Cocoa Beach Pier Super Surf Session 8-26-13... By Eric Cedeno

I picked up a longboard at Core Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach Florida at the end of August. I actually took a look at a few of other shops like Ron Jons and Cocoa Beach Surf company first, but didn't see anything that I couldn't live without. Plus I like the smaller surf shop vibe. I  asked the guy at Core Surf if he would buy the board back at the end of my trip and the said yes (minus $100 bucks or so). I still think it was meant to be, I mean it's not everyday that you can walk into a surf shop on the other side of the country and find the surfboard that you ride all time that's also about ten years old. I was really stoked to have the opportunity to ride the board that I know very well on the east coast.

About a week into my trip I ran into my friend Lisa who happens to be a great photographer and a pretty awesome ukulele jammer. I talked her into meeting me down by the Cocoa Beach pier for a quick afternoon photo shoot and was stoked to get some shots of me riding the pier. I think it was also the best surf of my entire trip so I lucked out there too. I keep telling people that Florida surf really isn't that bad all the time. It's like anything else, you just got to make the best of what's out there.

Back to Cocoa Beach

5-1-12: Tuesday

I made another trip back to Cocoa Beach. The surf looked ok for Florida, 1’-3’ and on the choppy side. It was the typical wind swell stuff, but was at least ridable. On my last trip out there I left my 7’10” surfboard with a friend. I called him up and he said I could pick up my board either that night after he got off work or the next day. Couldn’t sleep and ended up picked up my board at 1 am so that I could go surf the next day after work out in front of my hotel, the Hilton.

5-2-12: Wednesday

Went to work. After work surfed 2 hours then The water was much warmer than I thought it would be, around 76 to 78 degrees F. After surfing I went to a stuffy work party (showed up hour and a half late, but really didn’t miss anything). I was not in the mood to shake hands and kiss babies all night so I pulled a Houdini after eating some appetizers and a $5 beer. I’m pretty sure no one noticed I was gone.

5-3-12: Thursday

Went to work and got off early to watch the launch of the AEHF rocket. I could’ve gone with the rest of the guys from work but decided to watch it from the water while surfing in front of my hotel, the Hilton. The launch was scheduled to start around 2:45 and I paddled out early around 2pm. The current was running from south to north and I spend most of my time in between waves paddling to stay in front of my hotel. 

Every now and then another surfer of a few swimmers would come out and would drift down the beach after just a few waves. I surfed for three hours and got out only after I knew the launch window had closed. Got out from surfing and as I was walking across the sand to my hotel I saw my friend Dan from work who handed me a beer and said the guys were heading down to Sand Bar for drinks because the launch was now delayed a day. I thanked him for the beer and said I’d meet them down there.

I was starving hungry, because I had spent the last three hours surfing. I ordered some fish and chips and a soda and listened to the guys tell stories about traveling. Next thing I knew some people were setting up Karaoke equipment on the now cleared staged. I then learned that most of the people in our group had stage fright and didn’t want to sing karaoke. After a few more rounds of drinks we talked Dan’s chick into singing karaoke for the first time, ever. A bucket of money came around the table and I asked what it was for. They said put money in the bucket or sing. I said if I sing do I get the bucket or money and they said yes- so I put my name in and sang Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffet and got a good chunk of cash.

5-4-12: Friday

Surf died down to a shallow 1 foot which made it easier for me to decide to watch the rocket launch from on the base.

5-5-12: Saturday

Surf still shallow and super small. Figured I’d give my sun burns a chance to heal for and extra day and stayed inside most of the day. I did take a look at the moon later that night because it was the closest it would be to earth all year, it was big and bright just like they said it would be. I also learned that it's a $500 fine for shining a flashlight on the beach at night during turtle season. Luckily I didn't learn it the hard way.

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.