Dearest seekers of aquatic joy:
What a lovely past three weeks it has been to be a New York surfer! You know it's been good when you regret taking a day off from surfing just to catch up on work and home life and to let your muscles recover. I have surfed both in New York and New Jersey with a variety of crews, both free surfing and in lessons and various combinations thereof. Stoke and good will are flourishing. These are the biggest waves many CSC members have paddled out in. Beccy did a cutback the other day. Deb charged 6ft bombing Long Beach. Zeke bought an 8'6" Faktion egg I had made for the very purpose of selling it to a CSC member asap. I test drove the board before selling to make sure it was a gem. This was the first day of the swell and there was a hellacious rip pulling off the Long Beach sandbar I was surfing. I rode a few waves on my shortboard but it soon became apparent that I would tire quickly on such small equipment, so I brought out the 8'6" and proceeded to get drained from a few solid tubes. That was a great omen, so I sold the board to Zeke in hopes that similar luck will rub off. That was two weekends ago when Paul, who is determined as all get out to become a surfer, charged some solid Long Beach as well. He made it out the back a few times before getting pulled through the rocks at the next jetty down. He and the board came through entirely unscathed. Such things can happen when you miss waves and a swing-wide-set nails you on the head. Good to test limits and know that one can survive intimidating situations.
In honor of the good waves I made a little video starring mostly myself with a few friends making cameos. My bud, Jon Paul, unfortunately stepped on a piece of glass in the parking lot at National Blvd in Long Beach after a fun surf, rendering him on the injured list for the remainder of the swell. Nevertheless he was keen to get out there and so I put him on video duty. Most of the best waves were surfed on days when Jon Paul either wasn't able to come to the beach or was surfing or doing his own thing. So in many ways what you see below are really the scraps. But I think that overall they're pretty good scraps!
In other news, the Costa Rica camps need to get booked! Please email me if you are thinking of attending one! We need to get the deposit and travel sorted out asap. I have a full rundown of how travel works on www.ranchodiandrew.com. So please head over there!