It's still great out there. Water ain't AS high, so the 1st sandbar was in the cards today. I DID take breaks inside in the shorebreak. It was a pretty good haul out through the reform hole to get where I took off from. Neck deep easy. Half swimmin. Still sporty size. It's gotta be waist high inside and chest further out. Still strong. People on boogies hadda really try to NOT catch waves today. I had some pretty close calls on late takeoffs. Just got ATE another few times. You could be upside down sideways and still bouncin around in that whitewater. You weren't gettin out without tryin. You didn't catch the wave. The wave caught YOU. 😁
No, I didn't take the camera. I still can't bleeve I didn't get more pics yesterday. Maybe I didn't have the button pushed all the way in. There's a halfway spot. 🤣
Maybe I can scarf somethin offa the webcam later.
It's been a lively past 24hrs. ☮️🌴🌊🐬🌊😎🤙
My sister swung by for 2 min on her way to somethin else. Phone pic. Pretty deep out there Friday around 5pm. Fun weekend. 😎🤙
Good shit IBC. Hopefully, this will not be the last known hurricane swell of 2026, but the way things are going, ya never know. Glad you got the goods while they were there!
I haven't heard of any crazy damage like with Helene a couple years ago. Not sure though.
After reviewin the game tapes... Here's maybe my wave of the swell...
I try to stretch a lot because I'm a fossil. I need to be able to flex into positions at times during waves. I specifically work on the swan dives. Archin my back way past vertical. Neck leaned back. Arms are straight out, but also tryna pull behind you.
I took off on this great wave... A smidge late... 🤣 Total swan dive airborne... DUDE! You're gonna get DRILLED! I'm in the air doin my daily exercise just pullin myself back away from the water I'm about to... OOF! Big spray in my face as I hit on my chest... Bounce... no spray for a moment... OOF! More spray but no more bouncin... BOOM! The explosion just behind me... Lotta bouncin around til I dug outa the whitewater that found me...
I was so fuckin close. My face was like inches from the water when my chest hit. I'm leanin my head back. 🤣 First, I couldn't believe I could stretch that far and not fuck somethin up. Second, I survived. I impacted pretty good, even though it was at an angle. My whole upper body, arms, flexed as I hit. Felt like I was a big spring.
Oh... That was Saturday. The clean day.
This was better than I planned on. 🌴☮️🌊🐬🌊😎🤙
Since you are talking form and what not, I am a little curious as to what your preferred method. Most of my body surfing happens in between surf sessions, or on the days that the swell wasn't really on the radar, so I am at the beach with no board. At any rate, if it's not chest-head high and firing, basically, my setup is the following:
- I watch for an A-Frame to swing in. I am usually in waist-deep+ water, so I will shuffle over and get into position, basically right under the lip before it's pitching, or if it's a big enough wave, I will lock into the shoulder.
- Then, I will lean into the wave, then "jump" and propel myself into the wave face and down. Back arched back as much as I can. Usually, during the free-fall, I will do a full arm stroke paddle with each arm. A full rotation for each arm, maybe two if time allows.
- When that is complete, I am usually out on the face, or landing in the white water, so once I have the feeling that my body is locked in and engaged with the wave, and I am moving as fast as I should, I lean my right arm forward, sticking out of the white water, then I tuck my left arm back and down. (Upon going through the memory banks, I am not 100% sure what I do with that trail arm, I just know I move it back and out of the way).... Then I kind of lock in, right arm out, straight as possible and then cruise in until I beach myself on the inside sand...
- Rinse and repeat....
If it's bigger or really good out, the power of the waves really takes care of most of that. If I am locked in and it's big, I don't really need to do the arm paddles on the way down and in. If it's big and I am locked in, I turn into a seal from takeoff to the beach....
But like I said, most days, if it's like that, I am out on a board...
Anyway, that is my technique, for the most part.
Actually, upon further mental review, I think that I actually put my left arm out in front. Not sure why. I just did the motion in my own mind, and it's almost definitely my left arm, which is weird. Maybe because I am right handed, and my natural tendancy is to use my right shoulder for that last hard paddle stroke, then it's already in the back position, so it stays there. I will double check next time I am out there, but yeah, I think I go left hand out front, which makes no sense to me.
