2012 WINTER OR JUST A TEASE, THE REFRACTION CHRONICLES
January 6, 2012
Welcome to the Refraction Chronicles, a timeline of events during the 2012 winter surf season in South Florida.
First, Happy New Year to all my Atlantic Surf Life fans, my family and close friends. 2011 was a good one and we are setting our goals high for 2012 starting with our new event feature, The Refraction Chronicles.
We just had our first cold front and swell for 2012 here in South Florida. If your like me your arms hurt, your neck is raw and your legs burn when you stand up. I spent most of the time surfing the good stuff and shooting the smaller waves. I am kicking myself now because I have very little content for this feature. Oh well, I just couldn't help myself this time but next time I will deliver.
Tuesday morning I surfed on Palm Beach Island
and then shot behind The Breakers Hotel. I spent a few hours swimming around photographing and freezing my butt off. The surf was good, solid chest high A-frame waves pealing right on the beach. I captured a few good photos and one shot that landed in the ESM feature Winter of Our Content.
Wednesday morning I shot again behind the breakers. This time from the beach and then surfed some small left over's on the north end. The swell seemed like it was backing off a bit so I headed south for lunch. We check a few spots around 2pm and couldn't believe our eyes. Solid head high lines rolling in with 2-3 waves in a set. This time I grabbed my board rather then the camera. This was very weird, was the swell wrapping around palm beach Island and filling into south palm beach, was it a ground swell from the Low or more refraction swell? I didn't take any photos and a few people don't believe me that it was that good. The mystery of the Refraction Swell keeps you guessing where, when and how?
Thursday I found myself with my 2 kids shooting at the Juno Pier after a quick longboard session down south. The surf was about waist to chest high in Juno with some over head sets. Super clean lefts and rights pealing everywhere. This time I grabbed my camera, the kids and shot for a few hours.
Let's pray that this is the start of an active winter and not just a big tease. I would like to thank Fletch, Tim Garvey, Frater, JW for their help and Gaby for those yummy cookies, they hit the spot! Happy New Year everybody and remember pray for waves and be kind!
A little sequence with Brent Meinhold from Stuart , FL in from Palm Beach on Tuesday afternoon. Sequence: DiMarco
The waves on the south side of the pier looked perfect on Thursday in Juno. Photo: DiMarco
Palm Beach was super fun Tuesday afternoon but I heard just up the road it was bombing and twice the size around sunset when the wind died. Photo: DiMarco
The angry crowd at Juno pier seemed a bit more mellow watching Giogrio Gomez challenge himself to make a dozen or so barrels. Photo: DiMarco
I think I needed to be a little closer on the shot but I still like the palm trees and sun. Photo: DiMarco
Enoch team rider Jay Boggess, Nomad surf shop owner Ryan Heavyside and ripper Andrew Fletcher were all breaking heads on Palm Beach Island Wednesday and Thursday during the swell. Photo: DiMarco
When you see waves like this rolling in to Lake Worth you know it's pumping on Palm Beach Island, or is it? Photo: DiMarco
I am not sure who this kid is but he was tapped in on the south side of Juno Pier Thursday afternoon. Photo DiMarco
On the left; Matt Botts charging a Thursday morning bacon strip on the island and on the right; some ripper blasting a back side air for the Sun Deli. Photo DiMarco
A view we are all so familiar with driving along A1A. Photo DiMarco
Enoch Surfboards! That's all I can say about this water shot. Photo DiMarco
Quiksilver team rider Giogrio Gomez scoring some of his first barrels of 2012. Photo DiMarco
