Tim Hamby

More of This, Please

by

A GoPro shot from last summer… We made it through the June gloom and are now slogging through the typical July summer doldrums here in Florida. Thankfully, the heart of storm season, the best time to surf in Florida – late summer and early fall, are almost here! It’s been flat for way too long and I am just dying to catch some good waves. Pray for surf!

Nobody Listens to Turtle

by

Spotted this guy by the walkover on the way back from a beach run. Big ‘un! This dude is living the good life in the GTM Reserve, just cruising the dunes and stuffing his face full of flowers! Like a gated community for Gopher Tortoises and other wildlife over there! 

Surfboard Art

by

Kaelyn’s art exhibit at Bethel Gallery’s recent “Meet the Artist” event for their summer “Anything Goes” show in Ponte Vedra Beach. Her work included my Mike Whisnant surfboard that I broke in a large swell this past December. She salvaged and painted/repurposed it, turning it into a really cool piece of wall art. Here she is with a few of her other works.

Cutting the Cord

by

I recently came across this website – hotdog.com. Pretty interesting. If you’re looking to save some money by “cutting the cord” and moving to streaming services, but still want to be able to watch all of your favorite shows, sports, etc., and just aren’t sure how to go about it, they publish a really helpful, comprehensive guide that lays it all out for you. It has a streaming services overview, channel matrix and step-by-step instructions. They also provide information on numerous free streaming trials, so you can make sure that anything you decide you want, actually works for you. I’m a big sports fan and they have one section of their site dedicated to nothing but streaming sports. Anyway, nice resource, so thought I’d share: Read more at: https://hotdog.com/tv/stream/#sports-1.

Folly Beach, SC

by

We recently visited Charleston, SC recently and while we were there, we visted Folly Beach. Cool place, a lot like any East Coast beach town! Fun and funky with a mix of tourists and locals. Their new pier is pretty darn spectacular. We enjoyed tooling around the town and had some drinks up on a rooftop bar across the street from the pier.

Charleston, SC Getaway

by

My wife and I recently took a quick little trip up to Charleston, SC for my birthday! We bought tickets to see one of our favorite old bands – the Hoodoo Gurus, an Australian surf rock band. As luck would have it, Gretcehn’s aunt and uncle had recently bought a place up that way, and let us stay there. It was so beautiful! We had never been to Charleston and didn’t realize how (relatively) close it was – about 4 hours from Jax. It’s an awesome town, and we had a blast! We also went to Folly Beach (see next post). If you haven’t been to Charleston, put it on your to-visit list!!! Amazing food, beautiful historic architecture and laid-back people. It’s kind of like an upscale St. Augustine. Here’s some pics from the trip!

Billy Idol at the St. Augustine AMP

by

This empty nest stuff is turning out to be pretty fun! My wife and I are nearing the end of taking in 4 concerts in one month! We caught the return of our favorite Reggae artist, Mystic Dino and the Blazin’ Posse at Prohibition Kitchen in St. Augustine, FL a couple of weeks ago; then enjoyed VIP tix (Thank you, Darrell Chapman) to the Roscolusa Songwriters festival, held with 5,000 our closest friends in Nocatee last Saturday; then saw the one and only Billy Idol at the AMP in St. Augustine this past Tuesday night; and are rounding out our tour by heading up to Charleston, SC to see one of my all-time favorite Australian surf bands, the Hoodoo Gurus this coming Monday. The ringing in my ears is getting a little louder, but we’re having a lot of fun!

Here are some videos from Billy Idol’s show. I’ll post his opening number (Dancing with Myself), one from the middle of the show (Rebel Yell) and his closing segment, White Wedding. Billy was as good (and rebellious) and energetic as ever! Still sneering, fist-pumping and stripping off shirt deep into his 60s, proving one again that age is really an attitude! His voice sounded great, and the crowd was into it!

Date Night! Woot!

Freshie!

by

My new stick! A beautiful new freshie from Mike Whisnant: 6′ 1/2″, 12′ x 19″ x 14 3/4″ x 2 3/8″, 5 fin, all 4 oz. glass. This board rides so well, and I have not even tried it in surf that will be its sweet spot! It was made to be my everyday all-around, but as Mike knows, I don’t really like grovel waves and tend not to paddle out much in surf below 3′. At this time, that’s really all I’ve had the chance to ride it in. But it flows beautifully, is fast with great acceleration (have only ridden it as a quad at this point), loose and paddles easy. I cannot wait until we get into storm season and we get waves in the 3′ – 8′ + range! I feel like it is going to end up being one of my favorite boards, ever! Here’s a look at how it came together and the final product!

