This guy enjoys studying his wife. Image 1 of 5 shot sequence. Photos by Oldwaverider
Click on the images below to see full size image.Click again when it’s big to see full view.
When I was watching this guy, it was a trip to notice his style. It’s fact that he got 3 to 1 on rides compared to the other surfers that were in the water at the same time. (absolutely no debate on this 🙂 If I remember 5 or 6 people were still out on Johnson Avenue this day. (Maybe 11 AM ish) But he was all about knowing the wave he was on. On this sequence of 5 shots, when he dropped in, late…..on the wave, he went right back up to the lip instead of the normal bottom or mid-turn to try and pump the wall to outrun the lip.
Image 2 of 5 sequence. Big November 10 2011 ENE swell. Johnson Avenue photos.
But he used the lip to gain momentum, instead of the bottom white water, and this wave that would probably close-out on most surfers, he managed to make it a user friendly wall 🙂
Back up to the top 🙂 Image 3 of 5 sequence.
It was a great day at Johnson and close to the best surf I’ve seen in years in Satellite here:
Image 4 of 5. Unknown Johnson Avenue Surfer from November 10 2011
Upcoming Surf !!!…….Maybeeeee, Saturday will give us glass, and something between waist and chest high waves with offshore winds. But, it is 4 days out, but at least the models are giving us a possible offshore day, and may even include some on Sunday, but with heavier
Funny thing was, these 5 shots took place in 3 seconds. Image 5 of 5Another nice left. Around 10:30 Am, November 10 2011, Satellite Beach. Image 1 of 7 sequence. Photos by Oldwaverider DSC04497
winds. This low could speed up or slow down, but it looks like a great chance of some size and offshores between Friday and Sunday.
In the mean time, it has given us some nice 4 to 6 foot face since Monday, semi-clean chop at times, like this morning, though smaller, it was very fun.
Image 2 of 7 in sequence.Image 3 of 7 shot sequence. Overhead left in Satellite Beach. Photos by OldwaveriderImage 4 of 7 shot sequence.Image 5 of 7.Image 6 of 7 shot, Satellite BeachGreat time to exit 🙂 Image 7 of 7. November 10 2011
There were rights and lefts to be had. Probably a chest high wave on these 4 photos, but I kind stayed up high on the face. Photos by Mike Melito
Big E-NE swell here for probably 5-6 days followed by a NE’ ster coming next Sunday…
Today (Monday), huge chop, today is the peak of the swell for size. We may have some 1-2 foot overhead waves at the Cape, and 4 foot plus overhead in Satellite with brutal onshore ENE winds in the 15 to 25 mph range.
Image 2 of 4, Wednesday December 7 2011 at 4rth St North
The size drops very slowly thru the week, but definitely expect head high every day 🙂 No sign of an offshore wind day yet. When the winds lay down, during high tides, that’ll be your most user-friendly paddle out.
Chest high right, but hanging close to the top. Image 3 of 4.
The photos are from the Big ENE swell from Wednesday December 7 2011 behind Mike’s condo at 4rth street North. We had waist to head high waves at 4rth Street North with SW winds, so it was glassy, but by late morning the winds kicked up to 12 -15 mpht SSW-SW and the glassy walls started to crumble a little. I had a great hour session with 5 or 6 long rides to shore, but when I tried to do a 2nd sesh with photos, my injuries kinda caught up with me, and I spent more time doing triple flips as opposed to working the walls. Oh well, still a great day 🙂
Trying to discern my center of gravity 😉 Image 4 of 4A sweet waist to rib high left. Image 1 of 4 of Oldwaverider. Photos by Mike MelitoImage 2 of 4. December 7 2011 ENE swell at 4rth street behing Mike's condo.Image 3 of 4, long left.Image 4 of 4.
