Virginia Beach Oceanfront

I applied to a couple jobs around there...Hampton, Chesapeake, Va Beach, Norfolk. Yes, va beach doesn't get the best waves, but when it's good obx is an hour or so away. It would be a bit silly to live right on the ocean front anyway considering it is a very touristy area. It would be expected to have lot's of person and vehicle traffic.

 

it's a wonderful place oct-early may, just a little chilly sometimes. May-sept, yep, the place is a sh*t show. I go to other nearby beaches. Learn the secondary roads. At least 5 streets also run the stretch of the beach north to south. If you get stuck on the beach road, that's on you. If you surf crowded first street or croatan, that's also on you. This flat spell.... that's on all of us.

 

Alot of people knock VB but you know I personally enjoy it here, I feel fortunate to be able to provide a decnet living for my family, lucky to have a decent school district for my kids, and have the oppourtuinity to surf at all. I would never live away from the coast but you know there are a bunch of other places along the eastern seaboard that in my opinion are much worse, and the best thing about VB is that is a large enough city to provide decent career oppourtuintes and the best waves on the east coast are within a two hour drive.
Yeah 1st to 40th street in summer is ridiculous, but those tourist provide income for a lot of surfers in the area.
Like Lee said September thru May is actually pretty decent. I love parking at 15th street in the fall/spring paddling out at the pier (if the sand is right) surfing for 3 hours, throwing my boards in the truck then going in to 15th St pub having a beer and some grinds after a fun session with my friends on the patio outside.
But Bobby honestly if you dont like it that much, it wont hurt my feelings if ya dont paddle out. HOnestly i was laot like that when i was younger "F*** this place it sucks, blah blah blah" but now a few years older Im actually thankful to have a place to surf and have a bit of a surf industry around.

 

I think VA beach has a lot to offer. As an out of towner who gets up at 5 am and drives 3 hours to catch any swell the north end is a very fun place to surf. Don't get the dbags up that way maybe a couple of sup's but just getting to ride anything is a treat. Drive 3 hours surf 4-5 and then drive 3 hours back may not sound like fun but its better than not surfing at all.

 

\r\n\r\nUsed to be me my first 4 years after college... had to boost the resume. If you got a little freetime and lots of knowledge you can score fun & uncrowded waves during a good chunk of the year. With long distances to drive, by year 4, I had the Bay wired for North Easters and Hurricanes according to wind/wave direction and swell size. Yeah it was always smaller than the oceanfront but it cut an hour both ways off my trip. Anyone who has done Grandview on a good swell can back me up on the level of fun.\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\nSupport a real surfshop like Freedom. While WRV has an awesome selection of things... it is full of un-knowledgeable d-bag Justin Bieber look a like skate f@gs. For real like 3 of 20 of them actually surf.\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\nI lived in VB and surrounding area during High school and college. I was actually a lack of jobs that pushed me out of the local area... man I was glad that happened. Traffic, yeah you can get around it, but why have to deal with the hassle. Fun waves...sometimes. Epic waves... never. Summertime (nuff said). Surf industry & ECSC... who cares, I\'m not a pro. \r\n\r\n

 

Bushwood well said. I love va beach the only knock i got is the jets

 

I've grown somewhat fond of this place. It can get fun surf every now and then, and every two weeks there would be something ridable. I was miserable here this past winter, my first one here, but based on what ya'll said this was a bad one in terms of swell.

I just wish the damn home prices in VB werent so jackked up, I'm sick of living in an apt and I would like to purchase a decent home in a location where I dont hav to go through a damn tunnel to go to the beach

 

Shoot, this winter wasn't good every day by any means, but I got so many days of chocolate barrels to myself at some the (usually) most crowded and coveted spots at the beach. Ever surfed decent first street or the pier alone? I have, dawn patrols in march. From aug-may I usually surf at least once a week, usually back to back sessions when swells are around. I dont surf unless it's "worth it" because I am a short boarder.

Housing- I hear ya brother, check eastern Chesapeake out. Housing is way more reasonable. Ches schools are some of the best around and it's less than a half hour to sandbridge, like 15-20 from VB, no tunnels or bridges involved, AND it's right at the 168 bypass to get to obx. I made that move when I got a job in ches and never looked back.

 

They are putting in a storm water pipe to collect rainwater from that area and pump it offshore.

 

I still haven't been in JBS, how is that place? Fairly new, right? Do they have a good selection of stuff?

 

YEah what kind of boards do they carry? Juice Box Surf as a name never really inspired me to stop in for my hardgoods ya know.

 

ditto on that..Hickory schools and great location w/the back roads to the beaches. When I worked in VAB last fall / spring I could do dawn patrol and drive 10 min to work from 5th St. , no crowds. Work in Ches now so that would be hard to do but we'll see. One day I'll graduate to the line ups on 1st (when they exist) for now long board in knee high surf until a swell moves in than I'll still long board.

 

yeah I figured they probably had the same wetsuits/boards as everybody else. Hopefully its not just another cookiecutter shop. Good to know though bobbyg, I'll stop by and check them out.