Paddle at the "Narrows" 64th Street - First Landing State Park

Saturday morning, 0900 hrs, Bill Gassett and crew set out on a SUP paddle at 64th St.  They were invited to paddle along with the core kayakers and canoe paddlers from MAPA. Bill and his wife Anne are the areas top distance paddling gurus for stand up.  They are always stoked to pass the aloha about the distance stand up paddling sport. 

Here is an email that I received from Bill about the event:

We (4 of us) knocked out between 3.5 and 7 miles of solid SUP training at the 64^th Street State Park.

It was cool, very light wind and the work out was awesome…money in the bank.

MAPA has a core group of paddlers and they are full of aloha.

It’s always good to see you guys. Thank you for the “trophies” Rusty. Staying Alive!

More events like this will set anybody, interested in distance or race SUP’ing, up for success.

So in the spirit of Keep It Simple SUP’ing you are invited to paddle out on the Back Bay in Sandbridge next weekend (weather dependant) in the first ever “Suck Mud and Go Blind” SUP race.

Something like 4 – 7 miles of paddling in the shallow water of the Back Bay around a bunch of duck blinds.

Course to be decided race day in order to exploit wind and swell for the most fun.

We will send out another email mid-week with directions to the house and a semi-solid idea on the course.

No race fee, no registration other than writing your name down so we can keep track of who’s on the water and MANDATORY fun.

We will try to have separate SUP classes based on what people bring to paddle.

Speaking of…our kindred ohana of outrigger and surf-ski paddlers are invited.

Aloha,

Bill Gassett

Some fun sessions amid flatness

I’m as big of fan of summer-like weather as the next guy, but I equally distain the summertime swell pattern that we’ve seemed to settle into after an absolutely pumping winter.

The last consistent push lasting around a week in mid-March being such a recent memory makes this new era of flatness all the more difficult to swallow. April showers (and wind) make waves, usually.

That said, the Surf and Adventure crew, my old surf buddy Todd Elder – who I recently reconnected with – and I managed to log a few really fun sessions even though the predominant sea state has been classic Lake Atlantic.

Since that week in mid-march, Virginia Beach has been treated to just two viable swells, each lasting little more than a day at a time. The Outer Banks received its usual shot of better quality surf from both of those outbursts and managed to use its open-ocean exposure to pick up a couple more than didn’t quite make it up this way.

March 21’s evening session blew in a southeast windswell that turned on First Street in the waist-to-chest range that provided some fun waves despite the onshore conditions. Josh joined me for the morning session the following day, and conditions were better with an offshore wind, but the swell dropped a foot or so in size.  It was nice to squeeze in some fun waves, especially with a bleak swell forecast looming.

Then came a layoff that lasted until the following weekend, when another southeast blow produced a long, but soft, waist-high wave. Nothing special, but again, something to hold us over until Tuesday, March 30, which produced the shot of Forrest you see at the top of this blog.

Sick.
 

My friend Rocky, originally set to roll down to the Banks with me on this day, couldn’t make it due to work, so he connected me with Todd, who I came up surfing with through high school. We lost touch as we both pursued our college educations. As I began a career in writing post-school, he worked feverishly to save money to go on months-long surf trips. Smart guy.

It was great to reconnect with Todd, and the bond of surfing assured that we became instant buds. Turns out we are both equally obsessed, which worked out for the next two sessions we would catch.

So Todd and I charged down to Hatteras for the afternoon’s incoming tide. After stumbling around the maxed-out sandbars of northern Hatteras, we decided to surf in town at a spot we thought looked right (we heard later we should have kept heading south towards Avon, but whatever, we had to get wet).

We were rewarded with overhead, barreling peaks that pitched as far out into the pit as they were tall. Completely intense and we were both getting shacked on these gaping rights. Meanwhile in Sandbridge, the boys were scoring head-high nuggets of their own.

