I'm getting a new surfboard today and it's RAINING!!!

[puerco-bellies]

I haven't surfed since I was 14, and today is the day I get a 9' "foamie", but it's raining here in So Cal. It will rain all weekend so any water time will be in a bacterial soup.

I am taking the sport back up for both exercise and enjoyment, and have been thinking/procrastinating about this for a few years. I recently went to the VA for a physical and my doc yelled at me for not exercising like he advised me a few years ago (my last visit).

I am getting way out of shape and too old to ignore my health so I am now really on-board with the idea that I have to exercise (another close friend died of a heart attack last week). I hate working out in a gym, but not as much as running, so surfing is the only exercise that I enjoy and would stay with. Since I've committed myself to this I've been eager to start, but my finances are a little tight so I've had to wait till now.

Earlier in the week I scored a used O'Neil wetsuit for only $40, and IMHO there is nothing more humbling then stuffing my late 40's body in to a form fitting wetsuit. Now all these lose fitting Hawaiian shirts make sense.. Today I am picking up my board and it looks like I'll be staring at it for now. Bummer!

[underpants]

1. Sounds righteous dude

Best of luck and cool waves

I don't surf but I have always been well received by every surfer I have ever met. No idea why.

It does look like it is great excercise or a great way to excercise. I run.

[atomic-fly]

2. Is there any reason to not surf in th rain?

The water is already freezing, you have a wetsuit.
Do you ever see any others surfing in rain?
If the waves were good, I probably would.
Unless it was a lightning storm.

[puerco-bellies]

6. Here in So-Cal runoff spikes the water's bacterial count

Almost everyone who goes into the water here in the Santa Monica/Venice Beach/South Bay area after a rain gets sick. The runoff washes gunk from the drainage channels and the local sewage treatment plants usually overflow. The bacterial counts are what you would expect for a toilet or worst.

Just after a rain if you go into the water it even smells bad. Yikes!
I just might do it anyways, but I will probably pay for my impatience.

[Roon]

3. I loved boogie-boarding so much

that if I lived in cali I would be in tip top shape. I would always be in the water.

[democracyindanger]

4. Rent "Endless Summer"

put your wetsuit on, stand on your board in your living room and make splashing sounds.

[puerco-bellies]

7. LOL I might have too! n/t

[oneighty]

5. I had a surf shop

on the east coast. I sold Hobie, South Coast, Greg Noll (sp) and several other brands that I cannot recall.

I also tried my hand at making boards-a real challenge but I made enough to rent out.

It was a fun time.

180

[puerco-bellies]

9. Very cool.

That market (Hand made boards) is being shaken up because of the closing of the major surfboard blank producer here in the U.S. I think that it will eventually prove to be a good opportunity for someone to step up and fill the void.

I don't know if the board I'm buying is made here in the U.S. It is a Surface Softtop.

[oneighty]

10. Made my own blanks

with a three part mix of polyurethane. It and the polyester resin was not terrible expensive. I bought it in 55 gallon drums.

Carving (Shaping) the board was the most difficult part.

I bet the cost of the chemicals is out of sight now.

My experience was in the early sixties.

BTW Have fun and be careful.

180

[atomic-fly]

8. there's kenter banks when the waves are flat.