It just made it kind tough on my buddy Mike to get some pics of me, but he managed to salvage what I had left…
SUNDAY 4 :15 PM UPDATE! The 120 buoy jumped from 5 feet at 5 seconds from 1 AM this morning to 8.5 feet at 8 seconds at 2:00 PM this afternoon. Not that this is a surprise or anything, but I bet we have some overhead waves right here on Johnson by 9 AM Monday (since most of this swell is from direct East, we could have a lot of overhead waves Monday 🙂 And, with 15 plus ENE winds but at 9 AM dead high tide, it could be big and fun! Or, if you’re up for a 30 minute paddle out, head down to Satellite Beach for some 4 to 6 foot overhead chop chop to paddle out to 😉 Here endeth the Sunday afternoon update for Monday. Below is the long range thing I shared briefly from last night 🙂
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Chad snagged this set with a wall that held up all the way for 6 or 7 shots. He had a nice late drop on this one. Image 1 of 6 shot sequence. Photos by Oldwaverider
If you want to see the full size photo, scroll down below. Click on the image once to blow it up, and once again if you see your mouse with a plus sign.
We still had some waist high waves at Johnson Avenue, even some chest high sets rolled through for Chad out there. It was a little cleaner before noon, but it looked fun even from 2:00 to 2:40. Chad must have got 10 or 12 waves in the 35 minutes I was on the boardwalk, lefts and rights. I believe he frustrated the 5 newbies with foam boards in the water next to him, cause they got out of the water after his 4th or 5th ride in a row 🙂
Image 2 of 6 sequence, Chad on the best size wave I saw, NE windswell at Johnson Avenue on December 10 2011 around 2 PM.
Incoming surf…………..We have a huge low pressure at sea rolling in with a big ole windswell, bring waves for at least a week so it appears. Looks like some overhead days starting by Monday and continuing overhead through Friday. The overhead may be down South, but
There was definitely enough size to work the wall, as Chad gets a re-entry. Image 3 of 6 DSC05127
we’ll at least have some 3 to 6 foot faces hitting the Cape, with mostly onshore winds for 5 to 7 days straight.
We got waves and more waves 🙂
When it starts to show very clean light onshores and a chance of offshore winds, we’ll let ya know.
Same wave, Image 4 of 6, Chad.Chad, Image 5 of 6 shot ride sequence.Last shot of Chad on this nice walled up right. Image 6 of 6.Chad on another right. Image 1 of 5 shot sequence. Photos by OldwaveriderImage 2 of 5 on this right of Chad. Johnson Avenue on the remaining NE wind swell we had.Image 3 of 5 in sequence. Chad.Image 4 of 5 shots. Chad caught over 10 waves while I was there, and these 2 held up the longest.Image 5 of 5 shot sequence. Chad
Classic Waves today!The slideshow is a 7 shot sequence of one wave. (The full size images are below if you want to click on them for full screen size)
My old high school/surf buddy Mike came over from Lakeland and we had a great waist to shoulder/head high perfect glass surf session behind his condo at 4rth street North. It was perfect glass up until maybe 10:30-11, but when it became photo time the winds jacked up to 12 or 15 mph SSW to SW so the perfect lines and smooth glass were gone, but it was still fun and nice waist to shoulder high waves. Plenty of 100 yard plus rides were had before the winds change 🙂 !!! If you want to see the full size images , than click on them below, it is the same photos that are in the slideshow.
My buddy MIke from Lakeland on a nice shoulder/head high right, zoomed way out. 4rth Street North, December 7 2011. Image 1 of 7 shot sequence. Photos by OldwaveriderImage 2 of 7 sequence, Mike. 4rth street North, NE swell.
Thursday waves…it should get almost blown flat tonight with 15 to 20 mph offshore winds that are bringing in this cold front from the central US. Maybe thigh high waves with 15 to 20 mph NNW winds switching to N by 9ish AM.Plus 45 plus ° air temps in the morning. The incoming swell doesn’t have any fetch really since it’s coming off land instead of water, so I think we’ll just have some chop with 3 foot faces or so until late Saturday. Hit’s too hard to tell with a leaving swell and a land mass cold front blowing it away 🙂
MIke on the same wave, Image 3 of 7 in set.
Saturday we a small NE’ ster combining with a totally massive Easterly swell that totally combine by Sunday night. Could be some 3 to 4 foot face chop on Saturday.
Sunday, may have some waist to chest high glass (waist- Cape, chest-Satellite), with a big jump in size by evening, along with a jump in winds up to 20 mph NNE.
Image 4 of 7 in set.
