Sept 24th 2005

That's a rap folks. We have concluded our southern states mission for catching everything from Tropical storm Arlene in June to Hurricane Ophelia this month. It has been a very exciting season. Big thanks to everyone that helped in the process of make the mission: surf a success, especially Eddie Toy, Rodrigo Miranda and Jimmy Blumenfeld. For those that aren't mentioned, check the credits in the final cut.

On Wednesday, September 28th, we pull up camp here and move to the Northeast. We are hoping to catch several Fall storms and swells from Long Beach, New York to the coast of Maine. If it's anything like last year, it should be nothing but epic.

Keep in touch often. All our videos will be up on the video page throughout October...

Max

September 22nd 2005

Over night Hurricane Rita has made history. "Near-perfect to perfect atmospheric conditions are necessary for a category 5 hurricane to exist and these "perfect" conditions are difficult to come by and do not remain in place for a long period of time."Rita became the 5th largest hurricane in the history of Atlantic hurricanes by weather.com reports. Now Hurricane Rita has the potential to be a very disastrous, yet an amazing creation of nature as it makes it's way through the gulf.
With the fear of repeat occurrences sweeping by New Orleans, it seems the Texas local government heeded the warnings and learned from the lessons of mid gulf coast states. Many things that create fear are born from hurricanes of this magnitude. It is important not to dwell in this emotional state. With all of our technology, resources and intelligence we have everything we need to live in harmony with nature. It is time we focus more on balancing our existance around natural cycles like hurricanes. With the means at our finger tips, we need to make a very important paradigm shift with how we live daily and the consumption of the natural resources of the planet.
As an example of living in balance, surfing is the most harmonious way of life I know. If president Bush went surfing maybe things would be different, maybe. The waves generated from a hurricane this size can be epic. Moments of each wave remain captured in my mind long past the swell that generated them. The photos and film of such occurrences document the lives of the ones that choose to live this way. Right now, the buoys in the gulf are jumping. They currently read 14.1 @ 11sec and 16.7 @ 13sec with ENE winds. These conditions are epic for the gulf. As I sit here realizing I may be missing the swell of the season in the gulf, for decisions I have made, I am reminded there are many paths in life to take. I hope the ones that have chosen the path to the gulf have safe passage along their journey and bring back amazing memories.

Max

September 21st 2005

We are Yellow light.











From the NHC. We are gearing up and watching the buoys. Everyone, lets keep in touch through today and early tonight. We may have to travel through the night or dawn patrol. Pack the bags and keep em by the door. The calls will come in tonight...

Max

September 18th 2005

As we rap up the shoot on Tropical Storm Ophelia, we are gearing up for the next round of storms flanking the state of Florida. Here is NHC's discussion notes on Tropical Storm 18

and then there's Philippe



We will be keeping a close eye on the development of Philippe over the next week. We are hoping the ridge forming over Florida will push it up the coast Florida and toward the East coast by the 28th. Time will tell. Stay tuned.

Max

September 11th 2005

Whew, it has been an amazing week. Tropical storm/hurricane Ophelia has been the best surf amplifying, wind generating storm, we've experienced all season. From it being stationary off the Florida coast, Tuesday through Friday, turning from a tropical storm to a hurricane, moving slowly toward South Carolina, again remaining stationary and now shifting North West toward the Carolina coast, all of these aspects of the storm have given us the best possible conditions all week.
I have so much footage to work through; it will take me all week to get through it. I will have it posted on the video page as soon as possible.

In other related news, Rodrigo Miranda is in the N.J/New York area competing this week. We will keep you posted with all the happenings starting Wednesday when the contest starts. We are hoping they get the swell around Friday...

As for Florida, we are catching the remainder of the Ophelia swell tonight. We will keep our eyes focused to the East Atlantic to see what is developing.

Until then...

Max

September 8th 2005

Hurricane Ophelia-cat 1. as of 5pm. We just got back from RC's and Melbourne area. The swell was about 3-4' overhead with the winds blowing off shore. We definately had a good glimpse of the current storm conditions on the drive south at 8am, surfing through 2pm and then driving home through gusty winds and rain. I will post up some video in the next hour.

Max

September 7th 2005

*Important notice*
Currently the server for the website is down due to the server being compromised by a hacker. We are working to get it back up a.s.a.p. Keep connected through the blog here. If you need to contact us, you can send mail to maxwell_morrill@yahoo.com


Greetings from the rain soaked state of Florida. Over the past two days Fall has shown signs of its arrival a little bit early. The Northeast winds have been cranking over 20+ mph through weekend; this created great kite boarding conditions. The St. Augustine crew has been out in force trying to harness the up and down wind gusts the best they can. With the overcast skies and periodic rainstorms the temps have been very mild...

With the recent development of Tropical Storm Ophelia, churning at a leisurely pace off the mid coast of Florida, we are on green light status for Thursday. We will be heading down the coast to either Sebastian Inlet or more south. We are gathering the data now in order to get the best conditions. Keep connected here for all the action...

As the peak of the season arrives on September 10th, we are ready for anything to happen up and down the coast. Here is a break down of days of interest and where the Mission Team will be:
Sept. 8 - Sebastian Inlet - Tropical Storm Ophelia
Sept. 10th - St. Augustine - the last ESA comp of the season.
Sept. 13th - 18th - Long Beach, New York
Sept. 16th - 18th - Surf Expo - Orlando, Fl.
Sept. 28th - Oct. 3rd - New York Television Festival - New York

Talk to you soon...
Max

September 1st 2005

Now that September 1st is here, the tropics are firing up for the next 2 weeks. This is the latest satellite image of the atlantic.

We are on yellow alert status.

Stay tuned.

Max