Another early start - we waited 20 minutes for ToDDZilla but figured the young stud was still busy, so we bolted Parole at 5:20 am.	Neal was desperate for waves... it's been a month.	Bruce preparing for another day of conquest... but this was no Roman Stadium today.
This is about as good as it got today.	New member, Art, waxing down the board and strapping up.  Art is so new we don't know his last name yet.	... but he's stoked to be sharing times with the other club members... and plays in a surf band!
The Electric Ham prepares for a  right side trim after pulling this bottom turn.  Was there a bottom?	The "Ham" is in perfect position on this wave.  Looks like a "10" in the schoolbook to me.  The boys were tuning up for next week's Surfrider Longboard Team Challenge.	The day wasn't completely lost!  Neal alertly shook me from my nap on the beach.
Finally!  Bottoms for a bottom turn.  Score these "6s or 7s" -- wanna see a "10?"  Click here for the Key West Fest view.	Snake is glaring over towards the fisherman in the red jeep.  The "dork" told the Snake he had better surf somewhere else because he came to fish.	Bruce "Snake" Gabrielson models a Corky Carroll concave nose rider.
Close-up photo opp.	Today's crew that hit the water with their boards.	Today's crew that hit the beach.

 I had not been in the water for a month and was ready to get wet.  I even suffered some insomnia the night before with the anticipation of a little surf the next day.  Rose early and headed to the meeting spot.  All showed except for Todzilla...the newbie.  We waited a little and figured he was still parting the night away.  Pat Hoge (also a newbie) rode with me and Bruce.  Pat and spoke about kids and other stuff while Bruce snored across the eastern shore. Art drove separately so that he could make an early departure, Rod kept him company. Traffic was not bad but definitely an increase from the spring time.  There was a NE wind blowing and figured there might be some wind swell to ride at NJs.  Well, the conditions were horrid, but surf starved as I was, I paddled out immediately.  Not much to ride on the north side of the jetty, so I joined Pat Bruce and Art on the south side. The form was a little better but close to shore.  We decided it wasn't worth going anywhere else so we stayed until the fisherman's sinkers were plunging in around us.  At that time we decided it just wasn't worth the effort.

We loaded up, shot a couple pics and headed south to meet up at the FoonBunker.  Traffic, Traffic, Traffic!  How about a two hour trek from Rehobeth to the north end of OC.  We ate some KFC and talked about this and that.  Finally we took off for a 3 1/2 hour trip home.  Pat sat up front while Bruce and Rod robbed the cabin of all oxygen.  An occasional complaint about rolling off the seat due to some erratic driving was about all I heard from them. Luckily, Pat was able to stay awake and keep from dozing. Thanks

I surely hope that no other ASC trips resemble last Saturday.  It was not a good first impression for our new members.

Thanks Pat for hanging in there on the ride home, Foon for supplying the Lunch room with a view, Rod for the pics (they make it look better than it was) and thanks to Bruce for giving our trip some credibility!

Surf on

Neal

The quick report:  lousy. Should have stayed at home today. Small chopped up surf and terrible traffic everywhere. Neal paid the price as the ASC driver of the day.  Bruce and I snoozed most of the ride home but at least Pat Hoge kept Neal alert.

The boys each caught a few waves on the south side of the Naval Jetty but that's not saying a whole lot.  I never hit the surf this morning. I opted to take a short jog north towards the point and back followed by a siesta. Neal probably caught the most waves during the morning session -- no doubt he was the most determined after having been land bound for over a month.

Post session we battled 1000s of other vehicles as we headed south to check Indian River Inlet and Ocean City.  IRI showed more energy but conditions were about the same.  OC showed less wind effect but smaller swell (1').  At IRI there were about 15 people out on different types of boards and 3 kayakers.

We grabbed some southern fried chicken and rolls (ok, it was KFC's regular crisp) before stopping by FoonsBunker for lunch and brews. Thanks to JoAnne for allowing us to share some quality time on the Foonbunker
balcony.

And thanks to Neal who shouldered the onerous task of driving duty today (stupendous surf buggy wheels sporting an ASC Magnet logo).  I  should have snapped a pic or two of all the 5-mile backups that were EVERYWHERE.

- rodNDtube

 by rodNDtube.com:

eMail me at: r2@rodndtube.com