Tag Archives: Raymond Hess

North Pinellas, Sunsets

Unreal Conditions

I got a suggestion to write something today, so that’s what I’m doing. Littler or zero post editing, just a big, cluster of words and ideas crammed into a post. Sorry if something is offensive, it isn’t intended to be that way. There may also be ideas that are or aren’t entirely my own. Read at your own risk. Also, don’t forget to check out the gallery at the end.

Pulling up to the coast today I was greeted by Mr. Rocktoff. It was a great way to pull up to the beach. He said something like, it’s looking good, or it’s gotten better. We had checked the surf earlier this morning only to see waves we probably wouldn’t have surfed even if it was summer, well, maybe in the summer. I was stoking, ready to get into the water. He was suiting up as I was pulling up. By the time I got out of my car with camera in hand to snap a few pictures he was already headed for the water. I wanted to take a few shots before getting into the water with him, although I was stoked to go play with him in the fun and playful looking surf. The waves were just lining up perfectly. It looked about as good as it gets. I told Sunny when I was jumping in, it looks like The Cafe during a summer hurricane. He pulled up not long after. And the fact of the matter is that we didn’t get any hurricane days nearly as good as it was today within the past one or two years. Today was that good.

It was hard to tell from the beach with long intervals between sets just how good it was. I should also mention the swell change happening right then and there. When I left my house the nearshore Egmont buoy looked almost identical to what it was earlier in the morning. It was something like 4 feet at 6 seconds in the morning. When I left my house the size dropped to about three and a quarter, with an extension of the period to a 7 second period. What I didn’t realize when we were jumping in the water, right about when I was pulling up, was that the buoy had just jumped from a 6 and 7 second period to a 11 and 12 second period. Those longer period swells are ideal. We were watching the swell jump up right before our eyes; it’s one of the best sights we can ask for on the gulf. What we can expect when that happens is for the quality of the surf to be especially superb. As the swell dredges on we usually see quality deteriorate. That means we were catching it at the very best time we could have been. I could see something had happened standing there looking at it, but there was no indicator that this would be happening right then and there, around 3pm today. I took pictures of about three or four good waves, and I was out there. The legend squad of Dave, Greg, Ron, and Sunny were fully ready to get the waves of the Fall, and I was right there with them.

Starting my session off with the 4/3 wetsuit and a longboard turned out to be the right choice. When I got out there and started seeing the waves hitting the side of the t-groin and lining up down the beach, I knew this was something special.

Those big tall waves standing up with glassy faces will make your skin tingle. They can also make your blood boil. I surfed for a few waves, and after catching great waves, riding them all the way down the coast, I jumped out to chat. While chatting in the parking lot I switched over to my shortboard. I got back into the water, and was having trouble with the crowd and finding a good wave. The crowd was pretty dense sitting right at the top of the point between the groin and the caution, rocks sign. I was sitting down a little ways, maybe second peak, trying to find the ones that bowl up, lining up better for shortboards. It seemed like as soon as I jumped in the water on my shortboard another stand up paddleboarder arrived at the peak making it even more of struggle to find waves. I really think those stand up paddleboards are just big heaping piles of dog shit. They shouldn’t be in the water with real surfboards, especially on good days like today. What also confuses me is how someone on the causeway can open up a “surf shop.” They carry both surf boards and stand up paddleboards. That guys is pretty clearly just trying to make a buck. When you throw stand up paddleboards and surfboards together they just don’t mix. Anyone who actually surfs and cares about surfing, real surfing, would recognize that. They should instead focus their efforts on being a surf shop, not a “surf shop.” Maybe some of these people purporting to be surf shops can actually put some effort into supporting things like my website that actually support a surfing community and the surfers in it. It’s just too frustrating when a big giant board jumps into the lineup, and doesn’t have the courtesy of letting someone ride a wave their wave the way it’s supposed to be ridden, without interference.

These noobs were trying to rule the peak. At the time, I was on my shortboard. I saw one of the older guys getting frustrated by this experience. Him and I have been surfing this place for 15 years, for year when this place saw zero surfer. When he started to get frustrated I started to get frustrated. I decided to get my log. I paddled out to these guys and let them know. Hey dude, “this is my wave, and your not going to catch any more waves.” He said something like “don’t be afraid.” I replied, “I’m not, that’s why I’m here.” I said, “It sounds like you are.” I continued, “I’m just here telling you; this is my wave and you’re not going to catch any more.” Of course, I’m didn’t mean it in an aggressive or hostile way, simply a you think you’re going to rule the peak, well, watch this, it’s my turn. While I felt continual pressure to stop and sit on the inside, I kept making my way to the outside to sit with them. They still got a few, but way less.

