January 6, 2016: With a fairly large North East swell building out in the Atlantic, I decided to skip town and head down to West Palm Beach to catch what would be some of the most perfect surf I have ever ridden/shot in Florida. I packed my things, got in my car and took off down I-95 for my friend’s house near Reef Road. After three hours of driving I arrived at his place, and managed to sneak in a quick session at Jupiter Inlet. The wind was sort of on it from the North, but that all would change after the sun went down that night.
January 7, 2016: We woke up this morning at 5:30am expecting a full day of surf. My buddy called an Uber to take us toward Reef Road around 6:30, and when we got there we were staring at the South Florida surf I had been dreaming of seeing for quite a long time. As the sun rose, it illuminated the crystal clear, electric blue water, and the 6-8+ foot sets that were rolling in right after another into the offshore wind. The funny thing was that I checked my phone to see what the weather was like back home before I paddled out. While I am standing on the beach in board shorts with 80 degree water and air around me, as well as offshore wind at 5mph, I could see that the weather back home was 60 degrees and North wind at 25 knots. That put a smile on my face. Anyway, we grabbed our boards, sprinted into the water, and caught what would be the first of our many rides. The crowd was insanely light, with only about fifteen surfers spread about the break all day. I surfed for about an hour before my excitement got the best of me; which made me go grab the camera. Managing to fire off about 1200 shots, we called it a day there. It was a classic south Florida fetch because once the tide started dropping, so did the surf. By 2pm it was only about chest high, but what I caught and shot from that morning was more than enough for me. I was absolutely stoked, and the drive definitely paid for itself!
Unknown surfer going on a nice left.
One of the many freight trains that rolled through the station that day.
January 8, 2016: 5am again, and I wake up, say goodbye to my buddy, and head back north. On my way, Vero Beach was the next stop. By 6am I was there watching 6-9 foot shorebreak pound the shore. Several friends from up north met me there for a session which turned out to be just as fun as the one I had the day before. Unfortunately due to an injury I suffered the previous day, I was forced to shoot the entire session. Suffering a couple of sets on the back, heavy beat downs, and 3500 photos later I got a ton of keepers besides the lighting being pretty awful that day. When the 5 hour session ended, I hauled up back to St. Augustine, and made it to Daytona before the radiator in my car went south on me (obviously it did not want to leave either). With the horrible end to the trip, the experience of catching that powerful swell was more than worth it.