Then it went flat again. Virginia Beach is still in the throws of this spell, which looks to end tomorrow with a northeast blow. The Outer Banks broke the cycle for a few of these days, and Todd and I were on it for super-fun, rampy stomach-high walls in Hatteras for April 3’s morning sesh before hitting our favorite high tide spot in town for a fun-but-soft surf.

While I’m sure the OBX sported a rideable wave in some form through the next week, it took six more days for it to really turn on. Josh, my longtime best friend Ronnie and I charged to Frisco as a southwest windswell looked to get groomed by north winds around midday on Friday.

That it did, and some short-period grinders were keeping me and Josh on our toes while Ronnie filmed from the beach. Unfortunately, the zoom on his camera (we were pretty out there) and the steep, bowly, stacked-up surf made logging quality film too difficult. All the evidence needed for the booming barrels of the day can be seen in the clean break of Josh’s board.

That brings us back up to date. Hopefully the next few weeks will be a touch more active, but as you read, even when things get bad, waves still find a way around if you take the time to go get them.

• John Streit.

Getting gnarly in Back Bay/False Cape

After a week of the most solid and consistent surf of the year (check out surfline’s feature: http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/east-coast-swell_41968/), Saturday, March 20’s conditions left plenty to be desired. The swell finally backed off to traces after providing one last fun push Friday night. South-southwest winds winds blew in even warmer air temperatures and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

Word was there was still some waist- to stomach-high surf in the Outer Banks, but Josh Alley and I decided against committing our resources to chasing those kind of waves, especially after scoring super-fun waves seven out of the last eight days.

Recently, we had talked about how cool it would be to kayak from Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge – toting surfboards and gear – to False Cape Landing, hike across and get some surf.

So with the surf knee high in Sandbridge and actually pushing through in the Outer Banks, we thought a scouting expedition to False Cape would be a great way to spend a day on the water without getting out of town – a change-up of sorts to pounding pavement in search of waves. Plus, we thought we could happen across a fun sandbar doing its thing down there, possibly in the waist-high range.

Scoring surf was a fairly low priority on this trip. It would have been nice, but this was more about figuring out the best way to approach a trip like this – to see whether or not it was possible.

After glancing at a map, we learned pretty quickly that this kind of trip is suited best for an overnighter. We faced six-mile paddle to False Cape and a half-mile trek to the beach from the landing.

Still, we figured an hour’s session would still be possible if we played our cards right, so we went for it. Surfboards were strapped to the kayaks’ backs with bungees, gear, food and water were packed away in the holds and we were off… straight into the teeth of a 10-15 mph southwest wind.

This made the trip down extremely exhausting, with plenty of wind resistance and water splashing into our boats. We decided quickly that the much closer Barbour Hill Landing would be our best bet, then walking across the spit to get to the beach.

On our way, Mother Nature put on quite a wildlife show. Within a three-minute span, we saw a kingfisher, a bald eagle and a herd of deer actually charging through some shallows near the marsh. So unreal.

After the nearly two-hour, highly physical paddle, we arrived at Barbour Hill Landing ready for our hike. It was nice to use the legs after the upper body workout we just endured. We hiked around the west side of the giant dune, which is only about 10 feet shorter than Jockey’s Ridge in Nags Head, but far more vegetated. The ecosystem of the high dune and the swale below offered an interesting contrast.

After the three-mile hike, we arrived at the beach to find sub-standard surf. It looked rideable, but marginal. We decided to save energy by resting then hiking back to continue what we believed to be the much easier paddle back. After all, the wind would be at our backs.

And it was. As the sun set behind Back Bay, offering one of the best panoramas I have ever seen, we rode the wind and its tiny swell back towards the refuge’s landing five miles ahead.

Then the sun went down.

Things change in a hurry on Back Bay during twilight. Sillhouettes make judging points of land difficult, and things just look different and eeire out there.

We got a little mixed up in a cove as the sun disappeared, but Josh’s iPhone had GPS, so we were covered. We were definitely stoked he packed that thing.

