got better once the tide came in a bit. perfect glass 3ft until about 130. top 5 funnest days this winter
Super fun down south! One of the best sesh’s I’ve had in a long time, long L’s and R’s, barrels, cover-ups, just sick! Glad everyone scored!
South jetty was barreling at one point, nice glassy waves, even got some surf at the north jetty great day.
Great surf at Top Secrets today, and a cool crowd to boot. Wonderful day — totally worth having to work tonight from home to make up for time missed.
Awsome round of waves yesterday even though my favorite spot is totally shark infested right now
Dolphins, manatees, sharks, rays, & barrels! Top secret slabbing! Low tide spot Skate park last 2 hours until dark. So fun!
Pretty sure everybody’s favorite spot is shark infested. Not to mention that it lasts all summer.
Well yeah that’s obvious but this is the largest amount I’ve seen me an my buddy got pushed off this sandbar we were trading barrels one after the other cause there was so many an way to close for comfort
In 17 years of swimming, surfing, bodysurfing, sailing, lifeguarding, and just generally existing I’ve seen one shark. It was a nurse shark cruising down the beach in about two feet of water six inches from the shore at Manasota. What am I doing wrong?
I did see three or four big bulls on a Mote barge doing tagging stuff, but I don’t feel like that really counts. I’ve also seen some bonnetheads on fishermen’s lines.
Seen all manner of sea life besides that, though. I hope I see one someday and don’t soil myself or get eaten alive or lose a limb or a finger or anything. I would like to keep all my parts but I would like to see a shark.
tl;dr — I can’t find any sharks.
GoodMorning — Jack you crack me up! nearly spewed the first cuppa coffee reading your post… actually might make a good song “I can’t find no shark” – frankly I’m glad you don’t seem to attract them & would probably choose to hang by you in the line-up
I have had 2 sightings( SiestaKey – once in a wave, and the 2nd was 2 bulls herding bait fish into a cul-de-sac of a beach trough — oops & once at Ft. Pierce — so that’s 3 times. I love wearing bangles & rings….use to never take them off…now I do — no need to “invite” an experience
What I would love to know is WHY Roxy& sometimes the other brands put all that shiney crapola on bikini’s….why would you put shiny gold beads on a sufer’s bikini????
in my 30 + years of surfing the Gulf I have seen a few sharks here and there. Usually I am on my SUP cutting across an inlet when I see them. Mostly Bulls but not too large(except one my buddy |Christian and I saw, it was HUGE). But last weeks swell I saw little baby black tips like it was the East Coast. Never seen that many here. And it was in Bradenton and North Pinellas on different days.
for longboarders out there…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb1wgvekHtg
best nose ride ive seen ever
Yeah man, I agree. ; )
I agree Jack, dont think ive ever seen a “legit” shark while surfing Venice in 20 years of surfing. I’d be careful in Boca tho..,