Tropical Storm Colin certainly didn't set the world -- the surf world, or any other world for that matter -- on fire. He just wasn't that kind of storm. But he did deliver some playful summertime surf to the East Coast, and no one was about to turn that down.

I'm serious. No one. Every person who owned a board east of Rt.95 was in the water this weekend, and maybe a few more.

Florida saw a little more action than it did for the short-lived Tropical Storm Bonnie, but it still didn't live up to the pre-swell talk.

Chris WilsonEddie Guilbeau, punting above the mediocrity.

"Colin had more hype than Lindsay Lohan going to jail and didn't even last as long as she did," says Florida photog, Chris Wilson, "Surfers from both coasts, north and south all seemed to make the drive up and down the Central Florida beaches only to be greeted with waist to head-high, two-block long closed out lines and mega-packed line-ups."

Guess that's at least better than spending the weekend ply-wooding up the windows.

North Carolina faired a little better. The biggest pulses were those early on Saturday afternoon around Rodanthe. It was mobbed by Outer Banks standards, but that's Outer Banks standards. Again, waist to head-high, light onshore, and typical summertime mush. At least it wasn't too closed out.

Mickey McCarthyKim Diggs with style on one of those "almost-head high" ones.

Summertime swells on the weekend are almost impossible. You pretty much just have to deal with it, as that longboarder paddles around you again and the lifeguard keeps blowing that whistle. No worries, though. Labor Day is less than a month off.

So, how was it in New York?

Surf gypo, Warren Smith, has been living in NYC this summer. Photog Nick LaVecchia was in town, and dragged him out to Long Island to clean off the city grime. There, they found waist to head-high waves with light onshore winds. Oh, and it was a little crowded.

Nick LaVecchiaWarren Smith, backside Pop Tart.

We'd like to thank the tropics for tossing us a bone, even if we are wondering when the main course is going to start cooking.