It took me a little while to get my pictures together from the Hurricane Ike trip. Below is a gallery of pictures I shot at a not-so-frequently surfed spot in the Panhandle of Florida (location withheld). The pictures are from Saturday, 9/13. The surf on Friday was big. Saturday was fun at select spots. On Sunday there were some nice longboard waves on the outside sandbars. As is the case with most hurricane swells, you can usually find fun surf in your comfort zone at some point during the swell.
Posts under ‘Hurricane Surf’
Man Rides Out Hurricane Ike In Glass House… Gets Shacked!
Steve and I traveled to a remote Florida panhandle spot for Hurricane Ike surf. Below is some video I shot. There were lots of broken boards and at least one guy left the beach with a new neck brace. The surfer in this video is Mike Paulzak of Ft. Walton Beach. I spoke with him today. He says he just stayed with it until getting clocked pretty hard at the closeout, he then paddled out to catch a couple more with a head full of adrenaline. Nice ride Mike!
Pink Flamingo In Destin
Hurricane Ike blew this pink flamingo off course. We are doing some research to see if anyone has seen one in Destin previously. Blue Mountain Surf, co-founder Mike Sturdivant, captured this video during a surf check at the East Pass.
Yikes! It’s Ike
Hurricane Ike sent some excellent surf our way and a pink flamingo (video)! The video below gives you a taste of what Ike brought as the swell was building late Wednesday in Blue Mountain Beach. We’ll have more video from the clean-up days coming soon! Mike
Hurricane Gustav Surf
The Destin, Florida area had a lot of great surf from Hurricane Gustav. The swell hit late in the day on August, 31, 2008, peaked the next day at double overhead, and was solid overhead for the next morning. Below are pictures from the surf sessions. We have decided to not mention the names of the places to keep the locals happy and to not ruin the adventure for everyone. [Photo Credits: Steve Combs, Bob Cross; Surfer: John Cross]
Island Trip for Hurricane Gustav
[DISCLAIMER: No clients were on this trip so we did things a little differently. No one got hurt during this adventure trip, and overall everyone had a good time. Those are the important things.]
On Sunday, August 31, 2008 a group of seven of us (3 guys; 4 ladies) tried to surf an island (name withheld)in Florida for some Hurricane Gustav waves.
The main surf break in the area when the surf gets this big had over 100 surfers there, so we thought a nearby pass break. The warning sign posted at the boat landing across from the island gave lots of different warnings regarding alligators, sharks, currents, and ended with “No Rescue Possible.” (pic) No joke.
We only had one boat, so part of our group paid another boat to drop them off at the surf break in the pass at Crooked Island about 4 miles away. The plan was for the rest of the group to follow behind in our boat. The motor would not start on our boat, and we didn’t have any way to contact the first group. I called my brother who happened to be in Mexico Beach for the weekend. He agreed to pick up the first group in his boat via the Gulf of Mexico route and take them back to his marina through the pass at Mexico Beach. The first group later drove back to the boat landing to make another attempt at reaching the island.
Being without a boat, we decided to paddle straight across to the island and hike to the surf. Part of the group went right, instead of left, around a swamp and were not able to make it to the surf. They had to backtrack to the car. The three of us that went left (including me) made it across the island and surfed until it got dark. The surf was head high and building fast but it was getting dark. We walked back the beach route and one person hitched a ride to the car and returned for the group.
One of the cars broke down on the dirt road leading back to the group at the beach. Somehow we were able to get a tow truck on a holiday weekend to come help us in the middle of the woods.
Crazy times.
Hurricane Surf
If there is a swell hitting the East Coast or the Gulf then there’s a good chance we’re already figuring out how to be in the right spot! Let Blue Mountain Surf do the storm tracking, route planning, and late night driving. We can plans trips for beginners or advanced surfers.
John Cross / Destin, FL / Hurricane Dean (2007)
Steve Combs / Carolina Beach, NC / Hurricane Noel (2007)
Steve Combs / Destin, FL / Tropical Storm Barry (2007)
Unknown Surfer / Panama City Beach, FL / Hurricane Wilma (2005)
Unknown Surfer / Shell Island, FL / Hurricane Katrina (2005)
2005 Hurricane Wilma
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Steve shot this video while Mike surfed in the ESA contest. The red tide made it so difficult to breathe that the Master’s division finals heat was canceled. Also, a disabled boat washed into the lineup during the contest. The contest director, understandably, just decided to call it a day.
2005 Hurricane Katrina PSA on Alcohol
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Mike and I driving over to Panama City to catch a boat ride to the break at Amazon…
2005 Hurricane Katrina Surf Video
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Mike Sturdivant, Steve Combs and a “few” friends surfed this boat-access break at Amazon for the Katrina swell.
