I first saw Scar Face Beach in 2008. The video opened up with surfing legend Aaron “Gorkin” Cormican pulling into back-to-back barrels on the same wave. It’s something that never happens in South Beach. Ever since that moment I’ve held an undying lust to surf this elusive wave.
The problem with surfing Miami is that it very, very rarely breaks. Even with the two- to three-foot refraction swells that it catches each year, the waves will only roll in for a few hours before the machine shuts off and it’s back to Lake South Beach for another 150 or more days. To get waves here you have to be on it. Or extremely lucky. For us, it was a bit of both.
A few years ago, Gorkin and I became friends, and, ironically enough, we were hanging out when we learned of swell that could perhaps sneak into Miami. South Beach is about a four-hour drive from Central Florida, so it was a bit of a gamble to make the trek. But with a bit of motivation I talked Gorkin and our filmer Beach Buzzard into taking the trip. And thank God we did. The universe sent us what we truly desired. Here are the events that took place.
