Letter: - November 26, 2018

What does “occ” in “occ a little bigger” mean in the surf report for wave height?

Thanks!

– Gina H.

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Surf Station Response:

Gina,

occ a little bigger is short for occasionally a little bigger. If it’s 2 to occasionally 3 feet, then most the waves are round 2 feet but occasionally a 3 foot set wave will push through. occ is just an abbreviation for occasionally.

-Tory

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Letter: - November 21, 2018

Tory,

I just learned that blue sky Surf Shop is closing its doors after 40 years of service to the community. It is a sad day for the surfing Community even though they were part of the competition of providing surfboards to St Augustine I wish all them in the staff at blueskysurfshop well thank you for your 40 Years of dedication and hard work let’s hope that this is not the standard and more surf shops do not close in the area.

-Chris

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Surf Station Response:

Chris,

I am sad for them! A great hard core surf shop closing their doors is never a good thing for the surf community. I wish them nothing but the best in the years ahead.

-Tory

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Letter: - October 8, 2018

Tory,

On 9/18 I brought my first board ever. It is a used Hobie Slug. Jeremy at Surf station 2 at Crescent Beach helped me understand the board and why it would be my best choice for my first board. He was great.

I look forward to continue being a Surf Station customer for years to come

Jimmie V.

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Surf Station Response:

Jimmie,

Yes Jeremy and all the staff at Surf Station 2 are great! We truly want to find each surfer the right board for them. Thank you so much for your trust in Surf Station and our staff!

-Tory

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Letter: - September 20, 2018

Your “weather station” page is incredible. Don’t know why I never saw that before?? Hey, thanks to all you all do for the NE Florida surfing community, even for us down here in Ormond Beach.

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Surf Station Response:

Pat,

Thank you so much! With a few exceptions, the more you are into surfing, the more you become an amateur meteorologist. Why? Because you so very much want to figure out when the next swell is coming, what the local conditions will be like then, what they are like right now, and more! : )

Information and more information is awesome. And we are happy to share.

-Tory

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Letter: - September 16, 2018

Good morning- I’m not sure who is in charge of your website posts, but I wanted to make you aware of the one that says “every clown from out of town who hasn’t surfed in a year is out today”
My husband is one of those “clowns”. He was also a lifeguard and surfer in the Outer Banks for many years. Now he enjoys taking his family & kids to the beach every year our two for vacation, teaching them how to surf. He would always spend a couple of hundred dollars at your store every visit to support the local surf community. However, if that is the mentality of your employees to call non- local clowns on their website for all to see, I guess we will have to find another store to support. Very disappointing.

-Becky

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Surf Station Response:

Becky,
I agree with you and please accept our sincere apology. The sent in comment should not have been posted.
Most quotes are hand picked by staff, or are original. But on occasion the ‘quote of the day’ is sent in by someone else (there is an option to send in your own quote next to the quote of the day) and we run with those quotes on occasion to allow others to have a voice. That particular quote was sent in and not screened properly, got ran in jest, and was meant as a joke, referring to the large, crowded line-up the writer observed that day. It was wrong for us to run it and we apologize, especially in light of the transients we have in town via Hurricane Florence evacuees, our neighbors to the north, who we welcome. We welcome them, and anyone, here at the Surf Station. From myself and my staff, I do apologize.

-Tory

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Letter: - March 26, 2018

Well, I use your surf report, because it is the only show in town, but clearly you and whoever writes these things has no consideration for long board surfing, ( oh it might be longboardable!) like that is the equivalent of paddling in a sewer! The south end of the island has one of the most reliable right point breaks in the country and you still give no regard in forecasting to long board riders, and you even dis the art. Thus I will never buy a longboard from you, or anything else for that matter, and every older surfer who asks me where to go for a new board gets directed somewhere else, you are biased toward short boarders and that is costing you money, and I will continue to direct all perspective buyers elswhere. I spent $3000.00 last year on new boards and gear, and none of that was from you due to the attitude you display here and in your shop. You were much better when it really was the surf station. Oh, and focus your wave cam please, I still look at it as well as Southbeach, and Summerhouse cams. Wake up! Longborders have a lot of money to spend and you aren’t getting much of it.
Peace- Oso

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Surf Station Response:

Dear Oso,

You have us all wrong. We love longboarding! I am the one who does the surf report and for sure love longboarding. When I do the surf report and say ‘May be longboardable’ I mean that as a compliment! Rather than not surf on a small day, you can crack out your longboard and enjoy!

I do not mean to dis the art and never knowingly have. And if I have, I apologize.

