Beach Lunch

Beach Lunch

If you've been out with us, you may have gotten to partake of one of Andrew's famous van-side beef stews or fried egg breakfasts. But you don't need a camp stove and full kit to enjoy a wholesome lunch. Not only are we saving tons of money by bringing our own food (even a bagel and coffee can run you around $5), but we're looking after our nutrition and feeling awesome. Anybody who's spent much time out there knows that beachside food options can be challenging. Not that we don't love the occasional stuffed veggie slice from Gino's at Long Beach, but we thought we'd share some of our favorite ways to eat healthy on a mission.

 

No refrigeration needed

When we're in a hurry, we like to bring along sturdy, pre-washed fruits and vegetables. Think bell peppers (you can even eat one like an apple–try it), carrot and celery sticks, jicama, bananas, apples, tangerines. We keep a pocketknife and flexible cutting board in the van, but it's not necessary. Slice them up the night before and toss them in a Ziplock bag or Tupperware. If you want to up your game, you can bring a whole avocado, slice it in half, and eat it with a spoon right out of the shell. Pair that with a few hard boiled eggs* and you've got a protein and vitamin boost to get you primed for the next session. As a side note, we find that hard boiled eggs are just fine out of the fridge for a while. Put a pan of them on the night before, and bang—breakfast or lunch, already in its own container. Other protein sources that will be okay in your beach bag for a few hours include nuts (we love smoked almonds) and cured meats (think hard, really preserved stuff like chorizo, smoked salami, or jerky).

 

A little more fancy

If you have a decent cooler or insulated lunch bag, the sky's pretty much the limit. We like to take chicken or tuna salad and have that with crackers or vegetable sticks instead of in sandwiches. You can bring cheese cubes, yogurt, hummus, leftover dinner from yesterday. We've discovered the awesome Bentgo salad box, which means you can bring a restaurant-quality salad in your backpack. It has a bottom container for greens, and the top tray has compartments for your toppings, and even its own fork and a leak-proof box for dressing. No more soggy lettuce!

 

While we're plugging lunchboxes

Bentgo makes a ton of awesome products. In addition to the salad box, we use the Bentgo insulated canvas lunch box almost every day. It's the perfect size for one person, and it has a built-in pocket for an ice pack. You can buy a super slim cold pack from them that fits right in.

If you're packing for a crowd, Andrew swears by the soft cooler. You shed a lot of the weight of a hard box, making it a cinch for one person to tote around. They also usually have a few outside pockets so you can reach for a few snacks on the train. The squishy sides mean that it's easier to fit into small spaces (Brooklyn apartments, anyone?) and you can fold it up and shove it in a drawer when you're not using it. They're also super easy to clean by rinsing out in the sink. Some people like to dump a bag of ice right in these, but we usually rely on reusable cold packs that we store in the freezer till we need them. Less risk of a soggy PB&J. In coolers as with everything else, you get what you pay for. A cheap soft-side from the dollar store won't last long. We suggest you shell out a little more and invest in a mid-range cooler that will last several seasons and keep your stuff colder longer.

Hope this gives you a few suggestions to spruce up your beach snack routine. It doesn't have to be a big production—a few minutes the night before really pay off when you're enjoying a gourmet feast right on the sand. We're really into our home cooking routine these days, so look out for more posts about our favorite beach breakfasts, new recipes, and more.

As a final public service announcement, please, please, please remember to pack out what you pack in. Our city beaches seem to get more polluted each day. Take those wrappers and rinds back to a trash bin, or haul them back home to dispose of properly.

 

*Fool-Proof Hard Boiled Eggs

These beauties come out perfect every time. We can't recommend enough that you spend a little more for organic, free-range eggs, local if possible. The taste difference alone is worth it. Make extra—everybody loves deviled eggs.

1.     Fill a four- or six-quart saucepan with water. Place over a high flame and bring to a boil.

2.     When the water is boiling, gently lower the eggs into the pan. Adjust the flame if needed to keep the water at a steady boil (you might need to turn it down slightly).

3.     Boil for 11-13 minutes. This is a matter of taste. If you like a softer, creamier yolk, less time is for you. If you're taking them to the beach, we'd suggest the longer time. They'll keep longer if they're fully cooked through.

4.     Turn off the heat and use a slotted spoon to remove the eggs. Immediately place them in a bowl of ice water. Let sit for 30 minutes. Don't skip this step!! Plunging the eggs in the ice bath makes them much easier to peel.

