October 5, 2024 - Sawyer's Beach, Rye, NH

 I got so many good waves today!!  There has been a ground swell starting, and to last several days.  Great weather today in the upper 60's-70's and waist high clean waves and light wind.  They already took the resident parking signs down at Sawyer's, so free parking!  Used the RC. The waves weren't huge, but very easy to get into, so I was able to get maybe 10-15 really good rides with a mix of rights and lefts.  No one in my little area to compete with either.  Laura asked if it was better than Costa Rica, and I would say, yes.  Waves don't look that big in the photo, but they were super fun.  Had some good dismounts too. 

September 8, 2024 - Jeness Beach, Rye NH

Storm swell was forecast for this weekend and I decided to skip Saturday and go for early Sunday morning.  I don't think was a hurricane out at sea, but the swell was definitely worthy of it.  I checked out the wall first, but it looked a bit treacherous for my liking, especially since I'm not wanting to blow out my back.  Continued on up to Jeness and the road was already lined with cars.  I parked pretty far up, but cut in through the northern most beach access point.  So I ended up surfing at the norther most point of Jeness Beach near Lockes Point.  Wind was 10-15 mph blowing from the southwest, so you have to constantly expend energy positioning yourself.  There were head high sets with waist high waves in between and these were really nice waves once you got into them.  Not really closeouts, but you had to get into them reasonably late since the wind held them up.  There were really lots of people crammed into this little area, so it was getting kind of annoying letting people go all the time.  Definitely had the ride of the year on a nice chest high left, but really only had about 4-5 rides (all lefts) in the 2 hours I surfed.  Definitely let a few get by.  This was pretty epic, about as good as it gets, but the wind was a bit strong by the time I got out of the water at 10 AM.  Surfed for 2 hours on the RC.  I was sore for a couple days after.  Top pic if from the Wall at 7:45 and bottom pic is Sawyers at 10:15.

September 1, 2024 - Jeness Beach, Rye NH

 Only second time surfing NH this year.  I'm not sure why me and Laura went up on Labor day when there was no surf to speak of, but I wanted to get in the water.  The beach looked like Coney Island and there were tons of bathers.  Surf was maybe knee high and there were a few kids surfing.  I managed to catch a bunch of small waves so it was actually kinda fun.  Just had to avoid a lot of people.  As I write this the next weekend, the surf is cranking at the Wall, so might go up tomorrow morning.  No photo of Coney Island.

August 12, Playa Avellanas, Cost Rica

 Two days in a row surfing, that's rare!  Day 2 of surfing in Costa Rica, we went just south to the little surfer community of Playa Avellanas.  It is actually a 30 minute walk on the beach, but we drove.  This is a more unforgiving wave that has short power.  I rented an 8 foot board.  It wasn't by favorite size and was a little wide for me.  Did a 2-hour rental for $15.  I surfed the entire 2 hours straight, but there was a lot of waiting for the right wave.  I caught a few, but it wasn't anything epic.  Luckily, it was cloudy, so avoided the sunburn.  We ate at Lola's on the beach afterwards to the music of Exodus by Bob Marley.  Evan got some great shots of me on my best ride.  At the end of this session, I was kinda racked up, by getting hit by the board in the shoulder, another hip bruise, sore ribs and rubbed knees from board wax.  I felt fulfilled after 2 days of surfing.  I'd definitely like to come back surfing to Costa Rica.  Board rentals are pretty cheap.

August 11, 2024 - Playa Tamarindo, Costa Rica

 Yah, I surfed Costa Rica!  I'm now an international surfer.  This was part of our summer Cost Rica trip.  We were staying outside the town at the Marriott, so we drove in to check out Tamarindo and go to the beach.  Tamarindo is a relatively mellow wave that wraps around from the south and is good for longboards.  Water was 86 and this was probably the hottest, sunniest day of the trip.  I rented a 9' Robert August from a guy on the beach.  It was a 4 hour rental and he included a boogie board for $30 total.  These were just right size waves for me to get back surfing after back issues.  Probably about waist-chest high and pretty clean.  Nothing bigger or better than NH, but if this is the standard everyday for summer, it's pretty awesome.  Got several rides, but only one or nice long rides.  My ribs and knees got sore.  Love the tropical warm water surfing vibe!

July 7, 2024 - Jeness Beach, Rye, NH

We were supposed to meet George and Shannon in Salisbury after going to Rye, but they left because the weather was iffy.   So, I went surfing solo.  First time back out this year.  I've been battling back problems again since late May and have been making progress, so was being very cautious as to not hurt or pull anything.  This weather was perfect for surfing.  Cloudy, but hazy with some sun peaking through.  Keeps the masses away so easy parking by Cable Road.  I used the 9 foot McTavish for first time in while.  This board is lot heavier than the RC, so it takes more momentum to get it going.  Really only had one really good ride, which was a right on the face, but otherwise pretty slow rides with waist high semi clean waves.  It was hazy so I lost track of where I was on the shore.  Water was freezing cold.  Again my ribs hurt the day after.

October 28, 2023 - Sawyers and Jeness, Rye, NH

 Exactly one month after my last surf.  Last day of a 4 day indian summer at the end of October.  I figured this might be my last time out this year.  Some ground swell was forcast, but looking as yesterday's camera, I didn't think it would be this good or big.  The northwest wind was a little strong at 15 MPH, but kept it supper clean.  I set off alone again for this one and was pretty discouraged on my ride up, but surfing always puts me in a better mood.  Checkout out the wall, which looked good, but I decided to go to Sawyers where it was a little smaller.  It's also free parking after Oct 15 there.  Standing on top of that cobble berm, it was windy!  I wore booties, which were hard to put on and take off.  I need some new ones!  Also tried my new gloves.  They fit snug and all, but man, do they fill up right away with water and make your hands that much heavier when paddling.  Not sure I want to use these again, but probably will for a short session.  I didn't need them, so I took them off right away.  

I surfed for 2 hours, which is a long time for me.  There were some really nice waist to head waves, but the wind would often blow me back trying to get into them.  Probably could have had twice the amount of rides, if not for the wind.  My best ride was a left on the face - beautiful wave and as I get up on it I see a duck just hanging out in the face of the wave.  I really didn't care if I hit it or not, it was my wave and duck was not going to ruin it...lol.  I missed it by about 6 inches.  The wind really proped these waves up for a while, so you were better off catching them very late.  Getting into a wave, and one slightly wrong turn and the wind would stop your ride or stall you in place.  There were some cleanup sets where you ended up in a sea of foam, and a lot of that over the top spray with rainbows.  Somewhat of a battle, but it was a marathon.  I surfed for as long as I could knowing it could be my last session of the year, but maybe not.  The wind took me from Sawyers to Jeness, so I had a long walk back on the beach fighting the wind with my surfboard in hand.  Included the CR photo to show size.