All in all, it was definitely an exhausting day of adventuring through the region’s mot pristine natural area. It’s crazy to think that False Cape State Park is fully enclosed in Virginia Beach’s city limits.

But this trip would be much better suited as an overnighter, and with the promise of actual solid surf. Still, I’m stoked we scouted it out and learned a ton about what to do down there.

Lost board alert & Used Distance SUPs

***A good friend of the shop and frequent blog contributor, John CSB, accidentally left his 6'0" WRV quad in the parking lot at 1st street on the morning of 3/23.  Anyone who returns it will receive a $40 gift certificate to Surf & Adventure Co., no questions asked.  If you have any info, call 800-695-4212 or email SurfAndAdventure@gmail.com***

In other news, SB local Bill Gassett has a few distance Stand Up Paddle boards for sale.  Boards are by Joe Bark.  Contact bill at bgassett@londonbridgetrading.com

18ft. Joe Bark hand-shaped

16ft. Joe Bark Hand Shaped:

Research Pays Off

In a previous posting, I mused about stumbling upon good waves despite scanning swell and weather reports. 

While that provides a special feeling all its own;  I find something equally gratifying about checking the swell, wind and tide models, using local knowledge to theorize where it’ll be breaking best, going to find it – and then –  scoring it just as you predicted.

With the resource of online oceanic and atmospheric weather prediction models, any surfer can become a backyard meteorologist. But whether or not one can apply that information to finding a surf break is an entirely different animal. You need to have put your eyes on a variety of spots covering the area you have covered many, many times to know which spot has the most potential.

So with the swell maps lit up and the wind looking like it would cooperate, Josh of S&A and I decided that the northern Outer Banks would provide the kind of wave we wanted last Sunday: clean, shoulder- to head-high and reeling. 

And on our first spot check, that’s just how we found it. We scored for about 2 ½ hours, but like so many days in the volatile weather environment of the Outer Banks, the wind clocked towards the north and picked up to about 35 mph from around 10. Just as this happened, the swell increased by about double with some straight-up caves pounding the extreme outside bars.

While the inside continued providing spitting barrels, the wind was holding us off the wave face and pushing us out into the deep between the outer bar and middle. You either had to be so far inside that a clear-out set would drill you, or you were blown into the deep.

We decided to shoot back to Sandbridge to check it, since Virginia Beach is always less windy. With the big swell holding less than 40 miles away, it wasn’t a stretch to think some fun waves could be pushing through.

Again, we scored; this time with S&A’s Cody at our secret bar working about chest- to shoulder-high and A-framing: super fun for sure.

The weather also provided some of the most eerie and beautiful vistas I have ever seen in the water on both Saturday and Sunday. With Saturday’s slack winds, warm air temperature and cold water temperature, a thick bank of fog blanketed the beach around the North End while a clean, head-high swell hit.

At some points, the fog would lighten enough for bright, ambient sunshine to light up the fog around us –  this time it was me, Josh, Drew CSB and Ronnie CSB – but thicker fog interjected often, turning the sky as dark as a heavy overcast day. It felt like we were surfing in a cloud; and I guess we were, technically.

The Sunday evening (daylight savings time rules!) session was equally dramatic, with dark rain clouds overhead and to the north, but clear skies to the west as the sun set. Golden light bathed the ocean, which was a deep shade of dark green against the gray backdrop of the rain clouds. It rained lightly for a time, adding to the surreal nature of the session (the fun waves added even more awe to the scene). Gannets were bombing the water offshore, picking off meals from a school of bait fish.

Both days were the kind of day when you thank God you’re a surfer and can connect with nature in ways most people never will.

• John CSB

Turning the corner

Last week, I paddled out in Sandbridge for the kind of session that most surfers would probably turn down during the dead of winter: An optimistic swell forecast was reduced to choppy, sideshore, waist-high slop. The air temperatures were in the 40s and winds howled from the north-northwest.

