Did the forum used to be more popular say 5-10 years ago or even before that? It seems like there was a lot more activity years ago. I know its been around a long time, I'm 40 now and remember it was going strong even back when I was in college.

I imagine so, with the less popular and all, but the popularity of surfing has dropped considerably, so the two most likely go hand in hand.

In web years, this site is Mesozoic.

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I was right.

Surfing still seems pretty popular to me lol, anytime the waves are over waist high it seems like there's at least 150 people out at any given spot. Half of them can barely drop in...definitely a lot of new faces too.

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poopsuit

RC's and Hightower by chance?





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I was right.

Facebook is what happened, and then Instagram.

Neither are a real substitute in my opinion, but it's what people use apparently..

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When America was "great"

Wait, surfing isn't popular anymore?!? Dang. That's why I started...

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add a signature since I'm here in profile anyway

It's still tops with me when I'm not on my myspace.

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.

Forums in general peaked in the mid to late 2000's and have slowly declined.

I joined when I was like 12 years old. I remember asking my dad if I could create an account and then I came up with my handle, "Riverman" which has stuck with me ever since. The first 6 years I spent on the forum were totally amazing. Made a bunch of great friends, learned so much about surfing, style, surfboard design, surfing history, etc. After that, I just got busy with life and stopped posting as frequently, then I got REAL busy with life and got married and had kids. Still check the forum a few times a week, but no longer posting much at all. Always appreciative of what Chuck and Dave created and maintained for all this time so we surfers could talk shop. The forum in its heyday sure was cosmic.

i first made the trek to the space coast (to surf) with a friend and his family who eventually moved to melbourne and then back to the lowco when i was like 12 or 13--7th grade (2004 or 2005?). lo and behold i would eventually move to florida for grad school. love me some full circle and shredding over there a few times a year for the past 5 years has been a dream come true. it is truly a special place. hopefully these times have helped others to remember to not take anything for granted.

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sneedeker

Edited: 05/25/2020 at 08:08 AM by harrietdubman

I think we lost a lot of people when the site crashed whenever it was a year or two ago. I couldn't get on the site for over a year. One I was able to get back on my multiple requests to reset my password went unanswered. I finally found my old login info a few months back and started coming back on. I think that time caused a lot of prior regulars to drop off.

The Surf Station website used to have a really active forum but it eventually was killed off from lack of activity. Toward the end the only section that got much response was one similar to the National Enquirer one here. I didn't understand then why people wanted to argue politics so much on a surfing forum when so many other places exist for that.

16streets was the same. McLaren does some neat photography on the cover page, but I'm not sure the forum is even there anymore.

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I was right.

PLEEEASE DON"T DIE. mouth to mouth baby

http://web.archive.org/web/2019*/2ndlight.com

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I was right.

be honest, youre really the notorious serial killer. someone call the feds.

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sneedeker

Face it : just not the same without
Volland / Colonel/ Catsprays ....

Maybe so.
would be a hell of a cover.
maybe a little too squeaky?

hmmmm.
I called the Barry hotline
They didn't believe me at all.



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"The truth is incontrovertible.
malice may attack it,
ignorance may deride it,
but in the end,
there it is." -Sir Winston Churchill

I admit for myself usage or visit to the this site has gone way down. Social media took over! I still visit to find the real news!! Stay healthy, surf on

.......I met everyone in person no need to message anyone. I have my own NSR blog, I post all the comments and troll myself! Surfing with a few buddies enjoying lower crowds also more chick surfers and family surf crews at secret spots by secret light house. See u in the lineup!

Woodhouse Posts: 19 Joined Forum: 11/13/2016

Oh yeah the forum was WAYYY more popular back in the golden years of like '99-2004

Social media eroded alot of that away, but it was and still is a great way to communicate and find information, especially since threads on here will actually show up in Google, but anything you bother to write on Facebook just floats out into the abyss never to be seen again.

There were alot of people on the forum back in the early 2000s. The surf forum seemed like it updated every 30 seconds. There was little to no fighting back then I recall. Just on rare occasion.

Of particular note was the 2004 hurricanes. We are kindof used to them now, but back then it was the first real good smack in many years, and the first ones I ever went through. People were shocked they were coming right at us. I remember that Longboard House didn't even have shutters for their windows, so they boarded up with plywood boards and spraypainted "PITBULLS INSIDE" on them. That photo made its way to the forum and there were some funny jokes about it i recall.

It was a good source of hurricane information and all kinds of other things, since you could post a question and alot of people would chime in. Its still like that, but it was more active then.

I think around 2003 it crashed and everyone had to re-sign up. I was able to get the same username, but alot of them changed at that time.

Can you even join the forum still? I've had people tell me over the past few years that they tried to sign up, but it never worked. Maybe thats the problem?

