2023 in Fernandina Surf


Photo Credit: Kevin Maines

With a southerly ‘winter storm’ track producing consistent surf in the late fall and early winter after an active ‘2023 tropical season’ we seem to be getting the benefits of EL Niño without the drawbacks. The general consensus is that 2023 was a good year of surf and it tracked as a top 3 year for consistency in the 6 years I’ve been keeping records. We had great sandbars up and down the island. I heard comparisons to Costa Rican or Californian beach breaks when the swell was running. You had a choice between short, quick tube rides and decent length walls that would allow 2 to 3 turns. Some days allowed for both.

Notable observations and surprises from 2023

  • Short hot summer. While most of us remember a sweltering July, extreme North wind events in June and September bookended summer leading to the smallest number of days (99) with 80°F or above water since I started recording in 2018. It doesn’t seem right to live in Florida and have less than 80°F water for more than 2/3 of the year. The average of the 5 years prior comes to about 125 days with 80°F water.
  • No appreciable swell periods of 12 seconds or more in November. It makes sense for spring and fall to have a lot of short period windswell as transitional weather months but I usually expect some long period swell from large North Atlantic storms to mix in at some point. The good day in November was from a system sitting right off of the coast.
  • 2nd year in a row where I didn’t notice or personally experience a bad jellyfish outbreak in the fall.
  • 2023 tied for 2nd in number of ‘Head High +’ days since 2018, it was 1st in number of days with swell periods of 12 seconds or more in the mix (100, even without November), and offshore wind was distributed fairly evenly throughout the year. We had a lot of onshore wind but we had a lot of light and variable wind or wind switches to balance it out.
  • We had a pretty classic, generally small summer. In a seeming contradiction, 2023 had the smallest number of ‘Near Flat to Shin High’ days since I’ve been recording (19). The fact that we run a summer camp may distort the number of days I decide it’s knee high instead of near flat.


Photo Credit: Betzy Mitchell

Top 5 days of 2023 – in chronological order.

  • 8/30 – The clean-up from Hurricane Idalia passing West and North. Strong 8 second South swell seems to be a hallmark of the 2023 El Niño season. The rights were excellent. I saw Surf Asylum alumni Kate Heymann push herself outside of her comfort zone and get a couple good lefts and rights. It’s inspiring when young people want to do something enough to push past their fear.
  • 9/12 – The first full day of the Hurricane Lee swell. The waves weren’t consistent yet but the sets were solid. Ran into Billy Fortier. The light crowd of friendly faces contributed as much to the day as the waves.
  • 9/13 – The most consistent day of the Hurricane Lee swell. Kyle McCarthy and I were looking at a doubled up left that Brady McKenzie was deeper for. Ask him to show you the sequence if you get a chance. It’s not everyday someone gets spit out of the tube in Florida but it’s kind of cool that it can happen here or South Beach, two opposite ends of the state. This day was the most crowded. The time in between sets due to the long period swell made it frustrating at times.
  • 9/14 – It feels a bit lazy to award 3 days from the same swell “Top 5” status but I surfed for just over 4 hours and had a couple attempts at some spacious tubes by Florida standards. Hurricane Lee had the kind of track that East Coast surfers hope for at the start of every tropical season.
  • 11/18 – A low pressure tracked from South to North off the coast. There was so much South wind offshore that despite the local wind going from North to Northwest there was a solid 11 second ESE swell in the water. If there was one minor quibble with 2023 being a great year of surf it may be that on every hollow day you had to contend with secondary short period wind swell cutting across the waves. I’d say that’s a feature of most beach breaks throughout the world though.