Mid Summer Melville

Sea Lovers! 

What a stellar summer so far! We just passed the mid mark and recently experienced perhaps one of the weirdest weeks of weather in a while.  It was the first time all summer that we had a few days that were simply too flat and onshore to surf. But because the ocean doesn't like to do the same thing for too long, we were welcomed with a bunch of fun waves the past few days. Andrew and I have paid witness to many fantastic breakthroughs in the past week, and we want to give a shout out to those of you who recently took your surfing to a new level, you know who you are! 

We have a bunch of fun stuff on the horizon: Many people have signed up for the Newsletter and we're currently working on the first one. Should be out some time next week. We've got the retreat dates up for Costa Rica Winter 2016/17. Go have a look and try to book early as we imagine that after last year's awesomeness these will fill up fast. As for our local business, we are starting to be pretty booked for August (especially weekends) but still have a few openings (especially weekdays). Since purchasing our van, our mobile operation has really taken off this year, and we have had tons of full beach days all around the NY/NJ area. We are starting to firm up some short trips to Montauk, Rhode Island, and Cape Cod for the fall, so stay tuned for those! 

I will also admit right now that is is my second attempt to write this blog post. In my first attempt I was desperately trying to interpret this fantastic Melville quotation from Moby Dick:  

“Go visit the prairies in June, when for scores on scores of miles you wade knee-deep among Tiger-lilies—what is the one charm wanting?—Water—there is not a drop of water there! Were Niagra but a cataract of sand, would you travel your thousand miles to see it? Why did the poor poet of Tennessee, upon suddenly receiving two handfuls of silver, deliberate whether to buy him a coat, which he sadly needed, or invest his money in a pedestrian trip to Rockaway Beach? Why is almost every robust healthy boy with a robust healthy soul in him, at some time or other crazy to go to sea? Why upon your first voyage as a passenger, did you yourself feel such a mystical vibration, when first told that you and your ship were now out of sight of land? Why did the old Persians hold the sea holy? Why did the Greeks give it a separate deity, and make him the own brother of Jove? Surely all this is not without meaning. And still deeper the meaning of that story of Narcissus, who because he could not grasp the tormenting, mild image he saw in the fountain, plunged into it and was drowned. But that same image, we ourselves see in all rivers and oceans. It is the image of the ungraspable phantom of life; and this is the key to it all.

”
— Herman Melville, Moby Dick, "Loomings"

What happened was that like everything in Moby Dick, there was simply too much to say about it and I got stuck. Here Melville nails a description of our magnetic attraction to the sea — the ocean and the water that comprises it beckons us both consciously and unconsciously. It is the simultaneous source of great fear and great bliss — "the image of the ungraspable phantom of life."  As the religious historian Mircea Eliade once said, the sea is the fons et origo (fountain and origin) of all being. Those of us who have dedicated our lives to it know this to be the case in a visceral way. This is also what is so astute about connecting this aboriginal attraction to water with the myth of Narcissus: a deep part about what attracts Narcissus to himself in the water is the fact that he is made of that same water in way that is not just a mere hallucination or trick of light. What Narcissus also teaches, however, is that if you do not respect the power of the water over you, you risk dying from your own ignorance. Narcissus forgets too quickly that the same self love that preserves him can also destroy him. It is always crucial to remember that we are all bound together in this watery world.

The other thing that really strikes me from this passage is the mention of Rockaway Beach. It is of interest to learn that literary scholars are at a loss as to the 'true identity' of the "poet from Tennessee" who forewent a coat in lieu of a trip to Rockaway Beach. The best answer anyone has come up with is that it is one of Melville's weird inside jokes or innuendos. Beyond this it just makes me wonder what Rockaway Beach must have looked like in the 19th century. Surely there weren't any jetties or piers. A brief internet search yields some telling photos. By the mid 19th century Rockaway was already a bustling hub of beach activity. Old post cards show that just as many people visited there then as they do today. But of course the area itself looked nothing like it does now. There was once a big hotel called the Rockaway Beach Hotel and lots of open land and dunes. Now is not the time for me to write the history of Rockaway Beach, but I have a huge hunch that Robert Moses has a lot to do with why it looks how it looks now (I still need to read The Power Broker by Robert Caro). From the images alone it looks as though it was as popular in 1851 as it is in 2016. The waves and sandbars had to be different without the jetties, but I also imagine that for an unmeasurable amount of time there were plenty of epic A-frame beach break set ups going unridden from one swell to the next. 

