THE EARL
OF STOKE, PART ONE Biggest (And Scariest) Storm Of 2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season Gives East Coasters Plenty To Froth Over By Nick McGregor
Central Florida, all-time…
Georgia, almost but not quite… Folly Beach, the best ever… Southern North
Carolina, fully holding… the Outer Banks, off their face… Delmarva, barrels for
miles… New Jersey, a late-summer playground… New York, swell magnet… Rhode
Island, mobbed by the masses… Massachusetts, mysto mackers… New Hampshire,
beautiful as always… Maine, small but playful… Canada, tough as nails.
The fancy descriptions and
played-out metaphors will surely be raining down from the heavens in the next
few days, even though Hurricane Earl was a nail-biter who came a few degrees
away from smashing into the Outer Banks, Long Island, and Cape Cod. And proving
the unpredictability of the Atlantic Hurricane Season, a Category 1 Earl went
on to hit Nova Scotia, befuddling weather forecasters and barely registering as
a blip on the radar of surfed-out East Coast shredders.
Since your humble
correspondent was aquatically indisposed in the Great Smoky Mountains this Labor
Day weekend, we’ll let the tight-knit ESM family of contributors tell Hurricane Earl’s story, along with the best photos on the Earl-engorged Internet. Stay tuned over the
next few days for more from the Rightside’s August/ September tropical bonanza.
“The surf in Rhode Island picked
up on Thursday along with the crowds. Hordes of out-of-state surfers began to
fill up every parking lot and pack into the already crowded lineups.
The swells began to increase by the hour, and by noon most area reefs and
beaches were holding solid overhead waves. But the most spectacular surf appeared at Narragansett Town
Beach as huge double-overhead swells turned the shorebreak into a hazardous and
dangerous zone for the inexperienced. The biggest surf and the
most crowded conditions occurred on Friday. Relatively sedate rains and winds
encouraged even more surfers to venture down to the beaches of Southern Rhode
Island, causing seriously crowded lineups that could not handle the huge
numbers. The crowd situation became dangerous — one inexperienced
longboarder dropped into a huge overhead peak at Point Judith Lighthouse and instantly
collided with a shortboarder who was paddling out, breaking the surfer’s leg
with the nose of his board. Words and fists were also exchanged at Matunuck
Point on several occasions as layers of longboard and shortboard riders made
contact as they dropped into the long wave faces. Despite the crowds and
hassles, there were some great sessions at just about every reefbreak in the
area.” –Rhode Island legend/ East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame member Peter Pan
“I literally drove from point to point in New Jersey in search of
great images. I have slept in my own bed just as much as I have slept on other
people's floors. I have seen the dawn's light every single day this week. I
learned Ocean City and points south go off. I cruised mostly with Luke Ditella
but also met up with Tom Petriken, PJ Raia, Andrew Gesler, the Morans, Kevin
Richards, Jay Baldessari, the Kellys, and even had photographer Rich McMullin
in front of the lens! But Friday took the cake for me, literally. I started my
day waking up in Ocean City for shoulder-high barrels and crowded lineups.
Everyone was on it and we surfed about three and a half hours. I then drove the
hour and 15 minutes home and surfed again. I had to go to a BBQ around 3:00 that
turned out to be a birthday surprise party for me. We ate, cut the cake, and I
left around 6:00 to go shoot one last session before dark. It was pumping with
two people out.” –Hard-working New Jersey-based ESM Senior Photographer Ryan Struck
“Yeww, epic month!” –ESM Senior Photographer Matt Lusk, eternally
stoked even though Hurricane Earl made a too-close-for-comfort pass on his
Outer Banks, NC, home
“Guys that have been surfing at The Washout since before I was born
were telling me they’ve never seen it as good as it was on Thursday.” –Rising
South Carolina lensman Mike Cassidy
THE OLD IN-OUT
The 2009 WRV Outer Banks Pro Presented By Hurley Is Moving Ahead Like Clockwork
Along The Graveyard Of The Atlantic... Let's Hope Hurricane Season Doesn’t Dish
Out A Bit Of The Old Ultraviolence
BILL OF SALE Surf Expo Comes To Town Early With Lower-Than-Usual
Attendance Rumors And Category 4 Hurricane Bill Zooming In. Will You Blow Town To
Bro Down Or Sit Tight And Get Right?
