During the summer and fall its a no brainer to go out when theres swell and intense off shores but in the winter the wind, even offshore can be bad if its too strong. Do you guys go out with 35 mph off shores if its shoulder high+?
Hell yea man! It's honestly not too bad... Like I mean it's sucks, but all you have to do is to take a couple more strong paddle even when you think youre in the wave. I just hate when I don't catch the wave and I get mad water sprayed in my eyes haha
unless its directly offshore and not exceeding 30 ill go out. any offshore/sideshore wind with 30+ gets a little sketchy imo
this weekend on long island at the spot where i surf its gonna be directly offshore at 35-40 mph. the forecast will change but in general, I'm still debating it.
When the winds are blowing 30+, any little bit from directly offshore will make a difference. I actually just updated the Swellinfo forecasts to show more BLUE then GREEN when the winds are super strong and not directly offshore.
30mph is my cut off.. anything higher is just asking for an uncomfortable/leery situation in the winter.
The real problem is getting out of the water and taking that suit off in the winter wind. Ha Ha But if its snowing and its clean I'm on it. Sureal
how about "tow in" also... 30+mph is sketchy in cold water, period. not only does it make it hard to get in the waves, you've gotta constantly be aware of your positioning, as it is VERY easy to get blown out to sea. this can create a very dangerous situation, as it's not easy to paddle headlong against those winds & the chop they create. personally, i start to have a serious internal debate when it gets above 25mph or so, particularly in the late fall/winter/early spring.
Yeah man, I was out a couple weeks back w/ stiff(idk, 25-30) sideshore winds/current...alot of work to stay in position and get back out. Glad I got the sesh in but wasn't entirely comfortable the entire time, wouldn't have gone out if i was alone.
the last three swells in NJ have had 30+mph offshore winds. Makes for great black and white photos, but I find surfing in those conditions rather ****ty. I like to be able to do a turn without getting blown off the back of the wave. If you can pull into a brown death barrel that's nice too.
I was pumped when I saw the swell/wind direction lining up for some good spots in New England, now I'm looking at these 30 mph+ winds on Saturday with the temp dropping to around 0 on Sunday. I'm still hopeful, but you can't comfortably bet on good conditions now.
I would rather have light offshores but you take what you can get. If you don't go out with strong offshores over 30mph, you wouldn't really surf much in the winter or you would miss the peak of winter swells.
Yeah all the time. This was last week 20-30 mph cross/on and 2-4ft Skip to :55 [video=youtube;H31zOOgjaBA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H31zOOgjaBA[/video]
I grew up in Hatteras and got used to surfing in strong wind most of the time, and to me you need to take into account the distance the break from the shore. If you are surfing a deep water shore break as opposed to 3rd bar and 1/4 mile out you are certainly going to take a different approach..hopefully.
25+ mph winds in the winter time in the northeast with head high dumpy surf is a tough session. i haven't surfed much since sandy so i'm not as acclimated to the cold water (it's 40 degrees here) or in very good paddle shape like i ordinarily would be right now. even as desperate as i am, gotta say i'm looking at the forecast saturday and hoping it shrinks a bit or i may have to sit this one out. good luck to those who can pull it off. hope you score. yeeww!
That's what they're saying, and the forecasts now are pretty unanimous calling for the 2+ feet range. I'm always the first one to call bs and over-forecasting, but it looks like there's a good chance there will be 2+ feet on the beach. When I first saw the wind speed, I was thinking of heading to the mountains instead, but if the winds are really 40+ mph they will shut the lifts down. I'm hoping the wind has a little sideshore in it because straight offshore will shut down the surf too - big closed out walls at most spots. Looks like I can't count on anything just yet, just hope it all lines up. Most likely I'll end up at least checking anywhere that could be good.
These type of storms seperate the men from the boys. When theres multiple feet of snow on the beach and 25+MPH winds, you have to really want it. As of right now, Saturday morning is definitely a go in my eyes.
