Paul Newman 1925-2008

One of the greats, this is such a sorry loss.

Please take the time to check out just a few of his masterful performances. May I suggest Mr. & Mrs. Bridge, Fort Apache the Bronx, Slap Shot, Cool Hand Luke, The Hustler, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for starters.

His career spanned SIX decades. And he was an outstanding race car driver too. He excelled as a factory driver for Nissan in the 1980's and 90's.

I decided

The 305 stays, I can't sell it.

As Lt. Col. Bill Killgore said in Apocalypse Now: "Just give me back the board, Lance. It was a good board - and I like it. You know how hard it is to find a board you like."

Tyler 305

I'm thinking about selling this. Very mixed feelings. I ride my other 2 boards much more, and have another on the way. Plus there's a whole dream quiver in the back of my head. But this yellow board & me go way back.

From Palos Verdes cove, Manhattan Beach, San Onofre, County Line to the local Gloucester breaks, to Hampton & Rye, to Long Island, New Jersey, Delaware, to the Outer Banks to Virginia Beach to Maine, I've surfed the the heck outta this old log. Even recently I tore it up in Rhode Island, and she drew all kinds of compliments during the Montauk trip. So we're talking history here.

If the right buyer comes along I'll have to decide.

No one said life was easy!

Bombers Over Rockport!

Last weekend we had all kinds of vintage WWII bombers flying over the house I’m living in. Just one of these would rattle the windows. Image the sound of one of those epic 1,000 bomber raids over Nazi Germay? Dang!

Word has it a retired art teacher is buying and restoring these old warbirds and using them to educate kids about American history. I’m glad someone is. A retired art teacher? That’s one hell of a pension!

The house was shaken by the following (OK – the hyeness is a huge history buff, and aviation freak)

• Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress


• Consolidated B-24 Liberator


• North American B-25 Mitchell


• North American P-51 Mustang

Cool stuff!

First Surf of the Fall

Over the weekend of September 20th, 21st we had some fun wind swell.

Since my first post Montauk session at Good harbor (now dubbed Bad harbor) resulted in a trip to the emergency room with the mother-in-law of all ear infections, I wasn’t too jazzed about going back in there. This was in spite of the fact that it was waist high and fun looking on Saturday morning.

Guy and I are temporarily through with Bad Harbor so we took the scenic route up to Hampton. I never saw Salisbury before, it’s kinda cool in a seedy way, I’ll go back & shoot some 50’s architecture later.

It was slightly onshore when we got there, and the tide was getting kinda high for ideal loggin’ but after checking Jeness beach we went in at the wall.

Clown show. Some Irish bloke with an attitude claimed I dropped in on him and mowed me over in his foamy. Then some noisy bozo paddled out and would not stop shouting “AY AY AY AY AY AY AY KAHUNA AY AY AY AY AY”. OK, time to go.

Guy, let’s bail, let’s go to Jeness-ee.

Good choice.

Still kinda onshore, but I hooked into a bunch of fun righties. Guy, being a goofy foot made his sweet 9’0” JC Hawaii comp board do very nicely on the lefts. Jeness is an agreeable easy glide wave.

Sunday was a return to Cape Ann.

Waist high and crispy. In the morning I watched these 2 dudes from Maine kill it at the hotel side. Kill it! Nose riding, and getting mini barrels. One guy was on a soft top. You heard it here, dear readers, it isn’t the arrow, it’s the archer.

The tide was dropping, so I held off until the afternoon, and hit the creek at Long. We had fun waist high sliders with Brett, Swinny, Colin, and a few others. Water quality was only OK there as well. I scouted Bad Harbor afterwards, it was a bit bigger but so crowded.

It’s such a satisfying feeling when you know you’ve made the right choice.

Real waves are on the way this weekend.

Montauk Surf Trip

Sunday
I made the trip down to New London, made the ferry, and then set up camp. We had a small and forgettable session at the ditch. Some dork wanted to paddle for every wave I was on. Surf etiquette was s casualty over the last year. It was clear, you need a leash at a place like this.