Monday, big NE winds over 20 mph, and 8 to probably 11 foot chop down South and maybe 5 to 8 foot chop at the Cape by Monday morning.
Image 5 of 7, MIke on a long right shoulder/head high high wave.He just got ahead of the section of white water...a nice reward for getting pounded by some white water trying to toss you off your board. Image 6 of 7 in set.It was a nice wall that held up forever, even with a slight gauntlet to run. This guy figures Mike is gonna get dumped on, or maybe he doesn't see Mike on his 100 yard ride. Only 4 of us out, so the crowd factor was nice 🙂 Image 7 of 7 in sequence. Photos by Oldwaverider
Big overhead chop continues thru Tuesday and Wednesday, we’ll know more as the swell approaches.
Chad caught the wave of the day for this swell, (which was in another photo gallery) but we are all impressed with his technique and ability of using no wax on his board and yet hugging this left for a fairly long ride. Image 1 of 3 in sequence. Photos by Oldwaverider
OK, IT’S NOW SHOWING OFFSHORE WINDS FOR WEDNESDAY MORNINGUNTIL 10 AM. SW around 5 to 8 switching around fast to NNW by 10 or 11 AM. The Cape, CCB and Satellite models are showing the same thing for Wed. morn; so we’ll see what happens 12 hours from now 🙂
That also means, that Wednesday showing 5.5 ft of swell at 10 seconds, means head high for us and 2 to 3 foot overhead faces in Satellite.
Thursday is showing offshore but the swell drops to waist to chest high instead of the size I mentioned last night below.
Back to last nights update below>>>
THE BEST YEAR OF WAVES CONTINUES……………:) It’s hitting 10 feet at 11 seconds at the 120 a couple hours today. The 20 mile buoy hit 9.5 feet at 10 seconds, so this swell is peaking in size and power for Monday.
Monday the waves should be chest to head high with sum rogue sets at the Cape, and in the morning, we may have winds less than 15 mph, while it brings in the rest of the swell. Then by Monday late afternoon, the winds should drop off even more.Satellite Beach should be a couple or three feet overhead at least.
Backsiding the no wax board 🙂 Image 2 of 3 in sequence.
Tuesday, the winds could be less than 8 mph out of the East in the morning, and will be chest to head high again at the Cape, and could have some really clean shape. A couple feet overhead at least down South.
Image 3 of 3. I ran out of film, otherwise I would have had more shots on this ride.
Wednesday size drops a little maybe a foot on the face, again with even lighter winds out of the East.
Thursday, is throwing fits, about when it may be offshore. It was morning, and now, it’s showing around Noon when it goes SSW or SW, and then blows offshore till dark. The size at the Cape, should be stomach to chest high glass, and head high plus glass down South in Satellite Beach. I won’t know the 80% accurate winds until Tuesday lunch time.
Fridaywaist high at the Cape and chest down South with offshore winds in the morning. Chilly Friday morning, perhaps below 60°.
We ought to have at least 3 or 4 really fun days of waves in a row, at least Tuesday through Friday 🙂
A fun waist high left of me, 4rth street North from Tropical Storm Maria, September 15 2011. Image 1 of 3 shot sequence. Photos by Mike Melito.
A LATE SATURDAY NIGHT UPDATE. The storm just added another day to itself. For now, the model for the big offshore day shifted to Thursday now, but we’ll see; it could switch back to Wednesday.Below goes back to what I posted this morning, the other days hold the same, just Wednesday and Thursday may shift .
Another shameless display of surf photos taken of me on a day I was surfing TS Maria, 4rth street north. The photos are from Tropical Storm Maria on September 15 2011, taken by my old surf and high school buddy Mike Melito. He had taken an official day off work from Lakeland, so it was all legal like 🙂
The waves were waist to shoulder high that day, and I just did a 20 minute session in the water so Mike could get some shots of me, so I could come in and get some long overdue shots of Mike and also take some shots of my buddy Ken.
Image 2 of 3 in sequence, yours truly from September, TS Maria. Photos by Mile Melito
SURF UPDATE FOR US! Well, it looks like Wednesday is shaping up to be the big glassy ground swell day, maybe Tuesday night, but by Monday night, I should know pretty clear.
Image 3 of 3 in sequence, Oldwaverider at 4rth street North.
And yeahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’ll be back in the water after a month.
The swell is still building, it probably peaks in size on Monday in the 8 to 10 foot face range down South.
Saturday (today) and Sunday it looks like chest high plus waves at the Cape and overhead down South in Satellite Beach.Winds mostly east in the 15 to 25 mph range both days.
Monday, as I said the swell peaks with 7.5 feet of swell at 10 seconds, so it should see some 8 to 10 foot faces, plus in Satellite.The Cape ought to see some head high waves and some overhead sets, strong East SE winds in the 15 plus mph range.
Tuesday, size should be chest to shoulder high at the Cape with S to SE winds in the 10 to 12 mph range (still to far out to be accurate, but that’s what the models are showing), and 7 to 9 foot faces in Satellite Beach.
Wednesday, we could have chest to shoulder high glass at the Cape, and shoulder to overhead glass in Satellite Beach. The winds could range from SSW to even NNW for the day as it wraps around quickly.
Thursday morning, size drops, but should still have waist to shoulder high waves from up North to South respectively.
Enjoy the swell, and catch it at dead high tide during the choppy days, and the paddle out will be relatively easy, with cleaner shoulders.
It doesn't get any better than this. Perfect size glassy waves, Sun, Fishing. Hurricane Ophelia delivered the perfect swell angle on Johnson Avenue. Sunday October 2nd, 2011. Image 1 of 3 in sequence. Photos by oldwaverider
Hurricane Ophelia keeps coming back……….it was one of those swells that took perfect form at Johnson Ave.We have a finicky beach, and when the swell angle is just right, the winds are just right, and the picky tides are right, it provides us some incredible days, without crowds; typically.
This day, October 2nd, 2011 which fell on a Sunday had perfect Sun, perhaps good fishing, and perfect chest to shoulder high waves, depending on your height 🙂 Unfortunately, I don’t know who most of the surfers were that were out in the water for the two sessions of photos I did, except Dr. John. I was nursing an injury (broken record, yeah I know, this one was the back 😉 so it was a good
Same guy, same wave, Image 2 of 3 shot sequence. Hurricane Ophelia, at the Cape.
day to catch some shots. The guy in this wave perhaps someone can identify him for me, and as you can see he had the cleanest, most user friendly wave that let him even stall a bit while I snapped off a 3 shot sequence. (just kidding, actually the guy fishing was pulling in a 34 inch snook and the surfer was watching him, no, just kidding again)
Image 3 of 3 shot sequence.
INCOMING SURF!!!…………………………A fairly large NE ‘ster is on the way, but first has a small SE swell in the 2 to 3 foot range that may throw a little something for us to increase swell size today, tonight, and by late Thursday afternoon, the NE swell piggybacks the SE swell. The NE swell is kinda sloppy with an ill-defined fetch (small patchy areas of varying wave height), until sometime Saturday. Then the NE ‘ster turns ground swell and with a nice evenly distributed fetch. (fetch is just the area of the ocean that a storm covers and blows wind that creates a particular swell)
Thursday is looking to be glassy in the morning until around 11 AM, chilly, around 50 ° at daybreak, hopefully thigh high at the Cape and maybe chest high for Satellite. It turns NNE into 10 to 15 mph winds after 11 or 12, and goes to weak chop.
Friday, the size jacks up head high plus down South, and then whatever it chooses to let squeak by the Cape 🙂 It may take until Saturday for us to get some rideable chop to roll in, hard to say. Strong onshore winds NE Friday.
Saturday, Sunday and Monday, it looks to be powerful a few feet overhead chop with decreasing winds on Monday (yeah, it’s early to predict winds, but this is what the general model suggests), and the winds wrapping around toward the SE and then maybe (with strong probability) that it will turn offshore sometime between Monday night and Wednesday morning to deliver us our big offshore day.
This NE ‘ster should throw waves for at least 5 to 6 days for us. What a great year.
And I intend to be back out in the water again for this one. 30 days on land is brutal , especially when you missed 1 massive epic day (Nov. 10th), and 2 or 3 waist high 100 yard plus ride days.
Full size images below if you want to see full screen.
