After a little reflection, I think ending 2024 with a sprained knee is actually quite fitting and appropriate considering the year I've had. I'm not sure I've had one day in 2024 where I was at 100% and free from all injury. It seems like it's just been one thing after another, sometimes two and three things at the same time. As a result, there've been large gaps of time where my recoveries have kept me out of the water and not surfing.
Right from the beginning, I missed the entire month of January due to a painful sciatic event, followed by a couple weeks of Covid and a lung infection. I spent an entire week not surfing in Hawaii, coughing and feeling like dog doo-doo. Then, I came home and lied in bed for another week. It was February before I felt good enough to surf, with only minor arthritis in my neck, shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles. Ha. I started off March in above average shape with only the arthritis lingering, so I was stoked when we got a couple of weeks of solid north swell thanks to a procession of cold fronts pushing through the area. Only after nine days and 131 waves did my lower back finally give-in. The over usage in March caused a super painful bout of arthritis with many sleepless nights. I still surfed when I could handle it, getting a few good rides in April and in May. But it wasn't until almost June that the arthritis backed-off and I got myself back into solid surf shape again.
After another trip to the Aloha state in July, I was feeling optimum stoke. I had surfed some fun waves in Oahu and Kauai with old friends, and my shortboard/performance fish game was almost the best it's ever been... smashing lips, ripping turns, and generally playing in the surf in ways in which I'm not usually afforded the opportunity. Remarkably, I remained uninjured, but someway somehow I got the Hawaiian covid AGAIN! A couple weeks later I was back home in Florida and I felt like I was ready to charge the Atlantic Hurricane season. So I quivered up, getting myself pumped and ready for what forecasters were saying was going to be an overactive tropical storm season.
But the sand and rock bottoms of Satellite Beach had changed a bit since winter. There'd been a significant sand dredging in the spring, with a steady stream of dump trucks and bulldozers building dunes and creating beach where there hadn't been previously. It was a lot of sand.
And by mid summer the surf breaks in my neighborhood had really turned for the worst as a bunch of the sand moved into the surf zone. Eventually the sand will move around and potentially create better waves, so say the beach nourishment project supporters. But it can't be good for underwater sea life to have all those rocks covered up. I'm honestly not sure what my opinion is. But on top of the sand problem, the tropical swell season of early summer was few and far between, outside of wind chop from onshore days. And when we finally got a few storm pulses late summer, it just wasn't good for very long, small windows. In general, outside break was fast and dumpy, only to pitter out through the middle, pile up, and eventually close out on the beach. That damn trough-like effect was happening again. I'm guessing it was too deep between the rock shelf and the outside sandbar. So more sand needs to move off the rocks and into the trough? I don't know. I'm not 100% sure that's what's going on, but it seems we're all in agreement in the neighborhood... our surf breaks have not been awesome.
When October came and went the stoke levels of just about everyone I knew in town had gotten super low. Milton sent us some swell for a couple days, but it just wasn't awesome because it basically rolled over us causing a bunch of work to do. We were all sick and tired of lame surf and now it seemed that onshore winds were becoming a big problem as seasons transitioned. Sure, there were "rideable" waves around, but nobody was claiming it was good on my street come early November. We were all trying our luck driving around hunting for surf. It seemed like the Gulf was getting it better than us, but I didn't have much motivation to drive west. The wind was relentless for weeks on end, and there wasn't a ton of options to hide from it. I did adventure down south before Thanksgiving, to see if I could catch a post-frontal boundary swell, or what we used to call a refraction swell when I was a kid. But...
I mostly got skunked on this adventure. I did manage a short session at a South Florida spot I used to surf a bunch when I was a grom. It was small, but pretty looking swell, super glassy, warm, and uber CROWDED. Oh man, what happened to this spot??? It used to be one of the most localized places to surf in Florida when it was on, and now it was just a free-for-all, with guys dropping in and paddling into each other. Freaking wild how times change. Where the hell is Baron? Might be time to lock it down man. It's just too friendly there now. A dude even asked me to borrow my wax?!?! I wonder what would've happened if I asked locals at this break when I was 15 if I could borrow some wax... **THINK** Point Break-Anthony Kiedis-Shower Fight Scene. Only, there's no goofball dude with dreads named war-child, but an actual badass who might've broken your board on a parking meter for simply being there. Ahhhh the memories of a 70's and 80s surf childhood. The irony of all the surf bullies being gone is that we're now dealing with the nonsense that comes from crowds not being policed for breaking etiquette.
Digression over. Now back to this year's story. So when December arrived and I hadn't surfed much due to choppy conditions and sand issues, I was in a super negative mood. I hadn't just lost my stoke, I was UN-stoked. Not to mention I had slipped out of surf shape from not paddling out. I feel like I checked the waves a thousand times without surfing between Halloween and my birthday. We did have a day or two, but most days I just stared at the ocean, or more like glared.
