bertram31.com

Heres a cool site about the cortez bank about a100mi from almost all so cal ports.. Nice fishin sometimes too.
Wayne
http://www.surfline.com/surfnews/photo_ ... 13060&ad=1

yeah...im familiar with it...in the i know about it sense only....pretty cool but you can only tow in as its pretty impossible in the open ocean to know where you're sittin.....and waves that size are tough to paddle into anyway....as time goes on the'll probably discover more open ocean waves.....theres one off montauk ...."great eastern"....ive seen it with 40 foot faces but dont think its ever been surfed...breaks once a decade

Wayne not to jack your thread, but we fished the Cortez/W fly area in Sept. Thats a knarly area.

Although we didn't see faces like that it was still 6'-10' seas + wind.

230+ nm and no fish= long boat ride.

Cortez is very similar to Jaws in that the wave speed is so high when it gets big that it is not possible to paddle into. Plus they use weighted boards to help add stability and keep them on the water.

They have paddled into Jaws on smaller days but when it gets bigger they tow. Here is a video of them paddling into Jaws on a smaller day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdjTfkUG ... re=related

that was actually a pretty easy take off....thanks for the vid.....i think it would be real hard to paddle into cortez due to the total lack of line up....maybe you could anchor the boat and hope it stays in one spot....getting caught inside wouldnt be fun....unless you were far enough inside.....gotta figure it backs off when it hits deeper water

I was in Fiji 3 years ago for my honeymoon. It was the time of year when the surf is small there. We saw quite a few areas that were still breaking way off shore with just small 2-3 foot swells. One of our scuba guides also worked as a surf guide and he told me there were many places that break offshore there and get huge.

When the swell rolls a bit there is sometimes a nice break about 1.5 miles south of FI inlet. I haven't rode it, nor would I, I like the beach nearby when I'm on a board. That open ocean stuff just don't seem natural.

have you ever seen anyone ride it?...i grew up surfing atlantic beach to gilgo...

randall wrote:have you ever seen anyone ride it?...i grew up surfing atlantic beach to gilgo...

I never have, but I was talking to a friend last night about how we could work it out this summer. I told him he could ride and I would tow. Like I said, it just scares the bejeezus out of me to surf in the open like that.

Must be something from my childhood....

Pretty insane stuff....don't think I would have the "nads" to make the drop. Wonder how long you will need to hold your breath if you get buried.

Heard a story of folks off the southeast ledge (between Montauk and Block Island) essetailly doing similar antics..as in tow in surfing...natually at a much reduced size. Can anyone substatiate? Am planing on heading out there this summer if we get the right kind of swell.

Surfer mag had a picture of some pepole towing in off of Newport RI on what looked to be Elbow ledge during one of the Hurricane swells we get in the fall. I beleive it was Gabrial in 2003.

Good use for the B-31...chasing waves!!

Correction;

The picture I am refering to (Tow in off of elbow ledge in Newport RI) was from Hurricane Fabian...Sept 2003.

we have our secret hurricane can only get there by boat spot and i have surfed it 3 times in the last ten years......its the opposite of an open ocean wave, as a matter of fact...its not even in the ocean....but can get double overhead.super clean and very long..........speaking of which....the rivermouth i surfed on our trip to panama is so buried in pinas bay you cant even see the ocean from the line up....feels like you're in a lake surrounded my mountains.....wave comes in, runs down a few hundred yards of rock wall,hits the bar from the rivermouth and peels flawlessly for 200 yards. last year not only was i the only guy out...i was the only guy there...lasted an hour and a half before i got spooked by the muddy rivermouth water and large shapes swimming by

When swell is big and coming from the right direction it can get pretty fun on the south breakwall of Newport Harbor here in So Cal. Creates a huge wave that runs about 200-250 yards. It is usually pretty mushy and not very steep, but can be a lot of fun. It often breaks when the Wedge is at it's biggest.

In the Billabong XXL movie from 2006-ish they take a displacement boat, abt 60ft, out to Cortez Bank with a young skipper who gets bored and paddles his board over to the action and gets caught inside on about a 12ft (20++ft face) wave as he's paddling out, he survives but decides to get back on the boat.....the break moves around a lot, which is probably what saves him, facing a set like that would test the best...from interviews I understand the big wave surfers work on about 2 minutes underwater. Not for me.

Nic

way before tow in when wiamea was the "big " wave the guys who rode it regularly used to dive down twenty feet ,pick up a good sized rock(100lbs), and run with it under water as far as they could. training hawaiian style...hey im 60 and know i will never face large(for me) waves again....but im thankful that i got to experience what i did......

jeff....surfed the santa barbara harbor entrance many times...

Had a business trip to Cost Mesa a couple of years back, and got there enough early to do a little exploring around Newport Beach Happened on to that wedge spot when it was going off. Just amazing how much the waves get amplified. A lot of "sickos" on short boards ( I say this becasue the close out factor was almost a sure thing unless you made an almost impossible drop.) along with body surfers and boogie boarders. Real entetainment to watch the whole scene.

You guys on the "left coast" have it so much better for consistancy. We have to wait for our storms to pass (hopefully not hitting us) and then blow off everything and surf.

Hoping I can find the Newport (RI) Tow in Pix....Not Cortez...but not too bad either.

When the wedge goes off. The L.A. news casters visit.. Been interviewed there by Chuck Henry last spring.That place is a backbreaker.Literally
Hey the seabass have been known to bite there too. heh
Wayne

i lived in santa barbara for over five years ...and while there is no comparison in terms of quality or consistency...specially if you include the channel islands and jalama.....eastern LI (and block island) is way better than most would think.....a small group of world travelers have been showing up here every late summer and early fall....beach breaks, jetty breaks, rock reefs, cove points.....and backside spots for huge swells with onshore winds....something only islands have.....even long islands