Whirlwind Week and Meet Up Tomorrow

Juan and Derek post surf. 

Hey world. A little brain dead over here after surfing for four days in a row. The first two days I arguably could have done without surf-wise, but a strange turn of events had Derek Hynd on board for a few surf missions. The first two days, Monday and Tuesday, were not that great. The muck before the real swell arrived, but he was supposed to head to Chile on Monday night, so at that point it was then or never for a surf in NY. I knew the waves were going to be terrible everywhere with a howling SE wind, gusting to about 30 knots, and this filled me with a bit of that "damn this a bummer" sense, but then I picked myself up and thought, "well dammit you get to surf with one of your surf style heroes and that doesn't happen every day so just figure out the best place to go." I picked Juan up at 8th Ave and 14th St and we discussed the surf on the way up to 27th to scoop Derek and a fellow named  Murray. Juan is a very keen observer of wind and swell conditions and made the call for a spot out in the Hamptons. If we bee-lined it would could get there in 1.5 hours and it was just 6am. So we scooped Murray—who turns out is both a surfer and a photographer that runs a site called The Sprout Daily— and Derek on gritty Fashion Ave. and headed straight out there. We ran into a bit of road flooding trouble with the high tide on the sound—but thankfully my car is amphibious and we survived. We arrived at the destination and it looked like absolute hell, but a walk up the beach revealed a decent enough right hander. For this trip you can visit Murray's site where he posted a few pics. There's one of me on a bomb (probably the best wave I caught that day) exhibiting a somewhat suspect safety style. My back knee is not dropped nearly enough, but it's a nice wave, so I'll take it. At any rate, even (and especially) surf instructors need to check themselves. I promise to lean back and tuck that knee in next time. So I'm not going to tell the next two days worth of stories, because that would take up far too much time that I've already lost on my coursework. Let's just say the next day wasn't that great either, but yesterday was superlative.

In closing, I am hosting a meet and greet for surf students tomorrow at Spain Bar and Restaurant on 13th St. between 6th and 7th Aves (closer to 6th). Would love to see you there!