S Turns. OBX, NC 2011. Since Hurricane Sandy, this spot no longer exists. Photo: Chris Frick
With the lackluster quantity and quality of waves for the back half of 2013, I’m reflecting on a surf strike mission to the Outer Banks, NC one year ago, and what winter surfing means to anyone who has donned a 5/4 with matching glove and boots. There is a persisting intrinsic warmth that comes from surfing in the cold.
OBX Strike Mission
February 26, 2013:
Quick drive, rain, traffic, only on the Eastern Shore/foxtail of VA will you see a souped up moped with operator fitted in a Carhartt tuxedo in the pouring rain. The New York tags proudly supported by the white soccer mom van we accrued for our trip did not receive very many friendly exchanges in rush hour rain delayed traffic through Norfolk.
Upon check-in at the hotel, the southern hospitality is evident and welcomed. Beers are consumed, maps are checked, and buoys are gandered. Excitement builds as a product of the unknown we shall encounter tomorrow.
Feb 27th
Spot check one: huge. Spot check two: huge and unorganized. Spot check three: S turns – Outer bar S turns. East coast legend Noah Snyder doing huge step offs with ski, barely moving and setting up deep in the barrel. Watching from only 100 yards away, you could feel the power and energy in the ocean. Spot was a bit unorganized to have a paddle out; friends of Noah were carted out into the lineup one by one – nice to have friends in high places. Nags Head pier session – huge, well overhead on sets, feathering out. Cold, east coast grinding.
Before the afternoon session, we checked every well-known spot from Nags Head to the lighthouse in Buxton. The Avon pier easily held the biggest surf on our spot checks – white water was breaking well over 400 yards past the end of the pier. Trip rounded out at about an hour and a half, and we settled back in at S turns.
S turns session: shallow, hollow, fun, empty, cold. How surfing should be in February on the east coast. “Did something just touch my foot? F#ck it, its awesome.” Three guys out, not doing much, trading waves with my travel companions. Trading huge waves breaking in knee deep water: “I think I just broke my board… I love this board, its unbreakable.”
Feb 28th
Morning surf at S turns again; swell a little smaller and period a little shorter, but still the right combination of direction to produce solid shoulder to overhead barrels. Way more organized than yesterday with a stiffer wind from the west, making for hollow lines. Surfing in what was once someone’s lay day backyard beach. The houses at Mirlo Beach are literally in the break. Kind of sketchy but adds to the experience of travel and the unknown. Get barreled, get worked, get flushed, rinse and repeat.
Surfing in the cold hardens the soul, though not for the absence of feeling. The cold reinforces character and conviction. The cold stays hunger and drive; the cold tests mental boundaries; the cold is a welcomed foe; the cold welcomes the strong willed, feverous with hunger. Surfing cold water is the East Coast proving ground.
The surrounding area is still devastated from last year’s hurricane season. Hwy 12 has a new washover as you enter Mirlo Beach. Traffic (if you can say there’s traffic anywhere in OBX in February) is backed up while a frontend loader replaces the sand from the dune washout caused by the morning’s high tide. It really says something about the resilience of the people that live there, making their home on a little spit of sand that is worshiped by every surfer on the East Coast. Great surfers and great people live there, the type of people that will reply to a greeting and stop to talk to you.
