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Hurricane Gaston
Margate, NJ
August, 2004
This has been a great summer. So what does an unemployed beach bum like myself do on an average day? Well, I get up at 8:30 AM, ride my bike to Atlantic City on the Boardwalk (one of the most beautiful bike rides in the world). Then at 11:00 AM I pull my Hobie Cat down to the shoreline to establish my spot on the beach. After, I grab my surfboard and paddle out until the wind picks up. All afternoon I sail my lovely Hobie 14' up and down the beach riding waves and flying hulls. Then, to top the day off, I surf until sunset. No surf, Sail. No wind, surf. No wind or surf? Kayack. Yes, that is an average day, but every once in a while we get a really good swell, and then I spend the entire day in the surf.
See Photo in Photo Section.
Today Hurricane, now Tropical Storm, iGastoni sped through giving us a 4-6 foot swell for the entire day. To make things even better, the wind was blowing 10 mph from the west, the perfect off shore breeze. I had been surfing my 9' longboard all summer, but today I took out my trusty old 6'3" Arrow Tri-Fin that I purchased in Santa Cruz about 16 years ago.
I paddled out at 8:30 AM and there was no one in the water. The best surf day of the year and nobody out. I was really surprised. As I paddled through the shore break I realized I have forgotten how difficult it was to paddle a little board. But, no worries, before I knew it I was outside catching my first hollow left. It took me a few waves to get used to the little board, but soon enough I was getting barreled and slashing nice off the lips. I surfed until I could barely paddle anymore. Boy did time fly out there. When I finally went in it was 2:30 PM, yep, 6 hours in the water.
See Photo in Photo Section taken by Stacy, a very nice Beach Mom.
I was tired and hungry so I went home, ate a bagel, turned on the TV and watched The Sci-Fi Classic "Rodan" until I passed out. I woke at 5:00 PM and noticed it was sunny so I decided to go to the beach, check the surf, relax and read. When I got down to the beach I grabbed my chair from under my boat and went down to the shoreline to watch the guys surf and read a little of my current book, "Trainspotting." When the wind blows off shore here we get these nasty black flies that constantly torture you so I couldn't really read. I had to use both hands to swat the flies away. The swell was still rolling in so I decided I might as well just paddle back out. I put my chair back and quickly rode my bike home, grabbed my board and was back out in the Water by 5:30PM.
What a great session. Only about 5 guys in the water and great 5' lefts and rights rolling to the beach. I surfed until it was dark. There was another guy out almost as long as me. It was really a battle of the wills. You could barely see the sets coming in, but I wanted to be the last one in the water. He would ride one in and I figured that must be his last one, but no, he came paddling out again. I would then get a wave and paddle back out too. Soon you couldnit even see the sets so he finally went in. As soon as he was off the beach, I took my last wave in.
When I got back to the house, Anita, the Captain's wife, saw me still wearing my vest. "Night Surfing?" she said with a smile. I smiled back nodding my head, "Yep".
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