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Spot: Montauk, NY
The Waves
Ditch Plains is the main surfing area in Montauk, if not the best wave. There is easy access to this wave, which is mostly a right breaking off a jetty. The beach and the spot have relatively easy access and are popular with beginners and longboarders. But when the swell comes up, Ditch Plains can be a great wave. Here is Ditch Plains with size from Hurricane Noel in November of 2007.
Ditch Plains has lifeguards on duty from 10 am to 5 pm during the summer. There is public parking but an East Hampton Town beach-parking permit is required. They also allow 4x4 driving on the beach driving but that requires a different permit from East Hampton.
Best Swell, Size and Direction
As this Spot Check was being written, on Sunday, February 24, 2008, the weather conditions for Montauk were 37.0°F water temperatures and an air temperature of 34.0°F. Sound nice? A couple of months from now, those numbers will be reversed, and it will be 73.0°F water temperature and 73.0°F air temperature, and that does sound nice?
Montauk gets storm from nor’easters, local windswells, distant windswells and even more distant storms, but the conditions all Long Island surfer live for are the hurricane swells which produce the kinds of conditions seen in this YouTube of New York’s Worst Wipeout Ever.
For current conditions, check out www.MontaukSurfReport.com
Surrounding Spots
TRAILER PARK
Trailer Park is a spot just east of Ditch Plains, which is sometimes better, sometimes worse, depending on wind and swell and tide.
POLES
The poles that Poles was named for are gone, but the spot is there, just west of Ditch Plains. The sandbars are fickle and this spot is sensitive to wind and tide, but keep an eye on it because you never know along here: the surf changes from hour to hour tide to tide, day to day.
TURTLES.
Turtles is a spot that is not easy to get to. Parking is illegal and it’s a long walk through tick-infested bushes and then down the cliffs to a boulder-lined beach. Turtles doesn’t start breaking until there is a solid ground swell. Check out this video of Montauk Boys in Hoods, and the guy falling directly on a rock about halfway through.
THE RANCH
The Ranch is a spot 1.5 miles east of Ditch Plains. Parking is sketchy, because according to local gossip, the cops love giving parking tickets to outsiders and there is the chance of a pissed off P Diddy or Paul Simon chasing you off the property with a baseball bat. The trail down to The Ranch is infested with ticks and jiggers, and so Lime disease is one hazard to this spot, as is the cliff down to a boulder-lined beach. There are two peaks at The Ranch – an east peak that is a fast right, and a west peak that is an A Frame.
Difficulty Level
The beach breaks around Montauk are easy as long as there isn’t a hurricane swell. Turtles and The Ranch are rocky and can be downright treacherous when the swell is up.
Localism Factor
Imagine if you regularly surfed a quiet, rural, special, beautiful, privileged place that was absolutely bombarded by thousands of beachgoers and surfers from May to November. Would you get edgy? You would and remember these aren’t just people living out there, they are New Yorkers.
Montauk localism isn’t an institution like Palos Verdes or Silver Strand. In some ways the cops are the gnarliest locals because they looooove handing out tickets for parking, driving on the beach, sleeping in your car, trespassing, etc etc etc.
Related Media Links
www.montauk-online.com has photos of Montauk by clicking here.
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