Nice run of surf we’ve had the last few days, compliments of a slow moving low pressure system that moved up from the Caribbean and sat right in our E-NE swell window for multiple days. Conditions were good if you picked the right spot each day with the best conditions happening today (May 27th). I took full advantage of the this late season swell as I did a bit more surfing than I did shooting(partly due to harsh lighting/poor photographing conditions), but I did snap off a few shots before each session.
This may be the last solid swell until something tropical forms in our swell window, which really might not be too far in time from now. NOAA just released their seasonal forecast for tropical disturbances and are predicting a ridiculous number of storms forming this hurricane season(14-23) with the possibility of a “hyper-active” season, which I completely agree with. Sea surface temperatures in the MDR (Main Development Region) are at an all time high since record keeping began and almost all major hurricanes that are category 4 or greater begin their life in this region. El Nino is currently done and La Nina/neutral conditions are expected to develop in July, which means less wind shear for tropical systems to deal with. This will allow any type of wave coming off of Africa to have the proper environment for tropical storms and hurricanes to form. We should have our first hurricane form sometime in July and possibly have a few tropical storms to deal with in June, most likely forming in the Caribbean. August-October is going to be downright scary if the forecast pans out.
While this may be a good thing for surf prospects, I sure hope we don’t get one of those major storms on top of us. I do look forward to documenting the hurricane swells and will be shooting more HD video than taking photos as I now have the proper equipment to do so.
May 25th-27th, 2010
E-NE swell anywhere from-4 feet to 9 feet at 9-11 seconds
W-NW-N winds at 5-15kts
Summary – Light winds each morning early with northerly winds picking up each day around mid-morning. Some good sized sets in the overhead range came in on the 26th and fun chest to head high waves on the 27th. You had to be on it to score good conditions as the early bird got the worm. Click picture for gallery.
Well today was somewhat of a “sneaker swell”. A few days prior, a pretty large and strong low pressure system spun off the Mid-Atlantic coast and actually headed directly at Florida for about a day as it sunk south and a bit west. Most models and forecasts predicted nil for waves as there were pretty strong SW-W winds forecasted to blow against the swell and most of the system’s energy was focused to the storm’s direct south and east. However, one thing I’ve learned over the last few years is that when there’s an intense low pressure in Florida’s swell window, even if waves aren’t forecasted or are predicted to show up on our beaches, it’s always wise to pay attention and monitor the ocean for swell to show. There’s a lot of power in these systems and no forecaster or model can completely forecast with 100% accuracy how much energy will show up. I checked the buoys around noon and only one near shore buoy was showing the swell. The 120 and 20 mile buoys only had trace swells with mainly wind chop and strong SW wind readings. Surfline was calling it 1-2ft and was advising to “not expect much better” as the day went on. Well it did get a lot better. It was inconsistent but when the sets showed up there were head high waves in 3-4 wave sets. Swells like this are hard to predict and I like it that way as scoring a day like this when no one is really expecting it makes it even better.
Sebastian Inlet
April 26th, 2010
Inconsistent ENE-NE swell 2-3 feet at 13-14 Seconds
SW-W winds at 10-15 kts
Summary – Inconsistent long period sets. Really fun waves. Most of my shots were from 1-2 hours before high tide (was surfing earlier).
Super fun day. Haven’t surfed lined up and clean groundswell like that in a long time in Southern Brevard. I did more surfing than shooting today but was able to get a few shots. Matt Kechele got a mean barrel sequence and Pete Mendia got a few as well. Mez was shooting these guys all afternoon so he’ll most likely be posting some on ESM’s next feature. I’m sure he got some sick ones.
March 29th, 2010
ENE swell 2-4 feet at 11-12 seconds
ESE-SE wind swell 5-6 feet at 6 seconds
SW-W winds at 15-20 kts
Summary – Offshore winds all day. Nasty weather early and overcast/rainy until just after lunch when the sun decided to come out. It was a little bit inconsistent but when the sets showed up there were definitely some fun ones to be had. The longer period swell worked well with the SE windswell that was left over from overnight. Definitely a good day of surf. Click picture for gallery.
Finally, a solid NE swell with good wind conditions. We’ve had some swells in the past few weeks but conditions have been less than ideal so everyone was really looking forward to this one. The swell really started filling in Wednesday afternoon and conditions were near perfect at an outside break near the inlet. The beaches to the north had reeling lefts that were just a bit too fast but some shoulders were coming through.
