Jamie Moran

The 26 Mile Paddle Around NYC

Jamie Moran — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 00:16:13 +0000

This past Friday I participated in an epic 26.5 mile paddle around New York City to help raise money and awareness for the SEA (Surfer’s Environmental Alliance) and autism. The task of paddling a marathon around the world’s most populated city was a little daunting but I was pretty confident my arms could handle the trek so I signed up, raised over $1200 and gave it a go. The views were spectacular, the water quality was what you would expect seeing as how we would be paddling up the Hudson River then down the Harlem River and finally into the infamous East River and overall it I found the experience extremely rewarding both mentally and physically. I chose to paddle the course in the prone position (laying down the whole time) on my 12 foot board and completed the paddle in under 5 hours, which I admit was much faster than I expected. My amigos Dan Callahan and Andy Carter crushed the course on their 18 foot boards (also doing it prone) and tied for 2nd place – a pretty damn impressive feat.

The physical aspect of the race was pretty grueling and a true challenge. Imagine paddling at 80-90% for nearly 5 hours straight without stopping – pretty brutal. The first two miles are tough just getting warmed up and loose, then you hit your stride from mile 2 through mile 8 then some fatigue sets in but you push past that before having your arms nearly go numb. A couple more bursts of energy are immediately followed by major physical walls but that’s were the mental aspect comes in to just keep pushing onward. And so it goes. There were a couple stressful moments as I dodged some serious tugboats, ferries, and barges in the East River – it was clear they were not going to move an inch for what I’m sure they figured was a dumb ass kid floating in the river all by his lonesome.

Mentally the paddle was awesome. Its filled with excitement and adrenaline out of the gates which then segues into surfacing thoughts coming deep from the brain which then turns into crazier thoughts driven by fatigue and ultimately a complete breakdown of the mind. In today’s fast paced lifestyle I find this kind of mental breakdown and expulsion of random deep thoughts a refreshing change. It is truly a great form of meditation.

After feeling lost and not really knowing where I was in relation to the finish for hours, I finally found myself creeping up on the Brooklyn Bridge which would be the finish of the paddle. After a final push through what felt like the longest 2 miles of my life I had made it. All in all I was super stoked on the paddle and glad to have helped raise money and awareness for the two great causes.

Thank you so much to everyone that donated for the paddle and supported my decision to get weird in the East River!!!!!

Prepping for the paddle

Hydration is key. Andy Carter rigging up some Gatorade.

My 12 foot beast outfitted with some GU sugar gels to keep myself fueled up for the long paddle.

Burning an estimated 5000 calories during the paddle it's essential to recoup some of that along the way. I nearly threw up after my 5th one of these.

The flotilla getting ready to push off.

The starting point. Beautiful skyline or concrete jungle? That's the new Freedom Tower being built where the World Trade Centers once stood.

And they're off! The non-racers got a 30 min headstart as they trekked up the Hudson River.

Despite the photo above, this photo really sums up the paddle. Just you, the water, and wild backdrop.

Andy Carter stoked to give the other paddlers a head start before smoking them all to the finish line!

Andy and Dan debating how hard they were gonna push it. They ended up pushing it pretty freaking hard.

The George Washington Bridge from below.

My favorite scene of the paddle. The GW bridge going into something other than concrete.

One the other 20 bridges our course took us under.

The finish line was at the "beach" under the Brooklyn Bridge. Just hanging with Duncan and the pals.

Me about 10lbs lighter than when I started and stoked to be done. Don't let my delirious smile fool you...I'm about 2 seconds away from puking.

Patience While the Heart Beats Anxiously

Jamie Moran — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 03:02:13 +0000

Recently I was reminded of the importance of patience and the role it plays in our lives. I’ve learned a lot about patience in my ordinary life and the values it has taught me hold true in my surfing life as well. Patience for swell. Patience for seasons. Patience for that wave that can turn your session around in an instant. And patience for the best set of the day. In the long run patience can be one of the greatest virtues around and has the potential to be amazingly rewarding. Unfortunately it also comes with a price – the short term anxiety and anguish that can often accompany it. In surfing, it’s letting mediocre waves go by. Dealing with shoobies and crappy waves while you wait for Fall. And the painful waiting between swells.

