Surf conditions: Waist-Head, Clean, Northwest Winds at 10-15 mph, Hurricane Leslie and Tropical Storm Michael. Need I say more? Well yes. This was actually a quick solo trip up to Hampton on a late Sunday morning, a rare occurrence these days. I chose to surf in a smaller spot on the northern side of the beach where the waves looked like waist-chest rather then the head high surf I was seeing in the middle of the beach. The report said chest high, but there is a difference between chest high wind swell and chest high ground swell, this being the later. Ground swell arrives in sets, some small and some very large. Needless to say, these waves were not easy to catch. You had to be lined up at the right spot, too far out and the wave will roll underneath you with frantic paddling and too far in and you could get caught in the lip and have a nasty wipeout. Other limiting factors were the somewhat strong NW wind (made it beautifully clean) and the freezing temp of the water. Seemed like 10 degrees colder than August. I could have used gloves and booties. I only caught 2 or 3 waves, but the drop-ins were pretty big. Definitely a lot of waiting and not much surfing. A lot of people to avoid too. I think this was the 5th or 6th straight day of chest+ surf. My first hurricane surf in a while.
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