delaware cams?

I am sure we have sat next to each other, been in the parking lot or checking the waves next to each other. I usually ride SS unless I take the kids & then I head towards the cove @ NS. Going on almost 40 years @ the inlet 95% @ SS though. Head South generally if not @ the inlet. Venture to Naval Jetties very rarely.

 

Ok let's hear from the guys that have actually surfed this place on the reg for at least 10+ years:

What actually happened to IRI? (both sides, but particularly SS)

When I was there 7 years ago, they were either building a new bridge or repairing the old one. There was a big dredge too. But during the 6 months I was there I never saw any work being done. Both sides looked ****e, but SS looked like a deepwater lagoon with occasional shorebreak.

Never bothered to check it during the small clean winter swells as I was getting some smoking little tubes at OCMD. Saw a lot of potential in Delaware, with well shaped ultra crunchy shorepound.

So, what happened? And has anything changed there since 2010?

 

This is a photo of IRI when the jetties were installed I think that was in 1938. You can see how the jetties were the same length originally. The current bridge is the 5th one. I would guess that the reason the SS jetty is longer now is because of the sand getting trapped & they extended it & still had to add the bypass system.

The bypass system started in 1990 I am pretty sure. I remember surfing there before the bypass system & the beach was definitely flatter & next to the jetty was the spot. Still happens now but nothing like it used to. Dumps now was SS Cove & still would break heavy just not as far down south as now.

SS is very fickle, tides & winds can kill it in minutes if they are bad & against each other. Before cell phones it was great because you could get some good days by yourself or very few out.

 

I was out last fall, it wasn't very big, but it was fun. SS up near the jetty, within 10 minutes, the wind shifted and it went to hell. The sand pumping really messes with the place, too. IRI doesn't have the sand bars like OCMD does, so its going to break a little closer to shore. I just tried to upload some photos of some epic IRI, but I guess SI doesn't want me to.

 

True statements.

I have tons of good SS pics in the vault.

 

From the pic, it appears that the jetties were built to basically support the bridge by attempting to either trap more sand, or to help negate erosion under the bridge pilings.

So the beach was flatter 20 years ago? On both sides, or just SS? And what is The "bypass sysrem"?

The beach angle was so steep in 2010 that I couldn't believe that the place could be surfed.

 

The jetty's purpose is to prevent sand from moving from adjacent beaches into the inlet and creating navigational problems or completely closing it up, as used to happen before the jetties were built. They actually used dynamite to open the inlet back up and restore flow and navigation.

 

This is true. The bridge project (long story) resulted in the need to dispose of a great deal of sand. Rather than haul it away they created huge piles of it on both sides of the inlet. The sand piled on NS is mostly gone but there is still a pretty good accumulation of it on the dune at SS. It was very fine grained material (much finer than the native beach sand in the area).

 

The bypass system was built in the around to pump sand across the inlet that was blocked from migrating northward by the rock jetties in the pic Chuck posted. OC inlet also bypasses sand but they do it by dredge.

Yeah 2010 was about as bad as it got KR. no sandbars, deep water, anything under shoulder high basically didn't break even at low tide. bigger swells would break, but lousy form.

 

Thanks to CWhite and Mitchell for the killer history lessons.

Seen pix of both sides going off gnarly back in the day, goddamn shame when classic breaks get effed up

 

They cant, they are spraying all of their money at Bethany later this year.

 

Ss



NS


For some reason I can't post any more

 

Now I guess my pics will not show...

 

There is a Del DOT traffic cam kinda pointed towards the ocean. http://www.deldot.gov/map/?tab=Weather
In my experience the surf in DE is usually smaller than MD. Certain Jetties can provide some wind protection or help hold longer period swell that might close out elsewhere.

 

Damn dude, going off!!! When was the NS pic taken?

 

SS is like that for some reason, it always has been, and most likely always will be. Those guys get kicked out for fighting the lifeguards; it's happened alot. DE drama is profound! Honestly; from what I've seen from lurking around there for many years makes me proud!

Dude blew his knee cap trying to bodyboard air the jetty. Getting a jetty wave 15 years ago was hard, 3 or 5 guys would consume all the waves. Still to this day if you get the right group in the water they will dominate

SS as far back as i can remember has been known for localism; it's a tight group. Colin back in the day would straighten you out if someone was out of line, he was known for it. And that's OK, but it is obviously a changing of the guard and since Colin and I were acquaintances I'm obligated to handle it. Plus Colin can fight, just not as good as me. He would F up most people

Colin would always be fussing with someone in the lineup and now he is kooked out.

F you Colin your Kooking days are over, sorry you made it come to this. Hopefully we can mend this, but this has to happen, there is another spot I care for deerly.


The skimboard community is rough necks, too. If they don't know you, you will get skimboard burned or just edged out and made irrelevant. Love yall SS IRI guys style

I know OCMD skimmers who won't go to SS because how poorly they get treated. It's ultra crowded by Skim terms and very localized

#skimburned
#edgedout
#skimlineups
#skimmoms

 

Last fall. Here was another one I was trying to attach. This was about 2 years ago on the SS.

 

if your younger than 30 or 35 than you never got to experience the golden age of IRI. Southside was the chit. steep, powerful absolutely the best wave around. north side used to break from near the end of the jetty all the way through the inside. chit was unreal.