Whew, what a week/weekend it's been around Sandbridge/VB. The previous week had us surfed-out with Danielle and Earl passing through, which has made us all exhausted paired with the preparations/work done for Labor Day weekend.
The threat of Earl had the crew scrambling to batten down the hatches; as activities like securing kayaks, moving bikes and other loose items indoors took top priority. Though we were fully prepared for the worst of what Earl could have thrown our way, he took a more seaward track and left us relatively unscathed.
The close call did leave behind a playground of super-fun waves from the early afternoon of Friday through Saturday, with the swell producing hallow pits all around VB on Friday. I think nearly every person in the 757 with a surfboard was in the water.
While most of the S&A team and crew tackled the swell in VB, hard-charging team rider Tyler Balak chased some monsters at an undisclosed location up north. Check it out!
It's a shame Fiona and Gaston fizzled out. Man, that would have made it hard to get anything done around here, but in a good way...
Anyhow, I also wanted to introduce you guys to a new project that S&A crewmen Josh, Cody and myself are working on called Most Excellent. It's a surfing lifestyle webzine/blog that's still in its formative stages, but we are continuously building content as our schedules allow. We have features on Surfer's Healing Virginia Beach surf camp, a documentary on bird-related beach closures in Hatteras which are strangling the island economy and we will soon have several ECSC recap features.
The ultimate goal is to create an atmosphere of community ownership in the local surfing scene by allowing users to contribute video, text, photo, music and art content. It aims to be a collective documentary effort, so enjoy what we have so far and keep checking back for updates. http://www.mostexcellent.wordpress.com
--John
It's official, the tropics are really beginning to produce some action. Today, another tropical wave entered the Atlantic near Cape Verde; and it promises to become the next named storm of the 2010 hurricane season. Should its winds reach 40 mph, Earl looks to follow a similar projected path as Danielle, which looks to become a hurricane today. Forecasters say the U.S. is at a low risk of landfall by Danielle, meaning we will maintain maximum swell exposure as it passes off to the northeast early next week.
With Earl riding her coattails, his swell may fill in right as Danielle's fades out by the middle of next week. Let's hope these steer clear of land and have them do what hurricanes do best: pump swell in our direction.
Meanwhile, we're going to make a big push to get some documentation of these swells posted on the site for your viewing pleasure. Stay glued! I'll be posting updates as the forecasts change.
Here's another cool article on whats happening with these storms, this time from AccuWeather.
-- John
Ahhh, the fall winds are already starting to blow on the East Coast; and the past couple of weeks have yielded decent windswells that provided some major relief from one of the most surf-starved summers in recent memory.
It looks like a mid- to late-week bump will be headed in our general direction (hitting much better a little bit north and a little bit south, as usual), but that's all just the appetizer for what forecasters say is coming next.
Currently, Tropical Depression Six is spinning in the Eastern Atlantic off of Africa's Cape Verde Islands and promises to become Tropical Storm Danielle within the next 24 hours (probably by the time you view this post). By Wednesday, it's projected that the storm will be a hurricane and should reach Category 2 status on Friday. Beyond that, forecasters can't be sure of what's next, but what's almost certain is that a deep, long-period groundswell will be headed our way!
Of course, the storm's fetch, intensity and proximity to our coastline will make or break whether the swell will provide ideal conditions -- along with local winds, tides and weather. But the potential for great waves is there, and it's arriving right on schedule with the Cape Verde season.
The Weather Channel has a great write-up about Danielle and the scenarios affecting her development and track, check it out here.
Swellinfo.com shows traces of the swell arriving Saturday and hitting with more size on Sunday, but predicting weather -- especially weather as volatile as hurricanes -- seven days out is a crapshoot.
So, keep your fingers crossed and hopefully this time next week we'll be feasting on Danielle's goodies!
It's that time of year that schoolchildren and college students across the country dread... But have no fear! Surf and Adventure Co.'s BACK TO SCHOOL JAMMY JAM is BACK and ready to attack Sandbridge Road with killer deals and a whole bunch o' fun from 8 PM until midnight on AUGUST 12!
BUY ONE GET ONE FREE or 40% OFF all summer apparel and accessories!!! BUY ONE GET ONE HALF OFF or 25% OFF fall/winter apparel!!! CA$H FOR CLUNKERS will be in full effect, so bring your busted stick, trade it in and get $100 off a brand new one, such as the BEAN, AF1 PRO and QUICKSHIFT from Aloha and the FATBURNER and MINIFISH from Webber.
Stick around and have your mind blown by Transworld Surf's new video "High-5" while playing the latest game to sweep the land: CORNHOLE! Come getcha some! Bombaclot!
This dubious activity -- once reserved as a punishment for misbehaving rental boys -- now becomes the recreational pursuit of Surf and Adventure crewman Kyle Ebeling. If you've ever cast off our Back Bay waterway dock, then you know that the water is dark brown with about a foot of swamp muck below. Watch as Kyle becomes one with the creatures that call our dock home!
And this is what happens afterwards...