I got several takeoffs. In GENERAL, I usually try to end up face first with both arms down by my sides. Most of the times that I end up with one arm out in front, it happens autonomously... When I'm trackin across a wall... More often than not the waves are rights... It's always the arm that's away from the wave that goes out front. So, my left arm for rights. Everyone I watch that knows what they're doin... The arm in the wave is out front. Arm outa the wave is behind em in the air. Like Uncle Mark Cunningham. I honestly don't plan on the arm goin out there. I prefer head first.
They're usin that arm and hand for lift on porpoise. Lotta dudes wear handplanes to increase that lift.
The swan dives are a special case. When I know it's just a short, straight ahead, launch toward the beach a few milliseconds ahead of the BOOM. Those are just about the airtime. You already decided that before you go.
Hopefully this makes sense.
I ain't sayin it's how you're POSTA do it. Just how I do it. Might not work for any other person on the planet. Works for me.
When you said you weren't sure what the trail arm was doin... Lotta times my arms are just tucked away. Sometimes, though... my hands will go palms down flat across the water and I start planin a little back there. Stiffen up the arms and push down with your hands. A little steerage sometimes as I feel the pressure vary on each hand/arm. Almost feels like a variation of push-ups, but a really small distance up and down. Legs will curl up outa the water toward my head sometimes too. You can feel the lift on your hands. It's kinda rare, but fun as shit when it happens. 😎🤙
Roger that. Makes sense. It's funny that you mention it, but I am goofy footed, so even in a case of body surfing, where lead arm or leg means nothing, I still eye up almost all lefts. Sure, if a right is coming, I go... But it's just how my mind works. On beach breaks, I am always tracking lefts, unless the swell angle leaves only rights.
But anyway, thinking about the body surfing now, I will say this: Thinking about it, when the waves are good. And I will go back to this one day, many years ago. Like 8-9 years ago. My granmother paid like $20k or some shit for renting a beach house here on the island for a whole week. 8 bedroom house, on the beach, on sea hawk lane..... Whole family comes. Grandkids from all over the country and world at the time. Aunts, Uncles. The whole deal. So, I left a bunch of surfboards there at the beach house and what not.... It was crazy, because at the time, my Dad lived in Bethany Beach Deleware, and it was in this exact moment that we decided to go out into the surf, and do some body surfing. This is where it all started for me. My Dad teaching me how to body surf when I was like 5 years old, in OC MD. He was sooooo good at it. Even when I started surfing, I would drag him onto a board, but he is a body surfer at heart. Always has been. Just him and the ocean. He needed nothing else...
So, anyway, at this moment in my life, my Brother lived in Austin and I lived here. Both parents were retired. Divorced many years ago. Dad remarried. Mom still single.... I had one child at the time. My brother has no kids... So, anyway, at the time, my Mom was talking about selling her house in Maryland and either moving to Austin with him, or down to where I am. Since I have grandkids, I had the upper hand at the time. My mother visited a few times, we were taking her all over looking at houses. So, before this large family trip, my brother calls me. And says some crazy shit: Basically, he is like "I have no kids. My wife and I both make great money. We have a ton of free time. So, I think it would be best if Mom moves here, so we can take care of her and have plenty of time... So please brother, please! Stop showing her houses on Hilton Head Island. You are steering her in a way that isn't helpful... So, at first, I was pissed by this, like fuck you bro. Let Mom choose and all this...
Reason I mention this is to put context on the heavy conversations happening in the water off Seahawk Lane. So, it's OH+ out. Sheet glass. high tide. I mean, if my Dad wasn't hell bent on body surfing, I would have been out shredding a shortboard. Perfect Aframes coming through. I mean PERFECT..... So, we are trading waves and my Dad starts a conversation: "Hey, me and your step mom are thinking about moving down here to be close to you and the grandkids....". I am stoked, like, fuck yeah man. Let's go... COME DOWN HERE..... Then he says it: "Okay, great. but there is one caviat. If your mother moves to this area, we will no"... Now, my Dad and Mom still have a decent relationship, but my Mom had always been weird to my step mom. Cropping her out of pictures on Facebook and doing weird shit. Just enough that my Dad was like yeah, not having my wife and ex wife living on the same island. Fair enough....