But then we finally got some goods. Mid-December delivered clean-ish, chest high+ surf, with even bigger waves at the standout spots... and everyone's stoke was instantly fortified. The wind eventually came back and messed things up a couple days later, but it was just enough to remind me why I surf. My body was in shock from all the exercise since I'd not done very much but sit around with a bad attitude since September. I was not in what anyone would call good shape, more like dad-bod spun out of control, but I decided to do my first ever Surfing Santas on Christmas Eve nonetheless. I'd been waking up with a tight knee ever since building my new outdoor shower, but I chalked it up to arthritis and carried on. Later on that night after surfing Santas and not feeling "right", my knee swelled up like a softball. And that's where we are today... ending the year injured, just like I started it. Totally appropriate.
OK, enough negativity and complaining. Below are my 2024 stats for all you surf nerds who track. I like tracking surfs. I've now got 9 years of data... 3 years on a Rip Curl Search watch, and 6 years using an Apple watch w/ Dawn Patrol app. After next year I'm going to crunch the decade of stats and see what data I can extrapolate or if any patterns emerge. If my surf tracking and reporting triggers you, or makes you angry, I guess... sorry? I just ignore your negative energy. Maybe you just need a hug.
WAVE COUNT & WATER TIME
Despite being unable to surf for more than 60 days of 2024 due to illness and injury, I still rode at least 500 waves in 50+ sessions, which was my baseline goal. At 520 waves/57 sessions- that averages out to 10 waves and 1.09 sessions per week. Not terrible for 52 year old living on the East Coast. The truth is, if I surfed all the days it was rideable at home, and then took a trip at the right time, I could easliy ride 1,000+ waves in a year. But I don't think my body would hold up to that. Waves here are going to make you work paddling and ducking. Anytime I surf too many days in a row, especially when the work is hard, I end up with injuries or at least aggravating some stuff. And to pull off 1,000+ waves in a year, I'd need to string together several streaks, with multiple session days, to get there. The best I've done in a year since I've been tracking is 749 waves in 2022 when I was in Costa Rica for a bunch of weeks. And I came home with a torn rotator and a strained neck. So I think there's room for improvement if I can do a better job of managing my health, avoiding injury, and timing better waves when I travel.
LONG & FAST FEBRUARY
The longest wave of the year according to Dawn Patrol stats was on February 16th. It was a long trek across the sandbar as I no-paddled into a set wave from the outside all the way through to the beach. It was a 274 yard slide that was actually pretty memorable thanks to the position and perspective I chose for my beach cam. As I carved my way towards the inside closeout section,
from my camera's forced perspective, I threaded the needle through the life preserver mounted on the stairs. Nice. I even got an Instagram reply from the novelty king himself Ben Gravy... not sure if that means we're bros or not, haha. But I actually scored a half dozen waves in February that came in over 150 yards. It was a great month for long AND FAST actually, as I clocked three slides at 20, 24, and 25 mph.
BEST MONTH MARCH
March was the only month where I tracked more than 100 waves. I usually have 3+ months that break the 100-wave mark. June came close, but the amount of waves per session in the last quarter of the year was much lower than my average. Again, I think that's more of a statement about my injuries and the low-quality wave conditions rather than me slowing down. But we'll see if a pattern emerges here in 2025. There's some evidence to suggest that aging is factoring in to my lower wave counts. But I'm hoping the past few months was just a slump/stoke issue.
SLUMPING STROKES
Comparing paddle data from 2024 to the past 2 years (Dawn Patrol has only been providing paddling data since 2022) there has been a regression in my paddle power. I'm not 100% sure if this is a real stat or not, being a new feature and all. Maybe it just took a few years to optimize the paddle tracking feature and 2024 is just more accurate, while 2022 was giving me too much credit. Again, another year of data should probably give a clearer picture. I've always been a strong paddler and wave catcher, but data doesn't lie. If I regress even lower than .7 yards per stroke in 2025, and my lower waves per session continue, it might be time to start paddle training to compensate. Paddle power is something I think I can fix.
NOT QUITE INSTAFAMOUS
Follow me on Instagram for my surf reports and my hack forecasting. I post local conditions after every surf session, so you can see what you've missed, and get a handle on how cold or warm it is... I try my best to give you personal insight on how the waves might fare moving forward, so you won't miss it again. That, or maybe I'm down playing it so you just stay home. Ha.
5 MEMORABLE SESSIONS in PHOTOS (I need to fix the order, I'll get around to it)
CLIPS & EDITS for social media... eh
Well, that's all I got for this 2024 review. I didn't do as good of a job getting clips this year. But I've purchased a new camera, so hopefully it won't shut down after overheating in 5 minutes like the old one's been doing. We'll see. It's kind of difficult to progress or diagnose how injuries are impacting my surf skills without the video. Plus I spent my entire childhood and young adult life not being able to film... becasue I'm old and it was a serious pain in the ass. But these days, not so much. I hope to grab a little more media in 2025, maybe I'll get something good. I think I'll be back in the water surfing by February. Fingers crossed. Happy New Year everybody. I hope you're surfing where you are!
OVERnOUT