Hurricane Hilary: One Wild Weekend in SoCal

While it didn’t generate widespread pumping surf up and down the coast, Hurricane Hilary was an especially dynamic swell and weather event for Southern California surfers -- some of whom scored the best surf of the summer. The storm itself topped out as a Category 4 major hurricane on Friday, August 17th with 125-knot winds, which is when it (just barely) made it into SoCal's swell window. It also hit land in Northern Baja on August 20th and tracked north over the southwest US, bringing widespread wind and rain to parts of the country that rarely see such things.

Surfwise, it was all location, location, location. Hilary was a strong, giant storm, sure, but due to its extreme SE direction, most of its energy bypassed most SoCal surf spots and only really shined in places like Newport Beach, where it brought the biggest and best surf in months. An initial pulse hit Saturday evening, almost a day early, but Sunday was The Day. Hilary's approach created offshore winds and rain along the coast -- another rarity -- and the swell pulsed on and off, building through the day and peaking in the afternoon for a hearty pack of locals and visitors. By early evening, though, Hilary shut down the party it created -- near-tropical storm force southerly wind tore through lineups that had been near perfect only a few minutes prior -- and it was over as quickly as started. Hurricanes are like that.

Credits:

Executive Producers: Kyle Laughlin, Graham Nash

Directed by: Marcus Sanders, Michael Weybret

Written by: Kevin Wallis, Marcus Sanders, Michael Weybret

Forecast Team: Kevin Wallis, Kurt Korte, Schaler Perry, Matt Kibby, Charlie Hutcherson, Keaton Browning

Forecast Interview: Kevin Wallis

Edited by: Michael Weybret

Produced by: Marcus Sanders, Michael Weybret

Filmed by: Nate Baker, Connor Eck, Christian Haslett, Jeremiah Klein, Nick Liotta, Burton Lucich, Pat Nolan, Billy Watts, Michael Weybret, Tucker Wooding

Surfers: Ty Burgess, Kris Espinosa, Nolan Rapoza, Kilian Garland, Kolton Sullivan, Lucas Chianca, David Suhadolnik, Jared Cassidy, Chad LaBass, Spencer Pirdy, Charlie Buckingham, Tyler Gunter, Reef Persidok, Daniel Shea, LJ O’Leary, Aaron Clark, Troy Eckert, and Bobby Okvist.

Music License: MB01EHQ3CL0VKHT

Music courtesy of MusicBed and Epidemic Sound
“Dark Out” by Max Fry
“Get Down” by Space Camp
“It’s Just a Phase” by Soara
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