With Hurricane Bill dissipated in the North Atlantic and all eyes turning towards the next possible Tropical Depression hovering just north of Puerto Rico, the EasternSurf.com family answered the call of duty to provide the best possible photographic and journalistic recap of 2009’s first Atlantic Ocean hurricane. Yesterday we asked Puerto Rico, Florida, and South Carolina photographers the million-dollar question: Did Bill live up to the hype? No clear answer emerged from the fray, so today we turn to photographers, surfers, writers, and bloggers from North Carolina to Nova Scotia to get the real story on Hurricane Bill’s East Coast appearance.

“I drove up to Kure Beach, NC, on Saturday, with Cam and Cole Richards, Hunter and Keenan Lineback, and Darsha Pigford, and it was two to four-feet-overhead and semi-clean most of the day. In the late afternoon, I found sheet-glass, two-foot-overhead, reeling rights at a spot, and surfed my brains out with only four other guys: ‘You go,’ ‘No, you go!’ Overall, Bill gave us a good swell, but he didn’t even come close to living up to all the hype. Yes, the size was there — four-foot overhead is good no matter where you’re from — but I’m a quality guy. The forecasters may have been a tad overzealous, but such is life in this region.” –ESM Senior Photographer/ South Carolina loc’dog Jim Whitney

“Nobody was complaining here in the Outer Banks, because it was good, but we never quite got what we were hoping for. I think we had several swells in the water at the same time, because from my vantage point up on the pier I could see a smaller swell coming in from the south and bigger sets coming in from the southeast, and they were crossing each other and doubling up. But there were more than a few corners out there. Saturday was our biggest day — it was too big down south, so I shot some big ol’ rollers that didn’t get super hollow until they hit the inside in Kitty Hawk. The water was cold, too; we had the upwelling effect, so everybody was in wetsuits. And we had a fog layer because of the cold water, so once the day heated up and the seabreeze started, the fog got even worse. Sunday was very rainy but still nice and glassy, so I stood under some of the houses in Rodanthe to shoot. Too bad it was over-the-top crowded everywhere. All in all, we had some good waves, and I captured some great rides, but it was a little disappointing as far as the quality.” –ESM Senior Photographer/ Outer Banks staple Mickey “2M” McCarthy

“It was big up here in New Jersey, but not as big as I expected it to be. Asher Nolan, Gabe Kling, and Ricky Whitlock came up to stay with me, and we got up early Saturday morning and drove north, where the forecast called for offshore winds all day. But there was a light onshore wind, decent size, so I went out swimming, hoping the wind would switch and the sun would come out. I was thinking, ‘It’s gonna start heaving any minute now,’ but I ended up swimming for three hours plus and never shot one frame. It was fun to surf, and those guys were stoked, but we never capitalized on all the opportunities. Sunday was better, still clean and good, but no water shots in big, barreling waves. I think the swell showed up exactly how it was forecasted; every Hurricane Season everyone gets all fired up, but the magic doesn’t just happen — you have to work to make it happen. Up at 4:30 am, in bed at midnight, driving a couple hundred miles a day... it’s a little bit of a farce, because the photographic finished product makes it look like none of that happened. Gabe, Asher, Ricky, and I had a blast driving up and down the Garden State Parkway, going to the Guido bars after surfing. If you’re getting waves with your friends, you’re having a good time with the hunt and the chase, and at the end of the day you’re tired and exhausted with a smile on your face, then you scored.” –ESM Senior Photographer/ South Jersey informant Ryan Miller

“I stayed in the area from Sea Girt to Point Pleasant and Jenks, and did most of my shooting at Manasquan Inlet. Conditions were pretty good Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Too big for most spots — walled and closed-out — but the Inlet held some bombs. I'd say cleanup sets peaked at around 12-foot, maybe a little bigger, and broke well beyond the T-rocks. Sea Girt on Sunday morning also saw some 12-foot-plus sets. Winds were iffy for a couple of hours both days, with glass-offs coming after 3:00 pm. Saturday, late afternoon into evening, was super good at the Inlet, but it was way too crowded. It rained most of Sunday afternoon, which put a damper on things, but I shot mostly with Sam Hammer, Mike Gleason, Frank Walsh, Peter Mendia, and Andy Irons. I’m not sure the Hurricane Bill swell lived up to all the hype; it was difficult, since really the only place you could surf consistently was the Inlet. The sandbars everywhere else weren't so good. But I was very surprised so much swell stuck around; sets Monday morning were still breaking in the six to eight-foot range with offshore winds.”
–ESM Chief Photographer/ Manasquan Inlet linchpin Donald Cresitello

