Huge Waves Draw Surfers To Long Island’s Shore

While most people were hunkering down ahead of the nor’easter that socked Long Island, surfers turned out to challenge the waves kicked up by the storm.

Most breaks were too windswept for surfing with a notable exception being the jetties at Long Beach, which were well situated to accept the easterly swell.

“Long Beach was the place to be for some overhead waves,” said local surf legend Charles “Tooth” Callahan, who noted that the city’s tall buildings help block the wind. “People were coming in from Jersey, all over the place, to get some pretty gaping tubes.”

The storm’s location just off the Delmarva Peninsula put it right in the wheelhouse for Long Island surf. A slow-moving storm, the nor’easter generated 8-10-foot swells that hammered the coast since Thursday.

Trees across power lines and heavy beach erosion were the chief concerns expressed by emergency officials, including Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine, who joined his Nassau County counterpart, Bruce Blakeman, in warning residents to beware.

“A nor’easter isn’t like a tropical storm that just blows through and it’s gone, they stick around for days,” Callahan said. “They’re hell for everyone except maybe the surfers.”

The huge waves at Long Beach did take their toll with various broken surfboards and one teenager taken to the hospital after getting hit in the head with his board. The National Weather Service reported winds topping 60 mph in parts of Long Island, including a 61 mph gust at Farmingdale, with gusts reaching 51 mph at Westhampton and 48 to 52 mph at Islip. They were expected to reach 70 mph as the storm intensified.

“No matter how big the waves get, you’re gonna have people hitting it. Nothing’s really going to stop them, except maybe the wind,” Callahan said.