There is a lot more I can say about contemporary Rockaway: they did end up taking away 61st and 62nd streets as surfing beaches. It would almost be a bummer but this summer it has been so polluted with weird nitrogen growth kelp and plastic bags and leftover weekend trash that we have tried to surf there only when absolutely necessary. The politics of surfing beaches and lifeguards and waste management is so deeply entwined and entangled in daily politics that I am wary of touching it with a ten foot pole. But it is certainly there in the back of my mind always wanting to be mulled over and grappled with more actively. I still think that if you live in New York and you have not visited the Rockaways you are missing out — it's wild to see that there is really such a vibrant beach scene so close to the mother of all modern American cities.  

And don't get me wrong, despite the plastic bags, crowds, and closed beaches, there is still great surf at the famous Rockaway Beach. I always say that it is one of the best places to find a barrel on all of Long Island. The short distance between the jetties focuses the swell (when there is some), and the shallow sand causes the wave to jack up and throw out rapidly. In terms of scenery, the new boardwalk is a welcome addition to the landscape of high rise condos, churches, and other urban markers. And you can always see Long Island, Manhattan, and New Jersey off in the distance as the huge box ships make their way into the harbor.

Furthermore, in just one month all of the rules and regulations placed upon surfers to avoid swimming areas in Rockaway, Long Beach, and New Jersey will be null and void. Any die hard surf fan of the NY/NJ area will tell you that Labor Day is the official start to our real surf season, and we here at CSC are psyched for it! 

-Dion 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Is Here! Updates/Summer Wetsuit Review/And More!

Water bound humans of New York! Summer season has officially started. This means small waves, the occasional hurricane or tropical storm pulse, restricted beaches, traffic, warm weather and water, and tons of fun navigating the urban surfing jungle. Long Beach has the same deal this year as last year: Pacific, Lincoln, and one rotating beach that changes according to this schedule. It's $15 a person to get on the beach past 9a, but if you surf with us we have passes for you. Of course if you surf before 9a then you don't have to worry about it. The surfing beaches at Rockaway this year are 61-69 and 87-92. All other beaches are "closed" for surfers from 10a-6p. Usually the lifeguards will open the beaches to us if the swell is big enough/too dangerous for swimmers, but otherwise if you surf at a non surfing beach past 10a this summer expect a hassle with the authorities. Cramming us all together presents a variety of ethical dilemmas so we all need to practice patience with one another. We must also work to communicate with NYC parks and gov't to change the outdated surfing beach schedule in the future.   

The water is now in the low 60s, which is fine for a 3/2mm full suit (no gloves, no booties, no hood). For the perfect summer wetsuit quiver I recommend a 3/2mm fullsuit, a 2mm long or short sleeve spring suit (your choice depending on tan line preferences), and a 2mm jacket to be worn with boardshorts or a bathing suit. Any combination of these suits should get you through October, and after that you will need to invest in a 4/3mm full suit with a hood. 

Recenty, like many surfers, I was targeted by a company called Need Essentials through Facebook ads. They claim to have paired down the whole process and branding of making a wetsuit to bring the average surfer a top of the line suit at a fraction of cost. I went to their store and my jaw dropped. The 3/2mm is $150 and includes tax and shipping. Winter suits are around $200. This is literally half to 1/3 the price of all other suits. I had to try them out so I bought a standard 3/2mm. It came a week ago and I have used it twice now. I am thoroughly impressed. Sturdier zipper than on my Ripcurl and Quiksilver suits. Same great kevlar kneepads. Fully taped seams. Water wicks off the outer layer. Unfortunately, for the ladies, NE only makes mens suits (for now). If you have narrower hips, however, the suits should fit and are not overtly masculine or feminine -- they're basically just plain black surfing leotards. I cannot speak to the manufacturing practices or the eco footprint of the NE suits. That bit is not yet transparent on their site. More research forthcoming. If you want to be involved with the eco movement Patagonia is developing a more earth-friendly neoprene called Yulex/Nexkin, but it is pricey (5x the cost of an NE suit). If you are looking for logos and color, however, neither Patagonia nor NE are your jam. All of the mainstream brands -- Ripcurl, Quiksilver, Oneill, Billabong, Xcel, Matuse, and Hurley --  have different aesthetics and use different colorways. They also allow you to feel a kinship with the professional surfing elite. In addition, there are plenty of new wetsuit companies cropping up everywhere like Vissla, Adelio, Isurus, Janga, etc. 

