THE EARL
OF STOKE, PART TWO Biggest (And Scariest) Storm Of 2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season Gives East Coasters Plenty To Froth Over By Nick McGregor
If you haven’t heard yet,
Hurricane Earl delivered big-time for East Coast surfers last weekend. The
fancy descriptions and played-out metaphors will surely be raining down from
the heavens in the next few days, even though Earl was a nail-biter who came a
few degrees away from smashing into the Outer Banks, Long Island, and Cape Cod.
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. Stay tuned over the next few days
for more from the Rightside’s August/ September tropical bonanza.
“I arrived
at Pt. Judith Lighthouse in Rhode Island on Thursday afternoon and was
surprised to see great conditions. The sun was out and so was all of Rhode
Island. Friday brought bigger sets even though the fog was hiding the waves,
but it got better and the lineup swelled with surfers, big waves, and
spectators on the beach.” –Roving New York-based ESM Photographer Jan Krol
“Friday,
September 3rd, Flip here reporting epic bombing conditions in Long Beach and
Escon-Lido from Earl’s super swell! Not a drop of water out of place, massive
A-frame peaks, perfect offshore winds with perfect swell direction! Surfed some
outer reef bars in my 20-foot Mako and did some tow-ins, but I won’t say that’s
cheating, because I’ll paddle into monsters all alone with no cameras. I have
pride in my athleticism.” –Long Island, NY, funnyman/ hell charger Flip
Bellinzoni
“At
first I wasn’t impressed with Earl, being that the storm weakened. Friday was
big but not working at my local breaks, so I headed down to Cape May where I
scored. It wasn’t ideal for shooting because it was on and off raining, but I
managed to fire off a few shots. On Saturday evening, Clay Pollioni and I
decided to work together and found an abandoned Bay Head break that was huge and
hollow. The spot definitely scared off any other surfers because the wave was
very fast and breaking close if not right onshore, so it was strictly one on
one. The leftover crowd on the beach was in awe watching us work. It really was
a great day.” –New Jersey lensman Joe Guagliardo
“All the
forecasts called for big winds and rain through the day Friday with only a
small rideable window a little before sunset. After daybreak, that looked like
exactly what we would get — total chaos all the way up to Cape Henlopen,
DE. We heard some guys were going to try to run tow-ins at Southside Indian
River Inlet, so we rain-proofed the camera gear and hung there. It was like a
switch flipped and suddenly Raven Lundy, Colin Herlihy, Adrian Colaprete and a
few other chargers were working barrels in the best conditions this area has
seen since Bill in 2009. Patience, right?” –Darkhorse Delmarva lensman Brian
Peters
“Myeslf, Michael and Ben Powell, Owen Moffett, Cole Richards, and
Anthony Osment drove from Southern North Carolina to Raleigh Bay on Thursday.
We landed a boat to take us across the channel, $15.00 a head, but it was
well worth it. We stayed all day, until at about 3:00 p.m.
a ranger came by on a four-wheeler and told us the beach was closing at
5:00 p.m. sharp. We had to be off the island and the surf was getting better
and bigger; it was hard to leave those gnarly shacks, but we reluctantly
left on the ranger’s time. The next day we got up wondering what the
surf would be like — we went outside and felt the north wind, so that
meant we had to find another south-facing beach. We ended up at
Holden Beach, and it was solid. Cole's younger brother Cam, their dad Kelly,
and photographer Jim Whitney drove up from South Carolina, and it was a good ol’
time in Da South fo' sho'. Seemed like everybody just left their problems at
home that day. Earl, we will remember you forever buddy.” –Longtime
surfer/ burgeoning Southern North Carolina photographer Dale Bennett
“Danielle
flat out didn’t deliver, so us South Carolina surfers were really anxious to
see where Earl’s path would take him. The Washout was graced with arguably
the best of what Earl had to offer, and Thursday was just a shack-fest,
although the day didn’t start off like that. When I first arrived at Folly
Beach Pier, I I thought to myself, ‘Here we go, Danielle all over again.’ Sure,
the waves were good, but this was supposed to be some hurling hurricane
surf. Earl must have heard us complaining about his first appearance,
because with the tide push came building lines pounding the beach. After
taking a few shots at the Pier, I drove down to The Washout, and I could
tell by the amount of cars lining the street that this was going to be a good
day for waves. Sets were breaking on outer bars that I never knew existed, and
I knew the whole day was going to be epic. Earl not only pumped waves all day; our
local, light offshore winds groomed the incoming swell magically, opening up
deep tubes and spitting surfers as if they were in Bali... well, maybe not quite Bali, but we stayed amped all
day. I felt like I was on vacation, and when the sun went down I was
struck back down to reality, but it was a good feeling. I shot some of my
best pictures and rode some of my best waves, all down the street from my
house.” –Mike Cassidy, up-and-coming South Carolina photographer
“I ended up calling it quits early on Saturday when it was really
fun. 12-inch mullet started showering out of the water with sharks and
tarpon chasing them, and a six-foot (what I think was a) bull shark charged me
from 10 feet out when I was swimming in the lineup. I felt like a damn topwater
lure — it made a v-wake straight at me and at the last second I used the
housing first then punched it in the side of the head with my free
hand. It tail whipped me in the throat when it blew up after I punched it.” –New
Smyrna Beach, FL, photographic mainstay Kris Kerr, cool with his worst shark
encounter at New Smyrna Inlet yet
“Thursday
was a bit of a letdown for South Florida, but Friday shined, proving to us why
we still get so antsy when these things start to form out in the Atlantic. We
heard reports all morning that it was topping overhead in Palm Beach. It wasn't
until we crested the indicator spot that we realized our reports weren't
blowing it up. Both Cheyne Cottrell and I were speechless. It had more size and
shape than either of us have ever seen at that spot. I successfully got shots
from 8:00 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. on Friday. From my 500mm lens to my wide angle on
land and in the water swimming fisheye to swimming in the channel with my
70-200 on the bodyboard… I swam over five hours on Friday. Earl was very kind
to South Florida!” –Boca Raton, FL-based ESM Photographer Ben Hicks
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?