This video was one of the last swells of the winter/spring season. In it there’s a bunch of eating shit with a couple barrels that were worth the wait. It’s also my farewell to waves that good that Jersey will likely not have until Fall. I’ll be patiently waiting for waves again like this. But I know it will be worth the wait…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Farewell to Winter

Jamie Moran — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 23:57:39 +0000

Well, yesterday seemed like the official end of winter seeing as how the mercury almost hit 90 degrees in Philadelphia. It was certainly an interesting winter with tons of snow and fortunately tons of waves. Here’s a sequence from on my last “winter” session. Until next time, Old Man Winter!

Taking Risks

Jamie Moran — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:35:06 +0000

Damn, I love taking risks. My parents hate hearing about the risks my brothers and I sometimes take and have more or less looked the other way for the past couple of years knowing well and good there isn’t much they can do to stop us. While I’m no Travis Pastrana on a complete mission to kill myself, I’ll go on the record and admit I’m an adrenaline junky and will take any opportunity to “push it” whenever I can. Just yesterday I went paddle boarding for exercise and found myself scaling a pier and jumping off the end – literally. Just because I was bored. Some risks are dumb. Some are worth the reward. Now I don’t go around out of my gourd just doing this kind of stuff all the time but the urge to certainly ingrained in me. Some day they will probably kill me but I’d rather live and make the most now. The last good risk I took surfing was my last day in Hawaii two weeks ago. I had just gotten stitches in my mouth the day before from my board hitting me (see previous blog post), but the swell was peaking on my last day and naturally I was a bit restless just watching. It was a gloomy, rainy day with some pretty ominous conditions. My brother, Brad, was out there and really wanted to surf but there weren’t many takers at a lot of the spots. We kept looking at Log Cabins, which was receiving most of the swell and no one was surfing there all day. It was a solid double overhead with sets hitting the outside reef and washing through. BUT…there was some really solid ones. The ones that hit the reef right were spitting super hard and it looked like you could get the wave of your trip out there (of course you would be dodging some sets to get them.)

The doctor told me not to go in the water for a week – standard post-stitching procedure – so I was a little hesitant. If surfed and the stitches came out I would have a deformed split lip forever. Brad and I looked at it numerous times and went round and round about whether we should surf. It wasn’t really a day to bust a solo mission so it was either both of us or neither of us. Long story short, we once again threw caution to the wind and charged it. It was an erie feeling I will admit. The reef there is so shallow and dangerous and when it’s pushing 8 foot (hawaiian of course) it can be deadly. Hit that reef underwater and you’re in trouble. But you only live once right!? Go big or go home! You get the point. The day was turning into night time and I had that feeling the whole session that this might have been a bad idea but when a set pushes through it’s confidence all the way or you really will have a problem. Brad got a couple and then I got a couple. There were a couple really close calls with clean up sets but we narrowly got under them. Several times though my heart rate was definitely over 160 bpm. After about an hour it started getting dark and it was time to go in. Brad got in before me and I was left out there to find one last wave in. There was a long lull and with it getting dark the thought of tiger sharks crept into my mind multiple times. Then I saw it. A solid set hitting the second reef I knew I had to go. I paddled over the first wave of the set as it exploded over the reef just inside of me. I lined up the second one and put my head down and committed. It was death or glory at this point (a little melodramatic but also real to a certain extent). And you know what happened!? I pulled up under the lip, traveled through the first section and then bam! Spit out! I was as stoked as you can get in surfing. Risk and reward. And for a heavy risk I was rewarded with one of the best waves of my trip. It could have gone differently and may go differently in the future, but when you get rewarded like that you become addicted. Addicted to taking risks. And that’s why I continue to take risks: because getting rewarded feels damn good!. Official disclaimer: Live on the edge but within your abilities!

Log Cabins. A lot bigger than it looks.

The risk/reward ratio was high. Here is a photo of both the risk and the reward.

