Surf’s Up

It was the summer of 1970. I was spending two weeks of vacation at a friend’s beach house in Bolivar on Lazy Lane. In the mornings we caught speckled trout, and in the afternoon we pulled each other on skimboards using a long rope and a small dirt bike. One day we found an old surf board on a trash pile in the neighborhood. As teenagers we were thrilled to try it out in the mushy knee high shore break. We rode the first few waves on our bellies and then began trying to get to our feet on the board. It wasn’t long before we were riding the crusty fiberglass water craft straight in until the glassed on fin dug into the sand.

Wow.  What a fantastic feeling it was gliding with mother ocean under your feet. Little did I know that this would be the start of something I would pursue for the rest of my life.

In high school I bought a brand new blue 6’8″ Challenger with lightening bolts on each rail from Island Surf Shop in Galveston. This was the beginning of a new outdoor adventure looking for bigger and better waves. My parents questioned me about the excessive amount of long distance phone calls made to Sunrise Surf Shop to get an accurate daily surf report. Now we have the internet with daily and long range surf forecasts and surf cams from all over the world.

The summer after high school graduation, my brother and I drove by a longboard on a trash pile while coming home from work. I am not sure how we got it home on the yellow Super Beetle as it was a thick 9’6″ Rick single fin made in California. That board would catch any ripple, and you could walk on it like a battleship.

Some of my favorite memories were made traveling to South Padre Island in my parents’ Volkswagen bus with friends. My dad took the middle seat out and put two cots cut to fit even with the back seat. My mom rigged curtains on the windows. It soon became my favorite surf mobile. South Padre has some of the most beautiful clear blue water and some of the best waves on the Texas coast.

When I graduated from college and began teaching and coaching in North Texas, I still looked forward to trips home and the hour drive to the beach. My parents were kind enough to store the old 9’6″ Rick in the garage for me to use when I came home.

As the years passed, God blessed me with a loving wife and two wonderful children. We moved back to my home town in 1992 to allow me to coach with my high school coaches and players my dad had coached. It wasn’t long before beach vacations were a regular part of our summer routine. I spent numerous hours pushing my son and daughter into waves and hooting and hollering when they stood up and rode each wave. They also loved for me to pull them on the skimboard in the pools of water left at low tide.

When my son got old enough to paddle into waves, I bought him an old 8′ Fry tri-fin. What a thrill to see him trim the board and head down the line with a big grin on his face. It wasn’t long before we were chasing waves up and down the Texas coast. Years later we expanded our travels to include California from San Diego to Los Angeles. I can not begin to tell you how important it is as a parent to spend some quality with your children doing an activity they like.

When I was young, my mother, father and brother all had an interest in photography. I took to it also and became the annual staff photographer in junior high school. That love for capturing images was a natural transition into documenting many of our surf trips. Over the years I have edited and posted over 40 videos on Vimeo and YouTube. My screen name on an old surfing forum was Slug which I used to close each video with. I chose that name because I had a Hobie “Peter Pan Slug” surf board which was 9’6″ long and three inches thick. Here is a video I posted of me riding that board at Malibu. The video was shot by my son from PCH.

 

My son progressed to the more versatile short board but has some classic old school style on his 9′ McTavish Original longboard.

 

 

 

 

One of the nice things about surfing is the number of good people you meet in and out of the water. Doctors, lawyers, pilots, blue collar and white collar workers. The diversity of people all drawn to the sport creates a unique bond. The mostly positive vibe in the water as we all hoot and holler when someone catches a good wave is contagious and creates a fun atmosphere.

Surfers are like any other sportsmen looking for that next wave and challenge. One of the best scenarios for waves on the Texas coast occurs during hurricane season. When a hurricane generates a swell, and you’re lucky enough to be on the dry side, you may get long period wave intervals and offshore winds. This happened recently with Hurricane Michael. I caught some of the best waves I have ridden in a while in Surfside. Here is a video I put together of pictures I took in Galveston and Surfside during the swell.

 

 

Another quality time for waves on the Texas coast occurs in the fall as frontal boundaries start moving through. Before the fronts hit the coast, the strong onshore flow creates a building short period wind swell. When the front arrives, the offshore winds clean up the choppy surf and create long clean lines. When the wave breaks over a shallow sand bar and the offshore wind holds it up, you get a hollow section of wave that all surfers love to tuck into. Here is a video of that scenario I shot in Galveston featuring one of the best local surfers Gabe Prusmack.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is one more recent video I shot with a Go Pro session a couple of weeks ago. It was in Galveston with some clean post front conditions.

 

 

 

If you would like to see more older videos you can search my old user name on Vimeo (McTavish Original) or (Tim Lumpkin).

As you can see, surfing to me is more than a sport. It’s almost spiritual in the way that it makes me feel. In the water I feel closer to God and more at peace with the world and myself. When I come out of the water tired and happy from a good session, my attitude is good for the rest of the day. The closest thing that I can parallel that feeling to would be the relationship I have with my savior Jesus Christ that gives me peace.

Just like the north wind cleaning up choppy surf, our attempt to keep our spiritual life on a true north heading can be a challenge. Scripture reminds us of how we ought to be in and out of our comfort zones. 1 Peter 3:8-9 says, “Finally, all of you, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”

It is my prayer that you find that peace and forgiveness in your heart as you go through your daily routines. Take the time to breathe deep, enjoy the outdoors with those around you. Catch a wave and leave a legacy for others to follow.

God bless you and thanks for reading my blog!

Tim Lumpkin