Monday, Labor Day
Hither Hills – big big rides. It was so crowded at ditch, there was no way to park, and the whole lineup was obnoxiously full. No, packed! We hung out at the campsite for a while, and I went down to take a dip to cool off, it was hot. Hither Hills was going off, 10’ and reeling – lefts and rights, see picks.

I want back to the camp & told Johna “just go down there & look at the surf”. Entry was tough with the shore break, it took me 2 tries, but once I got through that the paddle out was a snap.

Before long a 9 footer came my way, do you want to live forever?

Paddle paddle paddle, I’m going, pop up, dropping, go left, and what do you know – stretching out before me was a wide open section, building, bowling, with ripples blowing up the face of the wave from the offshores. I got it. I survived the drop. The board was going so fast the fin was humming. I had to cut back at least twice to keep from out running the wave. I took it almost all the way to the shore and pulled out. It took forever to paddle back, that was a long, long ride.

That, my friends was my biggest wave.

I took 2 more of those, only smaller. The wind was cranking offshore at this point, it was hot, and the water temp was 71 degrees. But this isn’t Hawaii; it’s Long Island, NY. Viva Long Island. Viva my Tyler Mini Zeke.

It turns out that Ditch as all-time too, but whatever; I had a life passage experience that day at Hither Hills.

Tuesday
Ditch again was very good, shoulder high sets, 2 sessions, I ran out of gas at the end of the 2nd session. Lets of aggressive girls out there, but I suppose that’s the way you have to be there.

Wednesday
From so-so to good. I was a little buzzed in the morning, and I lent my leash to Johna. It’s a crowded spot with a rocky shore, so I was just a touch apprehensive about charging and getting super creative. Without a leash at a new spot I wasn’t about to go charging and taking chances in that crowded of a lineup with those rocks on the inside. Nonetheless, after moving over to the far right of the break in front of the jetty, I scored three outstanding lefts all the way in.

Thursday
Total victory at sea – the only true bust of the trip. We went out in chest hi slop; I managed to pick off a couple, and got a nasty gash on my knee from my fin.

Friday
Best day of the week for me: Morning glass, chest high, and the light fog kept the crowds down. There were some interesting cats in the lineup, Billy Hamilton’s buddy surfing a SUP, Kim, the ripper with a heavy Bronx accent who rode a few on my board, and that hot older Asian girl on the Yater Spoon who was so cool. We ate at the Shagwong; the French girl working the bar had me totally charmed. You know those French girls!

Saturday
I didn’t surf, but I did take a nice refreshing dip at the beach by the airport. At Radars, 2 nice dudes on fish were coming out; it looked like they were having fun. The wind & waves were building ahead of Hanna.


A very cool break called North Bar was working, but neither of us were really feeling up to paddling out. It turns out we could have done it no problem; the storm was a bit of a non-event. It went like this: Lots of wind & rain, with the rain stopping at midnight that was Hanna for me.

Dinner at the Shagwong was a huge treat again. It's one of my favorite places to eat & drink.

Sunday

Ended it with a bang! I surfed turtles. It’s a tricky spot, 2 waves in 4 hours, super duper crowded, and it was 12’ on the outer point. I was tired after the long night of wind & rain. The day was spectacular, as was the surf.

In conclusion:

Fish! I know here’s one for me
After riding that 10 footer I’ve beaten a personal demon.

The overall skill set of the surfers down in LI is on another planet than from what we have up here. Sorry, but it’s true. The shortboarders down there KILL IT! Straight up.

Cool people:

• Girl at Radars see pic


• Bikini Girl on the Bing


• 2 nice surf shops: Sunset, Air & Speed.


• 2 cool cats riding fish at Radars


• the French girl who works at the Shagwong


• My surfing neighbor from LI who surfed with us a few days. Mr. Mellow. I want to be like him. I think I will.


• Clean & Natural Surfboards by John Kelly – I want one: link:

More purpose? I think I need to find good full time work, get on with things. Get my own apt for starters, closer to the city, probably Arlington. Meet some nice chicky, take it from there.

Please Remember September 11th, 2001