Making the best of it...

Friday 2-10-12: In the late afternoon I made my way from my hotel on the west side of the street of A1A to the pier at Cocoa Beach. From the parking lot the surf looked on the small side many two feet (waist high) and bit bumpy due to the on shore wind. There was only one older guy getting ready to paddle out and it looked like he was waiting for the tide to improve. He said it was low tide now (around 4:30 pm) and that the surf should improve with the high tide push. I know the surf in Florida isn’t known to be good very often and you have to make the best of what you can get your hands on so I decided to get out there and see how things turn out. I pulled my seven ten (7’10”) green nose-rider out of the trunk of my rental car.

Eric Cedeno surfing 7'10" noserider  at El Porto (Manhattan Beach, CA) 8-2010

I still think it’s cool that my board fits inside the car (just barely) with the back seat down and the front passenger seat pushed way up.  I picked up this board a year or so ago from Cape Surf, one of the smaller local surf shops in Cocoa Beach that is no longer around. It has a heavier longboard feel that keep its momentum in the slow mushy Florida surf. Basically it was the perfect board for the day. I put on my sprint suit to help shield myself from the wind and made my way across the sand to the tide line where shells were being collected by tourist in the wet sand. I walked thru the shallow inside section holding my board and happy that the water was warmer than I thought it was going to be (about 72 degrees). It was hard to tell how far out the waves were really breaking unless you were one of the fishermen casting lines off the end of the pier. The further I paddled out the bigger the waves were getting. There was only a few other guys out and they would take off in the white wash just before the end of the pier. I could tell the waves would break further out now and then and made my way alone to the outer break about thirty or forty yards past the end of the pier.  The sets peaked about head high (4 to 6 feet) and I was the only one riding them. It’s a strange feeling surfing alone over a hundred yards out to sea and I couldn’t help but wonder how different it would’ve been if I had a friend out there with me. I have to admit that the surf in Florida is way better than most people give it credit. I pretty much paddled none stop for an hour and a half half, wave after wave getting into the right place at the right time again and again.

2-12-12 Cocoa Beach Pier

Saturday 2-11-12: What a difference a day makes. A major cold front hit the east coast and the daily temperatures dropped almost thirty degrees. The winds changed direction and were blowing out of the east causing a pretty hard offshore all day, which in Florida I found out usually causes the surf to flatten out (which it did). I check out the pier first but didn’t get a good vibe from the parking lot as there was a Toyota truck with a smashed window that the cops were trying to get some finger prints while two people stood with their arms crossed in disbelief. I figured it was time to explore a different spot and went further south. The surf shrank down to about a foot from the day before, and I feared that it was only going to get smaller so I decided to paddle out and catch a few before it was too late. The water was clearly warmer than the air and I was glad my spring suit had long sleeves. I managed to get a good amount of waves in during the hour session. Most of the waves were basically the same, slow take off, run the nose before it closed out and just try and make the best of it. There were a few other groms out but they seemed to be having a lot of trouble just catching a wave and every now and then a few cheers would be heard when one of them would finally stand up on their shortboard. It felt good to paddle around and stretch my arms, the little occasional waves were just a bonus.

2-14-12 Cocoa Beach Pier

Tuesday 2-14-12: Can’t beat the crowd. I could tell the waves were bigger today but still not a big as Friday. I suited up in my spring and made my way across the other side of the parking lot to the edge of the pier. There was a major side current running from right to left (south to north) and the lifeguard had the yellow caution flag up on his tower. I walked most of the way out past the inside section and felt the heavy drag pulling me towards the pier. It reminded me of the Huntington cliffs and I knew I was going to have to keep paddling pretty much the whole time I was out. I sat towards the end of the pier and the wind swell made for a tricky take off which I finally got the hang of after a few tries. I saw two others paddle out but they didn’t last long out there on their shortboards and before I knew it I was all alone again. It was getting cooler out and the sun was slipping away into the west. I caught a few more and it felt good to be out in the water again. I chalked it up to good practice, after all that were Kelly Slater started out right...

Cocoa Beach Pier

2/18/12 Saturday at Cocoa Beach Pier…

Sunny and about at 80 degrees at 10:00 am… The ocean was on the glassy side and the surf was small out but still ride-able in my book. So I pulled on my spring suit and left my leash back in the car. I was catching a few fun ones and just talking to the locals about making the best of it. Then I saw a guy on the inside walking his way toward us holding a big waterproof housing for a big camera- way bigger than my Canon G10 setup. He said that he wouldn’t get in the way and wanted to take some pictures. Way cool. He was out there for at least an hour, snapping shots of me and the other guys out. He finally went in and soon followed. I don’t remember his name, but he said that he comes to the pier every Saturday and usually loads the pictures on 2ndstreet.com or 2ndlight.com I can't remember which one. I’ve been searching the net ever since trying to find anything from that session and still no dice… Hopefully I’ll run into him again at the pier and get his email address or something. Later on in the afternoon I had a beer on the pier and decided to paddle out one more time. The surf was smaller an had a little bump to it, but I figured might as well make the best of it- after all it could be flat tomorrow. I stayed out for about a hour or two and just paddled around catching whatever was near me. It just felt good to be outside and not stuck in the office. I wish all my board meetings could be more fun like that.