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After much anticipation Hurricane Danielle did not disappoint in the category of wave generation.  It stayed well out in the Atlantic and then stalled south of Greenland sending the New England coast several days worth of clean and punchy long period groundswell.   I didn’t get too many pictures because all my free time was […]

The waves have picked up and it doesn’t look like they are going down anytime soon.  We are currently in the midst of an out-of-season Nor’easter which is keeping things interesting right now, and there are a couple of tropical systems poised to send us some swell later this week and into the weekend.  I […]

Here is a pretty good handplaning clip…

This weekend we had a pretty good sized swell come in from a deep low pressure system a little ways offshore.  I saw it coming and rushed production on a new handplane.  I still hadn’t tested the first one I made because I realized shortly after finishing it that the weight and thickness were all […]

Finally, after what seemed like an endless flat spell, we have waves again.  Last week a short but large swell came through.  And like anytime it gets big, I took a beating but managed to land a handful of stomach swallowing drops followed by screaming fast rides then frantic exhaustive paddles back out past […]

I just made my first body surfing hand plane.  A couple months ago a friend turned me onto this relatively small movement in the wave sliding world.  After a little online research I was taken (slightly obsessed even) with the idea of making my own.  I had seen people body surfing in videos with small […]

I’m suffering from extreme arm/shoulder fatigue after battling some pretty heavy conditions the past two mornings.  On Sunday the Portland Buoy topped 20ft and on Monday it stayed above 16ft all day.  Tuesday and today it finally mellowed to around 10-12 which is still a little too big for the most exposed beaches, but good […]

After a pretty long dry spell, during which my wetsuit hung next to the furnace getting crustier and crustier, I finally got some waves last Sunday afternoon, then some more this morning.  This morning was particularly good, with a stiff (and bitterly cold) offshore wind and consistent sets in the head high range.

Worth mentioning is […]

Every big storm has to have a catchy name.  That way the tv networks can refer back to it for years to come as a way of patting themselves on the back for their “award winning coverage”.  The truth is, we really don’t need the amount of dedicated airtime or the silly graphics that they […]

I’m back in the water thanks to the good fellows down at Aqua Diving Dive Shop  on Commercial Street in Portland.  Its the only place around that stocks wetsuit repair materials.  Every time I go in that place I’m amazed at their inventory.  It is hard to believe that the Greater Portland surf community can’t […]