WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — It's lousy to be a surfer in South Florida.
At least right now anyway.
Sure, there's sun, sand and that beautiful blue body of water that lures folks to the beach. But the Atlantic just isn't providing those wild waves that makes being a surfer, well, fun.
So at surf camps throughout the area this summer, kids are learning things like how to paddle, snorkel, even how to tell the difference between the seashells peeking through the sand.
Is that enough for these eager surfing interns? Sort of, they said.
"It's frustrating," said Nick Zarins, 11, of West Palm Beach. "All I do is skimboard."
Zarins is in surf school sponsored by the Palm Beach Boys Blue Water School of Surfing, where William Kimball is the instructor. Kimball's sunglasses hide the frustration in his eyes on Monday as he stared at the calm water along Palm Beach.
"This is one of the flatest summers I've ever seen," said Kimball, who's been teaching in the area for 13 years.
Historically, South Florida waters are typically flat in July and surfers have been known to travel to places like Costa Rica for their fix, but some have said this summer has been especially worse than others.
"This has been a pattern we can't snap out of," said John Briches, director of Florida Surf Lessons, which runs lessons from Miami to Cocoa Beach. "I've got a ton of people who want to surf and I keep telling them, 'I'll call you when you can.'"
But, so far, Briches hasn't made one phone call because the water is like a pond. "All we want is a knee-high wave!" he said.
So will the waves appear anytime soon?
Not for now, said Robert Garcia of the National Weather Service in Miami.
he biggest problem is that the east coast has had more westerly winds than usual, which stems from a high pressure system sitting idle over the Gulf of Mexico for more than a month now.
It isn't normal for the system to linger as long as it has, Garcia said, but once it does move (and if there's a storm anytime soon) there may be a chance for those surf lessons to pick back up again.
In the meantime, surfers throughout this part of the state will continue to enjoy the water in the middle of this sultry summer, just as they always do.
They will paddle and swim and hope for good waves.
But will they surf?
Probably not here.
Dianna Smith writes for The Palm Beach Post. E-mail: dianna(underscore)smith(at)pbpost.com.