Biggest wave you've seen at your local spot

Rexham beach, Marshfield this spring. That’s the owner of Levitate Surf Shop doing dawn patrol. Bit the biggest it get there but man that wave had some grunt

 

This was quite a while ago, surfed oc in the morning, prob 6 to 8 foot faces and clean. Left there and stopped by IRI on my way home. Lifeguards had written on the surf report 10-12 foot, it was huge and clean. I watched this guy drop in and it seemed like he dropped in forever. I paddle out, first wave I try to duck dive annihilates me. The second waves I pushed the board to the side and swam to the bottom, still ripped me up and tossed me around. I finally made it out and sat for a while before I went for a wave. I was spent from OC all morning. The current was running so hard that day, i was constantly paddling. Caught 2 waves and had enough. That was prob the biggest day I have ever seen there

 

Point Judith Hurricane Luis swell '95. I was 14 at the time, didn't know waves could get that big on the EC. It was easily 20 ft by the face. on the road in you could see the spray coming off the sets at the K's.

Earlier that day I paddled out at a protected spot way up in the Bay. Even there, biggest I've personally been out in, I was young and thought I was gonna die...couldn't get a wave and contemplated climbing rocks to get in. But I finally got one, and only one.

 

If the forecast holds it might be getting epic at PT. J real soon.
I was living in RI only a couple of years when Hurricane Bill hit, ruggles early morning was big. I did not paddle out, I was intimidated, and it did get crowded. Lots of vids of that day, with G Mac and Ian Walsh out. The size did drop by mid morning but at first light it was big, as big as I'd ever seen.

 

A big but still surfable day at my local spot was Hurricane Bill. These pictures are bad...really misty from surf spray in the air so i just shot with a cheap point and shoot. Took these pictures after surfing, I got a few solid ones, these set waves were really beefy, lurching on the sandbar and probably 8 foot +. I had a family committment that day and missed the afternoon/evening session which by many accounts was much bigger. I'm sure many spots on Delmarva were bigger than my local spot on this particular day. In fact my spot probably gets less swell than just about any where else under these conditions....suited me just fine.

There was a pretty rediculous crowd considering the size....

 

Wes Laine in your neck of the woods Hurricane Gabriel 1988.



Kirk Razza same swell. Both of these shots made the magazines. Hurricane Gabriel is probably the hurricane swell that all other hurricane swells in the North East should be measured against. It meandered out there a long long time.

 

biggest iv seen in person here in the garden state would be bill.i think I started surfing like 2006-2007,don't really remember but the year of bill I remember very well.got there like 530 in the morning thinking id be the first out and there was a peanut gallery the size of huntington out there,but the waves were a legit 15ft.wasnt good conditions by any means but it was big,reminded me of sunset beach.

best I ever seen would be the doomsday swell.was probably like 5-7' where I was at,wasnt the biggest by any means but as far as perfect goes,i have never seen another day like it,where there was makable barrels every single wave,no exaggeration.that was the work of sandy tho stirring all that sand up,there was 2 really good swells in January right after the doomsday that were really good.

im in nomoco,and we don't really get size here like how ocean county and spots further south get,but we get some drainers

 

Absolute biggest? Solid 15'-20' storm surf... more than once. Completely unrideable, but just massive, and breaking so far out it looked like it was feeling the bottom on the Shrewsbury rocks.

Biggest rideable? Consistent DOH and clean with a couple bigger... maybe 14'-15' bombs. Twice in 25 years.

Biggest and most perfect? 10' Irma.

 

I was almost 16 and surfed that swell at the ‘Old Station’. Shore break was 8’ and we surfed the outside bar. Honestly one of the biggest waves I have ever surfed on EC was that day. I remember that shot of Wes b/c it was such a critical wave and heavy looking. The outside sand bars were not that heavy...more sloppy with big faces but still big and heavy.

There have been numerous swells over the years that compare but Gabriel set up so good.

 

This was the biggest I ever saw someone ride a wave in OC, MD
Rider: Raven Lundy
Photo: Phil Hudson

 

Yes. All kinds of decks, pilings & stuff floating in the lineup.

 

I went to a more protected spot this day...smaller too. But some guys were out on this one especially once to tide dropped and the winds died a little.

We had another storm the next week though, can't remember its name. when I left the house for this spot in the vid the buoy was at 12.6 @ 15. been on plenty of swells like that so didn't think anything of it. off shores were ripping though with some nice sleet in the air so was almost impossible to sight where you were out in the line-up. tide was on its way in too.

got two lefts behind a large rock that sits out there and was feeling pretty goode. I remember though there was a lot of water moving around, that plus the wind started to make it really difficult to get into waves. struggled for a while. started to feel like my 6'8" was feeling kind of small.

then as it started to get dark. wanted to get one out and I was way too far out to just paddle in. finally a set appears on the horizon. first one looked a little small and mushy, decided to take the second one 'cause I could see the massive third one behind it was just gonna dump on me.

manage to scratch in to the second one, backside right. the plan was to hit a bottom turn then just ride it in. as soon as I get halfway down the face and turn to draw a line I see the other half of this wave screaming toward me. hollow af. I'm halfway down the face and if I was in that barrel I coulda reached straight up and not come close to touching the lip of this thing. I turn towards shore.

too late.

the thing closes out right on top of me sends me way down, get spun three or four times. I let it do whatever it wants and calmly reach for my leash, still submerged. climb the propere attached leg roppe. wtf??? where's tf is the surface??? can't get my head above the foam and whitewash.

give one hard kick to get to the top. get half air, half water, reach for my board...too late. third, even bigger one dumps me. repeat process above, but with the feeling of one lung full of water.

get to my board after that hold down, coughing and choking whilst trying to breath. oh guess what? there's a fourth. repeat process.

finally get on the board. spent. hoping there isn't another. still alive, for how long? next wave throws me toward shore and I glide in realizing this is the most mortal ive ever felt.

crawl out. throw up. cry a little.

get home. for shats and giggles check the buoy. 20.5 @ 15. I learned my limit.

 

Winter storm Jonas, February 2016. 19ft (23+ Belmar scale) close outs that destroyed my jetty. Never seen anything like it.