Mike Vuocolo’s 2020 Hurricane Season Photo Gallery
All photos and captions by Mike Vuocolo @mikesshoreshots on Instagram, Presented by WRV https://www.waveridingvehicles.com
Since the satellite era began in 1966, there have been only four years — 1969, 1995, 2005 and 2017 — with more than 10 hurricanes by Oct. 20 and you can now add 2020 to that very short list of tied seasons. And, of course, there is the record of all records yet to be broken in 2005 with 15 hurricanes total.
However, the 2020 Atlantic tropical cyclone season is still very much a continuing work in progress which has already featured tropical cyclone formation in general at a record-breaking rate. So far, there have been a total of 27 tropical or subtropical cyclones, 26 named storms, 10 hurricanes, and 3 major hurricanes. Whew! And, with Epsilon spinning up off Bermuda as we write this, it ain’t nearly over so. will that 2005 record to fall? Stay tuned for more coverage and a season wrap up photo gallery and we’ll find out soon enough if 2020 was the season of all hurricane seasons. For now tho’ you can feast your eyes on ace veteran Jersey surf shooter Mike Vuocolo’s tropical season sampler he was kind enough to share with us all. – Mez –
Like a ghost from too many years ago, Bradshaw’s Beach in the heart of Point Pleasant Beach comes alive as shifting, elusive sandbars from the recent beach replenishment in Bay Head to the south greet swells generated by numerous Hurricanes this past Summer and Fall.
Brave New World Shop Manager Gabe Buono perfectly positioned for this Hurricane Paulette ramp at Jenk’s.
Adam Ackerman would call this his pre-work Hustle as home-grown knowledge and equipment race him out the backdoor in northern Ocean County.
Though it’s hard and complicated to actually enforce and monitor, plenty of warnings were given all summer long at Manasquan, New Jersey and other Shore communities from Cape May to Sandy Hook.
Hey Jude! The Delta swell did not have the size of some of the other tropical events of 2020 but the conditions were fun, clean and super rippable for area areo-nauts like Jude Clark.
Manasquan’s Scott Duerr was one of the first Surfers I photographed more than fourty years ago during a Hurricane Swell at Manasquan Inlet. Time, as it is want to do, has changed a lot of things in our lives since that session but not the trademark, stylish and powerful bottom turn for the “King of that other Peak” snapped during Paulette.
Meanwhile, just a clamshell toss south across the mighty Manasquan river, the Duerr family surfing lineage is assured with Scotty’s daughter Caroline captured here – with total style cribbed straight from the old man’s playbook – tucking into a fun Jenk’s barrel where pop’s first surfed in the late 70’s.
You can comply with CDC guidelines and still bring some style to your look. Jersey Shore denizen masked up and ready for some beneficial rays.
Blaine Fischer grabbed a flight from his home in Puerto Rico to catch Hurricane Teddy at his former backyard break in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ.
Nick Gardella, an ESA All-Star and Point Pleasant Beach High School Team member fresh of a good showing at the Easterns , Jeanette’s Pier, NC, bustin’ the fins loose soon as he got back home to Jenk’s.
‘Howe’ you doin’? In 2018 the ACE completely buried the vaunted Bayhead groins, one of the best stretches of the nastiest beach break barrels to be found anywhere along the East Coast. But, barely a year and change after the project finished, Ma’ Ocean has – as she always does – other plans as the old Howe Street rubble groin comes back from the dead like Carrie White’s hand popping out of the grave giving hope for the eventual return to it’s former, neck breaking, bad-ass self.
It seemed like Surfers from everywhere targeted the Garden State as their Right Coast Hurricane destination this year. Tosh Tudor made the trek from the west and fit in perfectly at Jenk’s.
Local Shop owner Craig “Gordo” Gordon got the barrel-of-the-day award when inside County Line set up this Hurricane Teddy section.
Cole Deveney’s evolving power surfing has really come on this year leaving little doubt why he snapped yet another board at this wave before this one a day earlier. We think Cole might need a second job to help keep his quiver full for the upcoming, more potent swells of the Mid-Atlantic winter.
Waves in Bay Head became mostly nonexistent the last two years when beach replenishment covered the fabled groins and eliminated the familiar breaks. New sandbars formed by recent swells have Howe Street lining up pretty well these days.
Like father, like daughter… Caroline Duerr’s skateboarding prowess translates beautifully to her stylish moves on a surfboard re-enforcing the old adage of apple’s not falling far from a tree and all not to overstate that very obvious case.
Blaine Fischer with a solid, precise cutback at Jenk’s.
Potentially getting a case of deadly Covid-19 could not keep record numbers of beach goers from hitting the sands of the Jersey Shore after being cooped up on lock-down the previous several months. Risk takers lining up at Jenkinson’s in Point Pleasant Beach.
Dean Sherry has emerged as one of the top performers any day ay Jenkinson’s Beach where he spends his Summer as a Lifeguard.
Scott Duerr can grab barrels all year long at Bay Head’s Howe street and it is a special treat when summer air and water temps continue on into the Fall.
Surf country runs on Dunkin’ Donuts. Tom Wolfmueller with the breakfast of champions and dawn patroller’s alike.
Pat Parenty’s hucks an impressive hurricane Paulette boost at Jenkinson’s.
South Jersey’s Kyle Tester made his way up the Garden State Parkway and into the Innermost Limits of some Bay Head barrels.
Max Esposito amped up pretty well for some sessions that seemed non-stop for days to follow.
Seamus Waltsak pretty loose after what seemed like endless waves in New Jersey this fall.
Brian Mehl grew up surfing in Lavallette but recently moved his family to Point Pleasant Beach and can now walk to Jersey’s most photographed wave. Hurricane Paulette, Manasquan Inlet.
Hurricane Paulette’s psychedelic sunrise with Brendan Tighe and Shane Hueth taking it all in for a minute of meditation and appreciation before the morning paddle out at the south side of the Manasquan Inlet. – All Photos by Mike Vuocolo and for much more of Mike’s excellent imagery please follow him @mikesshoreshots on Instagram –