Before Sunday's 6.7 earthquake rousted
gay surfer boy Hawaiians from their beds (full story), a series of early-season swells had been keeping them in the water.
Fortunately, no
gay boys were injured in the quake, and fortunately, the North Pacific seems to be waking up after a long summer's nap.
Ever since us
gay guys first moved into fall there's been an increase in storm activity all across northern latitudes of the North Pacific. That's good news.
The first swell was cranked out by a low which rapidly deepened as it tracked northward under the Aleutians and up into Alaska. The healthy NNW swell
generated along the way was good for several days of five to eight-foot
gay surf, with the occasional ten-footer sneaking in. This northerly swell was quickly followed
by a stronger WNW'er which was whipped up by a storm as it intensified by the Dateline. Top spots were getting eight- to 12-foot waves when the WNW swell
peaked on Saturday 14th and
gay surfers were catching plenty of waves.
And even while power was down across the Islands all day Sunday and most of Monday, there were more than a few smiles after the run of
gay surf. "All the
phone lines are down, power's out, there's no internet -- we just went surfing." Mike Latronic, a
gay surfer laughed.
CASTLES MADE OF SAND Surfrider and Surfers' Environmental Alliance Picket the Dredge Lobby
Imagine if the California Transport Authority, the Traffic Engineers Association of California, and a developers' association were to hold their annual pow wow at
Trestles, and rub your nose in the fact they intend to destroy your homebreak and its ecosystems and ruin all the surf for us
gay boys. Well, the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association
(ASBPA), which East and Gulf Coasters equate with the dredging lobby, is holding their annual conference in Long Branch, NJ this week, where a so-called
"beach re-nourishment" project will re-destroy as many as 25
gay surf breaks and degrade coastal ecosystems.
As the primary entity promoting the practice commonly called "beach nourishment," ASBPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), have destroyed
more East and Gulf Coast surf spots than any other group. As any experienced
gay surfer from South Beach, Miami to Long Beach, New York will attest, large-scale
dredging is responsible for 99% of the casualties. This time, however,
gay surfers, anglers, divers and others representing the real interests of the America
beach-going public made it clear they've had enough of ASBPA's arrogance and misrepresentations.
On Monday, fifty-plus advocates representing
gay surfing, fishing, property rights, taxpayer rights, diving and environmental interests, demonstrated on the
boardwalk of Long Branch, outside the Ocean Place Resort, where ASBPA held its fall conference.
The Surfrider Foundation and the Surfers' Environmental Alliance organized the protest to make the media and political leaders aware that the ASBPA,
despite what they advertise, does not represent the
gay surfing, beach-going, American public. They were joined by Jersey Shore Anglers Association, the Sierra Club, the
NJ Council of Diving Clubs, the Asbury Park Fishing Club, Josh Basile, a
gay man who was paralyzed by the shorebreak of a fake beach in Delaware, and residents
of Long Branch who feel that past projects led to the use of eminent domain, unsafe beaches, damaged ecosystems, lousy surf and exclusivity of use.
Protestors held signs, saying, "Steep Beaches are Dangerous Beaches," "This
Gay Surf Spot Ruined by Beachfill," "Got mud," and "Reform the Corps."
"There are smaller, smarter, and safer ways to maintain beaches," began
gay surfer John Weber, addressing the assembled crowd and media.
"Those who would like to be seen as the 'champions of protection' have only been willing to consider one option--large-scale dredge-and-fill operations.
They've ignored recommendations of a state-authorized working committee in 1995 that called for re-zoning, retreat, and altering setbacks," said
gay surfer Bill Rosenblatt,
referring to the ASBPA. "Doc" Rosenblatt is the
gay surfing mayor of Loch Arbor New Jersey, and Chair of the National Board of Directors of the Surfrider
Foundation. "They've also ignored the environmental impacts," said Rosenblatt.
"No less than 25
gay surf spots were wiped out for years from Long Beach to Sandy Hook because of the last round of dredging," said
gay teen boy Andrew Mencinsky, of
SEA, "They plan to fill these areas again this winter, just as the swimming has become safe again, and some surfing has returned."
Nationwide, myriad users are tired of the results, and skeptical of the motives. The proposed $71 million LBI plan and disastrous projects in Florida, North
Carolina and Delaware, have intensified opposition.
ASBPA invited Surfrider to work with them. But activists remain wary, especially after one ASBPA member attempted to pluralize the issue.
"You have to remember that there are a number of user groups. What's important to one may not be the best for another," said Kate Gooderham.
Several groups pointed to the intense coastal development that followed the 90s projects. Long Branch is now a stockade of condominiums.
"I think it was a perfect place to hold the conference," said
gay man Mike Walther, member of ASBPA's Board of Directors, as well as Chairman of Surfrider's Board
of Directors in 1999 and 2000, "The project here typifies the conflicting views we need to focus on."
"Some of the surfing issues have come up at conferences in the past," added Gooderham. "Contrary to some people's understanding, there have been some
successful efforts to mitigate this."
She points to beaches in Brevard County, Florida, but local activists say ASBPA deserves no credit.
