HYDE PARK — The waves at 57th Street Beach Tuesday teetered from being "sloppy" and unrideable to over-the-top radical, according to surfers taking advantage of Hurricane Sandy's midwestern effects.
Jim Hoop, riding his pastel green board and wearing a 6-millimeter winter wet suit, caught wave after wave. A couple of them were nearly as tall as he is at 6 feet.
Hoop said he originally went to ride the waves near Whiting, Ind., where the natural geography tends to shield the surf from high winds, but police there closed down the beach to surfers.
Another surfer, Mark Urban, said the waves were good but tough to catch Tuesday.
"But if you get a good one," he said, "that's what you're out here for — that one good one. And you hope you catch another before you get too cold."
