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| Surf
report on 7/11, "overhead, fun". |
Picture
Gallery
Coverage starts with the first bumps on Sunday
evening, then continues on Monster Monday and ends that same
evening. |
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| Richard
Dodson grabs the last of the glass. Afternoon winds arrived
shortly after. |
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Hurricane
Dennis (2005)
They just keep coming... and it's still only
July!
story and photos by C.Turkington
After
Arlene and Cindy, the question was whether or not those first two
storms would be followed by another...or more precisely, how long?
Dennis answered that question, and it did so in less than a week.
Only
a few days after the swell from Cindy subsided, Dennis was well
into hurricane status and about to slam Cuba as a Category 4 storm.
It was tracking at a fast 18 mph, but the path was the kind we look
for. It was expected to travel from the southern portion of the
Gulf to the north. Surf is always best on the west side of a tropical
cyclone, so we only had to wait and wonder what size it woud be.
Being
a weekend, and a summer one at that, a crowd had arrived looking
for a chance to catch the first part of the swell. Nothing but wind
chop on Saturday, but by Sunday some small lines were coming in.
The hurricane had made landfall (again near Pensacola) on Saturday,
July 9th. Typically, SPI will get some swell the next day...but
this storm was further away than most. Dennis was just off the coast
of Florida and the swell it generated travelled nearly the entire
width of the Gulf of Mexico. While the lines did begin to show on
Sunday evening, the next morning would prove to be the true arrival
of the swell.
Surf
on Sunday was no more than waist high close outs. Regardless, surfers
lined just past the impact zone from the rocks all the way to Second's.
Every now and then, something came through that peeled long enough
to pull three top turns. But this was way below even wind-wave average
for this break, much less what we expect from groundswell. As fate
would have it, being that most surfers on this coast are super-stoked,
it turned out to be a very good thing that some knowledgeable surfers
were in the water late afternoon.
A nearby
banana boat ride, one of those tourist related pay-rides, was loaded
with kids and heading out beyond the impact zone. Before the waverunner
that was pulling the float could get very far out, a sneaker set
came in. Rising up beyond the nearby surfers, and the kids on the
banana-float, was a larger pulse from Dennis. It took out the waverunner
and tossed the kids off the float. Of course they had life-jackets
on, but when the pilot regained his place on the waverunner he was
no help in getting the kids back on. Nah...he freaked and bailed!
Quick thinking surfers paddled over to the screaming kids and brought
them in two at a time. We have no information on who that pilot
was or where he went, but pretty sure he won't be back. Guess he's
never taken a set on the head before? The evening ended with pats
on the back and talk of what the buoys were doing. A quick check
on 42002 showed 8 foot at 16 seconds. Bummer...sounded small. |
Monday
morning came and the flu had suddenly stricken about 35 surfers.
Anyone who had to call in sick did so, and some probably found
their bosses paddling out next to them. It
was breaking all over the place! The channel was breaking
chest to head high, over on the beach the inside was head
high, and there was too much glare into the rising sun to
know what the outside was doing. All that could be gathered
was that is was big! A few broken boards came in, three within
an hour, and a few broken leashes meant long swims for others.
If you wanted to know what was happeing out there, you just
had to paddle to see.
As
much as people get lectured about safety not to jump from
the jetties, they do it all the same. But a lesser known fact
was that the rip current running alongside the rocks could
get you to the line-up faster than hopping along the huge
chunks of granite. Rip currents are always a swimmer's nightmare,
but sometimes a surfer's lift ticket to the outside. Use with
caution though!
Past
the second sand bar, alongside the jetty rocks, is a different
kind of sandbar...the jetty spoils. This sand bar is created
by the rocks , rip currents and tide flow coming from the
ship channel. Out here is where a big swell will first break.
The long period groundswell generated by Hurricane Dennis
might have only registered 8-10 feet on the buoys, once it
hit the jetty spoils it jacked up to nearly DOH faces.
Dawn
patrol was the best part of the day's swell. Big and glassy.
The rights from the spoil were jacking up and breaking top
to bottom with a solid wall. As it passed over deeper water
again, the shoulder would mellow out. It kept peeling though,
and if you had the right board you could take it nearly to
the sand. Longboards were ruling this wave. It was a blast
on a shortboard, but was best for long power carves. Most
of the shortboarders want vert, so they tend to stick to the
usual sand bars closer to the beach. But this wave was a perfect
longboarder wave. Steep drops for the extra thrill, then a
nice mellow (but big!) shoulder to cruise on. It was nearly
epic. If we only would have had some offshore breeze, it would
have been barreling...SOLID! But hey, if you know this beach,
you know that OH surf in July is indeed epic!
By
afternoon, the swell was nearly gone. These swells last only
as long as the storm sits in the gulf spinning. By now it
was half the size, but peeling well on the inside sandbar.
Plenty of good surf talent in the water but it was a little
obvious that people's legs were turning rubbery. The epic
day ended with a surfer's version of a post-hurricane party.
Beers were being cracked open and shared and some were making
plans to meet up at so-and-so's house to keep talking story.
Hurricane Dennis churned up a solid east groundswell.
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