Florida

Jax Pier is located in Jacksonville Beach several blocks north of Beach Blvd. and is the area’s high-tide break. Various peaks off the pier serve to spread everyone out a bit, which is good, since this is one of North Florida's most aggressive lineups. Jax Pier has lefts and rights and works on all swells and conditions.

Heading south from St. Augustine, you'll pass Marineland before entering Frieda Zamba and Will Tant's home of Flagler Beach, a relaxed beach town with one true break, the Flagler Beach Pier. Crowds aren't too bad, and if you show some respect, you'll be welcome. Act like an idiot, get treated like an idiot. The break here changes with the seasons but is fairly easy to read when you pull up.

New Smyrna Beach, on the south side of Ponce Inlet, is the most consistent surf break in Florida, if not the entire East Coast. When the whole world is flat, you can usually find a wave here. Furthermore, people flock to fill the miles of beach between the entrance and the Inlet — enough space that driving on the sand is not only necessary, it's encouraged. The water isn't any less clogged. While there's space to spread out, there's usually a surfer at every hole. NSB is best on NE to ENE swells with incoming tide; however, it works on most anything and can actually boost the size a bit. It may be one-foot along the beach, but right next to the Inlet it may be three times the size. At lower tides on bigger swells, waves often break on the far outside sandbar, called Shark Shallows.

Known previously as Canaveral Pier and now as Cocoa Beach Pier, this cradle of East Coast professional surfing made its name in the '60s and remains a longboard haven supported by the regular crew drawn to its long, crumbly lines in between the many surf contests that run here every year. Chances are you won't get barreled at Cocoa Beach Pier, since it's typically top-to-middle at best. However, like most of Cocoa Beach, the Pier remains a great place to score waves at high tide, when South Brevard's more critical breaks can doze for hours. More importantly, the Pier offers surfers the only wind shelter between Sebastian Inlet and Jetty Park. LINEUP TIPS: Etiquette | Surf Safety Basics

A long and storied history, Sebastian Inlet was first cut back in the early 1900’s with small coquina jetties. This inlet became the focal point in supporting a growing fishing industry and becoming a popular recreation area. The ebb and flow of sand up and the the coast occasionally closed off the inlet until 1948 when the current inlet was blasted open, creating the permanent opening we see today. While people do occasionally surf the south side of the Inlet, the north side is home to the jetty and all its glories, including the big-league spot, First Peak, and its slightly less-perfect but equally popular siblings Second Peak, Third Peak and OK Signs/Swimmers. Swells bounce off the jetty at First Peak with extra juice that can either max out the potential of a one-foot dribbler or add a few feet -- and one heck of a barrel -- to a head-high nugget. Second Peak, Third Peak and OK Signs don't benefit from the jetty's wedge, but are almost as fun. In fact, sometimes those peaks break even better, especially on NE swells.

Continuing south from Vero, A1A takes you into St. Lucie County and Fort Pierce, an old cattle and citrus town. It's also home to Central Florida's final spot, the North Jetty, appropriately located in a rare piece of public land called Fort Pierce State Park. It's not hard to find, just drive south on A1A until the signs steer you west, then take a left into the park entrance less than a mile away. North Jetty is within Fort Pierce State Park. The State Park is a wildlife sanctuary and an entrance fee of is required. Unfortunately, the park doesn't open until 8 a.m., but you can buy an annual pass and they'll tell you the combination to the lock as it changes monthly. The pass will get you into Sebastian Inlet and every other state park freely as well.North Jetty is on the north side of the Fort Pierce Inlet and was one of the earliest spots to be surfed in Florida. A number of peaks break up and down the beach, and a good bowling right breaks up against the jetty. Good lefts break off the south side of the inlet on huge swells, but it's a very rare occurrence. The wave really lends itself to longboarding, not that there isn't a little hotdog potential with some swell.North Jetty is one of the first spots far enough north of the Bahamas island shadow to receive swells from the ESE. Even in the dead of summer, little peaks appear apparently out of nowhere. It's also one of the only spots in Florida that works best at high tide. As the tide comes in, the punchy little A-frame peaks improve. As the tide drops, rip currents really hurt the waves' form, and at low tide, the surf will drop to near flatness. Although a head-high swell can be very hollow, especially if the wind is out of the south or southwest, North Jetty is not a particularly big wave. However, it has excellent form. If the wind is too strong out of the north/northwest or hard onshore, look elsewhere. If the size is out of control, head south to Hutchinson Island or to Palm Beach.About the only time North Jetty isn't crowded is before 8 a.m. On weekends, after school and during business hours, it's a complete zoo. Weekdays aren't so bad, but there are certainly people on it. There are generally enough peaks to go around, but the local longboarders will always dominate several of the peaks. An eclectic bunch of rippers frequent the place as well.

