Monday, September 26, 2005
Long Island Surf
I'm currently in NYC on business. I flew out on the redeye Sat night and arrived at 6:00 am NY time. My friend Adam, who I met at the Fish Frye in San Diego this spring, picked me up at JFK and we proceeded immediately to his local break, a beach in the town of Long Beach, on Long Island. We got out of the car and I noticed that I had never seen so many fish in one place before. Adam didn't bring his Mandala quad, but it seemed like every other car in the lot had a some kind of fish, including many Mandala shapes. Adam knew most everyone in the lot and a few guys we met on the boardwalk. The vibe was very easygoing and friendly.
We walked across the boardwalk and checked out the waves. The forecast was for 4-6 feet @ 11 secs, but when we got there it looked sloppier. Now I understood why there were so many fish in the lot. The morning temp was in the upper 50s, and the wind was sideshore from the East, with an outgoing tide ("dead low" as I heard many locals refer to it). I had my 3/2 wetsuit, which turned out to be good for the conditions. Adam had a 2/1 shortie, and he was cold by the end of the session. The water temp was about 70 deg and I never felt cold. But, I get ahead of myself.
Anyway, there are rock jetties every 100 yards or so, and they work with the East swell to create a powerful sideshore rip. You can jump in at the East side of a jetty and the exiting current will pull you out into the break, assuming you can duck dive under the gnarly waves dumping in the impact zone. It took me two tries to get out on Adam's 6'1" Birch thumb-tail quad, because I was getting pulled too far East, down to the next jetty, and decided to belly ride in and restart.
The set waves were head high, with mushy lefthand takeoffs followed by weird walls and punishing closeouts. I only caught a few rides and could never get the hang of the thick-railed Birch board. Could have been the board, could have been a somewhat sleepy driver. As the tide got lower the waves got mushier and smaller. We went in after 90 minutes. The best thing about Long Island surfing is the sense of community. Seems like everybody knows everybody else at the local break and that is very cool. Also, warm water doesn't hurt. I don't envy them in Winter, though...
We walked across the boardwalk and checked out the waves. The forecast was for 4-6 feet @ 11 secs, but when we got there it looked sloppier. Now I understood why there were so many fish in the lot. The morning temp was in the upper 50s, and the wind was sideshore from the East, with an outgoing tide ("dead low" as I heard many locals refer to it). I had my 3/2 wetsuit, which turned out to be good for the conditions. Adam had a 2/1 shortie, and he was cold by the end of the session. The water temp was about 70 deg and I never felt cold. But, I get ahead of myself.
Anyway, there are rock jetties every 100 yards or so, and they work with the East swell to create a powerful sideshore rip. You can jump in at the East side of a jetty and the exiting current will pull you out into the break, assuming you can duck dive under the gnarly waves dumping in the impact zone. It took me two tries to get out on Adam's 6'1" Birch thumb-tail quad, because I was getting pulled too far East, down to the next jetty, and decided to belly ride in and restart.
The set waves were head high, with mushy lefthand takeoffs followed by weird walls and punishing closeouts. I only caught a few rides and could never get the hang of the thick-railed Birch board. Could have been the board, could have been a somewhat sleepy driver. As the tide got lower the waves got mushier and smaller. We went in after 90 minutes. The best thing about Long Island surfing is the sense of community. Seems like everybody knows everybody else at the local break and that is very cool. Also, warm water doesn't hurt. I don't envy them in Winter, though...
