Summer Fun
Friday - June 23, 2006
| Share
Del.icio.us
Keep charging into all this great summer surf
Aloha, surfers!
As we fly toward the end of June it’s quite clear that we’d better stop to surf and smell the flowers. This summer is ripping by with great consistent surf. From the pages of my surf diary, I count eight swells since late April! Bring it on, waves ... and don’t stop now!
We just passed June 21, the summer solstice. Most people (including me) think that this is the longest day of the year. It’s not. In the same way, the winter solstice on December 21, is not the shortest day. The days around them, however, are the longest and the shortest ... depending on where you are on planet earth. You see, what the summer solstice really means is the time when the sun has moved as far north as it’s going to go before heading back south, creating our seasons. Now it is correct to say that the days surrounding the solstice are the longest of the year, but not exactly on June 21. Oh well. Just for your information, though, the sun rose 5:49 a.m. - one minute later on June 13. The sun will begin to set one minute earlier on July 13 at 7:16 p.m. It’s more complicated than I thought. It looks like Mother Nature has a few tricks up her sleeve. Why couldn’t it just be simple?
As far as the surf forecast, we should see a new SSW swell for Friday through the weekend. The issue with this swell is that it’s from the Tasman Sea between New Zealand and Australia. The passage through this zone means that the energy gets “squeezed.” Plus, whatever swell does get through gets “shadowed” by Fiji and Samoa north of the Tasman. It’s not like our huge northwest winter swells which have nothing to block or shadow the open ocean swell trains. The end result for town is smaller and less consistent surf. But, hey, we will still have fun at two to three feet, with occasional fours at the top spots, top sets. I’m still stoked!
The Fosters ASP World Tour kicked off Day 1 of event five “somewhere in Mexico” last Monday at a remote place named La Jolla or The Jewel. It’s a tiny village with a world-class wave. I was amazed to see how big and perfect it was - 6 to 10 feet, reeling rights for 300 yards. Some of the pros were calling it the best waves of the tour! What’s also amazing is that it’s a sand bottom! Normally, it takes a solid reef to create perfection. They could be done by the time you read this, so for results log on to SURFNEWSNETWORK.CO M. Kelly Slater is back from his injury in Tahiti so watch out.
Hey check this out: Ever been ripped off? How about your favorite surfboard? Want to catch those buggahs who stole it? Well, some motivated surfer has come up with a way - using an electronic chip! This surfboard tracker is glassed into your board. This chip has all the information needed, and is entered into an international data base. The police and insurance companies can then use this to search for your stolen treasure and to verify your claims. It’s not expensive either. The guy who came up with this high tech invention is a Welshman named Andrew Smith, a surfer, of course! Hats off. For info on how to get your chip into your surfboard, log onto www.surfboardtracker.com.
Lastly, get your entries in for the 28th annual Hui O’ He’e Nalu Independence Day Paddle Board Race, the state’s largest paddle board race on the Fourth of July! There’s going to be more than 250 fit athletes having a great time in the 3.5-mile course from Sunset Beach to Waimea Bay. There are always fun festivities, live music and local kine grinds into the evening! Call 638-8208 for more details.
OK, that’s it for me - I need a surf! I’ll see you out there and back here next week! I’m GQ, dropping in 4 U!
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS Comments (0) |
Most Recent Comment(s):
