Area surfers hit water with Hurricane Alex

GALVESTON — As Hurricane Alex approached the Texas Coast this past week, Kendall Cleveland, 16, of La Marque, and Cory Weitekamp, 19, of Friendswood, made proper plans.

The cousins checked weather reports. They mapped out transportation and organized sleeping arrangements. They stockpiled food.

Cleveland and Weitekamp wanted to be prepared to catch the biggest waves.

“Most people want to get away from storms,” Cleveland said. “We run straight to it.”

Hurricanes and storms in the Gulf of Mexico often cause headaches for most people with flooding and high winds.

But for surfers in the area, as long as they’re not in eye of the storm, hurricanes bring fun. The extra water and wind often create bigger and better surf.

Waves generally hit just chest level — about 4 feet — in Galveston. They swelled all the way to 8 feet Thursday morning thanks to Hurricane Alex.

Surfers took advantage. About 20 tried their luck next to the Flagship Hotel at 11 a.m., a high number for a weekday in one single location.

“You don’t get waves like this normally,” Ryan Cummings, of League City, said. “So when you get the chance, you have to come out.”

Joel Riggs has surfed for 20 years. He started in Galveston before moving out to California and eventually returning.

Riggs brought his son and two friends from Alvin to enjoy the rare waves. The group arrived at 9 a.m. and planned to stay until the evening.

“Galveston is not exactly a surfing haven, just because you don’t get great waves,” he said. “So when these storms or depressions come around, it’s exciting.”

Cleveland and Weitekamp spent Wednesday and Thursday trying to catch waves. Both times, they arrived at 7 a.m. and stayed until the late afternoon.

They took a couple of breaks for hydration and lunch but didn’t want to miss too much time in the water. The choppy conditions made it hard work to swim back and forth constantly, and one never knows when conditions will turn ideal.

“Once you get out there, it’s pretty good,” Weitekamp said. “You just don’t want to keep going in and out and waste your energy. You want to get that perfect wave, and you never know when it’s going to come, so we get here early, stay late and don’t come in that often.”

Though Alex increased the wave size, most surfers agreed conditions were far from perfect. Wind made it difficult to stay on the board, and the water was choppy — disrupting any sort of rhythm. The current also changed direction frequently.

The best waves were pretty far out, Kathryn Krog, 28, of Galveston, said. Most tried to remain careful.

“You try to be safe while having fun,” Krog said.

Yet that didn’t stop surfers from going out in shallower areas and trying, perhaps hoping, for one perfect moment. The big waves, and a chance at the great surf, don’t come around very often in Galveston.

“Even though the conditions aren’t perfect, I’m not going to miss this,” Krog said. “It’s always a lot of fun when a storm comes into the Gulf.”