More Stitches, Please

Jamie Moran — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 21:12:10 +0000

Well, I almost made it. Thirteen days into my fourteen day stay on the North Shore and I was still looking pretty for an “injury free” trip – well at least injuries that didn’t send me to a hospital or have me booking another visit with my good man, Dr. Chew. But that lucky thirteenth day had other plans. It was a gloomy, rainy day but Log Cabins was producing some serious barrels spitting so hard that they had us running for our boards and completely ignoring the hazardous reef just below the surface. Normally, it’s the ridiculously shallow, razor sharp, jagged reef that is on the top of the list for dishing out injuries at Logs, but that day it was my board looking for a piece of me. I had just paddled out and on my second wave I took off deep, made the drop, pulled in, got spit through the first section, and spit on again before the rest of the wave shut down on me and sent me down under water. I was getting worked pretty good under there of course, but nothing out of the ordinary for that spot. A summersault here, rag-doll there. But then, out of nowhere it felt like I got sucker punched right in the face. My kamikaze board hit me right in the mouth. I came up and blood was everywhere. I thought maybe it was just a fat lip but then another guy paddled up to me and gave me that look that said it all. “Oh, yeah that thing’s split open good. Stitches for sure.” Hospital, brah.

And with that my lucky “injury free” streak was over. Brad drove me to the hospital where I was the only patient in the whole place (the hospital I went to was in a somewhat underdeveloped area). They administered some Novocain. Blood squirted everywhere. The doctor stitched me up and I was free to leave and go drink some beers through a straw. The next day was my last and I was bummed because, of course, doctors orders were no surfing or going in the water for a week or two. But it was my last day! C’mon. Brad and I ended up watching Log Cabins for most of that last day and eventually we caved. There was no one out. It was a solid 6 -8 foot (hawaiian of course) with clean up sets washing through from the second reef, but man the barrels were spitting soooo hard. It seemed like a bad idea in the making, I must be honest, but we pulled it off. We both got a couple, including my last wave at dark that spit me out in a fairly tale style that rarely happens.

Well, maybe the next one will be injury free. Enjoy the photos!

Pre-stiching.

Stoked!

Shades of "Saw III".

Is this face mask necessary?

A Wave at Backdoor

Jamie Moran — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 18:53:56 +0000

December got too cold too quick for me. When I got an invite to come hang out at the Matix house on the North Shore of Hawaii it didn’t take me long to get online and book a ticket to escape the freezing weather in New Jersey. I arrived just as a two week long flat spell was ending and jumped right into firing surf. Fortunately and unfortunately, I also arrived the day the Pipe Masters holding period was starting. That meant the best days at Pipe and Backdoor would be off limits with the contest running. Luckily, I got to surf Backdoor before the event in the morning on the first and last day of the contest. On the last day it was very uncrowded with a couple decent sized sets coming through. The swell was a little slow so there were only a couple chances to grab a good one. I ended up getting a couple fun ones before the water patrol kicked us out of the water. Here is a photo from Seth Stafford and a video of the final day of the Pipe Masters. In the intro of the video there is a pulled back view of someone pulling in at backdoor – that’s me. Check it right around 0:09 seconds on the video. Look closely because it’s hard to see. You can actually see the flash of Ryan Miller and Seth Stafford’s cameras as I cruise past them. And although it’s difficult to see, I do make that wave. Just warming up for my heat in the Pipe Masters – no big deal. Hah. Well, the clip is better than nothing right? More updates from Hawaii to come.

First light at backdoor. Definitely worth getting up in the dark and paddling out early. Photo: Stafford.

Click here to view the embedded video.

7 Days on the Interwebs

Jamie Moran — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 16:40:09 +0000

Damn, I love the fall season. I love every cliche about this time of year – leaves changing colors, pumpkins, thanksgiving, and everything in between. And don’t forget the semi-cliches – shoobies back in Pennsylvania, no beach taggers, people resuming the normal speed limits in our beach towns, and of course the fall swell season. The past two weeks of storms and swell left most surfers glowing like Rudolph’s nose on Christmas Eve. Myself included.

I had the fortune and liberty of pulling several marathon sessions at home in Jersey, doing a couple road trips up to New England, and even jetting down to the Caribbean – all in the matter of 10 days. Good stuff in my book. And also good stuff in the surf media’s eyes apparently as they certainly took notice. Surfline, ESM, ESPN, blogs, tweets, facebooks – all were littered with east coast glory barrels. As fellow Surfers Candy member, Chris Kelly noted “I think this is the most coverage we have ever gotten from a single swell.” He might be right. Here’s to photo incentives!

