(Photo by Ryan Morrill)
Could we get a few more of those pleasant evenings? Can we just have goldenrod and monarchs forever? Whales breaching just offshore? Yes, please. Tropical plants still blooming amid changing foliage in the yard. Bait about, beach days, bay paddles, bass and a fire pit …
Ahhh, the sweet smell of silverberry. This fall has seen a good number of sunfish, aka mola mola, in the inlet and just outside the surf. Mums are brilliant fall colors, and the grass is still a vibrant green. There’s barely a surf session or walk on the beach that we don’t see dolphins.
Waves are always going to be the X factor, but waves were a little tough to come by these past weeks. Yet you can’t deny the weather has been pretty much out of an autumn storybook recently.
The Super El Niño that is currently affecting atmospheric conditions around the world has not seemed to have much of an effect on another weather phenomenon known as “seasonal shift,” where the calendar seems to shift weather backward. There was a time that we felt like summer at the start of June and it was long gone by the end of September. Now you don’t turn off the central air until October. But we’ve benefited greatly from it during late October and November – actually, most autumns of the past decade or so. Summer seems to seep into October now, and fall is a glorious, but fleeting few weeks. Then, of course, we have those dark, dreary and colorless 18 weeks of winter before three days of spring right around Memorial Day. But these last few weeks have been the upside. This is a shoulder season we can get excited about.
If I had to bet, it won’t last. We’ve got a system incoming, and behind that it gets chilly. Not terribly cold for the season – daytime highs will be just short of 50, which is pretty seasonal. But don’t plan on sunbathing.
WAVE WRAP-UP: It was kind of hard to look at photos and videos of waves around New Jersey after Saturday’s swell. It wasn’t big, but there was a decent wave in the water. The wind was offshore all day. To our north and south, waves peaked up and peeled across sandbars. It was simply a classic autumn day.
We had no such luck here.
We are still feeling the effects of the two nor’easters that smashed us in September and October. And while the rest of the state’s sandbars seem to be back to normal between their jetties, our groins have been buried, and our sandbars are a shell of their former selves. There are a few spots that have come alive from time to time, but it’s hard to support our surf scene with only one or two breaks. The bigger swells seem to break farther outside those bars and not matter as much. But our average days of 1 to 3 feet are mostly terrible. And if you were at the Jetty Clam Jam on Saturday, watching the ocean for eight straight hours, you could see exactly why.
There was little to no surf that first week of November. Gorgeous weather, not much swell. And originally we had things really looking in our favor for late last week. Early forecasts called for the low to be closer, with two days of south winds – that would have meant more wind and rain, but helped repair some sandbars – and then a south pulse and offshore winds and a few days of swell. But the low stayed far away. We never got those south winds. The swell was smaller than we hoped, the sand was still crap and the swell period higher than we thought it would be.
So instead we basically just had one day, Saturday, of 2- to 3-foot closeouts. Sunday was tiny again.
I will say the surf came up again Monday afternoon. Most spots were shutting down, but if you could find it, there were a few lines out there.
STICK TO SURFING: I would be doing some readers a disservice if I didn’t discuss last week’s election. There’s always the demographic who seethe whenever Liquid Lines delves into anything political. But those are also the people who believe that Canada is the enemy. For the rest of us, it’s just a relief to simply know we will be having an election again in 2028.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to start making jokes about surfing the “Blue Wave.” That would be insufferable in surfing terms or political. But politics in coastal areas and any policies involving our oceans and beaches are important to where we live. And rather than making a big deal over the fact that Mississippi is more now progressive than Ocean County, I would ask if anyone remembers a guy named Frank LoBiondo.
Anyone? Anyone?
It was only 10 years ago that Frank retired as our Republican congressman, even though by the news cycle of the last decade combined with today’s Republican party, it feels like we’re talking about Abe Lincoln.
LoBiondo did this weird thing where he made decisions based on facts and told the truth. After him, our area went from red to orange pretty quick.
Even if you didn’t agree with every stance LoBiondo took, he had this thing called “decency.” Most relevant to Liquid Lines, he was an environmentalist. He ended his career with positive marks from the League of Conservation Voters. There were four years he was in office that he voted 85% or more in favor of environmental issues. Jefferson Van Drew scored a 9% last year, and Ocean County Republicans bought every spoonful of mistruth the president has served them about our air and water while literally selling off our national lands.
I admittedly had to go back and research his record because I don’t carry this knowledge around in my head. But LoBiondo supported alternative energy, LGBT rights and veterans. He also voted against bailing out Wall Street and later against tax cuts for the wealthy. He talked a lot about the health of our waterways and was well versed in our local fisheries. He also didn’t spend his days on Twitter or adorning his office in gold trinkets.
