McPhilly's: Surf ... Finally, and a side order of Sunset

Jun 8, 2010

Surf ... Finally, and a side order of Sunset

Finally surfed again after a 4 month hiatus due to injury and illness. How good it was to be back in the water. I was tossing up the idea of going for a surf (I loaded the van in the morning, so that was already an investment in energy and time), an evening bike ride (but my neck was still hurting and so was my knee), or failing those, the gym.

I chose the "gym of the ocean."

My neck was still dodgy and some residual pain in the left arm and numbness, but remarkably, it all felt better after. Usually surfing tends to aggravate, but I tried to stay relaxed as possible, even though it was my first time in a long time.

The only real threat to relaxation was that I was surfing basically solo, except for one other longboarder.

Then, of course, there were usual evening ocean foodchain concerns, and the possibility of drifting too far out in the light-to-moderate offshore wind and getting too weak/tired to paddle in, after such a long time without paddle conditioning.

So I kept a close eye on the shore distance, and on my one partner's take off spots, so I had a firm idea of where the lineup was, what was too far and what was too close. We had a good outside sand bar, and were a fair distance out. Later on another friendly couple I recognize as regulars joined us.

What looked like a high-tide, possibly windy micro-wave (1-2ft) evening turned out to be a gem. Only four of us had walked the very long walk to the only consistently breaking sand bar east of Gilgo, toward Cedar.

Pull, pull, pull — the paddling was in surprisingly good shape, considering the long layoff. Extended efforts, however, hit the wall. But there were so many waves to go around, there was no sense of scarcity. A few shoulder-high sets, and a regular diet of clean, green sculpted-to-perfection small waves around waist high. Inshore waves were rgeat too and I should have spent more time, working them. They were good for practicing my very degraded take-off skills.

Great exercise, much needed after busy, hot and muggy weekend of not much action. I hope this session is a building block for improvement.

EROSION
It was near high tide, when I arrived and closer to mid-tide when I left, but the degree of beach erosion that seems to have taken place during winter was striking. A short distance form the lifeguard chair the main sunbathing beach drops of a steep 3 foot ledge to the tide-washed area. And even that seems to be a steep shelf compared to the user-friendly shallow-shelf beach I remember. I'll return again, closer to low tide to get a better comparison.

Here are a couple of photos: one from last night, relatively deserted except for 5 or 6 surfers, a few beach goers and a trio of bikers, who rolled in to find the right sunset at the right time, and another (below) from a couple of years ago — with a few vehicles in the parking lot enjoying the sunset on the bay (North) facing side.

It may be a long drive, and you never know, sometimes, whether you'll be able to surf, but if you pick the right evening, you may be richly rewarded. Dinner? Forgot all about that, until I got home about 9:30!