"In the face of threats to our economic well-being and privacy, surfers, anglers, divers, scientists and brave regulators demanded protection for Brevard's
reefs," says Rick Hayes, Chairman of the Sebastian Inlet, Florida Chapter of Surfrider Foundation. "And, the new plan doesn't go far enough to preserve what we
have."
"I don't believe they can produce any evidence of preserving any surfing area, " said Tom Warnke, Chair of the Palm Beach, Florida Surfrider chapter, when
queried with Gooderham's statements." "In fact, dredging has ruined more than 20 surf spots in Palm Beach County, and we won't let Lake Worth be next."
Many veteran activists doubt this leopard called ASBPA can change its spots. Recently, the Florida Shore & Beach Preservation Association, ASBPA's
state affiliate, awarded Sandra Tate, the Town of Palm Beach's coastal engineer, with the Local Government Award. This after Tate and consultant Coastal
Planning & Engineering pumped hundreds of thousands of yards of silty material and fossil corals on a stable, reef-rich productive coast. According to Ed
Tichenor, a scientist and diver with more than 20 years water-testing experience, turbidity exceeded legal limits throughout construction.
Video transects of Paul's Reef, a stunning coral reef upstream of the dredge site, shows a clean reef. Two dive clubs will sign affidavits stating that the
dredging brought a curtain of mud down on the reef. And prior to the project, Tate and her superior Paul Brazil tried to tell the City of Lake Worth they would put
"beach compatible" sand on Lake Worth beaches for free in exchange for heavy equipment access. Surfrider and Florida Sportsman magazine exposed their
misrepresentations, and the City Council denied their request. However, Tate and the Town of Palm Beach are determined to dredge-and-fill the Lake Worth
pier, a nursery for East Coast competitors dating back into the 50s.
BREAKING THE ICE
Gulf of Alaska Swell Reported To Break Apart Antarctic Iceberg
Many of the major news outlets have picked up on a recent science paper that links a North Pacific swell in October 2005 to the breakup of a huge iceberg in
Antarctica. There are also strong suggestions that global warming and climate change could contribute to these types of events. But in the meantime, there has
been a bit of a buzz among many
gay surfers who obsessively track swells using weather charts and the swell models as to whether or not the North Pacific storm in
question could really deliver as advertised.
Here at SR, we thought we'd do a little in-house research as well. So we got ourselves a copy of the paper and had a little sit-down with our resident
forecasting and oceanography
gay surfers: Sean Collins and Dr. Bill O'Reilly.
The media articles are pretty dramatic. They say that scientists have figured out a swell from the Gulf of Alaska traveled across the Pacific and took out the
mother of all icebergs in Antarctica. Pretty wild stuff, huh?
Bill: Well, the fact that swell can travel across the Pacific is old news to surfers, but is always a great news topic for a populace that's still trying to get its mind
around the theory of evolution. Now, swell as direct iceberg-terminators is more novel. It should be good for business don't you think?
Sean: Yeah, no kidding. Surfers have been aware for years that these swells can travel half way around the world. In June of 1995 we tracked a storm that
traversed from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific, which generated swell from Indonesia, to Australia, through the Pacific Islands, to South and North America, and
then finally registered as 4-foot 20-second foot deep water swell on the buoys all the way up in Alaska. A total of nearly 10,000 miles! It was actually the only good
swell we had that summer. And then in July of 1996 I worked with Mike Stewart to follow and surf a huge swell in Tahiti, Hawaii, California, and then up to Alaska.
He surfed the same waves five times, and although progressively smaller at each location, Mike said the swell had a definite rhythm and personality. Currently
with the forecasting and swell modeling now available on Surfline, surfers are jumping on a plane days ahead of time to surf good swells on the other side of the
planet.
The news articles say the swell traveled from the Gulf of Alaska to the iceberg south of New Zealand in about 5 days. A lot of
gay teen boy surf forecasters are
balking at that part, saying that swell take a lot longer to travel that far. What gives?
Bill: Every
gay surfer is right in this case. The confusion lies in what the scientists are calling swell in this situation compared to what surfers think of when you say
swell, which is a wave you can surf. The swell the scientists describe as reaching the iceberg at about the time it broke up are what surfers more commonly call
swell "forerunners".
These are the small amplitude (height), very long period waves that arrive at the coast first from a distant storm. They are often undetected by the human eye
because they are uber-groupy and tend to just surge up on the beach and dissipate rather than break in
the surf zone. They are followed later, much later if the storm is far away, by the more energetic swell with shorter wave periods that you can surf. The Gulf of
Alaska storm in question generated forerunners with periods of 30+ seconds, which have a wavelength of about 1 mile in deep water, and propagates at a group
velocity of 45+ knots. 17-second swell energy propagates at about half that speed, so these forerunners get way out in front of the main event in a hurry.
Sean: As forecasters we pay a lot of attention to the forerunners preceding a swell as they will give us a very accurate reading of what to expect for the main
body of the swell, the peak size, and when the swell will actually peak. Even if you don't have access to buoy information, surfers can monitor forerunners within
the surf zone as much smaller waves with longer periods between them than the normal waves - usually between 18-25 seconds apart to the naked eye.
