My friend showed me a thread that a guy had started going on Facebook a couple days ago and I honestly forget his name or I would give him due credit(leave a message below if you like and I’ll approve it). A few people I know, along with a few I’ve heard of, and some I have never met yet. It was basically about crowding in the New England area. Just a little venting between friends and obviously nothing wrong with that at all. I even found a few comments super funny. One that made me laugh most was a person I’ve never met(yet have a picture he took of me as my background photo on FB at the moment) Brian Nevins to Everybody’s good friend Ralph Fratello basically(and I’m translating without approval or affirmation of my translation, but I bet I’m close) saying “we love you Ralph, and yes the waves were very fun. Now can you let us chat?” lol. Here is simply my take on what I read:

I must have been in the same lot with yourself and everybody else involved in that thread. After assessing the conditions and noting other factors such as over amped out of towners(myself included), a couple cordial gentlemen and people who couldn’t even put together a “hello”. I decided THAT was not the scene nor wave style I wanted get into. I drove away quietly to go find one of the many other options around. I wound up surfing with a good friend and a few nice kids and I’m pretty sure we all had a great time.

Here’s what I snuck off to, and maybe due to karma(maybe not) I got some fun waves with some cool people and even luckier yet Jon Walsh just so happened to have his lens pointed towards me on this gem.
I hope everyone got some fun waves recently and remembered to have fun. That’s what I went to the beach to do. You too, right? IT’S SO EASY TO BE COOL, and it usually makes everything more fun. So remember. When a parking spot is full, sometimes it’s a sign to park somewhere else. _!!!/

I have lots of cool/funny stories to share and one of these events inspired me to ask my amigo Joel Feid to do another guest article on What the Schnell?! Here’s a little background of one story. So I’ve been in New England since arriving back from Senegal and the seasons have certainly changed since my last visit 6 weeks ago. The water is now getting into the 40’s and the air with wind chill was 22 when I paddled out this morning. There are some things that you certainly don’t want to do here that in other climates might not be of any consequence. Long story short, I ran out of gas for the first time ever going to check the surf the other morning, and this is what helped fuel Joel’s piece. Here it goes…

That was a solid streak – Thanks long holiday weekend and ocean storm! 3 great days of waves followed by some super fun leftovers today if you knew where to look. Mr. Schnell came back through town after a trip to Senegal and I was looking forward to some stories. He’s about as amped as I am to surf whether it’s knee high slop or overhead barrels. Adult groms basically. Well things don’t always go according to plan…When a 630 surf check call is answered by “what does it sound like when you’re running out of gas?”, I should have known it would be a gem of a morning. To avoid details and a drawn out blog here’s some tips on HOW NOT TO DAWN PATROL!

– See how to hype a swell. This will get you amped for that dawn patrol you were hyping up all night – https://whattheschnell.com/2012/10/25/take-this-advice/
– Borrow a friend’s car and don’t check the gas level. Especially an extremely fuel efficient truck like a Durango. Then hop on the interstate and assume you’ll make it to your destination. Worst case, you run out of gas and your bud that’s almost at the spot will gladly detour, buy you gas and find you on the highway so you can add to the count in the lineup.
– Milk the break that’s been firing and empty the past couple mornings. Surfing is not trendy so crowds are never a problem. Friends also don’t talk about the spot they surfed if they had a good session.
– Take your own car. No carpooling allowed. Vehicles are hard to recognize, especially if there’s any form of stickers on them. It will be harder to know if it’s good somewhere by the lineup of cars and anybody pulling up will be stoked to see all their friends at the same spot.
– There’s six guys in the water with multiple peaks – damn it’s crowded! I wish it was all Quebexicans!!
– Document it. If people can’t see it, did it happen?
– Once you’ve had a sesh sharing some waves with people you know, go rant about the crowds online without naming names. That won’t point any fingers – social media is so 2010. No one will ever see it.
– You know that term “you should have been here yesterday?”. Well, you should have. See “document it”

On that note, I think that’s a Thanksgiving swell people in New England will remember for a while. Most of us take ourselves too seriously. Lighten up, appreciate the area we live in and the fact that most crowds are familiar faces. (Disclaimer: I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t mention how much I can’t stand the crowding that has plagued most of our spots in the past 10 plus years. Unfortunately it’s here to stay. But that’s why we having a pecking order, right?!)

Some notes can be taken from this photo. Notice how Joel’s whole body, not just eyes and face are in the barrel? That’s a good idea and some people would even say that is what’s required before telling your buddies you got stuffed in a tube. Just takes practice, and we all bent only at the waist at one point. Even Slater! (Which Slater, Kelly, Dylan, Sean or Evan is up to you to decide as we are all our own judge and jury…)

Some notes can be taken from this picture too. Notice the idiot who is freezing holding the brand new $20 gas can on the side of a freeway(actually that’s a lie. It’s a toll way and they LOVE charging for it. Especially when you forget you need to carry cash to drive back here!)? This is a BAD idea! When freezing is ten degrees warmer than the current outside air temp, running out of gas can be more than just a pain in the ass, it can be dangerous! However, since we’ve all done dumb stuff, remember to help others when they are in the middle of their “crisis”. Haha. Thanks again Joel!

