I never thought I'd ever say this but I'm glad the summer is almost over. This has been without question the saddest damn summer ever. Starting with my nephew Michael Colby passing away on June 9th, followed by Ed O'Connell on July 1st, then John "JT" Taylor on July 6th, then Allan MacGregor on July 21st, and finally Rick "Sav" Savastano on August 7th.

The summer of 2014 will go down as the Saddest Summer of all time.

The paddle for Rick on August 24th, 2014 was in a word "Beautiful". The weather was perfect. The seas were calm. The friends and family of Rick Sav were 300 plus strong on the beach. It was a moving and spiritual send-off to a wonderful man. I know that if he could tell us, Rick would acknowledge his approval of a thoughtful and caring send off for a true waterman and local icon.



The service was perfectly laid out by his brother John. And it was exactly what Rick would of wanted. There were Hawaiian prayers, chants, and music. And the words that were spoken were well thought out and covered his love of family, ocean, and the New England Patriots. The service on the beach was followed by an amazing paddle by at least 200 of his family and friends.



The sun was setting and put out a warm August glow over the entire tribe. The water itself was almost tropical. It was so warm. Many paddled out in just trunks. It was almost as if the waters had turned Hawaiian. It was that nice.

Everyone who wanted to speak had the opportunity as we went around the circle and let each person say something. After each person had the chance to speak we all let out a loud hoot and tossed our flowers into the center of the circle and splashed water.



Those who stayed on the beach joined in as well.

The heavens were smiling down on us all as we said Aloha to our brother Rick. As he now sits above us in the clouds watching over Janet, John, Barbara, Aly and the rest of his family and friends.
Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile.

Aloha Rick Sav. A Hui Ho.

The saving grace after Rick's paddle was the incredible week of waves. And no one could figure out where the swell was coming from. The first few days that followed Rick's paddle was incredible. Super warm water where even I surfed for 4 days in a row with NO wetsuit. And then...Hurricane Cristobal came up the coast.

And while that was happening here, our friends on the west coast were getting their share of HUGE epic surf from Hurricane Maria. The East coast and the West Coast were experiencing incredible surf. I know that surfers on both coasts really needed these tropical ground swells, because the internet was buzzing for days with images and video clips from both the Atlantic and the Pacific.



Check out this beast from Newport California. Whoa!

Looks more like Pipeline then it does California. My west coast connection Ben Ginsberg shot some insane surf during this swell.
His gallery is worth checking out.



Nobody missed it. The swell hung around for two days here on the east coast and at least that long out west. Sometimes you have to be careful of what you wish for. Because on Friday August 29th, 2014 we had the annual HIT THE BEACH event where we take Wounded Warriors surfing at North Beach in Hampton.

This year the participants got to surf in Hurricane surf.



But they were up to the task and everyone had the best time. There are some really cool pics down in the gallery section. So many smiles and good vibes. This is one of those days where every person involved leaves the beach feeling good.



The dog days of August was just what the doctor ordered for this Marine and his best friend. This dog was so cool.

And I've said this before and I'll say it again, the volunteers get as much if NOT MORE then the actual vets themselves. I know I do.
And I know I am not alone.



My man Jerry is one stoked individual. He was out for hours. He lost both his arms in combat and one might think he would be bitter and down. But he is anything but. He sent me an email in the spring saying "You have turned me into a surfing fool Ralph!" All I could do is laugh. Because he meant it. I love you Jerry.


"Surfing Heals All Wounds"