More on the Future of Professional Surfing

Anyone interested in the future of professional surfing should read Surfer Mag's write up on the ZoSea takeover: http://www.surfermag.com/features/leap-of-faith/.

Firing Long Beach and Ripcurl Pro Update

I drove out to Long Beach this morning with Anya (a photographer who is also my nephew, Sasha’s, mother). I knew the waves were going to be good. I knew it was good on Wednesday, but I opted for a crazy uptown adventure mission: trying to get to the little red lighthouse under the George Washington Bridge. I almost surfed yesterday and was closely monitoring the cams on my iPhone (Surfline Premium app) from 7am until 10:30am. Jersey was firing. I never want to drive to Jersey. I need a super motivated surf bro for that because I hate driving alone on freeways. One person and I’m good, but with only myself in my head I get tunnel vision. Hard to find a surf bro in NY whose schedule matches up - it’s crazy out here - everyone is on a schedule and if they aren’t then, well, that messes up your schedule. Long Beach and Rockaway were ugly side shore with huge bands of chop running vertically down the beach. I saw a few smashable pockets but there was a neat academic fashion conference (I realize that the words “fashion” and “academic” are hardly spoken in the same sentence - I guess I am trying to change that) happening at FIT, and I was scheduled to work at the restaurant starting at 3:30pm. Not worth it. Plus Anya had free today.

The trip out to Long Beach is so short in a car. I picked Anya up in Williamsburg at 9am. I was listening to NPR. The EU is scared of Italy becoming “the new Greece” and current investigation has found that NY cops have been altering and tampering with violation tickets for decades. Astonishing. In forty minutes I was running up the boardwalk with strong offshores at my back. I looked up. Yep. Firing. 3-4 foot lefts. Back to the car. Today I wore my 3/2 fullsuit with a poly pro hooded longsleeve shirt; no gloves; no booties. Water temp was around 60 degrees. Air 50 or so. Maybe 45 with windchill. A guy told me I was crazy. I told him it was like a summer in California (except the offshores).

It looked super barreling but they were really hard to squeak into. The tide was quite low and it was obvious that you would have to be very deep and very inside to grab the good ones. I started off quick and caught a few runners. I felt a little rusty on my shortboard, but was paddling strong. I saw a handful of guys blow what seemed to be very easy takeoffs. To their credit, the wind was pushing hard up the face. But I didn’t want to blow drops or miss opportunities so I vowed to takeoff no matter how late I thought I was. I still missed the two best sets of the day because I was out of position, i.e., out of rhythm. Years of surfing and especially the past five years paying close attention to professional surfing has taught me that this happens to the best of us. Yes, even Kelly has bummer heats. I’ve seen them. They’re rare, but they do happen.

All in all it was so great to be in the water attempting to slide down tubes of universal energy until my feet got cold and the sets became fewer and farther in between. But there were still waves. And there probably still are right now. But for today two hours was enough. Anya and I ate at the LBD (Long Beach Diner) and then I picked up my fish from ding repair at Maritime Surf. The guy, Mike, did a fantastic job. They weren’t gnarly dings, just old ones coming undone, a little rail gouge (SUP idiot in Montauk), and the points of the tail had simply ground down over the 5 years I’ve owned the little magenta wave magnet.

The drive back is never as fast. We left Long Beach at 1pm and I arrived in the West Village, after dropping Anya off in Williamsburg, at 2:40pm. But I immediately got a parking spot less than half a block from my apartment building - not bad for NYC on marathon weekend’s eve.

In Fantasy Surf news, the Ripcurl Pro in SF has been on hold for two days. I didn’t do as hot has I had hoped in rounds 2 and 3. As expected, Dane Reynolds lost to Bede Durbidge. It was dumb to pick him, but then again, he’s just so unpredictable - it seems as though he might just freakishly win any random contest he enters. Anyhow, Dane’s the only man I lost in round 2. In round 3 Kelly, Owen, Gabriel, and Miguel advanced. They’re all on my team. But I lost Julian Wilson to Brett Simpson (who was on my original SF team because it can be like Huntington sometimes), and Davo to Parko, which if I was at all good at math or stat I might have been able to see coming. I remember almost wanting to put T. Knox on my team, and in hindsight that might have been a good idea. OB suits him well. Same with KP. Very stoked to see him beat Adriano, who rips to high heaven, but whose style makes me wince. Pupo and Medina are the next Brazilian level - they are so casual - I like it. Oh and I am still waiting to see how Kerr goes in round 3. Would love to see him put it together and take the thing. Him v. Slater in the final would be sweet.

Next surf for me is looking like Tuesday. I’ll wear the same set up except this time with booties.

Fantasy Surfing Etc.

This is a pic I took of Owen Wright at the Quik Pro New York. This was on the first day of competition. I surfed down the way at Lafayette but it was completely mushy. Then I went and did the obligatory comp check. Was great to hear the fog horns - reminded me of the days when I used to compete. But then it started raining and the guys all looked like little specs of black and I realized that I was going to be really late for my 1pm meeting, which I was. I also realized that I prefer to watch the comps live online in high def with running commentary and instant replays. Otherwise I'd just rather be surfing. But I must admit that I am addicted both to surfing and to watching ASP world tour events online. If any of you reading this have taken a lesson with me, you know that part of the lesson is a complete explanation of the way pro surfing works and its history on the car ride home. And for those of you thinking of taking a lesson, well then, perhaps one of the benefits is said breakdown. I also play that dumb fantasy surf game because I think it makes watching the comps a bit more exciting. The stalwarts of my team for the latter half of the year are Owen Wright, Kelly Slater, Julian Wilson, and Gabriel Medina. The other four slots I just kind of mix up each event. It's not working for me that well - I started the year rated 1400th and now I've fallen to 1700th (at least it's out of 14,000!). I think this is due to the fact that I am horrible at stats. I always have a guy in the final but I lose a lot to friendly fire. At any rate, it's fun to play when you're as big as a surf nerd as I am. As for lessons, weekends are pretty open going into late October. Water is still 65 degrees. For those of you thinking Spring will be warmer - you're wrong! If you want to get in while it's not ice blocks out there get in now. You have about another month or so. Then it's hardcore only until June. But I am more than happy to teach you then.