Nor’easters, 14-year-old pros, and bachelorette surf trips. Also—what’s Mundaka?

I have an admission to make. Whenever I do a weekly research for our surf news roundup, there are quite a few stories that don’t make the cut. But that’s only because they are so goddamn boring.

Nor’easter brings 10-foot+ waves to NYC—and a crowd of frothing surfers

A powerful nor’easter lashed the East Coast this week, delivering 10–15 foot waves to Rockaway Beach and beyond. While most New Yorkers were securing trash bins (smart cookies), our surfing brethren were heading straight to the beach.

Among them was Bill McGarry, 28, who drove overnight from Virginia Beach to chase what he called an “eight out of ten” swell on a global scale. “I’ve surfed all around the world… This is definitely exceeding our expectations,” he told the New York Post. His friend called the conditions “like floating between mountains.”

Kinda hard to imagine how the conditions would be SO good on the East Coast, but here we are. Someone in the comments agreed: Looks like storm slop, not clean waves at all.

But not everyone stayed out long. Gabe Neves, 24, lasted five minutes before retreating to the beach, describing the undertow as “ridiculous.” Others paddled out into the slop, despite winds gusting up to 60 mph and official state-of-emergency declarations in both New York and New Jersey.

The nor’easter also caused flooding concerns, one fatality from flying debris, and even the cancellation of the Columbus Day Parade in NYC.

Tya Zebrowski, age 14, joins the Championship Tour as the youngest-ever qualifier

In 2026, the WSL’s women’s Championship Tour is getting a new member—and she’s 14 years old. Tya Zebrowski, a French-Tahitian phenom who grew up between Tahiti and Hossegor, has officially secured her spot on the CT, making her the youngest surfer ever to qualify.

Wow. Not surprising when you consider that she first surfed Teahupo’o at age 8, and she’s a daughter of two pro snowboarders (a.k.a. Olympic DNA). Tya could be a strong contender for the LA 2028 Olympic Games, when she’ll be a whopping 17 years old.

So yeah, the kids are more than alright.

Surfing, not shots: The rise of adventure bachelorette parties

So it’s goodbye Vegas. Hello Costa Rica? According to the NYT, a growing number of brides and grooms—especially in their 30s and up—are ditching hangovers for surf and wellness hen and stag dos. One of the party planning companies claims that 40% of their events now center on adventure and bonding rather than bar crawls.

For example, a group of 50-something women hit up Surf Synergy in Jacó for daily coaching, massages, yoga, and rainforest hikes. The bride loved it so much she got married at the surf resort.

I want to get re-married, so I would have an excuse to go on a mystery trip with snorkeling for scallops, lobster-hauling, Highland games, and a five-course beach dinner cooked from the day’s catch—complete with bagpipe serenade.

‍♂️ Secret slab discovered in El Salvador by Kai Lenny

In case you didn’t know who Kai Lenny is: he’s a Hawaiian surfer and all-round waterman who started surfing at 5 years old and is the youngest inductee into the Hawaii Waterman Hall of Fame. He competes (and wins) in big wave surfing, stand-up paddleboarding (SUP), windsurfing, kitesurfing, foil boarding, tow surfing, and more.

On his recent trip to El Salvador, he came across a “super-secret wave” with Mundaka-style barrels.

What on earth is a Mundaka-style barrel? Aha! A “Mundaka-style wave” refers to a specific type of long, powerful left-hand barrel—named after the famous Mundaka surf break in the Basque Country of northern Spain.

Here’s what makes a wave “Mundaka-style”:

• Left-hander: Breaks from right to left when viewed from shore.
  
• Barreling: It forms hollow, tubing sections that are highly coveted by advanced surfers.
  
• Long rides: One of the longest lefts in Europe—rides can go 200+ meters.
  

So it’s a big deal. Surfers around the world dream of surfing Mundaka. It’s often compared to breaks like Jeffreys Bay (but left). It’s become shorthand for a perfect, reeling, fast, barreling left—the kind Kai Lenny and crew were hyped to find in El Salvador.

Author: The Wipeout Weekly team