To be perfectly honest, this isn’t the usual tone of this break. That’s not what Honeymoon Island is like, and I certainly didn’t want it to be like that. Sometimes, it just turns out that way when you’re pressured into a corner.

We ended up exchanging names. I told Logan and his friend about my website, we shook hands, a pound. We found our places in the lineup and the hostility level dropped as these noobs and I de-escelated the high density attraction of first peak. The swell started to become less consistent an hour or two before dark, as the tide was changing. The surf mellowed out some. Surfers started dropping from the lineup. Then, as we got closer to sunset (but not right during sunset), the surf really started to turn back on, and glass off even more with more slack winds than anytime during the day. Just perfectly clean, perfectly green chest high lines.

The last few surfers and I were struggling to get out of the water. It’s hard to get out when it’s just so perfect. What will be left for the morning? Will it be anywhere as near as good as today? These are the questions running through our minds as we find ourselves in the last bit of sunlight of the evening, surfing until it’s almost too hard to see the next wave coming. What a great day of surfing today. If you didn’t surf today, you just missed out on the best day we’ve had in a very long time!

Reptiles

Sea Turtle in Distress

Something especially unordinary happened today.  While surfing with a group of about 10 guys just a few hundred yards south of the Sand Key jetty we noticed a sea turtle floating through the surf. In all the years of surfing at that beach I’ve never seen anything like it.

We initially saw it floating by with the back end of it’s shell floating on the surface of the water. It was floating in a way that would suggest it was dead. It didn’t appear to be alive.  After watching it for a little while, as it floated right next to us, people were noticing it sticking it’s head up out of the water. Surfers were saying, it’s sticking its head up. One of the older guys in the water who I’ve known for many years approached me and said, “The turtle is still alive, sticking its head out of the water.” He said it in a way that I would noticed what was being said and take action.  I responded quickly. I said, I guess we should do something about it. I told him I would go grab it.  He was obviously hesitant to pick up a turtle with such a sharp beak. We paddled over to it.

After a brief struggle to grab the slippery turtle’s shell, with it swimming away from us each time we tried to grab it, I finally got a hold on it.  I pulled it up onto my surfboard.  The turtle was obviously in need of care after taking a close look at.  At first we thought it might have something to do with the growth on the turtle around it’s rear legs. Then we identified it’s anus appeared to have blockage and that it could be constipated. After looking a bit longer I noticed it’s right eye appeared to be ruptured, or consumed by a similar growth on its head. All this we noticed while grabbing it, and after holding it on top of the surfboard. The turtle was in need of help.

The two of us sitting on our surfboards in the lineup just about 100 feet from the cluster of surfers in the water struggled to make a decision about what to do with the turtle. The other surfers in the lineup appeared to be ignoring what we were doing. First, I suggested someone go to the beach to find someone with a phone to call the professionals. The other surfer seemed to be frozen. He was hesitant to do anything. It was almost as if he thought the turtle might not really need any help.  He was saying that the turtle still had a lot of energy based on it’s ability to swim a foot or two down into the water, then watch it float back up to the surface. He said he could take it to the aquarium, then I pointed out that it needed to be kept warm and transporting it might be difficult since the water was around the upper 60s, with air closer to 60 degrees today. It was a big difference between water temperature and air temperature, about 10 degrees. Moving it could be a shock to its system, especially if not done right. I also pointed out that I couldn’t really hold the turtle and move it to the beach while sitting on the surfboard. It was a real conundrum. I said I could give him the turtle while I go get my phone and call someone to come get it.  This is where the story goes all wrong.

It was a real tragedy. I gave him the turtle to hold while I went in to get my camera and my phone. He ended up dropping the turtle, then came in to the beach.  The turtle was still floating there while we were standing there looking at it from the beach.  I said, go back out there and get it while I go get my phone. I walked to the car.  When I was walking back out with phone and camera in hand, I saw him walking in. I said, “What happened?” He said that when he walked back out into the water, “The turtle swam under a wave, and it disappeared!”  It’s unfortunate, because this turtle was so obviously in need of life saving help.

I realize that it was all my fault that this turtle is probably going to end up dead within the next few days.   I just wasn’t prepared for this type of thing.  I should have gotten off my surfboard, swam the turtle in to the beach, and brought it over to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Had I done that, the turtle would probably be in the warm care of the professionals who treat critically injured marine life, including sea turtles, on a regular basis. I really screwed this one up.