Riley Sets Loose the Unicorn

Miami doesn’t have waves.

Ask around. Everyone will tell you that there’s no surf in the 305.  Most of the time, they’re right.

But, despite seemingly endless flat spells and countless days of dashed hopes due to over-hyped forecasts, we DO get waves.

In fact, the surf in Miami can be very, very good.

(It’s just very, very, very, very, very, very, very rare.)

When long-range forecasts for Winter Storm Riley began to validate, the hype train went into full gear. Would the fickle beast awake? Will the unicorn appear?

Surf forecasters began to lose the ability to sleep and/or create coherent sentences.

Surfers jabbered endlessly about where to surf when it gets huge and stared longingly at boards that they almost never get to ride.

And then, there are the photographers.

They are frenzied!

Prepping gear. Coordinating with surfers. Reading the forecasts. Planning the attack. These folks love surfing as much as anyone. And, they freak out as much (or more) than anyone when we get a swell.

This gallery is about surf photographers capturing it all.

The waves.

The people.

The joy.

These hundred or so images represent the combined work of eleven photographers during a great run of swell during the first week of March 2018. Visit their social media and websites. Buy stuff from them. Tell them that you appreciate their work.

Surf photographers are documenting what we all love.

[ezcol_1half]

Alex Beker

Alex Montero

Annie Tworoger

Ashley Hernández

Deborah Clark

Jason McIntosh

[/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end]

John Landers

Jose Romero

Lou Lozada

Oscar Socarras

Renee Thomas

[/ezcol_1half_end]