Okay you morons--today is the last day for Hurricane Season 2017. Overall, up here in frigid water country, it was another loser. Despite what Al Bore said. What say you, moron?
September was awesome. October was a bummer except for the the NJ folks. November was as expected. i'd say the canes made their mark on the south and islands
Delmarva was well above average swell-wise. Starting with Gert in Mid August, Irma, Jose, Maria, and finally Philiipe in late October, along with a bunch of non-tropical lows we had a good run. A lot of the swells were marred by persistent nnw or n winds. But basically you had a good shot to score chest high+ waves a couple times a week for over two months while the water was 70+ the whole time. That's a good tropical dish for us.
I spent the weekend in Gert's loving embrace in DE. She was beyond delightful and got overshadowed a bit (in my mind) by the subsequent swells.
I've been around a long long time. I'd say this was the best season we've had in my neck of the woods since the late 90s.
From Gert till end of September there were waves all the time. And some days were pretty pretty good. Gert was really good, the Friday long period day from Irma had some juice and off shore all day. Then October had a couple good days, the Wednesday before Kelly Slater day and Kelly Slater day. Now its time for ice cream headaches for the next 4 months yippy...
One morning in late September it was probably the best I've ever seen it in terms of quality and there were only 4 guys on it while it was doing this. Other breaks nearby were also all-time. Pretty much every jetty in town was firing this particular morning. We also had the stars align perfectly for several local charity contests and ESA events.
As I’ve often said, my hectic work schedule keeps me out of the water for most of mid-September to late-April/early-May. I’m lucky if I get to surf 3 times a month during that time period, May and June were awesome in Jersey. Usually, it’s dead for the better part of those months. I never had trouble keeping busy or keeping myself from being bored this past Spring. It was amazing! Logged a lot of hours in the water over about a 6 week span. There was one point where I surfed all but 3 days in a 20-25 day span. Some days were better than others, but there was always something for those 6 weeks, save for a few days here and there. Went out to California for a week, at theme of June/beginning of July, which capped off a great couple of months. The end of the Summer wasn’t bad, but many more flat days than May and June.
I'd give it a B for NE, July and August were dead flat, but we had a couple of swell filled weeks in Sept where I surfed prob 10 days or so with some real quality sessions, but then Oct got real quiet, so mixed bag as usual. Nothing like you southerners got.
September was amazing. October had some fun days from what i remember. November was pretty bleak. For you Barry, up north, i can see why you'd call it a loser. There were days where down here was pretty damn good and your reports and write ups you were saying you were getting like half the size we were getting. Seems swell just wasn't getting up your way. For my local i wouldn't call it a loser, but i wouldn't call it all time either. September was deceiving. It was great. But then that was about it. Best September iv ever experienced, but as a whole this hurricane season was so so. A few years back i remember memorable swells all the way through November. This was really just September. So what's better? One solid month or a good/decent entire season?
We had a lot of North winds at 45mph, hitting the waves laterally..big chop. Too bad, because the waves were there, but the wind crapped it up often.
