August 3, 2025 - Jenness Beach, Rye, NH

 It was a Sunday and we all wanted a beach day.  Melissa brought her boyfriend, Ryan, but Evan was busy with his filming internship, so couldn't come.  Waves looked "ridable" in the morning at the Wall, but when we got there, they were tiny.  We had to park waaay up the street, so we cut through some side streets and found some new parking spots.  I brought the McTavish and if I didn't have that board, would be unable to catch anything.  Did catch a few pathetic rides.  Everyone else went swimming.  It was nice to be on the beach and hit the Beach Plum after.

June 26, 2025 - The Wall, Hampton, NH

This was the first Surfing With Smiles event this year and it was cloudy and chilly out.  I decided to do a quick surf before the event and it was not very good.  Choppy and small, hard to catch.  Surfing made me very cold for the whole event, so turned out to be a not so good idea.  Surfing With Smiles was great as usual.  Evan and Mel were there, but Evan got cold, so he sat out.  David Electric from Steel Pulse was there, and I met him, then we went to the show later and it was awesome.  They were also filming a segment for NH Chronicle, which we made it into because we were with Dave Croppers team.

June 16, 2025 - The Wall, Hampton Beach, NH

 First time surfing this year.  My ribs hurt as I write this, as this usually happens after the first time every year.  I was itching to just get out to the ocean and get out of the house.  This was a Monday night and daylight was on my side.  I wasn't expecting much for surf, but to my surprise, there were sets, although messy, that were sizable.  Doesn't look like much in the picture, but it was good.  I used the RC and went in at 8th Street, the 10 MPH on shore wind blew me north to 10th Street.  I think most of my paddling was back out to the line up after catching waves, so there were not many missed waves.  I caught several nice rides and some were nice and long.  It was bit messy and choppy, but not bad.  Got out of the water around 7:30 PM.  Nice to get back out there, even though the water was dark and ugly.  I'll be back next week for SWS.

October 20, 2024 - Sawyer's Beach, Rye, NH

 Another really good surf day!  Waves and warm weather in October are the best.  I went up alone and took the McTavish this time.  Water was about 57 and felt really cold with no gloves or booties.  That temperature is about the cutoff for bare feet and hands.  Tide was really high, but it doesn't matter at Sawyers.   Luckily, the wind was light at only about 5 MPH, so absolutely perfect conditions.  Waves were about waist-chest ground swell, easy to paddle into and held up nice to produce long rides on the face.  Not closeouts at all.  I got several nice long rides, rights and lefts, and probably had the the most fun I've ever had using this board.  I was able to maneuver it pretty well, especially on the lefts going up and down the face.  Now I need to get some new booties.

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.