Shorebreak is a specific phenomenon. When the change in bottom contours is so significant, and the wave action is high enough, these specific beach waves get jacked up and come crashing down right on the shoreline in a big way. There is obviously the danger -- if the swell is heavy enough -- of getting caught in the impact zone just like any another wave, and having a massive force of water come crashing down on your head. But perhaps the bigger shorebreak danger is getting sucked over the falls. These waves are characterized by breaking on the shore, which means next to no water upon impact if you get sucked up and over and the wave slams you into the beach. Now take all of...
Happy Holidays! It's the week of Christmas, and I feel like I'm still catching up from a busy season of late summer surf and fall travel. Right before I left for Ireland there were back to back swells that just seemed too perfect to pass up. It was mostly knee high or die, and I was out there swimming at golden hour with friends for two of my favorite sessions of the whole season! Plus a day of 75° and sunny in late September left us all thinking back to last year's incredible Indian Summer.
July had Hurricane Chris. August was unbelievably quiet. Then September came in with Hurricane Florence, and suddenly surfers remembered what it was like to catch waves again!
This category 4 slammed into the Carolinas, causing massive amounts of damage particularly in flooding in the days and weeks after landfall. But up here in the northeast, we had some wind and rain that parted briefly to...
Rhode Island isn't particularly known for summer surf. You might get the occasional 2ft day but even then it's rare to get multiple good swells during the mid summer months. This year opened with Hurricane Chris, and it wasn't long after that that I found myself out swimming in the lineup again for some gorgeous longboarding days in late July.
There's not much to say about these sessions other...
The northeast is not known for having good summertime surf. Typically summer swells will only reach 2–3ft, but mid July saw the arrival of gorgeous chest high sets thanks to Hurricane Chris. The tropical storm turned hurricane as it churned offshore, while Beryl weakened and then reappeared off Bermuda. Here in Rhode Island we were met with sun and clear skies, accompanied by buoy reports of about...
