Hurricane Memories (Good or Bad)

what are you trying to be a wise-a$$, sandblasters?

i like your style.

 

Haha thanks for the shout out.Anyone remember tropical storm Danielle from July 22 summers ago? She sent a massive E ground swel

 

I had an expensive Pulsar watch once. I lost that watch in the ocean...then dove straight down and actually found it. 'Bout a year later, lost the same watch...dove down and found it again.

Granted, I wasn't in a big hurricane swell, but you obviously have to dive down, immediately, and feel around the sandbar before the watch gets pushed away or covered with sand. Anyway, after that watch finally cracked and got water in it, I quit wearing watches while surfing.

 

That's some season. I remember someone on here saying that the best cane swells are when it comes up the coast then heads out to sea and stays there for a bit with its high winds putting steady energy into the waves to head to shore many hours later. No landfall is best case scenario for non-surfers obviously. Looks from the map that a handful made landfall and inland progression in the Gulf region which must have done some damage, though the east coast aside from Florida remained relatively untouched.

Not having been through a cane season yet as a surfer, is it really several weeks straight of substantial swell? The dates show that there were not many days where a hurricane system wasn't in effect. The map shows some of them stayed in the longitudinal Central Atlantic. Did these storms send good swell east? How close does a cane have to be to the eastern seaboard to make it crank?

This is a great thread to read with lots of great input. Keeps hope alive for what's ahead.

 

emass, the prime spot is like a cat 3+ storm like 100-200 miles west of bermuda that just parks itself there. well at least for the mid-atlantic anyway.

And no. depending on the storm and how fast it moves, cane swells can last a whole week or the swell windows can be a matter of hours. it all depends on the storms individual wind field and track. even pros and people from all over will flock to the east coast when a substantial swell might occur.

 

Thank you for a great answer. Lets hope we have enough of them come our way this season that there's steady swell throughout.

 

2001, back when I was living on Long Island between semesters...the memory is both good and bad. I don't remember what hurricane it was, but we had a monster 10+ ft swell, bigger than anything I'd ever surfed or seen in person. I got out of work at 5 PM, rushed to the beach and saw all these surfers just standing on shore. I thought, "what the hell is everyone staring at?!" I rushed into the water, only to struggle and get crushed over and over again trying to get out the back, all the while getting rushed down the shoreline by the monster current. I finally got out, caught a wave, popped up, fell on the drop and got ****ing rocked. Then I got the **** out. I was in way over my head. I put my tail between my legs and stayed on shore and with 90% of the other surfers who were there that day and just enjoyed watching the true talent that was out there riding. It was a humbling experience.

 

two totally different but distinct memories.

1. must have been 95 or 96, cant recall the storm name. i was 13 or so, my pops dropped me and my good buddy at a moco NJ spot on his way to work (the spot no longer breaks unless big swell - damn replenishment). we walk down, saw some lifeguards on duty early due to the swell, on the beach throwing up their guts, along with some other surfers doing the same. being young, stupid, and excited, we thought nothing of it and paddled out. i think i got a few big shoulders before getting out sick. turns out there was a red tide (google it if you don't know) in conjunction with late summer tropical swell. i spent the next 14 days sick as I have ever been. i gave up surfing for the immediate future, thats how sick i was. oh, and my buddy was absolutely fine.

2. sandy. day 1- NJ was a mess, hunker down and hope for the best. the day 2 - day i cleaned up my house/yard and helped neighbors/friends family that i was able to. day 3 - no power, nothing open, no work. so i went surfing. carefully made my way to the beach, even more carefully climbed down a broken seawall, thru debris on the beach, and paddled out to clean leftover 3-5ft surf. i could not believe the destruction when i looked back towards the shoreline. it was surreal. for every good wave i got, i paddled back out and my heart sunk looking at crippled houses, businesses, etc. what a bittersweet session.

 

I moved to South Florida in June 1995, it was unbelievable, I think 2 Hurricanes and about 9 named storms came thru, long period head+ to OH just about every single day in July and August. Back to the northeast in '99. Fabian was good, I think '03, Ernesto, Labor day weekend 2006 was unreal - TOH and glassy at its peak. Bill was awesome in August of '09, loved the warm water. Irene in '11 was fun for a good 5-6 days straight.