In the late '80s, the old Juno Beach Pier was destroyed by a powerful swell. Construction on the new pier began in the late '90s and sandbars have since formed on either side. Juno Pier is as consistent as the Lake Worth Pier to the south, and offers a similar setup. It's not a big-wave spot, but it can hold some size. Hurricane and nor'easter swells can send unruly, double-overhead lefts firing the length of the pier from the outside. At head-high, the waves are very lined-up and under control. There is a midsection that usually connects, and the inside is steep, fast and rippable. Fun windswell peaks throw over the inside, as well, with the better onshore nuggets found on the north side. Like most places in the Juno Beach and Jupiter area, the Pier breaks best during the incoming tide. Unlike most other spots in the area, it will still serve up a fun inside section at high tide if the swell is sufficient.Juno Beach Pier is the most consistent wave in north Palm Beach County and everyone knows it. Given the slightest trace of swell, something rideable will break off the south side of the pier, inviting the crowds, but there are a number of fun sandbars within a short hike of the pier.

Between the main cities of West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale are three smaller coastal communities, and each claim a surfing centerpiece that can be accessed off A1A. Lake Worth, which divides Palm Beach and South Palm Beach, has a pier of questionable reputation. Lantana is a couple miles south of Lake Worth on the west side of the Intracoastal Waterway, but also boasts a popular public beach. Boynton Beach, which has its own inlet and park, sits farther south between Manalapan and Delray Beach. Watch out for underwater rocks along the shore.When the sandbars are established, this pier provides the most consistent surf in South Florida. It's inside Lake Worth Municipal Beach off A1A, with plenty of metered parking for $1/hour. Don't mess around; these babies are really enforced.Lake Worth was once one of the most viciously localized break in Florida, which is probably why it's barely known beyond state lines. During the '70s and '80s, visiting surfers would encounter nightmarish ultra-violence of the "harass your girlfriend," "break your board" and "smash your windshield" variety. Once, after being dropped in on, a local followed his provocateur to the beach and proceeded to smash the surfer's board on a parking meter. The upset visitor took a swing at the local, but quickly found himself hog-tied around the very parking meter that took out his surfboard and was later found and untied by the police. Things have mellowed quite a bit since then.Clearly, Lake Worth must house a good wave to justify such extreme measures; in fact, it offers several. First, just before the guarded area on the south side of the pier, a sandbar runs farther south in front of an old seawall called Blackwall. When north or northeast swells are running and the sand is settled, fast, hollow waves reel along this bar, earning it the hyperbolic name, Banzai.The Pier's south side maintains an outside sandbar as well. Overhead swells will break off the end of the pier, mush out and then reform down by Blackwall. On the biggest swells, it gets steep and fast and occasionally connects all the way through to the inside. The south side is one of the better spots during nor'easter conditions -- if there isn't too much underlying groundswell -- as the waves are shielded somewhat from the wind.While north swells can sometimes bypass Palm Beach and be bigger in Lake Worth, the pier gets juiciest during east/southeast windswells. Sandbars off Blackwall will throw good rights under these conditions. However, if Northside is working, it's arguably the best peak on either side of the pilings, throwing hollow, high-speed, top-to-bottom rights. Some of the waves break left through the pier, and if you like to tempt fate and arouse the ire of authorities, shooting the pier is a good way to do both. This once highly highly localized spot is a bit tamer. Go to spot on windswells and can be some fun chunky wedges even if the wind is onshore. NE swells can get big here with basically no continental shelf thanks to its position close to the Florida Current. This spot can handle any size thrown at it and have seen faces 20'+ on the biggest swells. When it gets big, grab a bigger board and be ready to paddle.

South Beach has the potential to deliver barreling, board-breaking peaks. During north or northeast swell conditions, the A-frames are shapeliest on the incoming tide with offshore (west to northwest) winds. And while it is known through most of the year as a spot that hardly ever works, South Beach can be the only spot breaking statewide when zero-degree north swells bypass the rest of the Florida coast.