Rate Winter 2018-19

Man, while there have been some stand out days here and there this Winter was pretty bad here in CFL compared to the last few IMO. November / December weren't that bad, but Jan - present has been mostly meh with a few really fun days mixed in every so often. Overall I give it a 5. I see swell on the horizon though so hoping the 2nd half of March and all of April will make up for it.

 

It was pretty good for spending one week a month x 4 months in CR
24 total days of surfing, w each day x2 sessions, out of 120 days total.

Admittedly, the air travel burned me out by the end of February. Not complaining, just stating.

 

Agree 100% I feel like we have had very consistent fun size waves. I think I have surfed consistent chest or better at least once a week since December started. Honestly, those bomb swells with this cold water is not always "fun." Looks like another fun shot coming this Saturday.

 

8 , or even better sounds right. Decent swells almost every week lately. Fewer but bigger swells earlier in the winter. Less size but more consistent and better conditions later. Which is just fine by me. Seemed more like spring right after new years. I think I used a step up once and a long board only a handful of times since new years. More like spring. Decent weather with chest to head high fairly glassy conditions.
Edit: LB crew and desandan, you guys posted exactly what I was thinking before I could finish posting. Too cool.

 

So true. Cold water beat downs are fun. But only in a seriously nutso kind of way.
I'd rather surf a wave in the winter than merely survive it. And paddling back out after getting one on big cold days is also fun. Once you get back out that is.

 

Good question. The front end (I was in Hawaii in the middle for a few weeks which was a 9) was good-6. Back end 19-present has been okay but I have missed swells. Also, many days where the conditions did not come together with swell - 5 (personally). Seems like Delmarva (Mitch) got much better conditions this late winter pattern.

 

Almost all 1 day hit and run swells here in NE this winter. Some fun days, but then you'd have to wait a week between swells. No lazy lows, no prolonged swell events, and like 1 big day. So I'd say below average. On the plus side, a mild winter meant I probably surfed more in Jan/Feb, then I ever have before with no prolonged winter flat arctic spells. So all in all, meh.

 

The waves have been consistent but not epic. I can only recall one really long flat spell here. But mine was a tale of two Winters. The first two months I surfed a lot more due to less work load and I was in good health. The last two months work has been nuts and I sprained my wrist and broke a finger. I haven't surfed in nearly a month but I'm on it Saturday no matter what.

 

Agreed. Hoping for a strong late March and April to make up for the meh. Consistent. But blown out most of the time. My choppe game is strong, but barrels? Barrels? WTF are barrels?

 

Agree with what the NJ guys are saying... Consistency was good. I only recall 1 "big" swell... But overall it's been fun.
And the consistency has been good for me this year. Been doing a lot of work on the house so it's good to not have to plan around swells. It's a lot easier missing waves when there's more on tap later in the week.

 

I got to give it a 5 out of ten, but admittedly my opinion is skewed due to circumstances. My local bars were terrible early winter. Making cone good days really not fun at all. Then the dredged. Trying to figure out the new set ups is/was fun, but it definitely took a few weeks to settle in. Seems like swell has been there. My stubborn ass didn't feel like going to other spots on the island which I'm sure would of offered better waves. Couple that with a swell or two that i had to miss due to work. And boom. My winter wasn't that great. Not bad and towards the end here iv been having more fun as the sand has settled.

 

I'd have to say mediocre at best for vee bee (and that includes running to down to Outer Banks for a day trip as needed/able). There were some fun days, but nothing super memorable or standout, or really big swell that got me excited enough to flat out call out of work to surf all day at home or at hatteras. There were three, maybe four days down south where it got legitimately good and I was stuck at work, but that's par for the course. Overall, didn't hold a candle to this fall, or winter of 2016

 

I’m hoping for an epic (or at least decent) spring too!

 

I've been around a lot of winters. I'd rate this one as average to slightly below average for my neck of the woods. Central Jersey had a much better winter than down here in SJ. Best day we had involved a road trip to Central Jersey on December 22nd. That was an epic day that made the whole winter for all involved.

My 13 year old.



My 19 year old.



Ethan



Jamie Obrien



Gravy.

 

I’d have to say a 5 at best up here. I have hundreds of pics of last fall/winter and the fall/winter before that and there were way more doable days and more good days by far. And the irony is when there was a good swell it was midweek during work hours lol
I will say that Monday afternoon was fun for a while
Until tide turned and swell dropped off. Water is still 35-37degrees at buoy so I’ll enjoy some warm
up but I’m really hoping spring makes up for the winter.

 

Strange but good winter on Delmarva....lots of smallish to medium sized south swell/south to southwest wind combos. For a few spots on Delmarva that's a good setup...spots i like to surf most in the winter...SW winds are offshore/protected and the short-medium period angled south swells work off the jetties. Most weeks from Mid December - Mid March had waves in the 2-4 foot range and clean at least twice a week. Air temps and water temps were never an issue...near to above average in both categories and it wasn't a windy winter either. I surfed more through the deep part of the winter than i have in a long time and the sessions were fun sized. For me anyway that's at least a 7-8 / 10.

The downside was we had very few, if any, of the big NE swell NW wind days that give OCMD the big barrel sessions. I know a lot of people who would rate this winter low because of that alone.

 

I give it a 5. The surfs I had were fun but admittedly I didnt surf all that often. No trip either which really sucked! Next year I am doubling up!

 

The El Nino winter was a 10 , 18 of the 21 named storms produced high quality waves .