what it's like to surf a hurricane
matthew, dorian, isaias, milton. why florida surfers wait for storms, what it actually feels like, and why i still tell you not to do it.
florida is wave-starved. most of the year the ocean in boca raton looks like a lake. so when a hurricane spins up in the atlantic, every surfer i know starts refreshing the models, and the group chat goes quiet in a way that means everyone is planning the same thing.
i’ve surfed matthew in 2016, dorian in 2019, isaias in 2020, and milton in 2024. i started surfing at 14, and storms are the best waves i’ve ever ridden at home.
milton
the milton video is the one most people know me from. october 9, 2024, around 4pm, right before it made landfall on the other coast. i told my mom i was going, filmed her reaction, and went. the video did 1.8 million views on tiktok, the reel did over 2 million, and people magazine ran a story on it.
the comments split exactly in half. half said “sorry mom, it’s pumping.” the other half said i was an idiot. both are fair.
what it actually feels like
the wind is the thing nobody expects. you can handle the size. you can’t handle the wind until you’ve been in it. it blows the top off the wave before you can get into it, it pins you in the lineup, and it makes the paddle out feel like a treadmill.
the water is brown and fast. the sandbars move. the wave you surfed in the morning is gone by the afternoon. you catch three good ones in two hours and that’s a great session.
and the feeling after is the reason we do it. you come in shaking, you can’t feel your hands, and you’ve got a wave in your head that you’ll replay for the rest of the year.
why i still tell you not to
i’ve been surfing for over a decade, i know the beach i surf, i go with people who know it too, and i leave the second it stops making sense. that’s the minimum, and it still isn’t safe.
if you’re reading this because the milton video made you want to try it: don’t. go surf the day after, when the swell is still there and the wind is gone. that’s the actual best day anyway.
the florida thing
surfing here teaches you to be grateful for scraps and ready when it’s firing. that’s the whole attitude behind out the back. too busy surfing to care what anyone thinks, and always watching the models.