I've been part of this forum for a long time. I think pretty much since it started. In its hey day there was ALOT more posts on the surfing forum. The first big decline in activity happened after the site was hacked and it took Chuck quite awhile, maybe weeks/months to get it back online. Not his fault this is a sideline (important Sideline!) but after that it never recovered and there have been one or two similar episodes since that put a couple more nails in the coffin. I'll always fondly remember the 2ndlight parties at Tables meeting people for real which lead to more respect online. I still enjoy the site and value all the friendships its lead to including Dave and Chuck. That's my take on it.


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Replace turf grass with native plants that don't need irrigation and synthetic fertilizers or chemicals that can go into our waterways and ocean

Edited: 05/25/2020 at 04:39 PM by daner

Times are a changing. When the site stood up getting reliable surf reports was a little more challenging. Now anyone can access magic seaweed or any number of other on line tools and any number of cameras. The on line relationships was all still growing. I still like to lurk around for a connection to the treasure coast.

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Even a blind hog finds an occasional acorn

Been around a long time, it's a shell of what it was. It crashed a while back as mentioned and lost a bunch of people. Use to have time to check daily to see what's going on when I was 16. Lucky now to look once every couple weeks. Willing to bet the demographic of what it started with has grown up and gotten busy with life.

I think the dates on people's profiles aren't accurate as well. Pretty sure I signed up way before 2005.

The dates must be accurate- because if you look at me, Cole, Riverman, Johnnyboy above- they all are from July 2003. That was the time of the big crash when everybody had to re-signup

Glad to see a lot of people posting memories of the forum. I myself have been on here since the mid 2000s. It's still the best community I've been part of for surf talk, and all its banter. I'll keep coming here as long as possible. \mn/

I went to jam boards when the site crashed a while back. Still check this site on occasion but it's not the same as it was. Hope it comes back. Great local resource for local surf reports and forecasts or at least it used to be.

Dates do not depict when you joined. I believe I joined in the late 90s.

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Replace turf grass with native plants that don't need irrigation and synthetic fertilizers or chemicals that can go into our waterways and ocean

Originally 2nd light was one of a few surf forums that started (I believe) around '97??

Walt's Surf site was the first and is the granddaddy of surf site. Not sure what he is doing now but he was a good guy and would often see him at the beach and chat. Daily updates, first hand reports and a good local vibe.

2nd light changed forum software in 2003 and everybody had to sign up again, hence a lot of OGs here have join dates around July 2003.

Activity is certainly not what it used to be, but it is still a good resource to find out about incoming and active swells, and news on local surf happenings.







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If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD WAS MUSIC - KV

video killed the radio star. give thanks and praise.. for all the fish!

Yeah I did too. the current displaying join dates show when you re-joined after the crash.

for example :
daner
Posts: 7822
Joined Forum: 04/20/2004

This forum is generally the same 10 people fighting with each other on NSR, sprinkled in with a few no-life trolls, and then there are the other dudes here for the surfing.

Best RESPONSE winner ^^^^^ LOL

Edited: 05/26/2020 at 05:55 AM by SonSurf

Yes I miss the days of crowd sourced Vizzie reports.

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Time and tide wait for no one.....

Yeah, big time. It used to be the only good source for reports and surf related discussions (still is for discussions). It lost momentum after Central Floridave had an issue with the server and the format was lost a bit.

I used to check the forum multiple times a day, hoping for people to post visuals. This is before the live cams were available.

Great pioneering initiative nonetheless. Some good characters in here.

Peace / Piece

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Uga Uga!!!

Yes dropped off a lot...I just miss seeing Mama G photos and the general love for the ocean from her

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Creme de la Creme
Stoke to all and to all a good night

I started visiting these forums about a decade ago because whenever tropical storms were approaching Florida, there was a lot of knowledgable posters active and I found their insight interesting. Little did I know I'd end up actually residing in the area.

Yes, great dialog during storm season & still my go to place for more local opinions & discussion etc after reading the nhc.noaa.gov reports. But overall it does seem much less active than years back, probably due to FB etc? But I just refuse to go on there as have to give real name and I don't want random chicks ex GFs facestalking me - what happened in my college years can stay there That's what I always liked about this forum process, it's just like talking to random people at the beach no last names or details just that dude with the 5'11" quiet flight or that hot blonde who always sits right by the lifeguard stand.... aghhh beach life, aren't we blessed to live it : )))))))

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get up early and go surf - it'll make that hangover go away and/or make the workday more tolerable :)

Edited: 05/28/2020 at 09:16 PM by surferclimber

Got tossed right under the GodFathers wing...and for that i thank 2nd light.... Now wheres pawpaw..... How bout it Tipper...

The "mark 1 Eyeball" reports!

The "mark 1 Eyeball" reports!

I started on here looking for the various surf reports from down south to North Carolina and beyond, for any Hurricane missions I would be thinking of taking. Now I find myself more in the For Sale forum & Gardening section now that I am an old fart!

Where has he been? Jail again?

the biggest thing i miss is the Sale of Quality Boards at Great Prices. Now have to deal with Craigslist and sometimes those scammers

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"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw

the biggest thing i miss is the Sale of Quality Boards at Great Prices. Now have to deal with Craigslist and sometimes those scammers

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"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw

well, looks like we're still here, so we might as well keep the local surf reports going.

rideable through the weekend with favorable morning tides... yesss

Edited: 05/29/2020 at 09:33 AM by goldfinger

For sure!



