There's been a consistent pattern of long period swell from the southern hemisphere hitting New England coastlines for the past few weeks. South facing beaches have gotten the brunt of it, but the east facers have seen some traces as well. Did you see how I worked my last name in there? But on the morning of August 8th one of those long period pulses showed up a bit stronger and with more of an eastern angle. This helped Nantasket Beach break the waist high barrier for the first time since Memorial Day.
I caught more than thirty waves in four sessions on two different boards. I was so starved to surf real waves. The water was chillier than expected... felt like it dropped down from where it was at a few weeks ago. I tried to trunk-it with my Volcom front-zip 2mm jacket on Thursday and my legs got numb within minutes. I toughed it out for an hour before going in to thaw out. I wore my Isurus 2mm fullsuit the rest of the sessions (REVIEW CLICK HERE) and I actually caught the bulk of my waves on my Lost Puddle Fish Twin-Fin. I love how fast and "buttery" this board feels. I use that word because I once had a stick back in the day that this board gives me flashbacks to... I've been hitting lips and floating through sections just like it was 1986 riding my 5'6 Hot Buttered.
The increased swell lasted for a couple of days in Nantasket until it faded back into the shin zone. The shin zone. I guess it's better than flat. On a mid-tide pushing, if you find the right sandbar, you might slide into some knee high walls around here if you've got the right equipment. It'd be nice if there were a few surfer girls on longboards to talk to in the water, a la Florida and California, that'd be nice! But all this beach has to offer for locals are retired cranky dudes and annoying soccer dad SUPers. Hopefully the tropical surf season will produce some waves worth blogging about in September.
Stay tuned!