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Why you need a tide clock to go surfing! Most surfers know that you just don’t go surfing anytime unless you just want to get some exercise. Most areas in the world where there are good surfing areas, have certain times of the tides when the waves break the best. Winds also play a role in the quality of the wave you’ll be riding. Here are a few tips to follow for the gremmies out there. Play some Beach Boys music while you are reading this to get you in the mood or some Marley. When you hit the beach, sit down and watch the surf for about 20 minutes. Take mental note of where the peaks are and if they are rights or lefts. Are there a bunch of guys out there, too crowded, then check down the beach a little further. Most places where the waves break good enough to surf don’t break good at high tide. So, here you are at the beach and the waves are breaking on the shore. You didn’t check the tide clock. It’s high tide! You’ve wasted your time and gas money for nothing. In the 1960’s, a friend and myself used to leave the Baltimore area about 4am, drive 150 miles to the Indian River Inlet in Delaware, check out the surf and if there was anything surfable, we would go right back home. Now all you have to do is go to www.atlanticbreezes.com where you can get the weather and links to surf conditions. After you have surfed an area a few times, you will start to get the hang of how the waves act in that area. If the bottom is a sandy bottom, the peaks will shift after a couple of hours or by the next day, since the waves are moving the sand around. Areas next to jetties or groins, may hold the sand in one place. From my experience, the swells start to get bigger on the incoming tide and drop off rapidly as the tide starts to go out. So, you have to time your surfing with the tides. For instance, you should be at the beach about an hour after low tide. This way, the tide is coming in, waves will be getting bigger and you’ll have fun for about 3 hours until the tide gets too high and the waves start breaking on the shore. Hang ten, five, wipe out or whatever you do, have fun doing it. Surfing increases your endorphins which is what running creates in a runners high. No wonder people get hooked on surfing, it makes us feel good. It’s a clean sport, as long as the water’s aren’t polluted, so like my doc tells me mix up a batch of 50% rubbing alcohol and 50% white vinegar and put several drops in each ear before and after going surfing. Why? Well, I got a fungal infection in my right ear in 1998 at the Indian River Inlet surfing. I was deaf for 2 months in that ear. I was treated with antibiotics, which made the fungal infection worse. Vinegar makes your ear canal a place that bacteria and fungus can’t reproduce as rapidly if the environment weren’t acidic. The alcohol is used to help dry the external ear canal, since without moisture, bacteria and fungus grow much slower if at all. You’re probably asking why put the solution in your ear before you go surfing. It’s a preventative measure. Better to have it in your ear canal than not. Numerous surfers’ here in Delaware have also had to have their ear canal drilled out or widened due to repetitive ear infections. Take heed or end up with hearing loss as I did with tinitus, a constant ringing in my right ear and incurable. Do I want to go in the ocean again here in Delaware? Not really, but I probably will and you can bet I’ll be putting the alcohol and vinegar drops in my ears.
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