It didn't produce hurricane swell until well after it passed the shores of Forida, but, I still got my 2 hour window of opportunity to see some amazing swell come in. It sat of the coast of FL and built on monday-tuesday as tropical storm Arthur, thats when we got our rain and wind. By Wed morning it had gone just far enough north to give us some chest to head high swell while basting us with offshore winds. Those off-shores quickly diminished the incoming short-period swell to a mere foot or two in just a matter of hours. Most people around here never even saw what Arthur had given us...
I almost talked myself out of going to shoot photos this morning, I was tired, and I really didn't think that the winds would have cleaned up yet. The night before I was surfing 6ft 3 second-period swell with 20-30mph winds in downpour! I thought that there could possibly be some size left to it but I had no idea what I would find when I got to the beach, thats why it was hard to wake myself up. I usually get to the sand by sunrise about 6:10am, this morning I left the house at that time.
I was walking the trail to the beach trying to listen for that distinct sound... CRACK, CRACK, CRACK... That's the sound I have learned to love here in FL. Well, I did hear it. My walking turned more into running like a giddy lil grom as I bolted to see what was making my favorite sound. I turned the last corner to the beach and got my first glimpse of what was going on, my only regret was I hadn't really touched base with any surfers the evening before. I had no one out there with me. It was just me and some lonely barrels just doing their thing.
And this is my take.
Three months in on the East Coast and I got to see my first glimpse of what this place can do. I'm excited because I know that this was a tiny swell, with a tiny window for surf. I'm really amped to see what a big one can do.
Thanks for checking in! And a special thanks to ESM for the media support. They used a couple images, those can be found here:
http://www.easternsurf.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1538:first-taste-of-seasons-first-storm&Itemid=109
-Nathaniel Harrington