Hurricane Erin Just Dropped a Trans-Coastal Surf Party
Hurricane Erin's 600-mile shadow didn’t just ruin beach-town Labor Day plans—it handed East Coast surfers the best run of swell since the pandemic. While governors warned everyone to stay dry on social media, the lineups from Cape Hatteras to Long Island looked more like reunion tours.
Out on Martha’s Vineyard, Emerson Mahoney told The Martha’s Vineyard Times he booked the ferry as soon as the forecast locked in two weeks ahead. Thursday morning at Philbin Beach served up 6–10-foot bowls and actual barrels overhead—rare jewels for an island usually stuck with wind-slop. "Every time these waves show, it’s the best day of your life," Mahoney said between sets, describing the impromptu tailgate of coolers and GoPros on the dunes.
Meanwhile, Jersey’s favorite vlogger Ben Gravy threaded cavernous lefts at an unnamed jetty, filming barrels nearly four times his height. Fellow chargers Rob Kelly, Stevie Pittman and Brett Barley kept locations hush-hush, but their Instagram stories may as well have been a treasure map of sandbars.
Erin’s gift isn’t without consequences. Ocean City, MD banned swimming and surfing entirely, and DelmarvaNow reported plucked kids from the rip soup. Lifeguards are begging folks to keep the stoke on the sand until the sweepers disappear, but for anyone with a waterproof housing and a high tide pull, the windows are wide open.
If you scored, tag your shots on Surf Snaps—let’s build a coast-wide collage of Erin’s best moments while the swell still pulses through the weekend. And if you’re still landlocked? The forecast says the tail end is pushing north, so there’s still time to score that once-a-year tube. Just maybe check the flag color first.