Representative Shot from
Harvey Cedars, NJ
We surfed the lefts
off a groin at Grant Street, but our bombs were about this size.
(Photo: courtesy of bruddahnick)
Picture
Gallery - Rod's Report
Todd, Neal, Kirk, Dan and myself, under the
guidance of Chris Daniels, ventured north to Cape May, NJ. We were expecting
some stiff offshores of 20-30kts - thankfully they never appeared and we
had clean northerly offshores of 10kts that created some nice, spitting
waves initially in the 3-5' range, later in the 4-6' w/several nice overhead
sets. I was in the water nearly five
hours straight (if my math
is correct). Dan King and I shared a north groin near Grant Street for
the last two hours while the short/longboard boys walked a couple groins
south to the southernmost groin (Broadway). They missed the biggest and
best of the surf, but found some waves more to their liking.
It is safe to say that all
had a fulfilling day. My best wave was an overhead double-barrel shotgun
set wave, although I scored
a few larger drops with
nice walls late in the session. Dan was consistently setting up square
in the cube.
I'll post up a few pics from
pre-session later tomorrow... the waves only grew in size and shape as
the day progressed.
Hot chicken soup and other
delicacies afterwards at the restaurant across from our peaks warmed our
souls.
Thanks to Chris for acting
as our guide. It was a good call on a day with SE swells and N winds.
- Rod
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Chris,
Todd, Neal, and Dan
loading up at the White
Marsh Park 'n Ride. |
Late
fall colors in South Jersey. Leaves are quickly disappearing with this
Nor'easter blowing through. |
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More
fall colors in South Jersey. We've had a beautiful Fall with the colors
lasting at least 3 weeks. But it's shaping up to be a cold, wet winter. |
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What's
a trip to the shore without a stop at WaWa's? South Jersey must have
one every few miles. |
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I
snapped a few quick shots before we suited up. At this point the waves
were breaking close to shore and just rolling. Easy paddle outs all day
even with the afternoon's increase in size and incoming tide. |
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The
view to the south. The "stand-up" gang moved to the south groin, just beyond
the pavillion in the distance, for the last couple of hours. |
The
view to the north. Dan and I surfed this groin for the entire session. |
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The
Kirk Mantay Report
Hope
everybody got out and got some yesterday. We spent the day in Cape May,
it was 4-8' clean SSE lines, but I can't honestly say I caught anything
over 6'. Vicious rip current swirling around some of the Cape May groins.
Started to line up really nice and build toward the end of the day, but
with sunset at 4:50pm, what can you do? Me, Neal, and Chris D. settled
around the terminal groin at Cape May (facing south) and caught the SSE
swell with soft NNW winds. Once it started to line up better, sat inside
the monster groin and tried to avoid the "swirl." It worked! Inside point
built to consistent 5' with +++ sets and semi-hollow lines, little sectiony
though.
Started off as a total shortboard
day (dumpy tubes on takeoff) but by the end of the day it was looking more
and more like a "longboard big wave." I rode my 7'8" all day, which I think
was the right call. The optimal board probably would have been about a
6'10" floaty pintail funboard. Here's a pic from up the road elsewhere
in NJ yesterday.
- Weekday
Bits
'n Pieces From Dan "Crag Rides Again" King's alt.surfing Report
<Rod> You crossed the
great divide and ventured up to La Jolla and caught Pink Bod (Bill Andrews)
trekking north to B***ks from the Snores? That's a long kneeboard!
<Pink
Bod> Snores?? I don't think even you would call it that
way, had you been here...
<Dan> He's on the money.
Face it, it is usually Snoresville....except for plywoods on those rare
days when all the conditions come together exactly right.
<Pink
Bod> but nuttin' could be better than surfing in 40 degree air
and 50 degree water in DE...
<Dan> Actually, last Sunday
it was southern Jersey, water around 52 and air in the mid-upper 40's,
leaden sky with occassional drizzle, whispers of offshore winds adding
a very slight texture to the otherwise glassy sea surface, and shoulder-head+.
In other words, it was nearly perfect!
Rod and I were the only ones
enjoying the festering suckpit produced by the groin. The wave was somewhat
reminiscent of Roach's Ledge, with a wedging suckout takeoff that afforded
an excellent barrel opportunity, then transitioned into a (usually) slow
and sometimes sectiony wall that mostly demanded a top-to-bottom approach.
The correct take-off position was a few feet from the end of the groin.
The 4 pedestrians in our
group gave it a valiant effort, but after repeatedly getting pitched and/or
sucked over the falls, they moved a few hundred yards down the beach, to
a spot more amenable to their wave riding vehicles.
