Nice call, Micah. VB was a lotta fun today. Little bit of wait for sets but the fun was on. I've given you some heat over the years for some misses, so kudos for the call today: spot on. 3/2 suit & booties, no gloves, enabled a couple of sessions of 2+ hours in the water. That rain water runoff outlet 'pier' that the guv is building up in the 60's provided good stuff to surf. Not too crowded. Also saw guys catching good rides in the 34-36th Street range. The air temps were the key to it being a fun day in the sun. Pints w the fellas afterward at some place near 34th Street. It was a good day.
+1 Surfing the east coast most of my life, outside of hurricane swells, these conditions are the most fun. When it's blown out, messy, victory at sea conditions one day, and it cleans up overnight and the next morning it's clean and lined up. If we're thinking of the same thing, I think that structure you're referring to is called a "groyne" , which keeps longshore drift under control. The sand problems here have started to interest me...
I like that spot. It's not too far from my house. Unfortunately, a cop pulled me (and 2 other guys) out of the water last fall to show us the sign that said stay "X" amount of feet away from the structure. He had his ticket clipboard out, so I was waiting for ticket. It never came. I surfed that spot all winter and never saw another cop again. The sign is still there, however. Keep an eye out for the city's revenue collector this summer.
its the S swells that get over called in VB. This swell was SE. We'll get the S swells better tuned in... Working on it.
It resembles a groyne, and it may ultimately have the effect of a groyne on waves, but I've been told that it's actually being built to as the structure that contains the pipe that takes the rainwater runoff from the streets of Virginia Beach into the Atlantic Ocean. Taking that one step further, it would probably be a place to avoid (?) after a rainfall, due to the amount of road kill microbes, human waste, animal waste, vehicle oil / fuel & generally disgusting, bad stuff sloughing from the streets & into our ocean. Cape Hatteras has a couple of groynes constructed near the lighthouse in a continuing desperate attempt by mankind to stem the timeless erosion forces of Nature.
I heard you know a lot about groins.... haha ok sorry. I'm not sure what it is, but about 2 years ago it was a rusty steel wall that only went out about 40 feet into the ocean. I dont surf north end often but I drove past the other day and it looks like a bridge to to the UK. That thing is huge. For me, that place is a little too crowded on weekends. I went south to sandbridge and found solid bombs that I didnt have to share at low tide. Good stuff.
I checked every where I checked everywhere north of Rudee Inlet (takes an extra 30 minutes to get to Sandbridge, and for whatever reason my truck just cant make it across that birdge, it always turns left at 5th st) anyway i checkd first street , at least 15 guys on the main peak, then down at the pier, then down at 42nd st, then 61st, then 68th, then down at 80th. Maybe I just missed sets at all the north end spots or something but it seemed like 1 foot smaller than the pier and first street area. Me and my 2 friends surfed a peak at 12th st for 4 hours yesterday, it was really fun, little barrels all day, really fun. It was bigger early, but stayed fun until i just couldnt paddle anymore.
Hate to be that guy... But if you stayed in vb yesterday you really missed some epic hatty. I surfed between s turns and america street yesterday and it was some of the best barrels I have ever surfed. Perfect 5-6 foot spitting barrels that stayed wide open the whole way through. The best part though, was the fact that it was pretty late in the afternoon when it really turned on, which thinned out the crowds, as most people were "surfed out." Me and a friend surfed this perfect heaving peak all to ourselves
Mooseknuckle, the tourist hunting quote: good. BTW, in Maine the tourists are referred to by locals as "summer complaints." As in, "Did you hear what the summah complaints had ta say about the lobstah, Ahtie ?" Perfect.
Agree with Lee, the "groin" is too crowded already. Its not a groin at all, but it has built up a good amount of sand the last year plus. Same kind of structure that was at 42nd a few years ago. However, at this point unfortunately its already too well known. So keep it down and don't spread the word. The swell before last, there were tons of guys on it and even guys setting up video cameras on the beach.
