The waves and dejected surfer #1



                                Today I was pretty psyched for the "pre-Bill" Swell that was hitting the local coast. I worked late the night before (and hung out with LiNK and Scott Rock afterwards), so I figured I would catch an afternoon session at Nantasket. It's been a long week in general, dealing with work, Screwball issues (Love her to death, but  WTF is up with that situation?...), and the countdown to "Cape House II". According to Big Cat, and he's known me for awhile, I always get antsy in the weeks leading up to vaca,but this year has been exceptionally stressful (see Screwball Factor)......


                             
                                                                                    An unknown victim of the Life Guard State


           Anyway, I really, really wanted to surf today. I haven't been for various reasons since July 4th and it seemed like today was going to be the day to get wet. And at the very least, get a pre-vaca surf / paddling workout in. After leaving my place and hitting every red light along the way, dealing with LiNK's people in traffic, and assholes who drive and text, I finally made to the beach.

          The conditions were pretty good, not great, but good. At about 3:30 pm or so when I got to the beach, the sets were rolling in the waist to shoulder high range and the SE wind was chopping it up some, but it still looked good. After getting suited up, I headed for the water.


                           
                                                           Unknown surfer rding yesterday's "deadly" waves.



                        I paddled up without a lot of difficulty, the shoulder was holding up well, which for use of a better phrase, was a good thing. I missed the first wave I tried for, but after that, I caught and dropped into a nice chest high wave and got a pretty decent ride. After the ride was done, I paddled  back out into the line up and was chatting with two other surfers and a (real) boggie boarder when all hell broke loose.                      

                           
                                                            DCR Gestapo on patrol..I've never seen them do this.



                   While watching for another set to roll in, I started hearing horns and sirens coming from shore. At first, I thought they  were warning swimmers to be aware of us surfers, or maybe there was a shark or something in the water. But after seeing the Life Guards pointing at us and waving their arms around, it was pretty obvious what was going on.

                The beach was being closed because of the "approaching" hurricane. Bill was still a ways away, but I guess Duval and all his infinite wisdom thought that it would be good idea to shut the beaches down out of concerns for public safety. As for me, the result of this decision was a total time of about 20 minutes in the water...As we say in Boston, "that's wicked pissah!!!"

                           



                         

                                                                                                  Another dejected surfer



                          Honestly, I can see erroring on the side of caution, but today'sconditions at Nantasket would have been a mediocre day durring the winterseason. No strong currents or rips, and the waves JUST WEREN'T THATBIG!!. After talking to The Mormon on the way home, I came to the conclusion that I should have bit the bullet and surfed the morning glass with him and the BOM-mer (thanks for the call guys). The Mormon told me that the morning was waist high and clean..And the beach was actually open, so that's pluses all around!!..Anyway, it's now only 13 days to "Cape House II"...Get through the next two weeks, clear my head, and then surf for two weeks or so.

                                                  
                                                                              Remember, "Together we can......"




            In closing, I don't blame the Life Guards because they have a job to do and I can relate to that. Any associations I made in the above posting to the Life Guards being part of a certain Germanic Facist group is only meant to be satirical. By the way, on the way home, since the beaches were closed, I thought about going for a dip at the local DCR Pool to cool off, but well......(see above picture)


            Anyway, I'll be in Wellfleet soon enough with the rest of the crew. Pray for surf!  Until next time, Aloha.