Ever Fallen In Love?

My appreciation of the ocean started at a very young age.

Floating Boys

Check this out:
http://cbs3.com/video/?id=75419

Someone posted this on the 7th street site. Some guys in Ocean City out taking advantage of the swell that the snowstorm brought. The first minute or so is just them sitting and paddling but around a minute in, a longboarder is one screen for about one second taking off and then things pick up around 2:06. At different points you can see it snowing on camera.

What Awaits Us

Rojos Tacos is closed until March 2nd. To combat my burrito-depression, I thought I'd post a picture of the mural inside the shop that I took in December.

http://www.octacos.com/


Here's one of the custom tables inside Rojo's made by Jamie Kelly. Check out his other stuff:

http://jksurfart.blogspot.com/

Hand in Glove

There were waves yesterday...well sort of. The forecasts were showing a small bump, but the cameras were showing what looked to be less than that and with the air temperature and lack of daylight, it was one of those days where I was really on the fence. I knew that if I didn't go, I wouldn't be missing much, if anything at all; but at the same time, I hadn't been out as much as I'd like, so I ended up grabbing my gear and headed over the bridge.

Although the days are starting to get longer, daylight is still at a premium, so its a race against sunset in the afernoons during the winter. After checking one spot and seeing how tiny it was, I drove around until I found a spot that still tiny but at least ridable. It was cold, but nothing too bad. Little wind, the air and water were probably both in the thirties. As I paddled out I suddenly felt a rush of water in one of my gloves...not good. This was the first time I used my thicker winter mittens to surf and it was very apparent that there was a hole somewhere in it. Each time I went to paddle, the glove would fill with icy salt water slowly numbing my hand and crawling up the sleeve of my wetsuit to chill my arm. Sitting out in the line-up, I studied the glove to find a nice puncture hole in the palm of the glove making the 5mm glove pretty much worthless. I surfed for about forty five minutes, which wasn't bad considering my hand was slowly turning into a claw. With the tide coming in, it looked as if the waves were inproving slightly, but my hand could take no more. Here is a post-session shot of the claw:

Offshore Style

My neighbor Jim lent me his copy of the Offshore Longboard Club's DVD filmed by Paul Aspenberger. Runs about fifteen or twenty minutes and features the usual suspects in a variety of locations in Ocean City and beyond riding mosty singlefin longboards. Very fun to watch. Now I just need to figure out how to burn a copy...

PA Kooks

My sister and I waiting to go shred on her raft in Ocean City New Jersey circa 1983. Good times.

Where Cold Winds Blow

We headed out with Maeve and my niece and nephew for first night in Ocean City. The wind was blowing at least 25 mph and it was unbelievably cold, but it was New Years so we had to do something.




The approach to Ocean City High School. The golden dome gives it a real Notre Dame feel.


The kids chowing down. There were at least three restaurants set up with a buffet just outside the cafeteria. Very fun. Maeve is still working on how to smile without looking like her entire face is cramping up.


Amy and Maeve making the walk up to the rides. At this point we were walking with the wind.


The Ferris Wheel at Wonderland. Although it looks awesome, they were not running it, which was probably a good idea. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be on top of that thing with the wind cranking like it was.


The view atop of Wonderland. If you factor out how warmly everyone is dressed, you would think it was the middle of summer. Where did all these people come from??


Amy and her niece, Meghan, getting ready to ride the train.


Sound advice:


The Smiths at the civic center. Moonbounces, slides, music and hotdogs with sauerkraut.


The cousins in the moonbounce. There was a wizard on the outside that Maeve thought was Santa Claus.

Roman crushing a soft pretzel.


The next day we hit the beach for about fifteen minutes before the extreme cold sent us running for the car. The view from the boardwalk:





All in all, a great start to 2009!