Surfboard Ressurection Art Project

by

My daughter, Kaelyn’s, latest art project! I was pretty bummed when I broke my 5’11” Whisnant this past December during the East Coast Atlantic “Super Swell” down in Central Florida (I’ve since gotten an awesome new board), but Kaelyn had an idea for the pieces of my old one. She resurrected my board, not to ride, but as art, saving the pieces from the landfill and repurposing them as a canvas. She then presented her art project along with a 10-page paper she wrote on the subject of surfboard toxicity, disposal, and reuse, for one of her college classes. The professor loved her paper and told Kaelyn she’d like for her to submit it to the school’s Undergraduate Research Journal for publication! She got a 100 on her project and I get to preserve my board-riding memories in a really cool new form! Here’s a look at the process. She removed the pieces of shredded fiberglass and used plaster to create a smooth new uniform surface for her artwork.

My Pics from the Dec. 2022 East Coast Megaswell

by
One wrong wave is all it takes. In the words of Turtle, “When the wave breaks here, don’t be there.”

I’d usually be sharing a few GoPro pics from such an incredible, historic swell like the one that hit the entire East Coast in mid-December. As it turned out, I captured only one pic from that swell (above).

I had so much fun surfing Central Florida during the earlier Ian swell earlier this summer, that I decided to try another strike mission to score the biggest surf I could find, once again, down in Satellite Beach (South Cocoa, actually) behind my buddy Mike Johnson’s condo. And once again, it was firing! The forecasts had been calling for 4′-6′ with OK winds at home in Jax, but 6′-9′ down there with good winds, and that’s exactly how it played out.

I had planned the surf the whole day with Mike and another good friend and Satellite local, Mike Wilhite (originally from Jax/OP). What you see in the photo happened the very first thing in the morning, when I was paddling out through the bombing high tide shore break. (See the image from Raw Surf – that’s the break and we were, just down to the south) I was a little worried about taking my beloved 5′ 11″ Whisnant out in this surf (I really needed to be using a step-up), but I’m a one-board guy, and it had held up nicely in Ian, Nicole, and other large hurricane/storm swells. But these waves were even bigger and stronger.

I was almost through it but got clipped by an insanely powerful wave that broke on top of me while I was duck diving and driving me further down under the surface. I had heard a loud “pop” as the wave broke and when I managed to get my head back above water, I noticed a 3″ crack on the left side of my board. I thought there was a good chance it had buckled and when I saw the gash, I knew I was right. I had just enough time to feel the underside of my board with my palm to confirm that it had indeed buckled before a second set wave exploded on me and finished the job on my board. The whole thing lasted just a few seconds.

With my board/floatation device now on either side of me in two pieces, that wave also held me down for a bit and left me sucking air when I surfaced, which hasn’t happened to me in a very long time. All of it just felt pretty sudden and violent.

Ultimately, however, it felt like I was only in the water for a total of about a minute. and unfortunately, that’s all it took. Mike Wilhite loaned me a 6′ 2″ Epoxy backup, so I was at least able to paddle back out but I was frazzled the rest of the day. Oh well, I had an awesome time seeing the boys and am currently working on getting myself a replacement board. I’ll be back down that way again the next time the waves get big. It is a fun spot that holds big waves well on the right tides.

A little context

Child of Love | We The Kingdom | Florida Theater

by

I’ll post a couple of more from the We The Kingdom concert live at the Florida Theater this week. This is the first half of one of their hits, “Child of Love”, maybe my favorite one that they sing. Their concert was a literal party! 🎉 Had to get this in two parts as the video accidentally shut off.

Child of Love Part 1
Child of Love Part 2

Holy Water | We The Kingdom | Florida Theater

by

Enjoyed a date night out at the Florida Theater with Gretchen Wednesday night (yes, smack dab in the middle of Hurricane Nicole)! But Holy Cow, We The Kingdom put on one of the best shows I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen a ton of shows in every different genre you can think of. If you don’t know them, they are a contemporary Christian band with a rock/blues/soul musical style (think Hammond organ, heavy guitars), and a retro-70’s-feeling stage vibe. You may recognize a couple of their songs (Child of Love, Holy Water) which have been big crossover hits. They have what you would call some “epic” stadium-style songs, the kinds you can’t help but get out of your seat, clap, stomp, and sing along with. They are incredible vocalists, multi-instrument musicians, and performers that just kill it live. One of the things that is really interesting about this Dove and Grammy award-winning band is that it is composed of two brothers, and one of the brothers’ daughters, and his son, along with one of their good friends. So, it is a multi-generational family affair, which is just so unusual. Obviously, they all have that musical gene! Gretchen and I had such a great time. The Florida Theater was packed and it looked like they filmed much of the show. Here’s Holy Water.