With water temperatures in the upper 30s, things didn’t exactly look appealing. If it were summertime, people would be stoked on the “little wave” they got that afternoon. It wasn’t Summer, though- it was March 4, just days removed from the coldest month of the coldest winter in more than a decade...(continued below)

(enjoy some pictures from a different session: Jon CSB's latest expedition up the Delmarva Peninsula........)

But something was different when I hit the water this time (I made the drive all the way into Sandbridge, so I said, ‘Why not?’ and just paddled out). As I took my first duck dive, the cold didn’t radiate through my back-zip the way it has been. No ice headache.
My hands and feet were hot, my core was warm, and for the first time in a couple of months, I felt… comfortable.
While the word “March” certainly looks a lot warmer than “February,” this year, the turning of the caldendar page has translated in to the turning of the corner of the spring warm-up. I don’t know by how much the water temperature has come up, but it is noticably warmer – I’m guessing four-to-five degress or so.

 

There’s still a ways to go before things won’t feel “cold.” It’s still definitely cold out there, just less cold enough to notice a real difference.
And while I dread the annual warm water crowds which will descend on our everyday surf breaks, I’m equally ready to be freed from the seal suit.
Here’s my predicted order of wetsuit neccesity as things get warmer: No hood by the first week of April, gloves off late April, 4/3 off mid May, booties off late May, fullsuit off mid June.
No, we’re not out of the woods yet, but the day is coming soon.
Look s like waves this weekend… Happy hunting!

 -Jon CSB

The Mystique of the New Stick…

Looking straight down the stringer to see the bend of the concave. Feeling the sharpness of the tail rail. Checking the lines of the rocker. Running your hands across the smooth surface that will be pocked with heal , knee and pressure dents after the first session.

Ahhh, even after owning dozens of surfboards, there’s still nothing like the stoke I get when that fresh, white brand new surfboard. And this just happened to me for the first time in awhile this week when I picked up an Aloha AF1 Pro (6’4 x 18 ¾ x 2 3/8) from Surf & Adventure. Check it out: http://www.surfindustries.com/surfboards/aloha_pro.php

The summer of 2008 was the last time a fresh stick came into my possession, so I’ve been deprived of that feeling for just more than a year and a half. Before that, the bulk of my quiver was comprised of lightly used pro boards I got from WRV roadman Drew Wynn, my longtime best friend and roommate.

So that makes this latest addition even more special. If I were 12 years old again, I would have slept with it in my bed. Seriously, does that make me weird that I used to do that?

I love all of the rituals of getting a new stick shred-ready: placing the traction just right on the tail, screwing in those fins, getting the perfect wax bumps on the deck. All the while, I’m still checking the concave, the sharpness and the rocker as if it’s changed.

I wonder if any pros feel this connection between themselves and their new additions. One part of me wants to believe that they would, since any professional needs to be intimately familiar with the tools of their trade. Conversely, it happens to them so often that they literally may be viewed as nothing more as utilitarian – the means to an end.

Shoot, does it matter? I’ll always geek out over this stuff because I’m obsessed.
I’m also amped because this is the beginning of me hitting the reset button on building a quiver. This board will serve as the highest-performance board for waves bigger than waist high. I currently have a 6’0 x 20 ½ x 2 ½ quad fish for below waist, but as of now that’s it. A step-up for heavy/big surf is also needed, as well as a shorter board of medium width for steep faces – like a battail quad.
That’s what makes our sport so unique. Unlike skateboarding, wakeboarding or even snowboarding (to some extent); our riding surface changes by the day, the tide, the hour, the minute and/or the wave. The varying conditions, sizes and shapes of these surfaces really do require an arsenal of surfboards – hence the origin of the term “quiver,” which is also used to describe a bundle of arrows.

Having various options also increases the longevity for each board you own, so while throwing down loot on multiple surfboards is definitely a short-term hit; it all evens out in the long run.

And it’ll keep you ready for whatever Mother Nature throws your way. After all, in surfing – as in life – the more options you have, the more chances you’ll have at success.

-John CSB