-Tory

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Letter: - September 5, 2017

Fall, 2017

Surf Factor call too high and the surf report:  

1st off, thank you for the best free report and forecast out there. always has been consistent and accurate for the 15 or so years ive been in the area. that being said ive noticed lately that the call on the wave height and surf factor has been higher than in the past. noticed it mainly on smaller days of late ,seeing the report calling for 2 ft wave heights. typically that has translated to a bit of swell in the waist high plus range ( according to dean’s # ‘s ) , but as of late its been smaller than those old numbers would reflect. could really care less about this because im not changing my schedule to surf small days anyway… however… after surfing late this morning ( monday 8/28 ) i was REALLY surprised to see the reporter giving it a 7 out of 10 on the surf scale. it was good north of town, but i cant ever recall seeing a rating that high, let alone for a swell that was largely under head high. i would have been pretty pissed had i seen that report and cancelled my appointments for the afternoon. i usually wouldnt waste my time on complaining about something like this , but i felt like it might be a trend worth correcting. thanks again for all ya do and all you have done for the surf community over the years.   -Andrew

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Surf Station Response:

Andrew,

      Thank you so much for your letter and feedback.   We had a different surf reporter that day, and he saw it as a 7 so reported it as such.   No, I would not have called it that high, for consistency sake. 

The reason I am responding publicly to your letter is… I have been feeling over the past year or so , that our surf report is becoming less and less relevant.  This is due to the advent of yet more ways of increased mass communication.   And if this is the case, the energy to keep our report 100% accurate all the time can go in another direction.  Or should it?   Should we correct the slippage of late and get back ‘on it’?  I am aware of what you are talking about, and some of it is due to the way we lay out the report.   Sometimes I simply write in the comments section and say the surf is smaller or the waves worse and “to ignore the above text report and go with this note” and I don’t change the whole report (and thus the surf factor may remain high when the comments are saying something different) .   This is a shortcut as the report is so super detailed and can take more than an hour to change it properly.   I don’t know if people really care to have multiple reports per day.   And if it is something we need to be doing with all the changes of late.    

To discuss this, lets look back:   In the past.. (heck lets go back 30-40 years for fun) the surf report was a thumbs up or thumbs down while you drove to the beach and cars were coming back the other way.   When the internet arrived and before Surline, we (the Surf Station and it’s Messageboard) were so much more important and relevant in that we were THE local source for surf information in this area.  Yes there were others but we like to think we are the best at what we do.  

Flash forward to today.   Now-a-days it’s not just that Surfline that has cams everywhere, but now every surfer is a reporter with his cell phone camera in his pocket & reports via text , Instagram, and more.  One can find out if the surf is good fairly easily.   So who need Surf Station?  

Yes we continue and love our work.  But in the past if we did not have a fresh surf report up, the phones at the shop would not stop ringing as surfers demanded to know what we were calling it.  Now, seems no one even notices.  Hey but I am glad you noticed.  Yours was the only letter that came in.   

Knowing there is at least one surfer out there willing to give feedback, we will step it back up a notch, there is a hurricane on the way!

-Tory

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Letter: - October 7, 2013

An open letter to Jaguar management:

Why you should sign Tim Tebow NOW.

I get it. Pro football is all about winning. The ultimate goal is to win the Super Bowl. This man made hype is bought into by millions of football fans nationwide every year, including all of us in the Jacksonville area.

But not every team is going to win the Super Bowl. Some are not even going to be close. Jacksonville is in that category this year. So for this season, what can you do? What can you do to make this season FUN? Is there anything left?

As we all know there are millions of Tim Tebow fanatics out there. It can be debated till the Gators come home if he is worthy of the NFL. With the Jags going to Denver this week, now is your opportunity to shut up us Tebow crazies, make money for your team with all the jerseys that will instantly sell, and you will gain national publicity for Jacksonville, as ESPN would be all over the story. A story that has the potential for an ugly ending.

What better time to bring Tebow back? What have you got to lose? Your team is 0-4. You just lost your #1 pick of the season (so you are allowed to sign a new player), and if Tebow plays horribly you can cut him next week, tell the Tebow fans you tried, and move on.

So please, bring us a glimmer of hope. It’s expected to be a huge Bronco romp in Denver this coming week, but Tebow plays good there.

Yeah yeah you will say, it’s not that easy. Hey, anything is possible. Do it. Let’s have some fun in the NFL. Not all of us are going to win the Super Bowl.

– Tory Strange

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Letter: - April 30, 2013

AND THE WINNER IS…..

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