Hurricane Dorian: Cops, surfers at odds as storm churns big waves

DELRAY BEACH — A black golf cart with flashing police lights roved the length of Delray Beach’s public coastline Tuesday, sending swimmers and surfers scrambling into choppy waters.

City officials tasked police with keeping swimmers out of the Atlantic Ocean with Hurricane Dorian 105 miles off the coast, but 7- to 10-foot storm-churned waves were a magnet for dozens of surfers to open waters.

When officers drove by, beachgoers darted into the ocean.

“We’re supposed to stop them from going in,” one officer said. “Not much we can do if they make it into the water.”

Police blocked access to the bridges over the Intracoastal Waterway, positioned cop cars along the coast and monitored the beach.

Still, more than two dozen surfers made it out Tuesday morning seeking to catch the rare swells that only a tropical cyclone off the South Florida coast can generate.

“Let us have one day out of the year for a clean wave,” lamented Ben Elbeze, an 18-year-old surfer from Hollywood who drove to Delray Beach that morning.

He and his four friends surfed the waters just south of Atlantic Avenue, where police presence was at its highest.

“I feel like it’s our choice,” added Ava Jafar, another 18-year-old from Hollywood who drove up with Elbeze. “There’s no danger here.”

Despite warnings from police about Hurricane Dorian conditions, at least a dozen surfers are out in Delray Beach where waves are as high a 7 feet pic.twitter.com/2fHXR2UO2A

— Lulu Ramadan (@luluramadan) September 3, 2019

The city, on the other hand, issued an intense warning to surfers.

“We don’t want to have to stop what we’re doing to rescue people from the water,” said Dani Moschella, a police spokeswoman.

“We do not want residents of the barrier island to be out on the beach. Dorian remains powerful. If the track stays true, we’ll feel the worst of it until 8 p.m.”

A viral photograph by Palm Beach Post photojournalist Greg Lovett captured the tension between cops and surfers Monday. Officers had warned beach-goers that the conditions were dangerous.

A surfer in the image argued with an officer. A swimmer in the background flipped his middle fingers at police.

Frustrated surfers just want to be left alone, Jafar said.

“If we want to get out there, just let us,” she said. “The currents are strong enough to knock you over, but we know what we’re doing.”

Though officers blocked bridge access to anyone who doesn’t live on the barrier island, surfers found creative ways to make it to the beach. Some hid their boards under towels inside cars and told officers they were securing their coastal homes.

Elbeze and his friends used the address of a friend’s stepfather in coastal Delray Beach to gain access.

At least a dozen surfers had mounted their boards and paddled past the white waters and the choppy currents a quarter-mile out, where they waited to catch the perfect wave.

There were no lifeguards or Ocean Rescue officials in sight.

Still, there were no reported emergencies or missing surfers Tuesday.

The waters in Boca Raton too drew surfers Tuesday.

Shot Daniels, a 20-year Boca Raton resident, chased waves at Spanish River Park.

“The tide’s really high, so it’s not really breaking out,” Daniels said. “We don’t get waves down here very often, so when you do, you’ve got to get on it.”

Compared to past storms, Dorian brought rare swells that South Florida surfers only dream of. It’s been years since a hurricane brought clean waves, Daniels said.

“You have to worry about riptides and stuff like that, but if you’re a decent surfer it’s not really any risk because most of these guys surf all the time, it’s what they do,” he said.

Unlike in Delray Beach, Boca Raton police weren’t patrolling the shoreline Tuesday. Officers did, however, block access to evacuation zones along A1A.

Drew Johnson, a Virginia Beach native who has lived in Boca Raton and Delray Beach for five years, said Monday’s waves were the best he’d seen in years.

Gusts on Tuesday, on the other hand, made waves choppier and strengthen the current that pulled surfers south.

“You definitely have to know your limits, not anyone should just paddle out on a day like today,” Johnson said Tuesday. “There’s a lot of rip current, the waves are big and people don’t really understand until they get out there and feel the full force of them.”

South of Atlantic Avenue, along the beach near Atlantic Dunes Park, there were no surfers in sight Tuesday morning.

John Belmonte and Debbie Grove walked their 5-year-old mutt, Biscuit, along the eroded beach.

“They are perfect waves for surfers,” Belmonte said, pointing to barrels off the coast.

He and Grove, who live a block from the beach, said they weren’t worried about walking the shore as winds picked up and dark clouds hovered overhead.

“This is all kind of anti-climactic,” Belmonte said. “It’s just passing us.”

The slow-moving Category 2 storm is expected to scrape past Palm Beach County, but still bring tropical storm-force winds and rains throughout the day Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center reports.

Said Grove: “We really dodged a bullet.”

Palm Beach Post staff writer Ryan DiPentima contributed to this story.

lramadan@pbpost.com

@luluramadan