My bad, it was the 2nd wave. This was the only wave that this guy got during the 45 minutes I was there. It was one of those days, where you only take 2 or 3 waves during a session, and you gotta be real picky. I was stoked this guy finally got a wave. He made it look fun. Image 1 of 5 shot sequence. Photos by Oldwaverider
Saturday Night Afternoon update…….. This new system is going nuts. Now it looks like no offshore winds until the swell has dropped to almost nothing on Tuesday. Wind swells only give a 4 hour window for offshores anyhow, but this thing is changing it’s mind every 6 hours. Cancel everything I said below about swell size and form. Let’s just go with, a very weak wind swell with onshore winds the next 2-3 days probably, size may be unrideable at the Cape by Sunday some time. We’ll just have to see. The fetch of this swell is in so many small pieces of differing swell period periods, it’s very hard to tell if there will be anything ridable. The structure of this swell is falling apart like a Seagull at an all you can eat, Alka Seltzer party 😉 What can I say? Back to last nights update below;
The Swell just added 2 more days to itself, go figure 😉
It appears that an easterly swell moved up it’s time table and kinda collides with the exiting NE ‘ster. It’s a low period swell, but as y’all know, not in the last month, maybe 6 weeks ago, but we’ve had a number of 7 second period wind swells that have had some nice kick to them. You can beat your head against the wall if you let these changing swell models beat up on you.
Hey, we have our Sunday offshore winds canceled unless it throws a little SSW early, but that’s side shore for us up North anyhow. Winds probably South in the 10 to 15 mph range.The size should hang around the waist to shoulder high range, North going South.
Image 2 of 5 in sequence.
Monday could now blow offshore, same size as Sunday.The period is 7 seconds, so it could pull great surprises, or it could be watered down. I’ll give it a 60% chance of having more size and kick to it then this past Wednesday swell.
Image 3 of 5 shot sequence. Photos by Oldwaverider
Tuesdaymay have some thigh to chest high leftovers, North going South again. Possibly offshore winds again. To soon to tell.
The photos are more that were taken on the Thursday November 10th large ENE Swell that kicked up some 8 to 10 foot plus faces in Satellite Beach with NW winds. The swell was like a 6.5 foot swell at 11 seconds. So it had some big old lines and walls.
A nice medium size right of the day. This was image 4 of a 5 shot sequence.
The guy in this photo had a friend that was supposed to be taking pictures of him, but the friend on the boardwalk, might not have had enough coffee that morning, it happens 🙂
The funny thing was, on a day like this, young or old, you really have to be total picky on your waves when you’re out in the water. As far as I can recall, this was the only wave this guy got in the 45 minutes that I was on the boardwalk at Hightowers. My bad (update 11/20/11) , it was the 2nd wave. I noticed that he also took the kamikazee wave on this day, scroll down to the 3rd sequence of pics, and it is the 4 foot plus overhead closeouthere. Hopefully he’ll see them but if not, it was still fun for me to see the nice ride and save it here.
He used this re-entry off the wall to take an exit in. Image 5 of 5 shot sequence. To get one ride on a day like this in Florida is more than enough to make the session a high for a week. That's a hard one for those never initiated to the sport to ever get a grasp on. hahHe's playing down the adrenaline rush he's feeling, but to get just one wave for a day like this, was enough to satisfy the soul :The guy from the photo sequence. )
It wasn’t one of the bigger waves of the day, maybe an 9 foot face on the drop. The guy walking in is the one on the wave. There was only 3 or 4 people out in front of me and one guy kind of North toward Perkins. But it was still a day and a wave that was to be respected by anyone. It was painful enough to have to stay out of the water for as long as I have. This was 1 of 6 awesome swells that we have had this kind of size this year 🙂
Full size images below if you want to see full screen.
The best weapon choice for the day, a Longboard. Wednesday before Thanksgiving, perfect waist high plus longboard peeling waves. Photo by oldwaverider
FRIDAY MORNING 10 AM UPDATE……Much of the swell is coming in. The 120 buoy hit 9.5 feet at 11 seconds at 5 AM this morning (Friday morning) of which every reading shows 11 seconds, which will take about 7 to 9 hours to hit the beach, so expect a jump in size and power of the swell by around Noon to 2 PM. The swell maxes out from around Noon today until Noon Saturday, and then starts to fade away, however,
it still looks like Sunday will have offshore winds down South, maybe Sideshore to Offshore up North by mid-morning (SSW to SW by 9 or 10 AM) with chest to shoulder high waves down South. Down South will again be best, but hopefully, hopefully it will be waist high plus at the Cape. If the winds do turn and stay SW, then by late morning, the Cape ought to glass off too. Either way, Saturday will have some fun choppy, waves here at the Cape.
