Hurricane "DOLLLLLY" !!!

pictures coming soon...


CANE # 16, for this surfer...Left my boat house at 3 a.m. thurs. morn. Easy driving, for awhile, then the cane. Reminded me of driving in blizzards up in Idaho to go ski. Forget about it, gusting 50 knots down by Oakville, I am in 2nd gear on the freeway!!!!!, pull over, get in the back and go to sleep until 7. Didn't want my surf-mobile to blow over in the middle of the night. I sunk a boat already this year, so yearnin now to play it safe. Saw Peter Holt yesterday, we watched the sky in San Antonio, the cane was getting near shore and category 2. He sent 70 game wardens with boats down to the Rio Grande Valley to help out. This thing is massive this morning and I'm glad it is 120 miles due west. I know that the surf is just out of control, so I'm going to take care of a little business in Aransas Pass. Stop by the Sea Academy to get some paper work for my Captains license. I get a chance to visit with Capt. Chuck West, the man who taught me last summer, he is a good ol’ boy all the way, and he wants to hear all about my sinking. We get along so I hold nothin back, and it felt good to talk, he told me to not be a stranger and to stop by again.....Dolly's storm surge was up to the dunes yesterday, the sand is still wet but I can park the surf-mobile later today in my favorite surf camp spot. I'm not going out today it just isn't possible, blowing almost a Gale and the waves are enormous. Sunny out, and Tide Guide can look forward to improving weather for the next week. I'll be here 6 days and take care of the Albro's family summer vacation, this is their third year and all nine of them are coming tomorrow. I think it was Dillon their 18 year old who started the surf camp tradition, the 30 foot rule. His step Dad Patrick spends to much time out in the water helping his daughters and his wife and brother and sister in law and not enough time practicing himself, and for the past two seasons he did not score a 30 foot glide. And Dillon teased him, I let people sign their names on the awning if they can surf 30 feet, but Dillon told Patrick he couldn't sign his until he rides 30 feet, it was funny, Heather his wife has signed and some of the girls so Patrick is under pressure this vacation.
Friday morning wind still howling from Dolly, it is so awesome to witness this system here from the beach. Waves are real knarly, I will wait until afternoon, and it should level out some, bought a new leash for my board from Ted's Boardhouse and we talked surfing, he had a terrific session on Tuesday when Dolly arrived. I get camp up and it looks mighty fine, so get out my favorite "Cane" and make it outside without to much trouble, it is big, peaks are 12 - 15 feet. But it is real bumpy, hard to line up, I get 10 massive drops, sort of out of control, a couple of long rides, two cut backs, and a couple of fast rail rides, one bottom turn I was leaned over so far with centrifical force I could drag my finger tips on the wave face, soooooo out of sight. Fast bottom turns is what this sport is all about. It is so bumpy that I literally am getting dizzy, a little dangerous so I surf a long one, almost to the sand, that would be 300 yards, WWWOOOOO.... Do some more chores around camp, a little reading, some eating, and watching the surf, I see another surfer going out, so wax up the "cane" and make it out again without to much of going over the terrifying falls, not quite as big but still 12 foot drops, still bumpy, real bad, this isn't a clean "CANE" but its rideable, so I get about 10 more and getting dizzy again, so on in to be safe.... Shower and clean clothes, Buddy and his wife Shawn arrive, Buddy and Patrick are brothers. We sit in the beach chairs and relax and soon a little after dark the main Albro family arrive and are glad to be in surf camp.
I had emailed Heather earlier in the week to verify the go ahead for camp, and to explain that Tide Guide max's out at 8 people. So one Albro would have to be designated to sleeping on a camping mattress instead of the luxurious cots. Shawn and Buddy and I had discussed this earlier and Shawn said, just wait and see, Heather will be on the camp pad. I actually thought this would prove untrue. But I guess mothers either just as soon skip a battle or they do things out of love, because Heather was on the camp pad both nights.....
After the Albro's get acquainted with camp and the new bathrooms across the sand road, we start telling stories. Cydni is 9, Sarah is 11, Hailey is about 16, Ashley is 18 and will be of to College, so I keep my stories about surfing light hearted for the girls sake, I tell them about the monster out there, the "TURTLES", last season 2 monsters jumped out of the line up and onto our boards, one of the events happened to me, and it scarred me so much I screamed. And I heard about another surfer who had his nose broken. The girls don't even ask about sharks....Then I tell them about the best surf band in the world, the Ventures, and the all time hit "wipeout". But maybe my fav is "walk don’t run". Maybe I like "Pipeline" best, I surfed Pipeline in Hawaii for two weeks in the 70's.
Early next morning, wind is still calling Dolly, no doubt about that, must be up in Mexico, but it is dragging this wind down here with her. Lots of Sargasso seaweed. I make strawberry stew, papaya, honey dew, oranges, cantaloupe, and black cowboy coffee. It's an hour and a half before the whole family is up and moving, so we sit in the beach chairs and take advantage of the island time. Sleeping down here is just great, it is almost cold at night. Cyndi wants a surfboard, so we pick out the Sanddollar for her, Sarah get the blue triple fin, they learn how to wax.
I have a new hat, I saw one of my lawyers Wednesday at his office, Duncan Weakley Bressler, years ago Edgar Duncan gave me a real nice palm weave hat. I've surfed it for so many years now that it needed retiring. So with Albro proceeds I went downtown and bought a Mexican Sombrero, also palm weave real nice. We gather the Albro’s and walk out of camp up to the top of a Sand Dune. Here I like to give surf lesson #1 and safety lesson #1. Waves I explain are way bigger than they look from up here. Green water is offshore about 1000 yards, still lots of sand and seaweed in the drop zone. We talk for awhile up here and enjoy the view. Patrick reminds his daughters to pay attention while I give the safety guidelines.

I just lost 3 pages of this surf camp story....somehow on my computer...all for now.