OK, seriously though... The guys who cover rentals for us this summer have been awesome despite the sweltering heat! It's moments like these that make those hot, endless Saturdays a lot of fun. Thanks for the entertainment Kyle! You're a true creature!!!
A few days back, we caught up with Surf and Adventure team rider Tyler Balak about his role in the upcoming film "The Wild Lyfe," which features an all-star East Coast cast chasing down some of the heaviest waves ever documented on this side of the Atlantic.
Here's what Tyler, an integral member of the project -- which also has a corresponding website, listed below the video clip -- had to say about a fall and winter of filming that he said produced the best waves of his surfing career.
S&A: Elaborate on how you became involved with the project. Tyler: I started surfing with Raven early last fall, and using a jetski around the same time. He has filmed with Eddie and Chris of Commonwealth Media Group for a few years. After chasing a few swells with those guys, clips started accumulating, especially when the jetski was involved because that machine enables us to get better waves because you can chase down sets on nearby sandbars. They had been interested in making a video for a while so it just started building more and more momentum each day we filmed.
S&A: We talked about the mentality of only going south from VB for swell. When and how did that perception change for you as you began heading north as well. Tyler: Well, I think most of us know that sometimes you can go to hatteras and its not exactly as good as the forecasts predict. It can be weird wind or too much current, its sometimes hard to find the right bar, and pretty often when u do find the bar its crowded. Its just refreshing to do something different, and its really fun to check other places out. In addition, it has been our goal to find the biggest and best barrels for a given swell..wherever that may be.
S&A: I know many of your sessions, especially the heavy stuff, have been logged with jet ski assistance. Explain jet skis' role in the project and tell me how using tow power has changed/elevated your surfing. Tyler: I mentioned before that the ski allows us to get the bombs, even if there up the beach. That is a major benefit. It also takes current out of the equation. Almost all filming has been done strictly at beach breaks so the jetski allows us to overcome the shifty nature of this type of wave. Another benefit of the ski when surfing bigger waves is it allows us to line up with the end bowl..the more makeable section of the wave. It also makes filming the surfer's perspective much more of a reality..there are a few in barrel shots on the teaser that help to demonstrate this. We have also been experimenting with the follow angle filming from the ski and have gotten a few clips like that.
As far as elevating my surfing is concerned, who wouldn't benefit from surfing more and better waves? Towing is sick because you get more tries or the speed necessary to practice a particular maneuver.. I want to be clear though, we only tow when it is really small and hardly worth paddling.
S&A: What has been your heaviest moment to date while filming? Tyler: Everyone takes they're share of wipeouts..but my heaviest experience was actually when I was driving the ski. It was december in hatteras on the swell that I got my wave in the teaser and raven got a few of his barrel shots. The road had washed out and several houses were washed into the ocean so there was a ton of debris on the beach and floating around in the lineup. We had been out maybe 15 minutes when I dropped Raven into a sick one and ran inside to pick him up..but my ski just seized up. So I was kind of sitting in the impact zone on one of the heaviest days I had ever surfed with more waves coming at me. Luckily I got pushed in enough by some whitewater that we could see what was wrong without getting destroyed. I had sucked a huge garbage bag in my impeller and Raven was able to get it out without us having to beach my ski and risk losing it in the shorebreak. After that the day went smoothly and we got some really sick waves
S&A: Feel free to add anything else about the project/your surfing. Tyler: We are just trying to have fun with this, chasing swells on the east coast and using the jetski when the conditions allow. Getting clips and making a movie is just a bonus. We really sort of started chasing waves with the ski in the fall but already I have gotten sicker waves than I have in my entire life..and I have done quite a bit of travelling. We realize that not everyone is stoked on PWCs so we try to be respectful and stay away from crowds and people as much as possible. I love all kinds of surfing and am in fact going to Costa Rica this week without a jetski just to get away from summer east coast flatness and have a good time... which is what surfing is all about.
featuring S&A team rider Tyler Balak alongside Raven Lundy, Lucas Rogers, Noah Snyder and more.
zine - http://thewildlyfe.com/zine/
blog - http://thewildlyfe.com/
full movie- premier in summer of 2011 CHECK IT OUT!
Taking day trips down to the Outer Banks has been a part of Virginia Beach surf culture as long as the sport has been around these parts. The geography of the Outer Banks -- barrier islands that jut out to the southeast, where the continental shelf is much closer to shore and the swell window increases -- make these wave-rich sessions therapy for those of us who suffer from summer’s flat spells. Recently, the Surf and Adventure crew headed down south to hook up with 158 Surf & Skate’s Matt Price for an afternoon of chasing a small, but fun, southwest wrap-around windswell on Hatteras Island. Judging from the awesome amount of photos taken by S&A’s Ryan Massey of shop crewmen Josh, Cody and John, who’s also one of our team riders, the trip was a success despite the heavy sideshore winds. Everyone was ripping and it was really special to have Ryan along to capture those moments. Thanks so much for being a warrior on the beach all day! As far as our swell prospects, it looks like more of the same with the occasional fun day mixed in when the southerly flow is on. The tropics are quiet, but that can change quickly. Stay glued to the blog for more content as swells and trips allow.
