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Notes on Surfing Hurricane Bill by David Miller

August 25th, 2009

surfing hurricane bill 2

Where: Florida

Wender: David Miller

1. Body still recovering from Saturday. Drove from my folks’ place across flar-da to the east coast, Ft. Pierce, then Hutchinson Island.  Hurricane Bill swell in the water. Was going solo and missed my bros a lot when I first saw it. Damn.

2. First spot was just south of Ft. Pierce jetty. Not a named spot. Nobody out. 6-8 foot sets but pretty much closed out. Total groundswell with these long periods like you never see in Florida. Looked like almost like Oregon only with 86 degree water. A couple other kids checking, then heading back to their car. More spots to check. We were all moving fast.

3. Headed 5 miles south to another no-name spot and then paddled out solo and was kind of scared for some reason. Good conditions though. Super warm water. Hardly any current. Kids out on other peaks a quarter mile north and south but I’m out there solo. First big sets came through and I dropped in and it’s slightly overhead but real thick and fast and walling. I pull into a close out barrel and hear myself yell as everything just fills in.

surfing hurricane bill

4. The swell was forecast to increase throughout the day and as I stayed out there it seemed to keep getting bigger. The problem was there were no features. No point or reef to refract the swell. These big walls would form but then close out almost instantly. I dropped in on some more, but it was a bit out of control.

5. Went south about 10 more miles. Found this one beach that was like classic spring break Florida. Kids everywhere. Lots of ink. Really badass shorebreak and some skimboarders killing it. Waves here were like chest to head high, still kind of dumping, but whatever. Spent like 4 hours in the water till backs of legs were raw from sitting on board then turning and paddling for so many waves.

6. If there were waves like that here consistently I could probably live in Flar-da. I think it gets like this though maybe just a dozen times a year. We’ll see.

David is the Senior Editor at Matador.

[Photos: tedkerwin, Flickr]

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Posted August 25th, 2009 by .

2 Responses to “Notes on Surfing Hurricane Bill by David Miller”

  1. Tim Patterson says:
    August 25, 2009 at 4:53 pm

    “I pull into a close out barrel and hear myself yell as everything just fills in.”

    Damn, DM, you can bring it.

  2. david miller says:
    August 26, 2009 at 9:27 am

    thanks TP. feeling it.

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