Chicago's Atlantic Coast

Last Friday I left work early to head to the airport for a flight to Chicago. The plane arrived in Burlington late and then a disembarking passenger inconsiderately had a medical emergency requiring us to wait for an ambulance. Finally, as we were just about to get on, US Air announced that the plane would be delayed for another hour due to weather. This meant that I would miss my connection to the windy city. US Air claimed that they couldn't find another connecting flight for me. So, after 2 fun hours of waiting around, I gave up on my weekend trip to visit Brad, Ray and Eric.

Frustrated at the prospect of spending another weekend in increasingly boring Burlington I decided to drive to New Hampshire. The forecast was for head high waves both Saturday and Sunday. It only took me a little over 3 hours on Saturday morning to reach the coast. I hadn't seen the ocean for over three months so I was happy even though the waves were smaller than predicted. Too impatient to wait for lunch, I paddled strait out at Hampton South Beach where 2 surfers were sharing a peak. One guy went straight in and so it was just two of us left sharing about half the beach. The other surfer was Terrence, a local dog trainer, and he happily gave me some local info on New Hampshire's other breaks. So much for New Hampshire's famous localism.

I was out of practice, surfing like a Vermonter and the water was damn cold (55F or 13C) for my 3/2 wetsuit. Skipping lunch turned out to be a mistake as I lost heat fast and had to come in after less than an hour and a half. Once I'd stopped shivering enough to drive, I drove all the way along NH's 16 miles of coast, finishing at Portsmouth for lunch (at 4.30). I then headed back South to Rye beach were I finally caught some decent waves without nosediving or otherwise making a fool of myself and staying in until the after the sun set.

I was glad to discover NH is really not that far away. I'll definitely be heading there this winter.

. . .

Still on the topic of surfing, my article "The Tragicomedy of the Surfers' Commons" has been accepted by the Deakin Law Review in Australia. It's currently under expedited review at a few other places so I don't know where it will end up. Roger Williams Law Review have said they'd like to publish it but they haven't committed yet. I hope I can get in published in the US so that it gets into the westlaw database.

. . .

Some news articles (I intend no implied endorsement nor comment on the accuracy of these articles):

Rutland Herald

SeattleTimes