Surfing Hurricane Fiona in Brevard County

by

In late September, we enjoyed a great stretch of surf during Hurricanes Danielle, Earl and Fiona. On one of the last days of the Fiona swell when the winds were set to be onshore here in NEFl, I made plans to head down to Brevard County (Cocoa / Sattelite Beach) area where the winds were expected to be offshore. This is the area where I spent much of time surfing while finishing school at UCF in the early 90s. It is one of my favorite places to surf and gets such great waves! In addition, I was able to catch up with two old friends, Mike Johnson and Mike Wilhite who both live or have places down there. Mike J. has a great break right behind his condo and that’s where we surfed. My buddy from work, Luis Sandoval joined me for the trip and what a great time we had. The waves were epic and the crowds, light! The winds were offshore, as expected and it was sloppy and onshore back at home. Successful strike mission. We scored! Here’s a few shots from that day.

The Fixx Live – Secret Separation (Extended Version) | Ponte Vedra Concert Hall

by

Here is the last video I made of The Fixx at their concert on 9/17/22 at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. This is a really beautiful, extended version of “Secret Separation”. It has always been my favorite song by the band. Fittingly, they saved it for their last performance as part of their encore. This was a fantastic, sold-out show in an intimate venue. The band was great. The crowd was great. And I think that both sides really appreciated what they experienced from one another that night. Enjoy this last one!

The Fixx Live – One Thing Leads to Another | Ponte Vedra Concert Hall

by

I recently had the opportunity to catch The Fixx, one of my all-time favorite bands that I only had the opportunity to see once before, 37 years ago at the UF Bandshell, for free! 😃 As luck would have it, a friend of mine had two tix in the second row to their recent show at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL that he could not use, and he offered them up to my wife and me, so I got to see them once again, for free. And, were they ever fantastic! These guys still have plenty of juice! The concert was sold out and the crowd was hyped. I think the band really enjoyed their stop here. Here is the classic, “One Thing Leads to Another” by the Fixx recorded on 9/17/22. Apologies for the lack of focus in the first 17 seconds! It resolves after that! Enjoy!

Hurricane Earl Surfing, Ponte Vedra Beach

by

I was super stoked to finally get a proper hurricane swell about three weeks ago. It had been so long! Too long! I was able to catch parts of 5 of the 8 days of that Hurricanes Earl and Danielle were gifting us and enjoyed a couple of really fun sessions with my buddies Aaron and Ryan inside Guana State Park in Ponte Vedra Beach. I took the GoPro out or “Super Tuesday” during Earl. Here’s a few pics from the morning and the afternoon that day.

The Fountain of Youth, St. Augustine, FL

by

On Labor Day, my wife, Gretchen, and I got our tourist on in Auggie. I have lived in Northeast Florida all my life and have NEVER been to the Fountain of Youth! 😳 I had heard that there was a pretty cool watch tower overlooking the Intracoastal waterway on the property so we decided to check it out, and to be sure, the views were spectacular! Highly recommended! The property is pretty big and there are a lot of other historical attractions on the site. A few peacocks hanging around, too. As far as the fountain, it’s inside a faux cave chamber. They have cups and let you drink from it. They say it’s from a spring but it definitely was NOT 72-degree spring water, more like 80-degree city water, lol 😂! But hey, we had to try! Also, my appearance did not become any more youthful, but ummm… maybe there’s a delay or something… I’ll keep everyone updated! I’m guessing a good, strong cup of black coffee would probably have a quicker, more immediate youth-restoring impact (maybe get rid of the bags under your eyes!) But don’t let my own cynicism affect your decision to give it a shot. You never know. It is a gorgeous place, and a beautiful sight to see. 

Roswell Mill at Old Mill Park, Alpharetta, GA

by

Here’s another park we hiked while up in Alpharetta, GA, a really cool urban park hidden right in the heart of the city. It seemed like a really great place to just hang out and cool down, in or out of the water. What a wonderful natural amenity for the locals.