“Guilty: all of us in the surf media. Last week, the hype machine spiraled faster than Hurricane Bill. Some New York forecasts even dared to predict 'epic' conditions. By now, most folks know there was little triple-overhead action. But let’s not be snobs: this weekend saw some of the best surf to hit the right side in months. Bill started wreaking havoc on Long Island Friday — Rockaway Beach churned a mud-brown spin-cycle of intense onshores and white-capped junk, yet a surprising number of surfers paddled out to dust the rust off weeks of flatness. On Saturday, with the breeze still unfriendly but faint, shoulder to head-high crumblers arrived and grew throughout the day. The steamrolling barrels and brutal paddle-outs showed up Sunday morning, when Manasquan Inlet was firing. By 7:30 am, the lineup had swollen to over thirty surfers, the flags blew offshore at a few knots, and stacking California-like sets pumped through. Occasional set waves peeled at double-overhead, while most petered out at two to three-feet over; even the smaller nuggets reached head-high. The skilled and the lucky got shacked, while lackluster afternoon sessions were party-waved out. During Monday’s dawn patrol back at Rockaway, Bill sent the weekend a sweet farewell: sunny skies, shoulder-high-plus, and offshore. Many thanks, guy. Unexpected highlight of the weekend: a few hundred yards north of the Manasquan Inlet — removed from the recognizing masses — bobbed two guys nobody (aside from local pro Sam Hammer) expected to see ripping apart New Jersey: Andy Irons and Pete Mendia. Yep, AI and company dropped in, bashed a few lips, and fully exposed the mediocrity of almost everyone in the water. It sure was cool to watch.” –Conde Nast Traveler/ ESPN freelance writer/ Long Island loc’dog Jeff DiNunzio

“In my eyes, Hurricane Bill definitely did not live up to the hype. But it was a very solid swell; out in Montauk, there were easily 10 to 15-foot faces, clean offshore winds, super warm water... about as good as New York gets in the summer. But it’s nothing I’m gonna remember 10 years from now. And the crowds were absolutely ridiculous — guys who’ve lived here for 30 years said they’ve never seen it like that, ever. Hundreds of guys in the water, hundreds of people on the beach... the forecasters really hyped this swell up when they shouldn’t have. Rockaway and Sandy Hook were both closed to surfing when they shouldn’t have been, either, because we get way bigger waves in the winter.” –ESM Senior Photographer/ Unsound Surf Shop co-owner/ Long Island head honcho Mike “Nellie” Nelson

“Did Hurricane Bill live up to the hype? Yes and no — yes for the general public, no in that every break in New Hampshire was crowded to the nth degree. Saturday hit about chest to head-high, but Sunday was anywhere from overhead to triple-overhead, depending on where you were. All the named breaks were packed with locals and traveling surfers, people were funneling in from everywhere... in all the years I’ve been surfing here, I’ve never seen traffic like that. My son was freakin’ out, because to go from The Wall to The Rocks took an hour, when it usually takes five minutes. We also held the paddle-out for Lil’ Miss Molly Rowlee on Saturday — I’ve done dozens of memorial paddle-outs over the years, and this was hands down the biggest one ever — 500 people on the beach, 300 in the water, and this girl had only been surfing for a year. Talk about an outpouring of community support and love. Someone said that people had a whole different attitude during this swell; everyone was more tolerant of each other, more forgiving, and more understanding. But the surf was great, with lots of deep barrels. John Carden said he shot the biggest waves he’s ever seen in New England, and the conditions themselves were ideal. It felt like we were in the tropics — 95 degrees, humid, glassy, with a slight offshore wind here and there. It was like Indo or something — I heard a lot of people say, ‘I feel like I’m on a surf trip!’” –ESM Contributing Photographer/ “Ralph’s Pic Of The Week” scribe/ New Hampshire legend Ralph Fatello

“We surfed for five days straight up here in Nova Scotia, and that’s a good thing, but we had to do a ton of driving to find spots that were out of the wind. We didn’t get any forerunners before the storm, so Friday and Saturday were weak and inconsistent with really good shape, and then we got smoked on Sunday by the biggest swell I’ve ever seen here. It was a solid 30-foot, and I heard rumors of 35 to 40-foot on select reefbreaks. But it was too stormy to take the skis out, and the weather was rotten. We ended up surfing this beachbreak that I’ve never seen over ankle-high, but it was head-high with kids lining the beach to see us surf. It felt like we were in Indo, where they’d never seen surfboards before. Monday was pretty awesome, head-high all day, but with bad weather again. It felt good to get in the water every day, but it was foggy or rainy so we kind of got skunked in terms of photos. There was also so much hype — Saturday was supposed to be so good that I counted 38 people out at the main point in Lawrencetown, where the most I’ve ever seen was 17 or 18. Everybody was absolutely psyching, but it wasn’t really all that good. And a lot of people came up and got skunked, but I guess that’s not a bad thing for us if a little bit of a bad word about Nova Scotia gets around.” –Premier Nova Scotia professional surfer/ longtime ESM compadre Nico Manos