1st Street:
One of the towns where surfing first thrived on the East Coast, Ocean City is still one of the most active and visible surfing communities. The Ocean City Surfing Association (OCSA) got its start in the early ’60s and continues to thrive. During a decent swell, the area from 1st Street through 10th Street offers some of the best-quality surf in South Jersey. It’s not uncommon to find perfect barrels racing down the beach for a block or more off any one of the rock jetties in this part of town. Farther to the south, both the 14th Street Pier and the 59th Street Pier offer fun rights and lefts, depending on the swell. Ocean City’s downside is the limited surfing areas during the summer, which leads to overcrowding. Beach tags are required.
Here’s the rundown from North Street to the 3rd Street Jetty: consistent rights peak up off the 1st Street jetty and peel down the beach. Occasionally, good lefts wedge up in the middle of the break. It offers excellent point-like quality on a medium-to-large, long-period swell. It is currently one of the first spots surfers check in Ocean City. When the rights start cranking off the jetty, barely a wave goes by without having its lip smacked. No surfing during the day in summer. Bathrooms are available on the boardwalk in summer only. Get in your car and drive six blocks or more for food.
Off the 3rd Street Jetty, hollow, A-frame rights and lefts offer plenty of opportunities to get in the barrel and hit the lip. It’s a lot of fun at waist- to shoulder-high, and can be perfect with stiff offshores and an overhead swell. A lot of hot surfing goes on between these two jetties. Again, no surfing during the day in the summertime. For all the bodies in the water, it’s a fairly friendly, but competitive, atmosphere. Just leave your ego at home, wait your turn and you’ll get waves.
7th Street:
Ocean City’s famous 7th Street has been the town’s official surfing area for more than 30 years, and the site of countless surf competitions. The waves used to roll right up under the boardwalk at high tide, but recent beach replenishment projects have changed the profile of this beach dramatically. Fun, occasionally hollow rights and lefts provide summer recreation for hundreds of waveriders daily (and hundreds of dollars for savvy ding-repair entrepreneurs). Big lefts roll off the north jetty during a nor’easter. There is still a decent right off the south jetty on a good southerly swell, but the placement of outfall pipes throughout the lineup has chopped up this break. It has, arguably, the best left in Ocean City when it’s on. It really shows its full potential at head-high to double overhead. Swells jack up off the 7th Street Jetty, usually throwing out farther than they are high, then wall up and peel off a little more sanely down the rest of the beach.
Unfortunately, three outfall pipes extend well out into the break, making for hairball near-misses and abbreviated rides during larger swells. When it’s on — meaning head-high to double overhead — the paddle out, the steep drop and the sweeping current are usually enough to keep any crowd in check.