Other than hurricane swells, does it ever get juicy down there? Always seems soft whenever I look at the cams down there. I know its no Belmar, but it seems like whenever the east coast is pumping from the OBX to Jersey, the southern NC coast is soft…?
Ya I agree. I always look at those surfchex cams and it is always a little mushy down there. Maybe its just the bathymetry around the place.
Prime example for your question would be this past Saturday. Waves here were easily 8-10ft and Wrightsville was ankle to knee. This is the Outer Banks im talking about too. Sometimes they will get a little bit of swell but from what people from down there and from what I see on the cams, its pretty flat most of the time. Also here are two pictures from Saturday. The one from the beach access is my picture from here in Nags Head and the second is from Wrightsville. I took the pic off Wblivesurf.com
Meh, not really. At least in my opinion. It gets fun for sure, but I've yet to paddle out at either beach with a sense of fear or dread of the ocean's power like I did in Ocean City, MD on occasion (except when Mary Lee pings nearby).
haha yeah I know what you mean. So it never really cranks like OC unless theres a hurricane offshore?
There haven't been any real close calls with hurricanes since I've been here, so I can't really speak to that. Ocean City is just across the board more powerful in my experience. It most definitely does get good here, for sure, but they're just different types of waves with different qualities in my opinion. And Dune- Isn't it kind of unfair to compare the Outer Banks to anywhere on the East Coast really?
Yeah you can't compare OBX to really anywhere else on the ec as far as consistency…If I had to rank what I've experienced it would be this: 1) OBX 2) Jersey/NY 3) Northeast (Mass, Maine, RI) 4) Delmarva 5) Florida 6) Southeast (southern NC, SC) The reason I put Northeast so high is because of the many point breaks and different setups
wrightsville sucks. like really bad. and is filled with lame ass hipster rich kids. some rip, but that town is wack.
in the couple of years I lived in south carolina, I surfed every swell and there was only one day it was heavy enough that I was afraid to drop in...and that was a NE/winter swell. I'm guessing WB area is somewhat similar.
EVen when its pumping hurricane swell, it can be heavy, but never OBX heavy. And waverly is right, wb blows. Hot chicas but the guys are generally hipster flippy hair jackoffs that seem to think they own wb. CB all the way
Wrightsville Beach and Carolina Beach are in the “OK” range. The OBX does cut quite a bit of the swell off. It is a little better than Atlantic Beach to it’s North – but not some of AB’s neighboring local spots. I’ll refrain from calling them secrets. If you have time and a 4x4, check out Core Banks, awesome time and waves. It extends from Ocracoke to the southern tip of Cape Lookout. Carolina Beach is decent because there is a lot less crowd. At least when I've been there.