By today’s “windmills cause brain cancer” GOP standards, he was a snowflake. And that includes every single elected official on LBI (except one) who has never done anything to distance themselves from our current president from his arguing with Rosie O’Donnell to gutting clean water bills, to $4.39 per gallon gas, while LBI becomes less and less affordable for middle-class people to live and visit.
And wait until you hear this one: Apparently unimpressed with the “grab ’em by the p—-” tape and lack of civility in D.C., LoBiondo chose not to ride the orange tide in 2016.
I’m not rehashing this to trash the GOP in general, but to remind folks that there can be a responsible right-of-center party that could help the economy for everyone without always relying on lies about minorities, immigrants and people with nose rings. The Democratic party has plenty of its own issues. Maybe we can do better than the two-party system? But we can certainly do better if we have two parties that don’t believe schools are doing surprise sex-change operations on students.
Former Congressman Frank LoBiondo (File Photo by Ryan Morrill)
THE SURF OUTLOOK: This could be a good week to get started on your holiday shopping, fix that bike that’s been squeaking since the summer or start planning winter travel. I am not sure there will be much surf. The storm that was on the radar at one point seems to have been cancelled.
The wind goes southeast on Thursday, probably not hard enough, long enough or south enough to repair any sandbars. It probably won’t do a lot for the surf, either, but Friday morning looks to be offshore for about five minutes before it goes sideshore. Beyond that, the surf might go flat – like flatter than it was all summer – through Thanksgiving. But this time of year is much more dynamic than summer, and I suspect that will change.
Daylight Saving is over. That means the end of after-work sessions for most. Last light is already at 5:15, and it’s earlier every day now. First light, however, is at 6 a.m. for the early crew. The water temp is still relatively high for November; as of early week, it was just dipping into the high 50s. We still didn’t need gloves or a hood. I suspect we will be donning more rubber now, however, just with the drop in air temp. Even if the water is comfy, you’ll freeze your fingers off when the wind chill gets down into the low 30s. This past week will have felt tropical in comparison.
Maybe all those northwest winds will push some sand into the deep trough. Can’t get much worse.
SURF TEAM SEASON ENDS: Southern Regional’s surf team officially ended the season two weeks back.
“This season was especially meaningful with such a large group of seniors, many of whom have been part of our local surfing community since they were young,” said Coach Josh Law. “It’s been a pleasure coaching these athletes, watching so many of them grow and progress throughout their four years on the team, and seeing the friendships they’ve built along the way. We’re incredibly proud of this senior class and the contributions they’ve made to our program.”
Graduating seniors this year are Jared Baker, Wesley Carvajal, Chase Deren, Cullen Hood, Ryan Lee, Shea O’Donnell, James Pierson, Reef Smith, Brody Meyers, Spencer Walsh and Jude Ryon.
This class has been really important specifically because they were the first generation of kids who really pushed the limits and surfed year ’round, even going back to junior high. Congrats to those moving on.
LET ’EM FLY: If you feel like weather forecasts have been lousy lately, you’re not alone … and you’re right. Meteorologists across the country have been struggling because they’re not getting the data they once got via weather balloons. If you recall, back in 2025 Elon Musk, right after he flew a questionable salute, ran through the federal government with a crew of frat brothers he called DOGE and slashed all sorts of programs.
On the chopping block was science.
The National Weather Service had only enough budget to fly a certain number of weather balloons per day. With fewer than the twice-daily readings of current weather, it was much harder to predict the weather coming down the pike. Scientists pinpointed how “data gaps” left us unprepared for certain weather disasters over the last 18 months. Predicting the surf as well as just making plans for boating, fishing, camping and beach days has been tough as well.
We’re not sure who made the call, but reason has been restored. All of the twice-daily weather balloon flights have been rescheduled, and the meteorology community is already feeling relief at the better data.
In other good news, no one wanted that Cybertruck, and Tesla won’t be making any more of them.
COMING UP: It seems we’ve moved into a new season called “Skipsgiving.” Those events will pretty much dominate the next few weeks around here.
Actually, the first one isn’t any theme besides doing good. This Saturday, the Jersey Shore Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation will host an LBI Dune Planting. Surfrider asks that you sign up for this event at volunteer.surfrider.org/opportunities/oJB43xuL5A. Once signed up, you will be given the location.
Jetty will host its Holiday Village at the Flagship Store on EastBay Avenue in Manahawkin on Nov. 20. The yard will come to life with music, hot drinks and local artisans.
Ship Bottom’s 47th annual Christmas Parade is Saturday, Dec. 5.
New to the calendar of events are the Hollow Pines Pop Ups in the Pines. The first is Small Business Saturday on Nov. 28, a cozy autumn marketplace at Camp Hollow Pines. This will be followed by two more on Dec. 13 and Dec. 19.
As we transition into early winter or “happy winter,” hopefully we still get some of the glorious days we’ve been having. Hopefully our sandbars get back in shape, too.
