Earl blog

I counted seven boards broken during the Governor’s Cup over the weekend. Three of them belonged to the same family. At an average replacement cost of $500 each, that’s a pretty good chunk of change. Hope Dad has a valid credit card. Bet the surf shops are stoked, though. Gotta figure if we broke that many in our little one-block contest area, it had to be a pretty good weekend to be in action sports retail.

The waves were way crunchy, hence all the fiberglass and foam carnage. But most of the humans escaped unscathed, although we had a few minor dust-ups with the rocks. Of course, if you’re a kid, going to school on Monday with scabs you got in a contest held in hurricane surf probably elevates you to demigod status. And so went Hurricane Danielle. A pretty name for such ugly surf.

So the waves were less than perfect, but the surfing was excellent. I’m always impressed with the young talent. The rats went out and ripped it in some gnarly conditions that had a lot of us old geezers glad we were in the shade on the judging stand all weekend. The Governor’s Cup also brings in a solid contingent down from the Myrtle Beach area and up from the Tybee Island zone. They’re good people we usually see only once a year, and it’s neat to host them at our beach.

As for Earl — it’s all about the wind. There’s some size out there, but what I’ve seen so far hasn’t been anything you’d see a picture of in a magazine. The wind is a little too sideshore as of this writing, so if you are using me as a guide to when to go out, you are looking in the wrong place. Better check the weather station data and look for something with some west in it. Otherwise, it’s going to be pretty lumpy. One additional observation is that all the hype about hurricane surf — mine included, I guess — sure brings everybody out of the woodwork. I caught a dawn patrol at my spot this morning and there were as many cars on the IOP this morning as there are on a Saturday or Sunday. To keep the crowds down, there should be some kind of surfer checkpoint on the way to the island to see if you are the real deal or not.

You should have to answer three questions correctly or you would be instructed to turn around and come back when the surf is smaller:

1. Is Mark Foo dead or alive?
2. Who invented the Thruster?
3. What is a George Greenough spoon used for?

I’m not going to call Earl a complete bust yet — the day is long. But this is South Carolina, so you already know the odds are stacked against us. Looking out a few more days, there is Fiona, Gaston and a “vigorous tropical wave” that came off the coast of Africa yesterday. So I recommend the continued consumption of Wheaties and hoarding of surf wax.