<Pink
Bod> Imagine, 62 degree water, Santa Ana conditions...naw, best
you hang around with Rod!
<Dan> I actually enjoy
the cooler water temperatures, I was quite comfortable on Sunday in a 4/3
with 1mm paddling gloves and extremely worn 2mm open-heeled fin socks.
I wore my hood for about 20 minutes out of a ~4.5 hour session. If I had
decent 3mm booties I might even have been able to outlast warm-water Rodgers,
who spent about 5 continuous hours in the water. Of course, we both had
obscenely high wave counts, so all that paddling helped keep us warm. I
will have to gear up a little bit to prepare for the winter months and
water temps in the upper 30's.
I have enjoyed surfing with
Rod immensely. "El Suicidio" goes deep! He has inspired me to push myself
further in that direction. And, for some reason, his wife insists on cooking
breakfast and dinner for us whenever we go surfing together. |
Neal
Carver's Report:
Sunday - A six pack
of ASC members met up at the White Marsh MTA Park and Ride in anticipation
of big waves in Jersey. We met later than normal due to a midday
wind shift prediction. The surf forecast was calling for some really
big swell coming from a southeastern low that was pushing up the coast.
Winds were from the north and predicted to switch to the northwest.
Looking for a more southern
facing beach, we settled on a Cap May destination. This choice was
supported by Chris Daniels who knows that part of the state and offered
to be a guide. The drive was only 15-20 minutes longer than heading into
OC, MD. There was little traffic as we headed through some small
towns that reminded me of New England. We made a couple stops for gas and
hot coffee and then headed into the sleepy town of Cape May New Jersey,
the southern most part of the state.
Not a person in sight due
to the gray skies and occasional drizzle. We pulled up to the beach
and at first glace thought it was glassy and flat. Chris advised us that
the beach is fairly steep and that the break may be below our horizon.
We jumped out of the car and jumped up on the beach walk and found 4 to
6 foot waves rolling in. They were breaking close to the shore. We
scanned the beach and found a groin that was starting to work the waves
into some clean glassy lefts. Kirk suited up and was in the water
faster that Nigerian long distance runner. The rest of us watched
him takeoff on his first waves as we started to pull on our wetsuits.
I decided that I would restrain myself and take some water photos.
I put on some fins and paddled out on a sponge. I got a couple shots
of Chris but everyone else either got inside of me or had drifted to far
away. I trashed that idea and headed in to grab my 6'6". I
paddled out near the jetty and scored a mushy little ride. The jetty
started working a little better and everyone started to hang out around
the tip of the groin. We had the entire beach to ourselves. There
was some serious sucking off the rocks and swirling current which made
it tough to stay close to the jetty spot. But all of us got a few
rides before deciding on some other take off spots.
Chris, Kirk and Todd, paddled
in and headed down to the southern most groin and I stayed with Rod and
Dan. They were doing there usual groin tip take offs. I paddled
down and inside a bit but found it very hard to line up in the right spot.
Especially with no one else near me. I eventually decided to seek
out Kirk and Chris. The southern most groin had more of a left point
break feel. The tip of the groin was acting much the same but the
inside had nice glassy 5' -6' lefts with a longer ride. I rode a
couple of good lefts and actually scored a couple rights which ended in
nice floaters as the wave closed out. After 4 hours, I was tired,
sick and starting to chill. We headed back up the beach were we saw
Rod still in the water taking off on some increased waveage. The
waves were now breaking outside of the groin at 6'-8' feet. Rod finally
paddled in. We were trying to talk to him but the waves had melted
him into a drooling and mumbling fool. The man got it good.
We all warmed up with soup and sandwiches at the restaurant across the
street. I was treated to a meal by the passengers in my car as a
thank you for driving. I needed it since the drive back was in a
down pour. I was siked to think I had Monday off and was headed to a Delmarva
break to reap the left over swell!
-Neal Carver
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Other
Reports:
"IRIS was on it got better
towards the afternoon ..It was a packed house but it was fun."
"Where i was in jersey it
sucked overhead sets but just couldnt get anything good."
"Del and Mar was firing.
nice hefty barrels for all. Hope everyone had fun, can't wait to do it
again."
"Cold brrrrrrr. Decent
surf coming in at Assateague. Very harsh paddle out, took a few tries.
Had some really fun rides though. How long until summer?"
Chauncey's reported an active
crowd at Assateague with guys riding their semi-guns in 8'+ surf.
"Poverty (north end), Grant
(where we were next to the hard nail restaurant) and Broadway (southernmost
jetty). |
