Other than surfing we’ve been hiking up waterfalls (and jumping off 35′!), scuba diving and exploring a bit. Will post more pics later, but for now, here’s some surf photos:

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The surf gods shined down a ray of light on the ASP World Tour Quiksilver Pro Surf Competition last week at Long Beach, Long Island, NY. The surf can get better in NY, but not by much! It started off slow and then waves from Hurricane Katia built up peaking Thurs evening, then dying down a bit and cleaning up for the finals on Friday. It’s too bad they didn’t get to compete in the some of the biggest (if not the cleanest) sets Thursday night, but they still got some great surf.

It was held at the break I’ve surfed most for the last 7 years or so, which made me a bit skeptical that it would be intrusive. That wasn’t the case at all though, it was great to have them there and they sent out a good vibe in general. Plus, it was cool to see what the pro’s can do on the waves you’ve been surfing. (A lot more than us!) They take a mushy close out that I can’t even make the section on and hit the lip 4 times. lol I can’t stop watching the video highlights on quiksilverpro.com and the Quiksilver Pro New York Snack Pack full review!

Again, apologies for failing to accurately represent the waves with photos! …priorities…priorities.

Preface: These pics (unfortunately) don’t capture the true size of the sets coming in.

Cutting my vacation in Nantucket short, I raced home Friday hoping I could get in the water on Saturday. Reports and rumors cautioned that the roads would be blocked, it might be blown out, the mass exodus of evacuatees would prohibit us from getting out there, etc, etc. Our plan was to wake up at 5:30am and drive out to Long Beach, but after the trip the day before we were too tired and woke up around 7:30am. There WAS one road block on the way out, but were able to circumvent it!

The waves were not the cleanest or most powerful I’ve seen, but there were definitely some big sets coming in. I really regret not putting more effort into photographing them. The biggest waves in the photos below are not the biggest waves that we faced that day!

Other observations:

• small crowd in the water that was fairly spread out
• news reporters and onlookers on the boardwalk
• some current, but not too bad

…a stark reminder of the risks we take, especially on those big days.

In light of the tragedy, I thought the least I could do was to draw a little publicity to the LBSA, which seems to be doing good things. …taken from their website:

The Long Beach Surfers Association was formed in 2011. The mission of the association is to provide a unified voice and help insure public policy appropriately addresses the needs of our large and vibrant community.

The Association strives to work cooperatively with the City of Long Beach and the Long Beach lifeguards to provide safe and open access to the surf for all.

The LBSA Board of Directors, L to R: Andy Smith, Billy Kupferman, Jeff Kupferman, Danny Bobis, Rachel Bobis

Some of you may know the name HR (aka Human Rights) and if not, maybe you (should) know the band Bad Brains? They still play at random times and random locations. They played one of the final shows at CBGBs for instance. This time it was HR solo. Not a huge crowd, but a dedicated one and a fun show.

Probably some of the best waves I’ve been in all year! These shots are from 3 different breaks, though I only surfed one. It seemed to be firing up and down the coast…NJ def has a lot of options when the wind comes from the west. …a bit bigger in the morning but more hollow as the tide went out. Good stuff!

A rainy, chilly and very rewarding dawn patrol.

Btw, there were definitely some bigger sets coming in than I captured here, but this should give you an idea of how nice and clean it was.