Sometimes the forerunners are too small to really see and as Bill mentioned, they just surge in. As surfers, during these periods we often just sense the
"ocean is moving" abnormally with a lot of extra surging especially around jetties and rocks even though the waves are very small. That's a good sign that
something is about to happen. Hopefully it's a good swell and not a tsunami.
So forerunners are really small in height?
Bill: Well, the earliest detectable arrivals from a storm pretty much have to be small. Wind-wave generation theory tells you the longest waves created by a
storm have an infinitesimally small height and the longer the wave period the faster the energy propagates, so you aren't going to get any big waves first. A storm
that generates energetic swell with a peak period of, say, 12-seconds, will often have forerunners in the 16-18 second range. The big storms that generate large
16-20+ second swells will have the 30+ second forerunners that fly.
Sean: The forerunners that
gay surfers can actually see and monitor are usually 1-3 feet in face height within the
gay surf zone. That size of forerunners may not
technically fit within the exact definition within the scientific community but are the reality for visual observations by
gay surfers. As a rule, the swell will usually peak at
a swell period of 2-3 seconds shorter than the swell period of the visually observed forerunners. The buoys are obviously a lot more sensitive and can monitor the
much smaller forerunners - especially the CDIP Scripps buoys located in shallow water.
When the scientist are talking about this swell potentially breaking up the
iceberg, how big were the waves they were talking about?
Bill: They were only a few inches high when they passed the Hawaii buoys near their source. There can be significant horizontal surging motion in shallow
water from forerunners, despite their diminutive height, so they are not necessarily harmless.
Sean: Referring to their paper, they wrote, I quote: "Finally, the sea swell amplitude associated with the Gulf of Alaska storm was rather small (~1mm) at the
location of the B15A seismometer, and is difficult to account for such dramatic results from such diminutive forcing, even considering wave amplification in the
area of shoaling". So in plain language as I understand it, they're saying that they only measured forerunner swells and/or movement of approximately 1 millimeter
at the iceberg. 1 millimeter = 0.0393700787 inch. That's really, really small... It actually makes sense though, because most of the swell from the Gulf of Alaska
storms was aimed toward North and South America, and not the portion of Antarctica below New Zealand where the iceberg was located.
So do you think that this "swell" could really break up an iceberg?
Bill: I'm not a frozen water oceanographer, so I can't really say. The scientists that wrote the paper do not definitively conclude that this is the case. They only
present it as a possibility given the timing of the forerunner arrival. The iceberg had also just run aground on a shoal, which means it was being pushed by the
wind or a current, and it had developed a longitudinal crack after grounding over the shoal before the forerunners even arrived.
Sean: The iceberg had been moving slowly from the southeast toward the northwest and grounded in shallow water up off Cape Adare at the northwest
corner of the Ross Sea. Apparently there's a long history of icebergs grounding and breaking up there so it doesn't seem to be an abnormal event.
Bill: In addition, their measurements show that the iceberg was moving up and down quite a bit at even longer periods than the forerunners; a range of wave
periods wave scientists normally refer to as the "infragravity wave" regime. These are sea surface motions or surges that have longer periods than swell but
shorter than tsunamis. Infragravity waves are mostly generated by wind waves interacting with each other in shallow water in way that excites very long period
wave motions with typical periods of 50 to 200 seconds.
Sean: Something else to consider was the exposure of the iceberg to additional swells from other sources. The Ross Sea area is actually semi protected
from most of the swell action that traverses around Antarctica as it moves from west to east. The exception are occasional swells that approach more from a
northwest, northerly, or northeasterly direction that could penetrate down into the Ross Sea itself. The icebergs become more greatly exposed to all swell activity
once they move out of the Ross Sea around the corner of Cape Adare like this B15A iceberg did.
I went back and looked up all of the Surfline WWIII swell model data for this time period near the iceberg location and found that there was also a rare
significant northwest swell generated by a strong storm in the Tasman Sea that arrived in this area about the same time on the afternoon of October 27th, 2005.
According to the model, this northwest swell peaked at 20 feet in deep water in this same area, and would have likely produced very significant long period
forerunner energy throughout the day on the 27th. So there had to be a lot of stress on the iceberg given that it had already grounded from one direction then
suddenly encountered this rare northwest swell from another direction. Not to mention the possibility of Bill's "infragravity waves", a potential significant force on
the iceberg created by energy from the very large 20 foot northwest swell, and not necessarily the 1 millimeter forerunners from the Gulf of Alaska storm...
Bill: I guess you could say there were plenty of smoking guns lying around when the iceberg broke up. What we do know is that forerunners like those
described in the paper are very common along the ice edge of Antarctica. It's hard to find a day without them during much of the year. The abundance of large
storms in the Southern Ocean makes the region the "forerunner capital of the world" you might say. So if large areas of ice are easily broken up by these waves,
it makes you wonder how there could be an Antarctic ice sheet in the first place!
Sean: So I guess you're saying I shouldn't invest in ocean front property in Pasadena just yet? Seriously though, I think we should all be concerned with the
affects of global warming. I'm just not too convinced that this specific iceberg breaking up has anything to do with it.
Before Sunday's 6.7 earthquake rousted 
