PHLOGGING THE 2011 HURRICANE SEASON The Stealth Sessions Continue With Katia and Maria Words and photos by Dick “Mez” Meseroll
Hurricane Katia and her
substantial groundswell could not have hit Florida in a more ill-timed fashion
for me.
After Irene threw a severe
beating to the Bahamas and North Carolina, and with my partner Tom Dugan
covering the Quiksilver Pro New York up in his old stomping grounds of Long
Island along with ESM's Editor Nick
McGregor and Photo Editor Nate Adams in tow, I felt my travel options were
limited.
Some of my oldest,
close-by, go-to destinations mentioned above were ravaged and
semi-inaccessible, and now was not the time to go a-hunting in those places.
These limitations were
exacerbated to the extreme by the fact that I had also volunteered for
September Surf Expo duty months before the 2011 hurricane season got underway
while our crew would be ably covering the biggest pro event ever held on the
East Coast since the old Grog’s Seaside Pro events in my home state of Jersey
in the mid- to late-‘70s.
Even back then I knew by
rolling the meteorological dice that I could find myself boxed in as our season
peaked in mid-September and — shocker — that’s exactly what
happened when Katia came up snake eyes with no Lady Luck as far as I was
concerned.
But for Katia in
particular I had a contingency plan which was, basically, to weasel out of as
much Surf Expo time as would be necessary (thank you Laurin, Danimal and
Trish!) in order to get some photos, have the jet ski fully fueled and
operational, and do something as differently as possible while staying within
three to five hours of drive time to Orlando and the Orange County Civic
Center.
It was a busy four weeks
of staycation September photo blogging for ESM,
culminating with giving chase to two much kinder, gentler ladies named
Katia and Tropical Storm Maria, both of whom provided enough stealthy phlog ops
presented here within.
Most importantly, by
electing to stay in state once again and avoiding Sebastian Inlet in large
measure the past couple of swells, I’ve had a continuing, very rewarding
experience discovering just how vast and diversified my adopted backyard really
is north of Ocean Avenue.
Home is not only where the
heart is but also where some pretty damn cool setups lie that are certainly
worth revisiting just as soon as opportunity knocks again.
17th Annual Quiksilver King Of The Peak Set
To Go Down In Solid Northeast Swell Conditions On November 6th-7th By
Nick McGregor; Captions by Dick “Mez” Meseroll READ MORE…
TENS ACROSS THE BOARD Blue Skies, Thousands Of Surf Fans, Pumping Head-High Peaks, And Red-Hot Performances All Combine For Spectacular Final Day Of Quiksilver Pro New York
STORMY WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY Cory Robbed, Gabe Bounced, Bobby Suspended, Damien And CJ Out, Kelly Swept Straight Into Round Four… What A Couple Of Days In New York