The next day almost the entire state of Florida had clean chest to head high surf with spots to the south seeing some much bigger sets. I struggled with picking a spot on this swell as high tide was near midday and I knew most spots would be nothing but walled closeouts. Luckily, the winds were going to be offshore all day so I knew I’d find a spot working. The first few pics are of Jensen Public Beach and the rest are of a few different reefs in Martin and St. Lucie County. If anyone recognizes the kid in the barrel sequence at Jensen, make sure to tell him he got the shot. He was pretty stoked he made it through the doggy door. I mainly got empty wave shots so mind surf away when looking through the gallery. Click the picture for gallery.
Sebastian Inlet, Jensen Beach, and two secret spots
March 17th & 18th 2010
NE swell 4-6 feet at 12-14 Seconds
W winds at 10-20 kts
Summary – Both fun days if you were in the right spot. Check out the Gulf Stream in some of the morning shots, big humps of swell moving south. West winds were bending WNW and blowing pretty hard by midday on the 18th but conditions still remained good.
Here’s another gallery from a few weeks ago. Sharks were the thickest I’ve ever seen in Florida. You could watch the horizon and every 30 seconds or so you’d see a spinner jump about a quarter mile off the beach. This spot was pretty crowded but I don’t think many seemed to care as the amount of sharks nearby offshore was ridiculous. Safety in numbers! Only a few more galleries to post to catch up but once those are up all my posts will be in chronological order.
Palm Beach
February 8th, 2010
ENE-NE swell 3-4 feet at 13-15 Seconds
N-NW winds at 1-5 kts
Summary – Fun all morning into midday until a north wind got on it. Sharks everywhere. Closed out up and down the beach with only a few peaks working where the crowd was. Click picture for gallery.
WNW-NW winds were howling last night(25-40kts) and all day today as low pressure exited and intensified off the coast which sent fun N-NW wind swell to South Florida. Long period swell in the 2-3 foot range was also in the water from the intense low pressure system that had been pumping swell to the Caribbean and Eastern Atlantic. This low pressure system had an equivalent pressure reading as low as a category 2 hurricane so it definitely was a massive and very strong system. Waves were fun all day and tomorrow is shaping up to be almost just as fun. Lots of sequences in the gallery.
Juno Pier
February 13th, 2010
N-NW wind swell 4-5 feet at 9-10 seconds
ENE-NE swell 2-4 feet at 12-14 Seconds
NW winds at 10-15 kts
Summary – Fun all day long with moderate NW winds. Little bit chilly out but sunny and clear skies. Click picture for gallery.
Here’s a gallery from January 25th, 2010. The winds were offshore all day and there was long period swell in the water. Make sure to look at pictures 19-23. I caught a spinner shark/black tip jumping in the background as I was taking a sequence of pictures. This shark looks pretty big for a spinner at around 6-7 foot. The sharks have been thick lately, especially in South Florida.
Spot #1 – High Tide Secret Spot
Spot #2 – Sebastian Inlet
January 25th, 2010
NE swell 2-4 feet at 12-14 seconds
W-WNW winds at 15-20 kts
Summary – Super clean and fairly lined up for how long period of a swell. Fun day. This is the same day as the Vimeo link I posted in my last post. Click picture for gallery.
Hey guys I’m just getting started with this site and am looking forward to putting it all together. 2ndlight.com has been a great site to post pictures and there’s no other forum for Florida’s east coast surfers that even comes close to the wealth of knowledge that it provides. My hat goes off to Dave, Chuck and everyone else who has contributed to building and maintaining the 2ndlight community. I still plan on contributing to 2ndlight but I was looking for an easier way to upload a ton of pictures and keep a blog/record of my surf sessions. I plan on doing forecasts with this blog in the near future and will post my best pictures from each of my sessions as well, so bookmark it to go along with the other forecasts that are already out there and expect some forecasts to start coming out once I get everything on here squared away. I will also be posting HD videos on Vimeo when I put together a string of good footage. I hope you guys enjoy my blog and look forward to providing some guidance and a little stoke through pictures and video.
Sebastian Inlet
February 9th, 2010
NE swell 2-4 feet at 10-12 seconds
S winds at 10-20 kts
Summary – A little bit inconsistent but some fun peaks rolled through. The sun was in and out… Mostly out, but I was able to get a few good shots despite the less than ideal conditions. Click the picture for the gallery and here’s a clip that was thrown together a few weeks ago to test the camera out – Sebastian Inlet Slow Motion Test