So, this particular session was cut short, because my Dad tweaked his knee on a wave. He got hammered onto the bottom. I thought he had a heart attack. I was freaking out. Had to rescue him and move him in. Whole family comes running down.... Anyway, the dust settled and he was okay. I was like bro, your fucking knee? You were belly aching like you broke your neck bro!!!!
Anyway, that is probably the best body surfing day I have had in my whole life. It was a special moment, yes.... But the waves were just all time. It was like God himself knew me and my Dad were going out in that surf at that moment, and boy did he deliver.
But EVERY wave I took that day was soo good, so perfect. Fly down the face, in a barrel. So much speed and power that you would end up on the beach....
But looking back on that magical session, I can recall, that every wave, pretty much until I bottomed out on the inside and was taking that final taxi ride to the beach, I had both arms completely straight back behind me. Just head sticking out.... That is a natural thing I believe, because as long as you have so much power and speed, adding additional limbs to the equation can counter act that momentum and force. So the natural thing to do when you are in the critical part of the wave is to get both hands behind you and just feel the wave and keep them back until you finally level out and slow down. And it was only at that point, when the waves had broken and on the front of a mountain of whitewash pushing me in. That is when the lead and trail arm comes out....
Now, I have seen really good body surfers out in California with the hand planers, surfing points and stuff. And with waves like that, yes, you can get your lead arm and trail arm out and get nice form through the whole ride. But when we are surfing shorepound beach break, you don't get this magical 10 second stretch of wave face time where you are just locked in and moving with the flow of a point break... Round here, and how it sounds in Texas, it's get in early, get as much speed as you can, choose a line and commit.... Let whatever happens, happen....
Anyway, that one session is the one that stands out, where it was like yesterday, even though it was a decade ago. My head sticking straight out of 6-7 foot monsters, just flying..... Probably looked like a fool, but shit, it was fun.....
And to circle around on how the story ended. My Dad ended up moving down here the following year, and he and his wife have lived here ever since.... They live about a mile away. They help with the kids sometimes. I cut my dad's hair on weekends. We golf. We live it up... So it was great.
Also, that following year, my Mom moved to Austin to be near my brother. So that worked out too... But about a year after she moved there, she started showing signs of demensia and shit, so within 2 years of being there, my Mom fell apart mentally and they sold her house, took her license, and now, she is living in a care facility pretty close to my brother. He has been a beast. Taking care of her. Helping with everything. Before we got her into proper housing, my brother's life was falling apart. My Mom was doing crazy shit. Driving down the road the wrong way... Just this and that. Couldn't be left alone....
And a few years back, my Dad had another really bad stroke. He was hospitalized for a while. His speech is still fucked up some, but he recovered, but had a couple little strokes since... So, I have been helping him out, spending time. taking him to doctor's appointments and what not...
So, what was once a brotherly dispute about "which parent goes where", it worked out and I am thankful that my Mom ended up where she did, because truly, she is in a good place and my brother has been able to be with her every step of the way.
And I have done the same with my Pops...
The thing no one else in my family knows, is about the conversation that my Dad and I had while surfing together. No one else knows that happened. They have no idea how close it was to my Mom being here, and my Dad staying up North....
The ocean helped my father and I come to that conclusion together, over the best body surfing session of my life.
Life is funny that way.
So, there was an older guy in San Diego when I lived there. He was easily upper 70s, maybe in his early to mid 80s, but he would body surf the OB Pier and sunset cliffs with a hand planer. Really good. Super chill. Just mellow. Always moving slow, but locked in...
But the waves he surfed had form, shape and length, so if it was lined up and good, he was on it, and he got a free pass from all the surfers. Even at the OB Pier where it's surf boards only. No body surfing or boogies allowed. Unless you are that guy....
But, the most notable spot in all of San Diego, as far as body surfing goes, is "Boomers Beach" in La Jolla. It's the point that wraps into the waves that people call "La Jolla Cove"... So, boomers is the reef/point right on the edge (Above the seal beach in La Jolla). So, boomer's breaks on any swell angle with any kind of west in it.... But in order for La Jolla Cover to break (The next stretch of reef that is about 200 yards off the point) needs a ton of North in it (Winter) to break. Super small swell window....
