Sure school started for all you rug rats and the water will soon be getting colder but what a way to close out the summer. August and September were two months to remember. If you're sick of just looking at my still images then try this. Head over to The Thomas Brothers Blog and check out their latest video with the new cam.

In my last post I wrote off the possibilty off another Tropical Storm producing any type of swell that would hit our coast. Well I might have been wrong. It doesn't look pretty but we could see waves from a storm. At first I thought it was from TS Matthew but models are showing him drifting off into mainland Mexico. Right now the path of the storm I can't identify now looks like will wander over the Caribbean into the Atlantic, skirt by us and possibly pump some waves our way. Keep in mind when a storm crosses over land like this one will most likely be doing the storms projected track will vary wildly. All we can do now is keep our eyes on it.

Here is what I am talking about.





Whenever this storm arrives the winds are going to be absolutely howling. Hope for a clean up day.

Why am I up now? I just got out of work.
Mike C

Yeah we got storms out there just in the wrong places for the East Coast. Lisa is wandering around the Cape Verde islands aimlessly and TS Matthew is going to ruin your Cancun vacation. Our only hope for a tropical cyclone developing lies off the still warm waters off the Caribbean Islands. The waters off the coast of Africa are getting too cold. But hey, this tropical season was 100 times better than last years and it's not over yet.

My new lens is here in Charleston but I was at work when the UPS man tried to drop it off. Tomorrow I should be able to pick it up.

Looks like we might get some windswell this weekend going into next week. Guess we are going to have to get used to the usual Folly conditions again while we wait for a winter storm.




If that doesn't entice you to go check it out I don't know what will.

There ya go, the first installment of the Folly Flatness Guest Blog Segment. Hope you enjoy and lets hope for some surf this weekend.

Now I want a GoPro

Mike C.

Since professional surfing isn't as monstrously popular as football, baseball, or even golf; the mainstream sports enthusiast looks over the professional surfing circuit. Here in the United States live surfing competitions are rarely if ever broadcast on a national level. Maybe the cliche rebel surfer lifestyle scares the executives over at the big TV stations away. Whatever the reason may be Kelly Slater may be the best athlete...ever. Chris Mauro over at Grind TV stated this claim that will most likely make people who know nothing about surfing laugh at his declaration.

I want everyone to read Chris's article 'Could Kelly Slater be the best athlete ever? No Seriously?' It doesn't matter if you are the surfer who hates watching competitions and wants surfing to adhere to its inherent Hawaiian ways and stay out of the mainstream spotlight. Kelly lives to surf, look at that smile on his face after winning the Hurley Pro. I've never seen him that excited about an event he has won. Maybe it's because he's number one once again or maybe he's remembering the time he won the same event at Lowers 20 years ago. Read the article. It is accompanied by an incredible video highlighting the best of the Hurley Pro and when Kelly won way back in the day....he had hair back then.

I'm not saying I agree or don't agree with Chris I just want to bring his article to your attention during the Folly flatness.

Kelly's also a scratch golfer Mr. Woods.



Update 1015PM:

After eating some dinner I decided to check out the Thomas Bros Blog to see if they had a video up yet of Igor. Well no video yet, soon though, but local boy Kyle Busey has a pretty sick sequence over at EasternSurf.com. Go check it out.

Mike C

No this aint Surfline but this sequence could well be on their front page.

I wish I got some photos of the mid day session yesterday. But I didn't. Looks like we are going to have to wait a while for any type of surf. With that grim thought in your minds I have a few things planned for the blog that will keep everyone entertained.

After looking at the bleak surf forecast over at Swellinfo I saw out of the corner of my eye a little feature called "Best of Hurricane Earl Photos." I was surprised to see one of my shots made it into the little feature! Go check it out.

Something special is coming in the mail and no it's not a rental. Photo quality is going to stay good forever now instead of just renting a good lens for a week. This isn't some super expensive lens but it is a super nice lens which delivers exceptional results. Stay tuned.

Mike C

Go do your homework and check back later. I heard the waves were "epic" today. As some of you know I was very far away from the ocean in Columbia today. By the time I made it back the wind was on it and it wasn't worth taking pics. Trust me I was bummed out bad.

Lot's of pictures are going up tonight. Currently I am sorting through all of them so It probably is going to be a late update. Igor was fun maybe some leftovers will be lingering in the water tomorrow morning.

Mike C.









Everyone is mostly going right because the sun was directly in my face for the left barrels resulting in washed out photos. Quality is again suspect. I hate blaming my equipment by my modest 70-300 is on her last leg. She isn't fully weatherproof and the ocean air has taken a toll on the inside elements creating some haze that doesn't go away :( That's why some of the photos have weird color casts.










All taken at the Washout. Sponsored by Hurricane Igor

I think Earl made us think every hurricane swell would be like the swell he gave us (that late afternoon session). Igor has been giving us nice waves here at Folly, mostly in the mornings so far, but the afternoons have been marginal at best from what I've been hearing. Tomorrow looks like we'll get the last of the head high fun stuff. Good times

My water housing experience...

Okay so the water housing. Folly is just not meant to be photographed from the water. Yes, it is doable but the waves break all over the place. When they are breaking all over the place it makes it very difficult to be in the right spot and if you are not in the right spot you're in the way, too far away, or you get drilled by a head high wall in shoulder high water. If the waves were breaking in deeper water or there was a consistent break I would love to take pics from the water. I am deff going to give it another go some day but this swell was pretty hard to document from the water.

Blurry parts are water on the lens port (Bryant)


Fellow photog Hampton Andrews (andrewswaterphotography.com)

There are also lots of variables to keep tabs on. You constantly have to lick the lens port so little water droplets don't ruin your shot. If my aperture, shutter speed, or color levels are off I'd have to get out of the water and take the camera out of the housing to fix it. It's tough to get a keeper. I though I had to bring it back today but I have it until tomorrow which is cool. Giving it another go tomorrow.

Here are some pics from the first days of Igor. More up tonight if I can catch a break




Cuff from today. Lots more where this came from

I am going to be late now...

Mike C

Short post tonight. Just got out of work but wanted to show some pictures I got today with the water housing. I was only able to shoot for 30 min because I had to run to work but it was a perfect amount of time to get used to the housing and what I did wrong and what I did right.

I did a lot wrong haha. The photos look like crap but at least I know what went wrong. Here's one thing I messed up. I kept the housing/camera low to the water, dont ask my why, and it really screwed up the moment. So tomorrow I'm holding the thing up high. Also, with a fisheye lens you really need to center your subject or things look distorted. It's harder than it looks because you need to be so close to the surfers. Tomorrow I'm going for round two and hopefully better looking photos.





Mike C