Favorite types of east coast surf breaks.

well, i could be splitting hairs here but:

- 8th st OCNJ
- allenhurst, n.j.
- matunuck, r.i.
- newport, r.i.
- southside of sebastien.....mo-mush (??)

my criteria is that the underwater configuration does not change - as in rock - and the wave maintains
its identity; i.e. does NOT change its form.

 

perfect MOCO right handers grinding off jetties

baddy, 8th changes every time they pump sand

in other locales, cobblestones that hold sand in place are amazeballs (El capitan, etc) or other rock strata (el palmar spain)

generally need some rock there to hold sand in place

wide open beachies can be amazing, but shify

 

I hear reef, I think coral, but I see where you are coming from.

Baddy, do you mean the Coral Reel Restauraunt on 8th? Bwahahaha

 

Many reefs empty into pointbreaks, and many pointbreaks are over reef. but there are reef breaks that are not pointbreaks - the coast does not curve favorably to create such a nice wave. There are also nice pointbreaks created by headlands and such that are not reef breaks, but break over sand bottom. The break I referenced earlier in this thread is a combo: once you finish the takeoff created by the reef, and clear another reef that sticks out above sea level, the coast curves and you are in a bay created by the point, which in this case is a reef made of limestone. It hurts if you hit it, but it won't shred you up like live coral will. I've seen a few kooks get flayed on the dry reef at dead high tide, as it sits inches below the water.

Due to sand pumping projects to the north, the reef gets covered up with sand and is fickle. Once a good swell clears of the sand, it starts to break harder and with more consistency. When it is covered with sand, it either does not break at all, or it closes out, and does not connect too far into the little bay.

 

Punchy A frame beach break.

 

i thought that place didn't break well anymore?

 

My all time favorite east coast spot is the one I made a thread about.. it's in S.Jerz and it's a combination rockpile jetty/pier/wooden groin/pipe... lefthander. and it was destroyed by beach replenishment a few years back.

My other favorites:

-a left hander that some would call a reef (but it's really just rocks) up in NH a couple miles north of the wall area.

-a left down in South FL (of all places) that only breaks maybe a couple times a year if they're lucky... it's a rock jetty and you surf with manatees... if I say any more the locals will kill me.

 

true. then the dust (sand?) settles and it goes back to normal. specifically i'm talkin an ese swell, nw wind,
and the race track (9th?) that always titilates. ever fickle; an a-frame right going directly into the jetty can
be had after a nice storm or two cleans up all that extra sand. and - joy of joys - these days most go
elsewhere.

 

It is fickle. I caught it good a few weeks ago after a cold front sent us eight foot plus faces and offshores. At high tide it missed the outside reef, and barreled off the rock into the cove for a good few yards. It pisses me off that the condo owners to the north, due to their greed and stupidity, keep fighting a losing battle pumping sand behind their beach, only for it to wind up on top of the underwater reef. They tore up the seagrapes on the beach that were holding the dunes together so the people on the 2nd floor of a 30 floor condo could have an ocean view. Now, whenever they put sand on the beach, a month later...its gone.

They want the public to pay for a breakwater project that will do more harm than good. Been fighting it since 1988 or so. It has not been built yet.

 

Allenhurst is not a reef.
There isn't a single reef break in all of NJ.
That being said, I'd rather surf a hollow beach break than a crumbly soft reef break. Unless that reef break is pumping and hollow.

 

Man...I love hollow punchy wedge-y beachbreaks. And on the paddle out I just love to see legit A-frames. And I love cobblestone reef. And points. And shorebreak.

 

ah ha you know the drill

 

new england is full of rock bed reefs

 

these are usually right next to each other

 

if i could bottle and sell what that beach had on the nor-ida swell.....i'd be a frillion-smillionaire.

 

Piers seem to have fast waves which I like. And killer obx beach break.

 

I loved the nor-ida, I have some footie from another good swell, Nov 3rd? maybe Nor-ida? here is a pick of Monk getting hammered

 

i LOVE it when monk gets hammered.

 

I like 'em rifling off my favorite pier, without a soul on it. Usually happens about this time o' year