Hard to have a frame of reference because while I've been surfing close to 20 years, a number of those years I was either not living in NJ (or anywhere else near the coast) or living here, but not committed enough and not checking every day or surfing every swell. But that said, 8/16-10/30 was BY FAR the best run of swell I've ever seen here, better than I'd ever imagined Jersey could get. I felt like I was on a surf vacation for the entire month of September. Stumbling around like a zombie for days on end cause I was so surfed out, trying to explain to people (non-surfers here, and surfers or former surfers in other parts of the country) my complete ****ing disbelief as we kept getting day after day after day of overhead rideable waves. The whole stretch already feels like I dreamed it. It pains me to admit it, after almost a week of completely flat conditions, but I can think of one or two days I checked it, and it was head high or bigger and clearly rideable, but I elected not to paddle out because it was only semi clean and I was so damn tired from surfing the previous 4 or 5 or 6 or more days and the forecast for the next day was way better... More than a few times during September I would stop and realize that I'd surfed 6 of the past 8 days, or 7 of the past 9, or something like that, AND THEY WERE ALL GOOD. At least two, maybe 3 weekends where I averaged 5-6 hours a day in the water. And that's despite September being my heaviest and most stressful month of work... if not for that who knows how much I'd have surfed. I'll concede the winds were not quite right for a lot of those days. NY and south jersey were exponentially more epic because of that, at least from what I understand. Many, many of the waves I rode in September were a big drop, quick bottom turn, ride for a second or two and then straighten out before the whole thing collapses on you. But I can't complain. Living here, and getting to ride overhead waves more days than not for a month straight? Yeah, sign me up for that every ****ing time. And as ****ing unbelievable as September was from start to finish, the best days of the season weren't even during that stretch. Hard to believe cause it seems scripted, but the first and last days of that 2.5 month run, IMO, were clearly the two best, albeit for completely different reasons. 8/16 was the funnest day I've ever had surfing. Not massive, but more than enough size and the most perfect conditions I've ever seen here. Actually, anywhere, but I've not done a whole lot of surf travel so that's not saying all that much. 1-2 foot overhead absolutely flawless walls of glass in the morning, every wave lining up seemingly lining up for 150 yards all the way to the beach. Peeling perfectly. Plenty fast and powerful, but smooth mellow takeoffs... I would imagine it was rideable and fun on basically any board. A little smaller in the afternoon, but still solidly head high, still fairly clean (a little texture on it, but didn't really affect rideability in the slightest), and every wave still lining up perfectly all the way to the beach. Warm water, warm air. Low tide in the morning and evening. Surfed for two hours before work, and 2.5 after (still worked most of a full day). Both sessions with friends I hadn't surfed with in forever. So tired I could barely walk back to the car at sunset... literally dozens of good waves and the paddle back out after every one was 100, 150 yards.
And 10/30... the pictures and videos speak for themselves. I know it was extremely gnarly and challenging for most of the day, but I paddled out right as the wind pretty much died down, just before 5 pm, and remember saying to a friend as I walked up the beach "that was as good as I've ever seen, or imagined, that jersey can possibly get." Even with the lighter winds it pushed my comfort zone for sure, and I'm not gonna claim I was killing it like a few of the guys out, but was pretty ****ing stoked about the handful of waves I got. I know there have been bigger, heavier days here... but I don't think I've ever paddled out on one, and definitely never gotten multiple fun rides on one before. And they are definitely few and far between. So yeah, pretty damn good hurricane season here. I suppose with a slightly different wind pattern in September it could've been an even better fall, and maybe someday I'll see one, but I'm not holding my breath. And sure as hell not complaining, at all, about any part of this fall.
We got a lot of good surfing in this summer compared to past summers. We play poker with waterproof cards in the lineup and watch manatees swim under our boards on flat summer days., (and one time a buddy paddled out a coffee mug to the lineup on a super flat day) But this summer, the cards never were needed at all. The cards have become a talisman. If we bring them in our packs to the beach, there’s waves. If we forget them in the car, it’s flat. We never forgot them this summer, maybe that’s why so many rideable days, rather than the lows moving off coast.
You just have to manage your expectations here on the East Coast. June is usually good for two two decent swell events and a mixed bag of small days. July about the same. August you can usually add one tropical event to the list. Anything more than that is just a bonus. This was a good summer and fall.
I don't have a great memory, but it was pretty good considering the last few years. August was great... Gert was all time- it had size, warm water and it was lining up well. The beginning of September was good... and there was waves pretty much every day in sept but the sand bars got messed up and didn't cooperate with swell direction, so there was a lot of closeout... but still size and warm water! But there where a lot of days when it didn't line up well... at least around here. For me personally, that makes a huge difference, since I have spent enough times surfing closeouts lol ANYWAYs- over all I think it was pretty good! maybe one of the longest stretches of sizeable waves and ok winds that I recall... but I do remember some swells in the past that seem to have lasted forever- like summer time sizable waves in board shorts, long rides... for weeks/maybe a month long. although, I don't have a great memory- so maybe Im just remembering the good times lol , but that was sometime in early 2000... Anyways, It was better then I personally expected, specially compared to the past few years...
