East Coast vs West Coast Sand

[Clamchowdah]

Watching all the recent highlights on social media of everyone scoring big long sandbar barrels on the east coast has got me thinking about relative coastal bathymetry...perhaps some of you can confirm or deny my novice speculation on sand bottom breaks

Why do east coast beach breaks (Jersey, OBX) get these world class barreling waves during the occasional big storm/hurricane swells? Is it because the sand bars get more time to develop due to the infrequency of regular swell?

And contrarily, why does PNW beach break generally produce these gently sloping waves with little pitch and lots of mush? Is it because of the constant swell that causes sand to shift too rapidly to buildup to cause any kind of significant underwater terrain?

Onviously there are exceptions to the norm on both sides of the States but these patterns seem to generally depict the type of wave you see on beach breaks on each coast. Curious to see anyone’s opinion on this or perhaps if there’s some kind of wave nerd literature on this topic out there somewhere

[Spent]

I've never surfed the East Coast but here is some insane coverage of Jersey looking like Skeleton Bay, to prove your point...

https://stabmag.com/news/superstorm-riley-day-1-namibia-comes-to-new-jersey/

[Clamchowdah]

One of the first things I noticed when I moved out here was the brutal paddle out through 200-500 meters of whitewater if swell is anything over 5 feet (if that spot didn’t have a convenient jetty-side rip or channel) Most breaks on the east coast it is a rare occasion if it takes me longer than 10 minutes to paddle out of the impact zone even when the waves are over head high

Is it actually shallower in eastern standard time and more gently sloping sea bottom on the American pacific coast? Is this the swells, Gulf Stream currents, El Niño, continental shelfs or am I just completely wrong about all of this

And yes that lefty looks all time. Excited to see what content Brett barley is gunna throw up on this weeks swell

[Major Lazer]

Having experience surfing DelMarVa beaches that will barrel at 3' and 25 years surfing OR from south to north coasts my take on it is that the majority of OR beaches are gently sloping where a lot of east coast beaches are steeper sloping and more of a shore break. There's sand and then a trough and then sand in OR. This always seemed odd to me as well considering the continental shelf is much more of a genital slope than the west coast where the pacific shelf drops off to deep water in fairly short distance. Its quite frustrating.

[pra_ggresion]

Sloping genitals is where it's at! Seems to me that those beaches must have a steeper initial drop off at least. They don't seem to have big wave beach beach breaks like we do so maybe their bathymmetry isn't a constant slope. The East Coast barrel reminds me of the Lagoons down in Humboldt, but the East Coast doesn't seem to have head lands like that. My main guess is that having lots of short littoral (clittoral for the Laze, you perv) cells combined with long durations of small swell is the primary contributing factor. Has to have a goldilocks size probably to get that way.

[Major Lazer]

Just like most beachies longer period swells tend to close out. Shorter period small to mid size swells are the go to and those type of swells are the most common. The mid Atlantic coast line is heavily armored with groins that help keep the sand in one place. Just like Newport beach in So Cal. Another factor is the Atlantic coastline is a lot more diverse geographically where as Oregon's coast faces due west. Because of this swells hit the coastline at different angles and this also helps for wind too. Could be onshore at one spot, but off at another on down the road.

There are some steep slope beachies, see vid posted in Dec surf report thread but there few and far between considering the total amount of coastline. Disappointing, I know......

[Tex]

Wow, interesting timing on this post. I just hopped off Surfline. The locals were reporting that the "Skeleton Bay" Look A Like beach had actually just been dredged the day before the storm hit. Could you imagine an Oregon dredge project like at Manzanita right before NW swell 4 at 12 with high pressure and east winds

[Clamchowdah]

Lazer saw the video you’re referencing and it blew my mind. There’s no way those bars like that last longer than a couple days with the swell size up here.

Check out this beast of a barrel in NC https://instagram.com/p/BgCwk-zhkzB/

[Tex]

That pic in N. Carolina is sweet!

[Major Lazer]

Social media makes everything look better. Knowing the currents and drift when its that big in the OBX I bet the avg joe and even the pro bros only bagged one or two good ones. I prefer the rocky points of my beloved Ocean State on big Atlantic swells. That said, cousin reported only 5' and sewage over flow at the treatment plant.

[Major Lazer]

I'll also add that after surfing Ocean Beach SF for 6 seasons, its the best beach break I've ever surfed consistently and defies all the variables of what makes a good beach break. It makes anything back east look like a kiddy pool.

-Maintains sand bars with plenty of large swells and wind.
-Holds a long period swell and doesn't wall or close out.
-Breaks off outer and inner bars depending on swell size, etc.

Highly recommend living down there for at least a season before retiring to Oregons frustrating surf. Just saw an article that SF has the highest amount of people leaving than any city in the US right now. Rent may not be going down but at least its not hard to find a place. Cant even rent a U Hall apparently. Gee I wonder where everyone is going......?

[pra_ggresion]

I'll also add that after surfing Ocean Beach SF for 6 seasons, its the best beach break I've ever surfed consistently and defies all the variables of what makes a good beach break. It makes anything back east look like a kiddy pool.

-Maintains sand bars with plenty of large swells and wind.
-Holds a long period swell and doesn't wall or close out.
-Breaks off outer and inner bars depending on swell size, etc.

Highly recommend living down there for at least a season before retiring to Oregons frustrating surf. Just saw an article that SF has the highest amount of people leaving than any city in the US right now. Rent may not be going down but at least its not hard to find a place. Cant even rent a U Hall apparently. Gee I wonder where everyone is going......?

I'll second that. Ocean Beach is all time. Posted up there once for week long dual swell. Each one peaked at different times and made for some super fun A-Frames. Just car camped with all the moto-transients on the median. Drinkin beers ($12/6pk pabst), makin sandwiches, and weed naps. Police came up once and were cool with what I was doing. Hardly anyone was on the beach either, probably on account that it was pride week.

[smithgrind]

Hardly anyone was on the beach either, probably on account that it was pride week.

There's always swell during pride week.

[Major Lazer]

[pra_ggresion]

Pretty much my favorite setup. That's where I'd flop over if that were a pic of me.