Why does the northeast get better waves than the southeast?

Look up "swell window".

 

aside from the obvious continental shelf...silt could be adding to that by shallowing some southeast breaks even more

btw, new smyrna, fl gets a pretty damn good and consistent wave, so the continental shelf theory looses a little cred

 

i beg to differ,did you not see the florida footage from hurricane sandy.we dont get waves like that in the northeast.the eastcoast holds to about 8ft before it starts closing out.average surf from a decent groundswell is head high to maybe a foot overhead(6ft),then u get a screamer coming off the coast and its a washing machine.all depends on the seafloor,winds,and tide.you can get an epic groundswell but without a good sandbar youll have 5ft shorebreak

 

The Northeast beach breaks has much deeper water. The SE has generally long shallow sloping beach breaks. Here in Jersey especially Central & North Jersey, once you get into the water you go from knee high depth to over head water depth within a few feet. Much more water up here to play with.

 

One reason is the continental shelf. The dark blue is very deep water, light blue is shallower. The SE has much more continental shelf than NE so the waves and wave energy have more time do dissipate.

 

NH has a deep canyon that goes from the shore in rye to Jeffreys ledge which allows energy to flow through

 

Sorry man but the points and reefs of nh and maine can hold much larger than 8ft. I'v had some decent 12-13fters at points from nor easters

 

It gets good everywhere at one point or another. Some of those spots you name that can hold really big swell during a hurricane or major low system usually don't come to life until something like that comes along. As far as consistency you won't find a more consistent spot than New Smyrna / Ponce Inlet or the OBX, that's well documented, but if you want heaving barrels than NJ is where it's at. We get barrels down this way too, but it isn't as frequent. Though some claim a lot of mushy waves around here, it's not always the case either, sure there are those days, but mostly I find on a decent day it's usually pretty walled up and punchy. Every dog has it's day though, so it really depends on weather systems, and that can change from year to year.

 

The older I get, the more and more I prefer consistency over size. For the kind of waves that I believe any East Coaster is used to surfing, it gets pretty consistent here in my little slice of heave in Northeast FL. We do not really get blocked from anything other than the Cape when there's a straight north swell. And even with that said, most of the time, the West-East jet stream during the winter passes either above or below where OBX sticks out so we still end up getting some.

 

If you've ever surfed the out islands in the Bahamas, you can tell right away there is lots more power since there is no continental shelf. Reef Road does hold very big waves ( over 15-20 foot faces ) on those rare days, due to a trench combined with the shipping channel at the inlet, plus the proximity to the Gulfstream current and the extreme eastern lie of the break. But it is not nearly as powerful as waves half that size in the Pacific, or even the OBX. This is due to the continental shelf. I've surfed Rye on the Rocks in NH, that has more power at 8 feet than Reef Road does at 12 feet ( faces). There are a few places that hold well overhead surf in East Florida - check out Monster Hole, or RCs on big hurricane swells.

 

Not to mention the NE has extremely varied coastline geography. Look at Ruggle's in Rhode Island. You just don't see coastline like that in the Southeat/Mid-Atlantic. There are few good point breaks south of the Mason Dixon.

 

oh sorry. I thought you meant waves from the same swell.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVs--h90agM

that right there is in the northeast pretty intense if you ask me only thing to we have to compare is obx imo

 

Is it just me or was that wave moving really slow? Or was it the video that made it appear that way? Still a huge wave, but it appears to be a slow roller

 

That's what she said.

 

First warning sign of surf that is bigger than you think is the "time warp effect" my own term for the phenomena. If the surf looks like its moving really slow from the shore, the surf is much bigger and much further out than you think. Of course most of the time on the east coast if it looks mushy it probably is, lol.