Isaac’s Texas Swell

9 of 9

HURRICANE Isaac delivered a reasonable pulse of swell to South Padre Island in Texas . Isaac wasn't a stunner surf-wise, more of a giant unruly bull in china shop if you lived anywhere near the centre. It never promised much and as hurricanes go was reasonably generous given its land-orientated arc of trajectory. There was decent sized but choppy swell for both Floridian coasts and three days of unruly chunks to places closer to the centre like Pensacola. But as always, one surf spot's deadly and devastating hurricane is another's 3ft peelers. Were you to bear hard left in The Gulf and head far away from the plate-flinging in New Orleans then you'd stumble upon a slender stretch of Texas correctly orientated to score a fun little hurricane swell out of the breeze. Despite flying under the surf radar, South Padre Island is hardly a stranger to the joy of shooting curl, boasting some of the most consistent waves on the Gulf. At this time of year the area's sporadic short period wind-swells are bolstered by occasional long period hurricane runners. "Ohh man! What fun that was." Said Leah Bess Murray of ingreenpeace.com "All of the surfers on the Texas coast were down south! The parking lot was filled with familiar faces. People were super-stoked and pretty frothing. The swell hit later in the day so people were carefully planning their sessions to conserve energy for the pulsing part of the storm." (*Good news for Atlantic surfers is the current Atlantic hurricane double-up: Hurricane Kirk and what will be Leslie.) © 2013 Leah Bess Murray/ingreenpeace.com