The Swell of the Decade…

OFF THE CHARTS…

The Red Blob that swallowed the Atlantic.

Modern day surfing in the Caribbean is often downplayed by the “Old School” surf fraternity who are quick to tell you about how good “it used to be”.  Stories of entire months going by with overhead North swell everyday during the winter season often makes you wish you were born a generation or two sooner, or that these glory days of consistent, quality North swells would come again.

Biggest Puerto Rico ever? The locals think so...

The winter season of 2007/2008 dragged on with lackluster surf and no swell events of note blessing the Caribbean Islands.  Nearing at the end of the season, in late in March of 2008, the swell charts came alive with a series of predictions that the internet generation of swell tracking guru’s were yet to have the privilege of seeing.  A swell of epic proportions was forming in the North Atlantic.

Alan Davis deep in a Tropicana Barrel.

Just in time for the Easter Long Weekend, it was as if the gods were sending a special blessing (for surfers anyway) and watermen from Florida, to the Caribbean, Africa and Europe, were all glued to their computers praying that this swell event would continue to unfold as first predicted.  The tremendous expanse of this swell “swallowed” the entire North Atlantic and would eventually send pumping surf to all four of the Continents it borders.

Peter Mendia taking the elevator to the ground floor!

The brunt of the swells power and direction focused directly on the Caribbean.  With swell period of 18 – 20 seconds, which is normally reserved for Pacific Ocean Swells and is rarely seen in this region, the Swell of the Decade unleashed its fury on the chain of islands.  Touching down in Puerto Rico first, a crew of big wave legends towed into monster surf at Tres Palmes, the Premier big wave surf spot in the Caribbean.

Jason Apparicio, negotiating a heavy one in the bowl.

This crew reported that they had been waiting for the last 8 years, with jet-ski’s fueled and ready, for a swell of this magnitude. When it eventually arrived it was nearly twice as big as what they had previously considered to be the biggest swell to grace their shores in recorded surfing history.  Likewise, members of the surfing community in Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados,  who have witnessed the last 30 years of caribbean swell history, confirmed that this swell event took precedence as the biggest and most powerful to date.

Warren Rostant surfing a wave that few will see break in their lifetime.

The shear power generated my a swell of this period and character meant that its waves penetrated normally sheltered harbors and bays, and lit up surf breaks that had been dormant for years.  For Caribbean Watermen in general, there was a bitter sweet ambience to the swells arrival as while the surfers enjoyed classic surf, the fisherman and sailors (many of whom are also surfers) feared for the well being of their ocean going vessels. Livelihoods were in danger, and consequently many a waterman suffered at the hand of this swell.

Another wave rarely ever seen breaking, at least not like this!

In the end, many surfers were caught off guard.  Some had easter plans, some had contest plans, and the Atlantic had it’s own plans.  A couple of pro surfers, like Peter Mendia, made the right call and scored the very best surf that the Caribbean has to offer with few other surfers competing with him for waves.  At the same time other guys were stuck on the wrong island, or in the wrong ocean, like Kelly Slater who was tracking the swell and made a last minuite decision to surf the Bell’s Beach WCT in poor conditions instead.  

Matt Keckele setting his rail off the bottom on a smoker.

Although Slaters decision worked out for the better and helped him win his ninth world title, other’s were not so lucky and were left to ponder whether they would ever get a chance to take advantage of such an amazing swell experience in the Caribbean again.  However,  considering the unpredictability of mother nature, there is absolutely no reason why is could not happen again this march! Keep your fingers crossed.