I have dreamed of visiting Dakar, Senegal for about the last six years, which was when I first stumbled upon its geography on google earth. So obviously when the opportunity arose a couple weeks ago I took off to Senegal with a one day notice and I had no idea how things were gonna go. What I did know is that my buddy Tyler McGill would be arriving the morning before me and had lined up the place to stay on Ngor Island(Now for those of you who don’t know Tyler, I think he may be the only person I know that is “luckier” than me. He parlayed winning a bet walking from Boston to New York into a CBS gig in which he got to do all sorts of cool stuff. I’ll save a lot of time and just let you google him on your own). So he only mentioned that the place was owned by the now famous Senegalese rapper AKON! Now if you didn’t google Tyler yet, it is no stretch to think he may be friends with him and that was my first thought. It also worked out that my girlfriend Jen was able to sneak away and having heard AKON owned the place I figured she’d be in for quite a treat! Now remember this part of the story for later.
At 5:30a.m. on the 10th we headed to the airport in SD. Upon arriving in Chicago we saw our connecting flight was delayed and it was going to make it almost impossible to make our flight from Washington DC to Dakar. Sure enough, long story short we wound up missing our flight in DC(see my previous post for more details if you haven’t read it already). This wound up costing us two days but we eventually got another flight and made it there. After escaping the mobs outside the airport and getting a boat out to the small island of Ngor we made it to our room. First glance revealed Tyler was passed out under his mesquito net with beads of sweat dripping off his face. Bad news is that it was 7a.m. Haha. He woke up as we entered and I looked up to see a ceiling fan not spinning. Of course my first comment was “scared to use the ceiling fan cowboy!?” I knew something was up when the look on his face was half “death stare” and half “you’re screwed” haha.
If you’re not familiar with Ngor island it’s the first wave the guys surf in Africa in Endless Summer I. However those guys stayed across the way in the government hotel. Apparently ever since then the island has decided to keep its cool small island vibe and pass on being connected to the power grid of the mainland. Any electricity is generated by wind and solar and in very small quantities. VERY COOL(unless you brought 3 cameras an iPhone a gopro and a MacBook Pro lol)!!! I could now see as well why the ceiling fan I joked to Ty about wasn’t spinning or cooling anything down lol. Also the toilets were 100% manual. Again, fine for Ty and I, but not if you brought your girlfriend and it’s NOT what she was expecting haha. This was why I mentioned AKON owning the camp earlier was because we were envisioning this crazy lush compound haha. Anyway, after a quick freakout Jen adapted very well and realized how cool it was to experience the “local style” as I put it. AND after spending ten days there I totally recommend staying at Ngor island surf camp as Jesper who runs the camp and their staff are amazing people! Just go knowing that you shouldn’t be an energy hog haha. There are a few fun waves on the island or if you want, Alassane, Kouka and Mua will take you to any of the other great waves on the mainland. The other great thing about limited electricity is that you get to met and ACTUALLY socialize with tons of cool people from all over the world. I had only drank 8 beers this whole year up until this trip but i probably drank 50+ more along with some local moonshine “whiskey” since there were plenty of Germans and beers on the island and most nights were passed drinking and playing the card game “bullshit”. It was so great not having people on their phones 24/7. The vibe in the water was great as well. Everyone is just so happy to be surfing and “localism” isn’t even a thought. I had so much fun sharing beers, waves and good vibes with Jen, Ty and everyone else we met.
It was an amazing trip and I couldn’t wait to get back and plug in to share. Of course my first meal back in the US landed me with food poisoning(ironic?), wrecking thanksgiving but oh well, I’m still so thankful! As I said we had lots of cameras etc so I’ll be posting more pictures to follow but here are some from two of them. Sorry for the delay on posting anything. All pics are by myself or Jennifer Pitman. Enjoy!

@mattberky New England clips would be coming sooner than later but…
After 5 years with not one issue my MacBook fizzled today. Sniffle sniffle 😥😭
Here’s a couple stills from the video for now.
_!!!/

Happy Halloween!

Now before we go getting SANDY in our pantsy’s, I wanted to remind all of you to review the now famous article by Joel Feid! READ IT, and treat it as the bible! Now go start up your hype train!

When Ryan asked me to do a forecast piece, I said “what the schnell”?!! Our Facebook friends were so accurate for Leslie, where could my insight possibly be useful?! Here are some fool proof steps to ensure you’ll score the best waves with the least amount of people:

– Accept all Facebook friend requests (whether you know them or not)
– Then take all their forecasts/predictions seriously (especially beginners, weekend diehards and SUPers)
– Don’t check Surfline, Wunderground, NOAA or any forecasting sites. Why waste your time? FB people have swells predicted before dust is even leaving the African coast.
– Weather patterns never change so that big blob you see on the 180 hour forecast is bound to happen! Plan your spot weeks in advance (“Man, did you see the 180 hour? Spot X is going to be so sick in two Tuesdays at 10:47”.)
– Be prepared. It might be flat today but make sure you keep that 9’0” BIC strapped to your roof at all times. Chicks dig surfers and that big stick is screaming local pro.
– Don’t go to the beach to check the surf. Webcams give an accurate depiction of all spots.
– If you must go to the beach to see for yourself – find the Quebec plates. They’re the best around and have been scoring the secret spots for years. The boardshorts over the wetsuit should have already given that away.
– Also – believe every story you hear. No one ever exaggerates!
– Finally – update FB, Instagram and Twitter with your location. A photo would be even more helpful. That’s the best crowd control around.
– Repeat for all hurricanes, nor’easters, windswells and random farts in the bathtub…

Don’t forget, Joel shreds and clearly knows what he’s talking about!

As mentioned in the past, I’ve been coaching Michael Gumina and I just wanted to throw up a shout out since he made the final this weekend at salt creek. Congrats bud! Our next training phase will be lots of curls so that we can lift a first place trophy haha. Here’s a little collage I made from our Thursday film session.

It’s hard to beat days like this!

I headed north on Monday and scored some goodness.