HH - DOH Waves

Nah man I get it, I just think we should all go crest to trough...I mean sh!t, that's how they do the XXL awards. But ultimately we are all subjective creatures.

 

What really cracks me up are the estimates from non-wave riders. One day during the Leslie swell(6+) I heard a lady call it 15 feet. Then I know a guy who fished from his kayak, a sit on top. Told me he had to paddle it in through 12 ft surf one day, meanwhile I'm thinking, yeah guy, if you tried to do that, you wouldn't be here right now.

 

lmao. We are talking wave height, not if it's minimal to a day at another break. You love the smell of your own ****. A couple of friends who moved near San Diego describe it a little different than you. Blacks does get huge days but not nearly as much as you describe. I would be interested to just see the different big swells over the last 5 winters at blacks and the consistency of days that are OH.

 

I'm not trying to be jerk but I do see points from both sides. If you look at a huge Cali face but the wave breaks halfway down the face like most big days there, the actual pocket and barrel are a lot smaller than the wave face. It doesn't break as square as here where the wave can dump/pitch more.

 

That pull out before the inside is some of the best advice here.

 

Spot on. If somebody says 8-10 foot from the EC, I know before even looking that the wave face is going to be pretty close to 8-10 feet. Personally, I believe that this is the best barometer. Gotta laugh a bit when I see a Hawaiian wave with a 12-15 foot face and hear "eh, it's about 4 foot brah".

 

Don't know what to tell you man. I am giving an honest answer to a question a guy gave, and I also gave the disclaimer saying I know if you ask 10 different people, they will give you 10 different answers. Sorry you don't like my answer, but thats your problem, not mine. I stick to what I said. I also don't know why you feel the need to take shots at California and Blacks, and the La Jolla Reefs. Have you spent long stretches of time out there? Cause if not.... I mean, I have been to Hawaii a few times, but that doesn't make me a specialist on their waves or their consistency just because I have been a visitor a few times. The past 5 years swell data is available. In January 2010, the La Jolla reefs and blacks NEVER ONCE got under OH. The entire month. And again, the avatar you love so much is not from Blacks. Its from a slab reefs about 2 miles away. The entire month of Jan that year was unsurfable at every beach break except blacks. Doesn't happen every year like that, but I would say that from December-Feb, Blacks is on average OH+ 40-50% of the time. Every now and again you will get a year that is a bit slow, then you get a 2010 that fires every day.... But again, this coversation has nothing to do with Blacks or whatever.

The topic at hand is that EC, CA and HI all have different systems of scale. Period. And the system I use is somewhere in the middle. And that video was a 6-7ft wave. Have you guys ever heard me talking about 6-10ft days down here in SC? No, never. Because it hasn't happened. But I will tell you what, I hear plenty of people in the lineup talking about 8-10 foot sets. I mind my business but note that they have their own scale down here that is completely wrong. Sandy was probably the biggest swell we have had since I was here, it MAXED out at 5-6ft. and that is MAX. little bit smaller than that video. And that is the biggest its gotten. So, my scales are fine to me. I also agreed with you when you kept asking everyone from folly to show you an OH picture. They could not, because there wasn't one. And again, I agreed with you. But I guess my final statement is that I hear too much of this CA envy from people talking about how weak it is, how its mushy, how its not that big. Unless you have a few winters under your belt, your opinion means nothing to me with regards to that. Cause all of CA stays plenty big, all winter long. I', sick of hearing guys that surfed PB in July tell me about waves I have surfed 1000 times. And if you think there was ever a year or ever a swell in the state of New Jersey that would even fall into the category, force, strength it wouldn't even make the top 25 list of days in SoCal's standout spots on any given year. Ever. Even on it's heaviest day, Jersey don't hold a candle to anything on the pacific. It just doesnt. The only people that disagree with my statements are the ones that aren't from CA and have never spent any legit time there. As the other guys chimed in on this thread, that live and surf in CA, all claimed that wave was even smaller that I said. So don't make this about me. We can all have our opinions.

 

Ohh, but one last thing about the original topic here. I forgot to mention it in my first post, but this is definitely a top 5: When you think you have a big enough board for a huge swell, get an even bigger one out. I have never, ever charged a big swell and been out there thinking "Man, I wish I had my 6'1 today"... But I can think of dozens of times that I was out on a stick too small fluttering down a huge face like a fly on a mack truck.... Bring a nice big stick with plenty of volume and you will be good to go.

 

I lived in California for a few years and I'm back in Jersey now. I agree with a lot of things you said here but this quote is a little ridiculous. To say that the best Jersey day in a YEAR doesn't compare to the top 25 days at ANY standout California spot is just not true.

I'll give you that California is consistently bigger, and consistently more fun but if you think that the handful of great days per year that Jersey gets wouldn't be in the top 25 you've either never been here consistently (which you call out in your own post), or you are a liar.


Oh yea, this photo is Jersey.

 

Excellent point...

 

sounds like you havent surfed real waves

 

This would be fun to actually post pictures of the past 3 years of the top 25 in California and see if the top Jersey day fits in. I have a feeling it would. Hurricane Marie this year is a freak but that size isn't too common and people where comparing it to Pipeline, lmao.

 

I figured you would also go back to 2010 for some huge swell. Can I go back years to find the best hurricane season and compare. I know California has Jersey beat in consistency but to say that the best day Jersey has doesn't compare is a joke. I have friends who have lived on Kauai, Big Island and Oahu for a long time. They have come back to visit and they still say on a big winter day here it can be as good as anywhere. This is coming from people who usually talk about how soft the waves are in Cali.

 

We all remember this...http://www.swellinfo.com/video/raven-lundy-sam-hammer-and-friends-having

Can we agree that we should call wave size based on where the footage was shot? Here in NJ, I'd call it 8'-10' sets. Not quite DOH... by NJ standards. Still some heavy surf.

 

I would agree with that. The wave also pitches and hits the trough not halfway down the face. That wave is a lot scarier to surf then huge blacks which definitely seems easier to surf even though it could be much bigger.

I'm getting old these days and I would probably prefer blacks or reef break. Less poundings and easier to make. I"m getting to old for those big overhead winter days where the water temp and the wave really give you a beating.

 

Okay, maybe 25 is a bold statement, but on a good year, I would stick to that. Just look at 2014 for example. Look at the lackluster storms we have had. I was impressed with a couple shots on that biggest swell in New Jersey, but look at what is happening in the pacific. Everything on the whole west coast was 12-15 feet for days in a row, while freaks like the wedge were over 20+.... That was just one swell. Can you imagine the hundreds or world class waves out west were all looking like during that time? And I am talking about a whole year, not just a few months in the fall. So, my statements are not a shot at Jersey, because they are by far a top contender on the east coast, I am just trying to keep everything in perspective. I have heard my whole life in Delmarva about how the waves break heavier on the east coast during a big swell because of the shore break and stuff. Some days, maybe... But on the west coast, when you are surfing a 10-12 foot day on a ground swell at 23 seconds at hundreds of spots that can hold it, I mean, those swells thump. Try and paddle out at the OB pier on a 8 foot day at 20 seconds. People don't even make it out in those conditions.....

So yes, on a good year, some east coast waves would be worthy of mention, but in the past 2 years I have lived back east, we had some freakish surf duing Sandy that was notable on an international level. Since then, its just some solid gems every once in a while.

Alex Grey surfing a southern CA beach break. This is true DOH if you ask me. This swell wasn't even heavily publicized.



I am not going to go on a socal wave picture rant. I am just saying. I put my time in out there. I have seen every swell the pacific has throw for 10 years and I can vouch that there are DOZENS of swells every fall and every winter that just go off and never make it to surfline. Never make it to SI photo archives, don't make it to surfer magazine. So, while a great swell in Jersey can definitely notable, there has never been a swell in history on the east coast that hasn't been eclipsed on the west coast in the same year by numerous, multi-day long swells. I don't even consider most of what I am saying opinion. I look at it more as a fact. I will give you the fact that 25 is a made up number, but I am just trying to explain that there are a million waves a year that are getting completely obliterated by chargers all over the west coast and no one on swell info or any internet site is ever going to see them, unless you want to stalk dozens of local sites all day.