The pier will most likely be really, fun Sunday, but let’s hope the Cape delivers better than last weeks offshore day. This ends my Friday morning update. Below is my update from last night…
Perfect longboard waves on Wednesday, not the best for short boarders 😦 The photos are from mostly Perkins in Satellite Beach. And one shot at O’ Club (I’ll let y’all figure which one 🙂
Count your blessing folks, this is the best year of waves in many years, in my humble opinion. Consistent waves all summer (before any Canes), plus in the spring before summer, then 4 great Canes back to back. But, unlike last year when Danielle,Earl, and the first one, whatever, but last year, all 3 Canes were so close that they messed up the big big offshore wind day, except for Earl.
100 yard plus ride, nice workable wall to carve a little, but kinda boring maybe for shortboarders...but they were out. Image 1 of 7 shot sequence. Photos by Oldwaverider
But this year, we had 4 Canes with 10 to 12 foot faces (Irene , onward), and with perfect glass for each one, and Katia had 2 each 10 foot face days down South. Then, we had 2 each NE swells with 10 to 12 foot faces on October 10th and then on November 10th another 8 to 10 with some bigger 11 or 12 foot faces on the drop (bothon the huge clean up sets. Man, what a year.
Image 2 of 7, nice 100 yard plus ride.
Anyhow, in regards to Wednesday’s surf call, Size was way down from what I thought, oops, my bad 🙂 , whatever…………….
But it sure looked fun out there (still licking my wounds as a surf watcher), down South. It didn’t really happen up North, except some fun at the pier, I heard it was real fun at the pier.
At Perkins, it was pretty much all long-boarders out, and at 10 Am, the size had dropped maybe a foot on the face as I was told, but it was still really glassy, long peeling waist high waves. There was certainly some fatter set waves, but mostly a bunch of 100 yard plus, long-board rides.
Continued saga of 100 plus yard ride. Image 3 of 7 sequence.
How about incoming waves? …… Well, tonight (Thursday night), we have an incoming NE ‘ster rolling in, which ought to be viewable on the beaches just before dark. Waist high to head high (North to South) by dark or shortly thereafter.
Only about 5 or 6 surfers out at Perkins. This guy continues on Image 4 of 7 in sequence.
Friday, overhead down South, with brisk ENE winds in the 15 to 20 mph range.
Saturday, more of the same but more Easterly winds, winds slack off some, maybe in the 10 to 15 mph range.
Sunday, shows a chance of the final day of the swell, could be waist to head high depending on the break, so this may be the offshore day. We’ll know by Friday night.
This swell looks like a repeat of the NE ‘ster leaving us today. After Sunday, it’s hard to say if anything will be left.
Image 5 of 7 shot sequence. The day before Thanksgiving on Wednesday.
It’s great to have waves Thanksgiving weekend eh? Nice thing too, is not much cool weather, all weekend highs in the mid-70’s each day. Gotta love it!
Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
Image 6 of 7 in the ride 🙂Image 7 of 7 in the ride to the beach, almost. Wednesday, November 23 2011 Photos by oldwaverider
Based on what I have seen so far at the 120 buoy, I have a little change below…
Tuesday, hopefully by Tuesday late afternoon or early evening that is because of an additional incoming swell push maybe thigh to waist high on the set waves, and chest to head high down South. Winds, 5 to 10 mph SSE to SE winds.
Wednesday, waist high at the Cape and chest to head high down South.Winds are looking to be SW in the 8 to 14 mph range. Get excited.
Thursday may have some leftovers, but mostly rideable down South.
Friday morning, another NE swell rolls in with high onshore winds all day Friday and Saturday.
Saturday the size may start to hit the Cape once the swell gets some time to clear the Cape’s blocked out point.
Johnson Avenue Surfers 