HURRICANE BILL

Sore shoulders are no doubt the chief complaint of hundreds of surfers from Florida to Maine. Hurricane Bill weakened in the final leg of its travels and left us with BIG but surfable waves here in Rockaway. 91 street was in total chaos this morning as a few unfortunate accidents took place on the rock jetty. A local kid was badly hurt when he was tossed up on the jetty and pinned by a big set. He was rescued by a former lifeguard and local surfer Chris Gahn.Chris made a heroic move to grab the kid as another set loomed.

A few other surfers trying to beat the paddle got caught and washed off the rocks. It wasn’t inexperienced guys either. Bumped and bruised, the day went on and the surf pumped all morning. Sets in the AM were running overhead to double overhead and occasional period of triple overhead bombs came through as the peak of the swell arrived. There were many standouts all day long but the morning MVP’s go to Sundance Farrell, Pete Egan, Dylan farrell, Keoni Singlehurst, Chris Gahn and Jeremy Shannon who was straight from the bar to the beach, and charged the surf and took beatings on the rocks but held is ground until a sick uppercut caught him and dragged him along the rocks. He was down, but not out, he got up, took a few more shots to the chin, and then ate a knuckle sandwich which finished him off for the day. Big E for effort!

The swell continued to pump all day until the tide finally drained a lot of the momentum out of the swell. The afternoon saw some overhead sets still coming through running the length of the beach. Not sure what tomorrow will bring , hopefully there is something left.

Nice job to all those involved in the rescue on the rocks. Speedy recovery to that young man.