Spot of the Week – Sebastian Inlet

September 2nd, 2010

From Orlando, take Hwy 50 to I-95 and head south. Turn off on the 192 to Indialantic then south on A1A for about 30 mins to the North Jetty at the Inlet.

Sebastian Inlet has the potential to be Florida’s best wave, but conditions have to be right. An often great right peels off the northern jetty edge over sand bottom with a few stray boulders. In big swells at any tide, it is possible to get a fast, grinding, double overhead barrel with a thick lip and real power. Always crowded with aggressive wired-in locals. It likes a lower tide with highs creating back-offs and brutal back-wash. The next section of the wave keeps firing towards the beach, and with more north in the swell, can incorporate quality lefts. More peaks up the beach, in particular an often closed out but sometimes great left-hander on winter swells. Shifty peaks though and it often simple does not look like the same place you see in the magazines.

Way off the end of the south jetty is an off-shore sandbar, Monster Hole. It is thus named after the men in grey that frequent the area, particularly after heavy rains. Not all fishermen like to see surfers around, and are only too happy to throw fish entrails into the water on their way home, making this a feeding zone. N-NE swells and low incoming tides get huge lefts working. These run for yards and yards, and the more north the swell, the more lined up they are. It is a long paddle out there in greeny brown water, and not seeing the bottom merely adds to the sensation that you’re out of your element. The sweep pulls you off target when it’s big, so rubber-arms are common. More east/southeast swell get the rights happeneing. These can be good and fast, or just plain old bumpy. Scary, isolated spot, full of sharks with very strong currents. Can handle anything from 3-15ft if swell is north. Advanced. Semi consistent.

Here’s more info on surf spots in the USA & Hawaii.

Tags: spot of the week, surf spot, surfing, Wavefinder

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 at 9:00 am and is filed under Surf . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.