Honorable Mentions

  • 5/27 – Heavy, drifty, and more side-offshore than offshore. One of those days it’s hard to prepare for but the good ones had the classic Fernandina look.
  • 7/1 – There were so many fun days this year. This day happened to coincide with a Nassau County Special Olympics Surf Team practice. There were a lot of great rides and stand out performances. Luis and Diego, brothers you may know from the checkout line at Publix, were two athletes that thrived this season due to days like this.
  • 8/27 – You know it was a good year if a local ESA event had swell and decent wind. Aiden Flynn’s surfing proved deserving of his spot on the 2024 ESA All Star Team. We have a small dedicated district and in just the past 5 years we’ve had 3 All Stars (Noah Poteat, Aiden Flynn, and Michaela Nichols) as well as 2 Marsh Scholarship recipients (Jade Beasley and Emily Flint earned scholarships awarded specifically to competitive surfers). We’re always looking for members and volunteers (especially judges). The Facebook Page ESA First Coast District is the best way to stay up to date.
  • 12/16 & 12/17 – The big day and the day after. My first paddle out was brutal but the tide was high so I wasn’t really getting slammed as much as pushed back. I caught one of my first set waves in front St. Augustine’s Gabe Kling. It was unruly and the biggest, heaviest barrels I saw went unridden. The next day was fun. If you didn’t watch it long enough you could have been forgiven for thinking it was flat but the sandbar was as good as it gets providing chest high waves that were a great balance of peaky and fast closer to low tide than you might think to surf.


Photo Credit: Raegan Heymann

Data

1) Wave Heights

Flat – Shin | Knee – Waist | Chest – Shoulder | Head +
Jan. 6 23 2 0
Feb. 0 23 5 0
Mar. 0 22 7 2
Apr. 1 20 4 5
May. 3 20 4 4
Jun. 0 23 5 2
Jul. 0 25 6 0
Aug. 0 17 10 4
Sep. 0 11 7 12
Oct. 6 5 15 5
Nov. 1 13 8 8
Dec. 2 15 7 7
2023 19 217 80 49
2022 22 220 74 49
2021 33 225 70 37
2020 33 224 58 51
2019 43 220 64 38

2) Water Temperature

Below 50 F | Below 60 F | Below 70 F | Above 70 F | Above 80 F
Jan. 0 19 31 0 0
Feb. 0 5 28 0 0
Mar. 0 0 31 0 0
Apr. 0 0 9 21 0
May. 0 0 0 31 0
Jun. 0 0 0 30 9
Jul. 0 0 0 31 31
Aug. 0 0 0 31 31
Sept. 0 0 0 30 28
Oct. 0 0 0 31 0
Nov. 0 0 22 8 0
Dec. 0 10 31 0 0
2023 0 34 151 214 99
2022 0 43 148 217 122
2021 0 68 172 193 120
2020 0 48 136 230 104
2019 0 51 158 207 145

3) Wind: Onshore vs. Offshore (Choppy vs. Clean)

Onshore (All Day) | Mixed | Offshore (All Day)
Jan. 5 16 10
Feb. 7 14 7
Mar. 11 16 4
Apr. 15 14 1
May. 15 11 5
Jun. 7 16 7
Jul. 0 27 4
Aug. 6 23 2
Sep. 9 21 0
Oct. 9 15 7
Nov. 13 13 4
Dec. 9 13 9
2023 106 199 60
2022 103 217 45
2021 107 201 57

4) General Wind Wave Direction

North | South | Neutral (Straight)
Jan. 13 15 3
Feb. 6 17 5
Mar. 12 13 6
Apr. 12 14 4
May. 14 11 6
Jun. 5 19 6
Jul. 2 24 5
Aug. 5 23 3
Sep. 15 10 5
Oct. 26 2 3
Nov. 22 2 6
Dec. 15 8 8
2023 137 168 60
2022 138 151 76
2021 150 164 51
2020 135 179 52
2019 157 141 67

5) Swell Period in Seconds

< 8 | 8 – 11 | 12 + | 17 +
Jan. 4 24 3 0
Feb. 3 17 8 0
Mar. 3 12 16 0
Apr. 13 6 11 0
May. 3 20 8 0
Jun. 7 14 9 0
Jul. 1 20 10 0
Aug. 2 23 6 0
Sep. 2 9 19 0
Oct. 2 25 4 0
Nov. 11 19 0 0
Dec. 2 23 6 0
2023 53 212 100 0
2022 47 245 70 3
2021 40 238 87 2
2020 60 229 75 2
2019 93 192 80 0