Speaking of new wetsuit companies, an exciting one for women is professional surfer, Kassia Meador's, new venture, Kassia+Surf. They are a bit more fashion forward and pricey but seem to be made with vision and integrity. A perennial favorite is Nineplus. They have a variety of long arm short leg styles with a functional retro vibe. And again, all of the major brands have their own styles, colorways, and prices. The same suit rule applies for women as it does for men: a 3/2mm full suit for those crispy morning or uncanny upwelling surfs and a 2mm long sleeve spring suit will last you through October.

For those that have been following our progress, you may notice a few changes to the site. We have updated the look, the store, and and some of our other pages. We are working towards getting the store fully functional and t shirts and hats will also be on offer at some point this summer. Currently, the most important change is to our packages on our Lessons page. There are new prices for weekends and weekdays and we've added a 10 lesson package for those that realize the value of quality instruction. I will post about important changes when they occur. Stay tuned for tons of good stuff! 

CSC + RDA March Retreat Recap

Ocean lovers! 

I have been back from Costa Rica going on 72 hours now and am still replaying all of the amazing rides and meals and waterfall jumps in my head. The second inaugural CSC + RDA surf retreat was a total smash hit. We were blessed with plentiful swell and gorgeous weather. We stayed on the video and everyone saw dramatic improvement. After this retreat I feel now, more than ever, that hiring a coach is the only way to fast track your surfing. All the pros have them, why not people who are just starting out? Some of the people on this retreat have only been surfing since August and October 2015 and are now dropping into overhead (for them) waves with style. It's truly impressive. Below is a highlight reel followed by a few more words: 

There are many highlights in this video, but I have to say that Beni's wave at Pavones — the long left pictured in the screen saver — is one of the best waves I have ever seen a beginning/intermediate surfer ride. Working with back siders, it is imperative to make sure that head and shoulders are turned down the line and opened up to the wave face. The grab rail technique is not always necessary but it is a good skill to have in one's arsenal to help manage the drop and pull the rail into the water. There's a nice close up of Beni using this technique in the GoPro footage of the wave we shared at a secret spot near the Rancho towards the end of the video. That wave is hilarious because she kept looking back at me and I had to keep pointing to the shoulder so that she would turn her head to make the wave. I must admit that I cannot take full credit for Beni's success. She has a naturally quick pop up that she has honed at a variety of surf camps and schools around the world. This is simply more to the point that new surfers who seek out instruction improve more quickly than those that don't. 

I like to think, however, that starting with a technique like ours gives one an even faster advantage than the other techniques. Helena, Mariza, and Christina are all perfect examples. Helena has been surfing with me since August and Mariza since October 2015; and Christina only started during the first retreat in January 2016. Both Mariza and Helena are taking off at the peak and managing really tricky drops with style. In one day Christina went from a labored pop up with a little too much bend at the waist to a fast pop up with the weight shifted back over her right foot. Beyond particulars, all these women absolutely charged. The waves were not small during this retreat and everyone came to the table ready to play. Unfortunately Mariza and Christina had to leave this trip early before we got all the insane left handers, which is why we only see Beni and Helena towards the end of the video. 

The other people in the video, Bryan and Juan, were there to help Andrew and I out with camp particulars and lineup safety. Juan is a very competent bodyboarder from Puerto Rico who has also been learning to surf since working with Andrew. He in fact got the best stand up wave of his life on this trip and was invaluable when it came to preparing meals and logging footage. Bryan has been surfing for 5+ years. He is one of the heads of the NY Surfing Buddies meetup group and is a general good vibing frother who has has gotten into shaping his own alaia surfboards with the help of Jon Wegener. I was particularly glad Bry brought the alaia because I got some of my best waves of the trip on it. I put one particularly long one in the video. The alaia is all about picking the right wave and being in position. It takes so much energy to swim that piece of wood around a lineup, so you don't want to kill yourself going for bad waves. I saw Bry have some particularly masochistic alaia sessions where he went for a lot of closeouts or sectioning waves. He has seen the video and knows that he needs to work on patience. The upside to Bryan's impatience is that he is just so stoked to surf. Beyond his surfing stoke, Bryan brought a lighthearted presence to the retreat and made some of the best and most creative margaritas any of us have ever had. He also did some really valuable filming and commentary for our spoof reel. 