So, if you have seen the seals in La Jolla, you were standing at boomers. Anyway, this wave is a fucking legend. It's huge. It's gnarly. It breaks into a cliff... It's fucking wild. And when it's OH+, the best body surfers in SoCal are on it, and it's fucking nutzo.
So, like I said, we don't have waves like this around here. But this is a true body surfing spot, where every dude is legit and they are all hand planing and tucking into barrels that you can fit a school bus into.....
Crazy shit....
And right around the corner from this spot, is the infamous "Black's Beach".... That deep water sub channel stretches out in front of the LJ Cove and Boomers, so both of those spots have the same magical "jack up" effect that Black's does.....
Boomers:
A panned out shot of boomer beach to put perspective on the size on a typical winter swell..... It gets this big ALL THE TIME... It's fucking nuts. I have never seen anyone surf it on a board. I am sure someone has. But I haven't seen it... That said, if I ever had 2 seconds to see boomer going off, I most likely jetted over to Black's immediately and didn't waste another second watching it... If Boomer is going off, Black's will be all time. Every time.
Boomer #2:
I never really sit around and think about ok, arms back... it just feels right to me. I know it breaks every safety rule ever invented. I always seem to get an arm out in front before I go under hard. 🤞 There's gotta be parts of my brain that handle those actions without my knowledge. All the tape is in your head, but it's not completely available right away.🤷♂️🤣
Flipper goes head first. ☮️🌴🌊🐬🌊😎🤙
Yeah man. Same. That is why I am typing out my thoughts in real time. Never thought about any of that until now. And yes, as soon as my angle become anything head first, going down, I have an arm out as a brace. Since I am teaching my son how to surf, most of my nonsense that I speak is about safey, and how to bail and how to avoid the board and stuff, so that kind of thing has been on my mind a lot lately.
And to your point, I have never thought about "how to body surf", I did it a lot as a kid, but since I have been surfing constantly for 25 years now, I just understand waves, and I understand generally what they are always about to do... I think most of us have backed off on about 10,000 waves, or seen that closeout coming, or know that when we pull into that barrel, we aren't making it out...
Same hold true with body surfing, but there is no board involved, so there is no thinking for me. Just doing. Just like Maverick says in Top Gun "Don't think. Just do".....
So yes, when the waves are good, the human body and mind, automatically throw those arms back. I assume it is just the best way to avoid any additional drag, and the reason that we do it, is because those couple of times our arms come out at the wrong time, it slows us down, and rather than us putting cognitive thought into why that happened, our muscle memory just takes notes, and the next time, it just reacts. Arms back.... Mach speed. They body and mind knows when to extend limbs to redirect speed and angles.....
Pretty cool if you think about it.... I can't think of a more reactive and natural way to ride waves than body surfing. Even though regular surfing is a ton of muscle memory, I feel like when I am surfing on a board, I have a mental checklist of about 50 things everytime I am paddling for a wave. Size, angles, shape, take off, depth, speed, wind, all that. Backside, frontside.... Lots of thinking when I am standing up on a board... Not really much at all when you are just in the water like that.
It's Armada Time... ⚓️🛟⛵️😎🌴
Start at 2pm at the Pleasure Pier. Gorgeous weather here. Usually people camped out with chairs on the Seawall.
Glorious weather through Saturday when they finish down at Corpus. Moderate winds. 🤩
Armada time is always fun here. The surf was even halfway rideable knee high at times. Lotta happy faces and foldin chairs up on the Seawall. Perfect day. Just perfect. ⚓️🛟⛵️☮️🌴🌊🐬🌊😎🤙
Looks like I was spotted, probably by accident.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Dez18XCGzca/?cplk=dXE5NWhtN2IwMGhm
That's the museum tall ship Elissa. She recently returned from a voyage to NYC where they were part of big celebrations. She's back moored at Pier 21. Not gonna do the race. Was cool as hell seein her sail by to help get things started.
This dude flies over the Pier many days around noon. Smoke trails. This is a pretty sick view of the Regatta. I think he takes customers up with him sometimes, but not positive on that.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/De0CCXIROXa/?rpxt=MWdiaW00M3Vtdnhmcg==
