Puerto Rico
“Hurricane Erin was actually a day that was really cool and special. It was hard to know in advance how good waves were going to be because a hurricane forecast doesn’t have that kind of precision. My brother and I made a plan the day before to check out a couple of spots we thought might be working. We started that morning in San Juan shooting a left with the northwest swell. We knew it was going to be really good there and I scored a few photos that I sent into Session Mag. Then, in the afternoon, we drove all the way to Aguadilla on the west side of the island because the swell was going to shift more north. We understood that the conditions - with the rain in the afternoon - could be worthwhile to score at the slab that we have here in Puerto Rico. Actually, the rains came in and it was really windy for a while, but afterwards it got really glassy and we scored! My brother and I were stoked that we hit two different spots on the island, one on the northeast side and the same day on the west side.”
– Jorgito Rivera, Puerto Rico
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Long Beach, NY
“Hurricanes are full-on hype trains. I always swear I’m not getting onboard — but somehow — I end up hopping on and sitting right up front. It’s tough not to buy into the madness when you want more than anything for it to get good. Don’t get me wrong, Erin was solid — definitely the swell we needed after a five -or six-month hiatus from overhead surf that felt like forever. The swell hung around for about four days, but took its sweet time to really line up in New York. When it finally did, though — the last day was magic: bluebird skies, punchy, clean, overhead surf. Definitely worth the price of the hype train ticket.”
– Mike Nelson, Long Beach NY
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“We canceled Surf Camp with Hurricane Erin swell in the water and chased East wind to protected areas. It was fun to look around, but we never scored. The backend of the swell ended up the best with playful waves in the backyard.”
– Will Skudin,
Long Beach NY
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“Here we are people, we’re talking about Hurricane Erin. I’m actually going to get real serious about this for you all. Hurricane Erin was one of the biggest hurricanes in the past thirty years, not necessarily wave-wise, but the actual size of the hurricane. Thankfully, for us on the East Coast, it stayed hundreds of miles off the coast and where I ended up surfing in New England, we actually scored 15' at 17 seconds, south swell. The wind wound up being perfectly offshore. It was truly some of the biggest, best and most classic East Coast beach break I’ve ever seen. It looked like Puerto Escondido out there. We were stoking! We got two days of epic surf with offshore winds before the swell started to disappear and Hurricane Erin worked its way up towards Canada and off into the northern Atlantic. It’s not common that you get multiple days of waves here on the East Coast, so very blessed for that. Very blessed for no destruction from Hurricane Erin and we scored some of the best waves in recent memory. For the dream.”
– Ben Gravy, New England
Photos by Casey Neistat
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Nova Scotia
Hurricane season in Nova Scotia often comes with a healthy dose of hype and, once the charts start lighting up, it only cranks up the excitement and expectations even higher. Unfortunately, a storm often swings too close and ends up making a mess and only succeeds in delivering colossal yet unruly seas — fun to watch, not too great to ride. Erin managed to tick all of the boxes and she peacefully passed by and delivered days of pumping swell, without the need for grocery store queues for the buying of storm supplies. At its peak on Friday evening, the wind was very stiff offshore but plenty of rides were had by those with enough board under their feet. With unseasonably warm weather and sea temperatures, Erin will last long in the surf mental scrap book around these shores.
– Adam Cornick, Nova Scotia
