First legit summer swell of the year.  The waves currently in the water are from a storm that developed far far away in the tropical Atlantic region.  I was surprised with not only the size and cleanliness of the waves but also the consistency, which are things we rarely see all working together here.  And can you say crowds?  I never even knew that many people lived here. **These photos are all from mid morning. Justin over at FollyHood took some more photos around noon time. Watch for those.**













All I request from you Facebook posters is this 'check out more at follysurf.blogspot.com'  just a lil credit.

MikeC

The waves were small this morning but were clean.  I took a few snaps before I decided to jump in myself.  Lot's of people out though.  Maybe everyone is getting ready for the 'swell' coming this weekend.  Let's just all be polite when the waves come and try not to run over all the people from Kentucky who've never seen the ocean before*. 

*I like people from Kentucky, my roommate is from there.


MikeC

95L is what you are looking at.  She's predicted to meander to the West into Mexico and do absolutely nothing for the East Coast.

I found something cool in the depths of the National Hurricane Center's website though.  It is a 2 week 'Global Tropical Hazards Assessment' map.  Basically it shows what could possibly happen in the tropics around the globe.  Whether tropical storm development is favorable or it will be exceptionally dry or exceptionally wet in a particular tropical region.

What I will do is post up the map every 2 weeks it comes out and I'll explain it to my best ability.  Here's the map.

If you live along the Gulf you might see a tropical storm develop in the southern part of the Gulf which may or may not produce some fun surf.  I don't really care.

What I am looking at is the above average rainfall in the tropical area of Africa.  I'm no meteorologist but if it starts storming over in the African rainforests those storms only have one place to go; the Atlantic.  All we need is some warm water and and favorable climate conditions and voila, we'll have our for "Cape Verde Tropical Storm."  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  It's still early in the season so we must wait and hope for a storm to develop over the Caribbean.

MikeC

Over the past few days we've been experiencing some smokey conditions from a few forest fires in the area.  This made for some weird shooting conditions but the pictures came out alright. That is all I have to say I'm late for work.

MikeC

But this blog sucks!  I'm gathering clips together to build up a little video.  I just don't have enough yet and my camera had one bar of battery life.  Couldn't find my charger if my life depended on it.  Bought a new one now so it's all good.

A goal of mine this hurricane season is to take more video and give in depth analysis of incoming swells.  I have learned a lot from last season.

For now all is quiet in the tropics and we must wait.  A possibility for some chop will 'fill in' over this weekend.

Justin over at FollyHood has some pics of last weekend.  Check the links on my sidebar.

Watch for detailed analysis of tropical swells and a video after the next swell.

MikeC

I told you people I wasn't going anywhere.  Seriously I think about the blog all the time.

As you probably all know the Atlantic Hurricane Season has begun.  Forecasters are predicting an above average amount of tropical storms this season.  Sounds good.

Invest 94L

I believe this is the first storm of the season the NHC has been tracking.  The past few days 94L fizzled out but she's back in action.


As you can see 94L is located just below Cuba and is expected to meander across the Caribbean over the next few days.  Winds are currently 30mph and the storm is moving northward.  Upper level winds are currently unfavorable for any sort of development in the near term but conditions may improve for potential strengthening over the next few days.  From what I see, I don't think anything worth freaking out about is going to happen.  When a storm has to travel over that much land it can't gather up what it needs the most; water.  But once 94L gets into the open Atlantic things may improve depending on local winds.

What about Folly?

Many of the surf forecasters are predicting some surf arriving this weekend with the best stuff on Sunday.  Awesome, crowds galore.  Depending on the strength of this storm, right now were only expected to experience a windswell event.  Personally I think it will be a little better than windswell.  Local winds will be light and I think well see a more medium period swell.  Just my intuition speaking.
Seriously though, we haven't had any waves for a while so I'm pretty pumped up for the potential for some waist plus waves. 

Depending how the forecast holds, I will try to get out as early as possible to take a few shots with the camera.  High tide on Sunday will be around 5AM.  Not good because I'll only be able to catch the beginning of the afternoon tide thanks to work. 

Let's hope for the best.

MikeC

Let me first say I understand how some of you feel about the blog right now (citing the comments in the previous post.)  With that being said let me answer a few of those comments. 


"Anyone notice how lame this blog is?"

I'll admit it's pretty lame right now.  Good observation.

"Yeah i liked it better when it was any and all pictures, not just the perfect lighting/trick/tide/swell/wind combo. There isn't an online surf report for folly (other than surfline) and this blog used to be a go to website every time there were waves, not anymore. My 2 cents....."

Any and all pictures is awesome.  I agree.  But I have a full time job and the summer time traffic coupled with gas prices (I live downtown) makes it difficult to get to the beach to solely take pictures.  If there were waves to talk about I would talk about them.  All we've had is waist high mush.  Hurricane season is coming and I've learned a lot from last season so I will be analyzing every swell that pushes this way.

"I knew you'd give up on this blog someday. You worked so hard and were so excited about it in the beginning. Funny how things happen. Do you even surf anymore??"

I really wish I knew who wrote this one.  Just from a curious standpoint.  But to address this comment you can reference my above comments.  No one has given up or I wouldn't be writing this post.  I'll be working hard this Hurricane Season or when a nice swell arrives.  I don't get the, 'Funny how things happen."  And yes I have been surfing.  I kind of like this question and answer I feel like I'm in therapy.  I bought a new tripod so I could take better videos.  When a good enough swell arrives the tripod and cam will be out.

"Haha i think thats the problem, when the waves are good Mike likes to surf instead of sit on the beach and snap shots of everyone else..... Can you blame him? This is a surfing blog after all and in the past 6 months i have paddeled out about 3 times, no waves means no pictures. Maybe mix it up a bit with some random shots every once in a while so people dont forget about the website."

 Seriously.  It's summer time (almost).  The water is warmer and it's just nicer to jump in the water then to sit on the beach and bake.  I need some good waves to get excited about taking pics in the summer.  I'd so much rather be in the water.  Maybe the reason I take more pics in the winter is because I am so freezing in the water.

This blog stemmed from my love of surfing.  First love is surfing, warm water, nice weather; second love is taking surfing pictures. 

Just think, there is basically nothing on the horizon besides a small bump over the weekend into next week.  While we wait for the swell to come the water is just going to get warmer and warmer.  The blog isn't going anywhere people.  I really can't wait to take pictures again and video.  Seriously.  Enjoy the beach and be happy. 

Mike C