Moving towards heavy video review has made a huge difference both in my teaching style and in the students' improvement. We did not miss one wave on video all trip and people could take what they were seeing — the good, the bad, and the ugly — and improve upon it the next day. Plus we got really good at improv commentary which made the nightly video reviews as entertaining as they were educational. A spoof Youtube channel or Instagram may result . . . . 

I know that in this age of internet ADD I am supposed to only provide videos that are 3 minutes and under, but we got so much good footage that 7 min 30 secs was the best I could do on this one. The waves we scored were so long and I wanted to highlight that our crew were getting 30 sec plus rides. You put five of those on a video and that's 2.5 minutes long already with none of the fun lifestyle stuff, which I think adds so much flavor and depth to what we do down there. I cannot express in words how great it feels to swim in a cool freshwater waterfall pool after surfing all day. Definitely a top 5 life experience. 

We're in the early phases of planning our future retreats for 2016 and 2017. Until the dates are up, please feel free to email about Conatus-style lessons and mini retreats in Costa Rica. Andrew is down there and he has all the skills and video equipment necessary to help out 1-3 people at a time. We are also gearing up for the New York season, which is soon to be upon us. I am starting to book up for when the water gets warmer, so make sure you get on the schedule asap. I'm also solidifying some great plans for CSC mini excursions to RI, LI, and NJ for the summer. And don't forget that Chris is out in Montauk if you need lessons out there. 

I am really stoked that CSC is growing organically and finding its niche in the flourishing surf community. For those that have believed in us and continue to, I thank you with all of my heart. Hopefully we'll see you in New York or Costa Rica soon! 

A February to Remember

Greetings greetings sea faring hearties! 

It has been a hustle bustle beginning to 2016 for us here at CSC. With the next surf retreat just around the corner — T minus one week!!!!!! — I thought I would pop in with a brief blog post featuring a funky little video I put together with scrap footage from 2015 and some highlight shots from the better days that I managed to surf in February. The video features me and my good friends Juan, Bryan, Andrew, and Heath surfing in NJ and CA and also has two little clips of CSC clients Mariza and Reed showing great form. This is all shot with my Panasonic waterproof cam that I plan to leave down in CR with my brother so that he can develop the coaching end of CSC Costa Rica. I'm moving towards using my new GoPro camera for water shots and my Sony a6000 for land shots and video. The quality is much better, but I must admit I do enjoy the home movie vibe of the Panasonic's inability to focus at times. It has been a great camera so far and its life and use is far from over. 

The photos below are from 3 separate days of excellent surf in New York. This past January and February, while having plenty of quality days of surf was super difficult to line up with. There are only two days a week that my schedule does not or only barely allows surfing (Mondays and Wednesdays) and for whatever cursed reason, those are the days when the surf has been firing. Fortunately one or two Thursdays opened up for me and I managed to get some shots and some waves of my own. The pictures of me are taken by my good mate JP Phillips who had just returned from work trip to Aruba and was not keen to pull on the 5mil. It is a rule of surf brotherhood that if you do not want to surf or you go in early and the waves are still good and there is a camera around then it is your SACRED DUTY to take photos and video of your friends. For this reason the CSC + RDA retreats in Costa Rica are also featuring basic lessons of surf photography so that you and your friends are able to capture one another's sessions. My best friend (and the man behind the CSC logo) Andrew Dolan (also ripping the above vid) and I have been filming one another surf since we were 12 years old. It's just what you do if you want to be a better surfer, and also you do it because the wave only lasts 4-20 seconds and that's too fast for a such a blissful feeling. It must be relived!!!! 

Dreamy, right?!!! The water is not very pretty but darn if some of the waves that came through weren't downright perfection! I got to see a bunch of people in the water that I had not seen in a while. There are shots in the gallery of my friends Franco Rinaldi, Tyler Breuer, and Tyler Healy. I'm the person on the board with the turquoise rails. That board is my 5'6" Joe Falcone keel fish. The thing is an absolute dream. All of Joe's training with Andrew Kidman on fish style boards has certainly paid off. It catches waves very well because all of the forward foam. As you can see in the photos, one day in Rockaway was well over head and the board caught waves and handled them brilliantly. This is also because Joe and I decided to pull the tail in a bit more for control. It was a wise decision.