This last weekend i flew up to virginia with eg and jake" ze grom" mcguire. We met up with pj raia from new jersey. I was taking our amateur team riders down to buxton, NC to compete in the last surfing america prime event. The waves were pretty small the first couple days but we had a couple fun sessions together. The first day of the contest was about ankle to knee high. Really tough conditions to surf and evan was the only guy to make it through to the last day. By the time the finals came it was overhead and side shore lefts. It was hard to surf but perfect for eg with left air sections everywhere.. He ended up winning with his last wave in the under 18 division to make that seven wins this year already. After they gave out the awards we packed up quickly cause we heard it was head high and offshore up north in town. we ended up finding really fun waves and getting barreled for our last session before we had to head back to virginia to get our flights home.

Check out the expn blog from our last session here. — Asher

This fall/early winter has been the best one i can remember.

Looking back at the months between October and December of 2009, I got some of the best waves of my life. We had an insane swell every week, sometimes multiple swells a week. I did have to drive up to New York a lot, but there was often times towards the end of the fall where there was a clean SSE swell and Jersey went absolutely nuts. I would rather be in New Jersey more than anywhere else during those days where you wake up and go down to the beach and are speechless. Then changing into my cold, frozen 5mil wondering why I am doing this to myself. But then as I'm paddling out I see my buddy get spit out of a barrel and that always seems to remind me. There was a handful of good sandbars in my area of Monmouth County this year. From peaks, to waves that look like cold, brown water kirra, my friends and I were on it. The cool thing about it all is that there were never more than ten people in the water at once!

Now, I am in California and the waves have been fun. There has been waves everyday and I have been surfing a lot and feeling a hell of a lot warmer than I would be at home considering we got two feet of snow before I left. From California, I am going to Hawaii. I will keep you posted on what happens next. Over and out.

-PJ

PJ Raia heads south for the fall

Sitting home during the rare October doldrums looking back on how fun the waves were in obx a few weeks ago is just depressing. The waves were fun but ofcourse not when the contest (Eastern Surfing Championships) was going on, it was knee high at most. Bummer. After and before the contest the waves were good, the days before the contest there was a fun windswell with rippable peaks and the day after the contest it was head high offshore and going off. Thats just the way these things work i guess. -PJ

Fickle summer swells

It has been flat for nearly 2 weeks now. I have just been fishing and trying to stay active up here because there has been nothing to do. Before this giant flat spell there was a solid 2 weeks of nonstop waves which was fun. This coming weekend, it looks like the East Coast will be seeing some Tropical Storm Swell courtesy of Anna and Bill. I will keep you posted on the way these swells unfold. - PJ

Qualifying for the Grudge Match

I had a great time. The rest of my stay in california for the summer was fun and there was a ton of waves and people around for the US Open. Unfortunately I only got to surf the first half of the So cal "Super Swell" that could have been hyped out but I wouldn't know because I had to come home for an important contest that ended up being worth it. The Grudge Match is a big deal in NJ and I am very happy I earned a spot in it by getting third in the Qualifier. This is a great event put on by Rob Cloupe every year. Cloupe made a great call for waves on the contest day and we ended up with overhead spitting barrels all morning that had to be the best waves ive ever surfed in a contest but deteriorated to chest high wind-chop by the end of the day, but hey, it is New Jersey. Here are some photos.

PJ's hitting the West Coast for NSSA

The waves were super fun at the beginning of the week but now it has gotten pretty small. Luckily, Newport, where i am staying has been fun due to a combo swell. Nationals brings alot of talent to Lower Trestles, so i like to go down there and surf with friends and watch people blow up. So far it has been going pretty well. I will keep you posted on my month and 1/2 visit in cali.

How to escape from Jersey

We got some little waves for the past week. It has been small and not really clean. I am ready to get out of Jersey because the season is over till the fall! I will be going to Cali next week for the Arnette Pro Jr. t and then a week later I'll be going back out for the NSSA Nationals. So, hopefully I'll be getting some fun waves elsewhere and staying away from the East Coast for the worst part of the summer(June/July). I'll let you know how it goes. — PJ Raia

Spring brings small but clean waves.

It has been Ride-able for the last month, but nothing great. There has been alot of fun clean waves but nothing like this winter! Of course the waves can only be good when I am wearing a 5 mil.......

The picture is by Ryan Struck