September 8, 2021 - The Wall, Hampton Beach, NH

 Hurricane Larry!  I took the morning off to go up and surf the very beginning pulse of Larry...and Larry didn't even come with me.  I used the 8'6" RC, which I have been using more and more.  It's just a little more manuverable in the surf, going out and riding in.  It was choppy, but there was a defined ground swell with sets, some pretty big.  Water was warm and got a couple good rides on these mushy waves.  Not too crowded with people.  Surfed for almost 2 hrs.  It seemed to flatten out after the first hr with the waves being more of a shorebreak.

March 28, 2022 - Sandy Beach East and Don Antonio's Beach, Rincon, PR

 Yes, finally surfed Rincon, but it was small.  That's OK, though, because weather and water were tropical, water crystal clear and waves clean.  First time I ever surfed on my birthday and perhaps the best birthday ever!  After going to a surf shop that said is was flat and wanted to steer me 45 minutes north (would have been a mistake), we checked out the beach and a guy told me to go to his girlfriend's shop, Punta's Surf Supplies.  She hooked me up with the perfect 9 foot long board, similar to mine, but maybe better.  It was a narrow "Modern" for $30/day.  I started off at Sandy Beach (first ever north facing beach I surfed), but the waves were pretty inconsistent, like every 5 minutes, but I did catch a few nice lefts.  After a while, I moved down the beach to Don Antonios, which is a flat bottom rocky reef break.  These were mostly rights.  Went back in at Sandy's but it was pretty flat.  After a few hours of surfing, my ribs hurt pretty bad from not being used to having some wetsuit padding.  We later went snorkeling at Steps beach, then checked out the surf at Domes, but my ribs just hurt too much to go back out.  Surf was actually more consistent there.  What an awesome area.  I need to find some sort of rib protector.

September 19, 2021 - The Wall, Hampton Beach NH

 There was some sort of tropical swell producing waves, so I went up on this sunny Sunday with Mel and Lillian.  Took the 2 longboards and I used the shorter RC again.  These waves were fun.  Got about 4-5 really good rides, but really had to pump some of these to keep going.  These were mushy again with a light on shore breeze.  Maybe waist-chest+.  Some of the sets were really big, but they were more mushy than dumpers, so it wasn't that threatening.  Mel had a tough time in these because it wasn't all that clean and they were sizable.  I tried to teach her, but it was hard.  I got a really good workout from this session, but a lot of people to avoid.  Warm water again.  I would love to see Mel get better, but it takes a lot of practice and determination.  

August 28, 2021 - Jeness Beach, Rye Beach, NH

 After the Cali trip and not surfing there, I was desperate to ride some surf.  The ocean was flat all week, but there was some brief period wind swell forecasted for Saturday, so we went to Jeness.  The weather was partly sunny cloudy and the temp was around 70 so it kept the crowds away.  The water was warmest it gets, but the ocean was ugly with gray wind chop.  It was a good paddling workout on the waves and I actually caught a few good rides, with the last ride being the best right.  You had to make a split decision to take a wave and have a relatively short ride.  It was nice to be at a beach other than the wall and where parking was free and unlimited.  I used the RC board, which was a good choice and my 4/3, which was overkill.  

August 17, 2021 - Dos Pueblos Orchid Farm, Goleta, CA

 I usually like to keep these posts to just surfing, but sometimes I includes times that I used a boogie board or body surfed, as long as there was surf.  This was part of our west coast trip and we had stayed with Lance and Thuy at a really cool Airbnb in Goleta, CA.  There was a beach that you could walk to that was virtually empty of people.  Waves were small shore break and not surfable, but I did find a crappy old waterlogged boogie board to catch a few waves on.  The water was cool and I wore my 2 mil top that I brought.  It was fun, but too bad I didn't get to do any real surfing. 

June 28, 2021 - The Wall, Hampton, NH

 Decided to take the day off to take Mel and Lillian to the beach.  This was the beginning of a heat wave but water was ice cold again with very small waves.  But because we got there realtively early at 9:15 AM, there were some decent waves and wind hadn't knocked them down yet.  I got a bunch of fun liitle rides on the McT most of them crouchers cause of the offshore wind.  Unforntunaltly, by the time Mel got in the water, the surf was done, but she floated around.  If you arent' experienced with surf conditions, you don't know how quickly it can change due to wind and tides.  Fun morning though.  Hit Five guys in seabrook after.  Crappy photo.

June 20, 2021 - The Wall, Hampton, NH

 First day out this year and it was Father's Day.  It was me, Laura and Evan.  They had recently installed some new rock steps down to the water on 10th Street, which was nice.  Waves were small but fun.  Used the Ricky Carroll and starting to like this board for it's manuverability.  Water was ice cold.  Ate at the Secret Spot, burritos and smoothies and went into CR's for first time since pandemic.  Didn't really take any photos, but took some water videos with new action cam.