Charles Mencel should have been more nervous. There were waves of consequence thundering through the lineup, waves he doesn’t often get to experience in his native Monmouth County. Hell, Tosh Tudor and Justin Quintal, fresh off the Pipe Masters, had flown in to New Jersey for heavy tubes and garlic knots.
It was January 10, during a swell in the middle of a historic Atlantic series of storms. On the same block where he’d grown up, Mencel angled into a heavy wall, only to disappear into a colorless abyss. Down the line, it hurled out. The spit was instantly blown apart by the offshore wind. And behind that, shot out Mencel, one arm raised in victory.
While this El Niño winter has already produced its share of barrels for elite hunters on both coasts, Mencel is a literature professor and father of three who shaped the very board under his feet. And with a string of deep low-pressure systems riding up the Atlantic Seaboard and delivering one historic swell after another, the barrel was just one of multiple bombs that Mencel logged over the past few weeks.
He paddled back out and got some praise from Quintal, Tudor, New Jersey pro Pat Schmidt and a handful of local cold-water regulars.
“It was a luxury to go from a good fall to a really active winter,” says Mencel. “This was the best forecasted El Niño I can remember. And everyone was just ready.”
“I was looking to go on whatever was coming through. There are so many winters where it’s flat for weeks and all the sudden, it’s 8 to 10-foot. When you have consistent swells like this winter, you’re ready – you’re in the mode, your equipment is ready, your car is ready, your fitness is ready. Even your wife has to be ready for those days,” he laughed.
Unlike the Pacific’s recent maxed swells, these storms are gathering their energy in the deep south or the Midwest and tracking northeast, lashing every community in their path. Hence, in addition to worrying about being mowed down by an angry set, surfers have been kept awake at night, wondering if 60-plus mph wind gusts would rip the roof off their house, or how they’ll wade through flooded neighborhoods just to check the surf. The consecutive east and southeast swells were the result of a series of stronger storms – any one of which would have been the swell of the year – that all hit within three weeks. The first– hitting Monday, December 18–was the most ferocious with the most impressive buoy reading in three decades, setting the tone right through to the magic of Saturday, January 13.
And while surfers from Canaveral to Canada had water draining from their noses all month, New Jersey was ground zero.
“Our recent huge surf is really a domino effect in play,” explains longtime surfer and New Jersey veteran meteorologist, James Gregorio. “El Niño displaced the southern Jet and helped to ramp it up, making it a perfect mechanism to foster storm growth down south and spin these babies in our direction. In regards to our all-time, epic December swell, we had a huge ridge of high pressure in the Atlantic, which made a perfect fetch machine to funnel monstrous surf right at Jersey. It was just a very, very rare and perfect set up.”
Mencel has created something of a name for himself as a shaper, very tuned to Mid-Atlantic conditions. A few years ago, he started thinking more about longer-period winter swells generated by nearby storms with a lot of water moving. The result was a shape he calls “The Kong,” a 7’6″, something along the lines of a beachbreak-friendly Brewer with thick lap by the nose for extra weight to account for those 40 mph offshore gusts that are unique to this coast’s heaviest days. It’s designed to hold the line and keep speed instead just air dropping and being left with no speed.
He had paddled out on the board on the massive day in December with just a friend, calling it 20-foot on the face.
“It was terrifying, but the tee pees stood so tall, you could actually paddle around them at a higher tide,” he explained. He got one very solid wave to calm his nerves. It all prepared him for next few swells, which were more southerly and better shaped.
Photo: Cheyne Meseroll
Quintal’s boards were delayed on his flight into New Jersey, so the ride-it-all Floridian rode a Mencel gun. Pat Schmidt has also been riding Mencel’s boards for some time.
“Charles’ wave was really emotional,” remembers Schmidt. “We watched him take off and then all we could see was that hand pierce through the lip. Everyone was claiming it for him.”
Schmidt wound up on that same street. His mind had been set on that spot. He readily admits that he got denied four times that morning before switching to a 5’11″ Mencel Stubby and proceeded to take off on the first gray dragon. He threw a quick speed check, pulled into a hollow belly and threw his arms up in the most “Yo, what da f—k” Jersey way and came out with swagger.
Bruce Chrisner of Manasquan has been surfing since 1973 and shooting New Jersey since 1982.
“I’ve been here for them all since then and I’ve never seen a winter this consistent or this big – three huge swells in a row – since I’ve been surfing. I don’t even think Hurricane Bell in the 70’s rivaled the Dec. 18 swell,” he claimed.