Surf Widow of Another Kind

The colloquialism “surf widow” often refers to that innate reaction to hurricane swell that mysteriously forces you to drop everything you’re doing to travel and catch as many waves as possible. Your significant other (and family) is left in the wake as the metaphorical widow to take care of all the household duties – cook, clean, mow the lawn, pick up the kids, paint the house, fix the commode – you name it. But this article is dedicated to a surf widow of a different flavor altogether – your trusty and very unselfish surf photographer.

While you’re lacerating the lip, pulling behind the curtain, and otherwise carving a wave like a Jack-O-Lantern, these guys are sacrificing their time to capture our surf sessions, leaving family friends to fend for themselves just as we are. Surfs up in Hatteras? No problem – they will take day off to shoot. Eastern Surfing Association contest located a few counties away and held in boring, marginal surf? – You’ll hear no complaints from these guys. Going to a remote island to camp out for a couple days to catch it just right and spend some quality time with the State bird (the mosquito) in the process? – Done deal, they have their tent set up before you get off the boat. The surf photographer is everywhere and even spends more time afterward to load photos on the web for everyone to see. The monetary rewards are few and far between, but the passion lives for the next swell, whether it 2 or 10 feet. Even more amazing is that considering the fickle nature of our waves and generally sparse population, Bogue Banks may claim a higher surf photographer density than anywhere along the East Coast. Heck, some of these guys are just as good subjects for surf photography as they are photographers, and they still rather shoot than surf, i.e., they rip!!! So without further ado and by no means in any particular order, below is a list of our dedicated surf photographers. Go out of your way to thank these guys the next time it’s cookin’ out there, while meanwhile they are on the beach or are treading water for hours on end taking about a thousand shoots per session.

Brad Styron at http://www.bradstyronphotography.com/. – My good buddy and deserves a strong tip of the hat for igniting the surf photography revolution here along Bogue Banks in my humble opinion. His portfolio is A+.

Graham Hunt at http://www.surferphotos.com/. – Another real good buddy who always has a smile on his face. He travels well and is “in the know”.

Jarred Bell at http://www.islandvibephotography.com/. – Environmentally conscious and hard working. The phrase “Not afraid to travel” would be an understatement.

John Sudbrink at http://sudbrinkjj.zenfolio.com/. – Somehow squeezes in surf photography in the middle of serving in the military and raising family. Nice as heck too.

Jay Getsinger at http://www.jgetsingerphotography.com/. – Word dedication comes to mind. He lives in Winterville and likes to surf to say the least, but more times than not travels down to Bogue Banks just to shoot. Has some great nature shots on his website – loves the great outdoors.

Mike Boykin at http://mkboykin.smugmug.com/. – I don’t know Mike as well as the others to be quite honest, but no difference – he has skills. Some of his wildlife shots are mind blowing too.

Ps & Qs of Surfing

Struggling for a topic to discuss this month and looking for some inspiration, I took full advantage of a little surf god generosity and hit the water just before preparing this article. Awesome, but sure enough I saw two surfers collide within the first five minutes of the session – chests were thumped, arms were waved, gums were flapped, and boards were severely dinged. Not good. When we teach surf lessons, we cover three main topics before we even think about touching the water – ocean conditions and safety, beginning surfing (paddling, standing up, etc.), and of course surfing etiquette. With the zenith of summer upon us, lots of warm water, crowded line-ups, and this surfing accident fresh in my mind; there’s probably no better time to review some of the most commonsense components of surfing etiquette. So for the non-experienced surfer, mind these following Ps and Qs…..

If a surfer is up and riding; then it’s your responsibility to stay out of his/her way. – The surfer riding the wave has enough to think about without you paddling right in the advancing face of the wave. Relax, think, paddle faster, in a different direction, or/and duck dive. Heck, paddle back towards the beach if you have too.

Similarly, don’t drop in on the same wave in front of a fellow surfer that is either; (a) about to take off on a wave or (b) is already riding a wave. More serious than just getting in the way, this egregious action completely blocks the surfer’s ride down the line and can be extremely dangerous in bigger surf. Look before you drop in.

If two surfers are on the wave and heading directly towards each other, then the surfer that was up and riding first has the priority. – Avoid that head on train wreck.

Don’t Ditch Your Board – You never ever have carte blanche permission to just throw your board away and dive under an incoming wave. If there happens to be someone behind you, then it will be very ugly – most certainly for the other surfer, but quite possibly for yourself once that other surfer realizes whose board just smacked him/her in the cabeza.

Know before you go. – Not comfortable in bigger surf yet? Take a break and take mental notes. Uncomfortable in crowds? Stay away from the surfing hot spots (the piers especially). Find your own break and catch all the waves you can.
Final Rule. – Have fun and obey all the rules!!

See you in the water until next time – www.eisurfshop.com.

The 2010 Hurricane Season

Wow, surfing sure is a sport of the elements here along the xtl-coast (crystal coast). The right storm, at the right location, for the right amount of time, blowing along the right distance of water, at the right tide, and the right local wind all have to come together for a truly epic session – sometimes you feel like you have a better chance of seeing the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy on the same day. And while water and air temps don’t usually make or break a session (good waves = go surfing regardless); it’s been a wacky year. After arctic air and record cold water temperatures this winter that seemed to never want to go over 50 degrees, we just crossed the 80 degree water temperature threshold in mid June, which we usually don’t see until a week into July. Warm bathwater already…crazy...

And speaking of the elements, just about all the pieces are in place for a good, or at least active, hurricane season. Why you may ask?

Number 1 - Most experts agree the Atlantic Ocean basin continues to be in the middle of a heightened trend of tropical cyclone activity compliments of cyclical ocean-atmosphere interactions. This may be coupled with possible impacts from warming climate and seas (there’s still a lot of debate on this). This is more of the long-range environmental scenario.

Number 2 - In the more short term; sea surface temperatures are currently at record levels in the equatorial Atlantic. This (warm water) is often considered as the “fuel” of a cyclone, so we should see lots of counterclockwise buzzsaw-shaped cyclones (which are tropical storms and hurricanes) develop this year. So will these swell-producing rascals stay intact?

Number 3 - The answer appears to be “yes”. The masculine El Niño is waning in the Pacific and could transition into the feminine La Niña soon. Without getting into inordinate detail, El Niño equates to warm water in the Pacific, creating higher than average wind shear in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico (GoMex) atmosphere. As you may have guessed by now, La Niña is the opposite – cold Pacific water producing atmospheric conditions more conducive for tropical cyclone development/survival for us here in the Atlantic and GoMex.

So for 2010, we appear to have the fuel necessary for cyclones and nothing on a grand scale to suppress the cyclones once they form. Lots of wind, lots of open water, and lots of surf – sounds good. But where will all of the buzzsaws be heading?

Straight for us? Sure hope not – that is no fun and not worth a single wave we would receive in advance. Between the U.S. and Bermuda? Like that scenario – right in our wheelhouse. Will most of the cyclones stay south and keep traveling west either just north of the Leeward Islands/Puerto Rico, or further south? Who knows really - landfall probabilities and cyclone paths are dependent on short-term factors such as interactions with other weather systems coming across the U.S. and fluctuating steering patterns (i.e., the Bermuda High). So stay alert – stay safe – and safe travels if that’s what is warranted from time to time this year to catch surf. Hurricane season runs from June 1st to November 30th. Enjoy.

See you in the water until next time – www.eisurfshop.com.