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Replace turf grass with native plants that don't need irrigation and synthetic fertilizers or chemicals that can go into our waterways and ocean

Yes this place used to be busy. I joined in 2009. I was 19 and on summer break. After surfing some closeout shorebreak south of 16th street I was walking back to my car when some guy in his 20s asked me with a smirk "I wonder how jettypark is looking right now?" Without realizing the insult I explained to him how it probably wasnt very good up there because of the conditions and swell direction but he kept insisting so I just walked away. It would still be several years until I actually surfed up there for the 1st time.

I used to post more, now I just lurk. I remember when the 2003 forum was refresh. Basically I'm old AF

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I joined this GREATNESS of a forum back in 2002 (had just made my comeback to surfing after slacking through my teenage years) in my mid 20's.. The forum has always been and i feel WILL ALWAYS BE super mega awesome high traffic or not! (When the site went down for a few months.. i literally HATED the internet without it!) lol

The heads up threads about "theirs a storm brewin", the "after session surf reports", the random surf photog's graciously sharing their images! I've asked advise on serious subject (surf related of course) and always received GREAT feedback from cfl dave and EVERYONE who felt that they could add pertinent input..

I work in software support so I'm ALWAYS on my PC bout 9-10 hours a day and THIS SURF FORUM STAYS open on my desktop all day cause I LOVE IT! #IHEART2NDLIGHT (YES THE SPOT 2ND LIGHT) #IHEART2NDLIGHTDOTCOM

From "Da People" i would like to just say THANK YOU! This forum is DOPE! don't ever kill it! (please?)

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SK8 AND DESTROY

If the forum was a surfer it would ride a funshape and be the best surfer because it has the "biggest smile".

The clever people are on the nsr page. But they don't surf.

There in lies part of the problem.

If the forum was a surfer on a barrelling wave it could for sure have been deeper.

Fun little wedges just north of Covidnuts. Took the log, shoulda used the shortie.



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I was right.

I never really posted much...But

I miss looty..

Still on my Bookmarks and one I always check, enjoy it more now that I stay off NSR

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JMA

Yep. This is my first post in years. I still pop in to see what's going on every now and again. Definitely a big decline over the years.

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Fix the problem, not the symptoms.

w00t deal of the week! woo hoooooooooooooooooo wb bro

Nice Cole! This has been a good spring it seems like?

Keep it goin boys..... Greensleeves...i would have to agree...

Onebuck! People want to know where you really stop?

Another day of waveage, the impossible now possible?

If i stop...i must popNlock... This past sunday was plenty fun sliders on the 9'10"....

2ndlight is one of the few places you can still decorate your profile with an ICQ # or AIM handle..

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Sunlight splatters dawn with answers.

I joined back in the early 2000's when I was in high school. It was pretty lively back then. Went to a few forum meet ups at tables. Met fellow forum members in JAX when I came to UNF. I still get on the forum from time to time but haven't posted in a while. Keep the forum stoke going!

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"Ride the Big one" - Notch Johnson

Agree OneBuck, Sunday was so much fun..

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The Wavecaster

Paw...miss ya dude...we need hook up and paddle out...SOON

Onebuck taking responsibility for ripping!

Couldnt figure out how to multi quote again...lol But hell yea greensleeves its been hell Of fun bradda...

I also joined when I was 12. Definitely enjoyed the parties at tables. I mostly surfed at Radisson back then with a handful of others. Such good times. Surfing in the winter and then sneaking into the hot tub only to get kicked out and return 12 minutes later. I can still feel the pins and needles from the temperature shock. We also learned the first floor vending machine was able to be hacked by sticking your hand up in there and starting the release reel in whatever candy bar you wanted. Ahhh to be 12 again! Then a couple years later when friends started driving we would on special occasion feel so cool rolling up to the light where the parking lot would be at 95% Capacity to surf 1.5' waves. I also recruited a few of the pre-early 20 somethings to drive me and the babies to all the weekend contests. Now almost 20 years later it seems like a different lifetime. 2ndlight forums has always felt like home and every year at Christmas we all look forward to the infamous poop in the wetsuit thread resurfacing.

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Instagram.com/Mels_Big_Racks

Side note, my joined date is also about 5-6 years off as I was originally MPSB, and added the 2 after the first site crash.

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Instagram.com/Mels_Big_Racks

We should post more reminiscing threads. I haven't seen this many posts in 5 years. If all you reminiscers hung around 2ndlight (but we try harder) it would be 1stlight again!

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Replace turf grass with native plants that don't need irrigation and synthetic fertilizers or chemicals that can go into our waterways and ocean

Edited: 06/09/2020 at 12:32 PM by daner

A couple years ago I was going to host a 20 year anniversary party, but for some reason it didn't happen. Maybe we will make a 25 year anniversary party coming up!