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Go back just ten years and local surfing was not the same as it is today. 
Sandbars built up only to be eroded and never be seen again,  piers, jetties, and reef breaks have be washed away or covered up.  Crowd factors were not an issue because not as many people surfed and some locals would send you home with no fins if you got in their way.  We want everybody who doesn't know or can't remember to get a little education. 
The table below is going to get filled up with exciting factual stories of our past.  Matt Hammett, the writer who lived those crazy times is a knowledgeable  local who was kind enough to share his stories with us. Check them out. 
  If you have unique old school photos, send them in!   Areafivesixone@hotmail.com


Real Sh!t

 


1990's

 

North Side Juno Pier: Winter 1999 the sandbar was in it's prime.  Back then, the sandbar was very close to shore and  sick right barrels would grind off the pier.  It's still breaks on the right swells but it's just a shadow of what it once was. Right and Below.

Tripod: The waters just off Jupiter are littered with a number of sunken ships that date back to the 1400's.  Dubbed the 'Tripod' because it had three legs, was actually a barge searching for buried treasure. The barge was stationary for several months and an A-frame sandbar built up around it which held solid swells and barreled off in both directions. Picture is a flat day.

Shark Reef: The outside reef at Jupiter Inlet, named by the Creek Side Mob because of frequent shark
sightings, was rideable from about a quarter-mile out all the way to the beach. It took local knowledge to stay with the wave and not get sucked down to Carlin Park by the current.  This wave was doing it's thing in this photo and the big pics right and below taken in 1997, but was best the winter of 1993 and is hands down the best right-hander P. B. C. has ever seen.   

Inside Inlet: Sand builds up inside the Jupiter Inlet so much that a crazy left breaks.  The take-off at the end of the jetty is intense and with size usually barrels super thick and shallow. The wave bowled all the way around coffin rock to the small tidal pool at Inlet Colony. The wave breaks in close proximity to passing boats of all sizes. Surfing Inside is extremely dangerous and the police will make arrests.   Right and Below

Lake Worth Inlet: All we know is that the picture to the right was taken by Dennis the Menace Bouchard and he says it can't more than fifteen years old(2006). That wave hardly ever breaks, there's no parking and if your not already a local, don't bother going. Reef Road, on the other hand has changed but still lines up with swell. The water shot taken by Tony Arruza is a classic.  

 

1980's

 
Pumphouse:
Winter 1980.  Just how the locals remember the place.  
Photo: Jim Tolliver

Ocean Reef: 
1980. 3' peeling lefts down the beach.  What's missing in these shots? 
The Crowd. 
Photo: Jim Tolliver
J.T's Chronicles
Old School shot of J.T back in 1980 at civic center.  
Double Roads:
Late 80's and early 90's Double roads was firing. A half mile of exposed reef made for some impressive waves. Parking along A-1-A there was just dirt and surfers could pull right up to the edge of the dunes and check the surf.  The reef is now entirely covered up by dredged sand (right) and the wave has vanished. 
 

1970's

 
Reef Road:  No, this is not trick photography.  25' Clean Swell Hit P.B. County in the mid 70's.  Were guessing that the sport fishing boat surfing the wave in the picture to the right is a minimum of 36 feet in length.  Also if you look closely, you can see the entire horizon is actually a wall of water. The left down at Reef Road is peeling down the coast, just as the wave before it where you can see the whitewater trail.  Click the picture and maximize the page.
Corners:
When Corners was Corners. 1979, Sick shacks on the beach.
Photo: Jim Tolliver
Civic Center:
Super Long 3'-5' lefts.  1979.  The rocks exposed in the picture on top are still there but covered up.  Every time they are exposed Civic center sandbar is shallow and lined up where the coast pulls in.   
Photo: Jim Tolliver
 



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