Surfline. New Jersey.

ESM. New Jersey.

Transworld Surf. New Jersey.

Surfline. Barbados.

Surfline Video. New Jeresey.

Matix Blog. Barbados.

ESPN. New Jersey.

Surf Boot Camp

Jamie Moran — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 17:49:09 +0000

Some of our Surfers Candy crew has signed up with former Kansas City Chiefs player Dave Klemic for a tailor made boot camp designed for surfers. Andrew Gesler, Zack Humphreys, Ian Bloch, and myself have been going for the last two weeks and are definitely getting our sweat on. Dave has developed a program specifically for surfers that emphasizes explosive, fast, powerful motions that have your legs feeling like jelly when you walk out the door. Gesler admitted last week that he,”almost blacked out!” after our final drill of the day.

The program is on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6pm for one hour at Dave’s insane gym (although it would be more aptly described as a training compound) out by Tilton Road. It is open to anyone and I would describe it as nothing short of phenomenal. If you are surfer looking to take it to the next level or just trying to get in shape (non-surfers included) then you should come check it out and see if you can hang with our crew. The program is just $175 bucks for 6 weeks and includes a 3 month gym membership. Definitely an insane bargain. If you’re interested email Dave (dklemic_05@yahoo.com) or myself and we will get you dialed. Check the video as a small sample of what kinds of things we are doing.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Oakley Surf Shop Challenge

Jamie Moran — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 14:55:58 +0000

Back in the spring Heritage Surf and Sport took home the gold at the Regional Surf Shop Challenge with a talented team made up of myself, Zack Humphreys, Andrew Gesler, and Ian Bloch. Winning the event earned us an all expenses paid trip, which went down this week, to Huntington Beach, California to compete for the national title and $10,000. We went into the event very confident that we could take out the stacked field of competitors but mother nature had other plans for us, unfortunately. Long story short when it was our team’s turn to take to the water an incoming tide destroyed all hopes of the small onshore surf’s ability to find the sandbar and break, leaving our team struggling to find waves let alone good scores. Oh well, thats how surfing contests go sometimes.

Our unfruitful efforts in the water didn’t stop us from having a great three days in Southern California though. Oakley stepped up to the plate big time and made sure all of the teams were cared for well. The sunglass company known so well for taking plastic, molding it, and making it worth more than its weight in gold took took care of our flights, our hotel (which was nothing short of sick – thanks Shore Break Hotel), our car, our meals, and entertainment. They also threw us a welcome party at the Oakley headquarters, which was an experience to say the least. Check the photo at the entrance of the Oakley compound in Trevor’s post. They also hooked us up with tons of gear, wetsuits from Buell, and tons more. After it was all said and done it was the best contest to ever do poorly in. Until next year…

The welcome introduction at the Oakley compound.

What? You don't have a full size movie theatre at your place of work? Oakley knows how to care of their employees.

A view of Huntington Beach from our hotel room. Small waves but great weather.

Ian Bloch enjoying the "wined and dined" program on Oakley's tab. Sweet.

Hurricane Earl Delivers

Jamie Moran — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:55:01 +0000

Enough hating on Hurricane Danielle already. While I should be pissed at her for not delivering what everyone was over-hyping and for making me wake up at 4am and logging hundreds of miles for days on end, I am not mad. She was gone as quickly as she came and just in time for Earl to steal the show. After having my expectations lowered significantly from Danielle, I was pleasantly surprised with Earl. Even though Earl pulled a classic east coast maneuver of having the best conditions arrive overnight, I definitely found some gems around both before and after the storm hit. Here’s a quick photo from Ocean City during the “storm” portion. This was a super fun session because no one was out and the waves were pumping. Let me re-phrase that. No one was out except for Andrew Gesler, Brad Moran, and myself and that may have been because we bolted past the lifeguards when the beaches were closed. Risk and reward, people.

An uncrowded Ocean City lineup is hard to come by these days. Fortunately, they do still exist.