WR - For Jimi; A Topic We Don't Have To Fight About

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For Jimi; A Topic We Don't Have To Fight About

I seem to recall that there was a time when you actually waded around with some fiberglass in the the fickle Gulf surf...

Surfing has always been a therapeutic device for me. In the middle of all our divisive political and ideological bullshit that we all rail on and banter about on here, I thought maybe we could take a brief intermission and relish in some common ground.

Surfline: August 24, 2008
Texas is the bastard child of surfing. It's like being the middle kid in a family of rippers. On the left, you have the mighty Pacific -- the older brother, the trailblazer and the leader of the pack. On the right, is the Atlantic - the younger brother, the underdog who is always ready to surprise you when you least expect it.

Left floating around in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico is Texas. While mostly known for country music and oil, the Third Coast actually holds a healthy surfing population... when there are waves.

It's no secret that Texas gets a bad rap. But have a look at the images and you'll see that every dog has his day.

Surfline Forecaster Kevin Wallis explains what makes Texas tick:
While it might not be at the top of most surfer's list of places to go on a surf trip, the Lone Star State can certainly see pretty darn good on the right day. The bread and butter for Texas surfers are the southerly windswells that occur in the winter months from October through around April. These swells develop when mid-latitude cyclones move through the Great Plains region and south-to-southeasterly wind ahead of these low pressure systems kick up short period, drifty southerly wind swell in the western Gulf of Mexico. The longer and stronger the southerly flow lasts, the larger the surf will be. So ideally you want a very slow moving or even stationary storm to produce the longest lasting fetch.

Of course, strong southerly wind chop and windswell isn't necessarily the ideal surf for most of us, so the real key to scoring waves in Texas is being able to time the passage of the cold front of the above mentioned mid-latitude lows. With the passing front comes a shift in wind direction, clocking from southwest to west to northwest (offshore for many breaks) and both a rapid clean up and also quick drop in surf. That means that the clean and relatively solid southerly swell in the morning might be completely gone by the afternoon, so you better be on it!

The summer months can be especially small for long stretches of time, with only weak southeasterly or easterly windswell limping in thanks to the North Atlantic high extending into the Gulf. Of course, the entire region goes on red alert when a tropical storm or hurricane moves into the Gulf. As with any hurricane, the biggest and cleanest swell will be generated from large and intense storms moving toward the state, without actually hitting the state with the bad wind and weather. For one of the more memorable tropical years in recent memory, check out this article. While the summer of 2005 certainly had its tragedies, there were a couple of silver linings for Texas surfers as well.

:yamon: