It was offshore Thursday in New Jersey — up to 50 knots.
It actually started fires and knocked trees over — one of which crushed a woman in her car.
Jeff Smith
This would be an ugly mutant either way, but notice the 50-knot offshore winds.
When I was checking it that morning, a piece of shadowbox fencing came undone, blew of the boardwalk and landed a few feet away from me. Crike! We were still under a high wind warning yesterday morning.
But, hey. There were waves.
Jeff Smith
Cold and gold.
It wouldn't be a swell on the East Coast without some kind of natural disaster. You ever tried to surf in 40-knot winds? It's bizarre. Forget about seeing anything on the drop. You just get your face whipped with spray. Want to do a top turn? Sorry. Not in these gusts. There were actually whitecaps just outside the line-up. And if all that doesn't sound like more fun than a barrel of white-faced capuchin monkeys, the water is 36 degrees.
You do the math here - millimeters of rubber multiplied by knots of offshore wind, subtract feet of water the waves were breaking in. (5x50-2= Gnar factor of 248.)
All you can do is pull in, and that's pretty much what everyone did all day.
Jeff Smith
You know the old barrel caption cliche about finding shade in the tube? The sun is the last thing Kevin McCarthy needed protection from on Thursday. Crouching proud in Monmouth.
I went to a spot up north where the beach is morphed into a full sandspit wave, working like a machine — a cold, heavy machine that makes brown barrels, breaking literally just a few feet off the beach. I watched several boards break. Then, on what I decided would be my last wave of the day — a fast, hollow, racer that deposited me on dry sand 70 yards down the beach I— broke the nose off mine.
And I might point out that my compadre, Jeff Smith, got a few bowls of his own and spent the rest of the afternoon shooting in the wind and cold. Aside from these images, he also got a strep throat and fever for his troubles. He could barely see yesterday, and still managed to download the goods and send them off to me. Nice work, sir.
Jeff Smith
Let me break it down for ya.
And as per usual when you have near-hurricane force winds blowing from the west, we can look forward to days of flatness to come. Looks like Ireland is going to get it next.
Comments that include profanity, or personal attacks, or antisocial behavior such as "spamming" or "trolling," or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our terms of use. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Contributors
Jon Coen
Jon is from New Jersey and continues to reside there with his wife and dog—which means occasional empty barrels and the occasional session in the snow.The state isn't as dirty as people might think, but he'll let them keep believing that.
Jake Howard
Jake lives, writes, and surfs in San Clemente, California. He spent his formative gremlin years surfing points north of San Francisco, and for the last 10 years has been contently surviving behind the Orange Curtain.
Kimball Taylor
Author of Return by Water, as well as books on Jeffreys Bay and Pipeline, Kimball drives a red hot Camero, and back in the '70s, he used to party with your Dad.
Daniel Ikaika Ito
Daniel surfs like a hippie, but dresses like a homie. The Native Hawaiian originally hails from Hilo, but now resides in Honolulu. He enjoys twin-fins, new sneakers and being ESPN's "Cuz On The Scene" in the 50th State.
Jason Kenworthy
About as majestic as a turkey vulture, when he's not shlepping his lens around the world or looking for road kill, Jason can be found at home in Dana Point tending to his growing brood.
