Country boys like myself aren't exactly well known for our surfing prowess and I am not an exception to that rule. I have tried on a number of occasions to do proper surfing but just end up falling off the board because I can't stand up. It isn't that I don't like trying new things (I do, as long as they don't involve needles) but I don't live next door to the beach so this idea that I am just going to get better at it if i keep trying is a dumb idea.
However, I do like boogie-boarding and that is something really anyone can do.
The great thing about North Carolina - and I think there are a lot of great things about it, is that we have some pretty great surf, especially at the Outer Banks.
When wave chasers think about places to travel to that are going to have some epic waves, North Carolina probably doesn't even register on their radar but it really should. Everyone thinks of California or Hawaii and they would be correct in that assessment (although I will admit I have never been to Hawaii) but the East Coast kind of gets overshadowed and this really shouldn't be the case since our waves are big enough to hurt you... such as the one pictured above.
It doesn't have to be as intense as the above pictures but the fact of the matter is that during the correct time of year and the correct tide, it can be and on a boogie-board you don't really even need to be terribly skilled. Now, I wouldn't suggest tossing your kids in the water with a floatie and telling them to have at it because obviously these waves can be deadly.
I have caught a few really big ones that I probably should have left alone, dropped in at the wrong point of the wave and then got put through a long process that I would imagine is what a sock goes through in the washing machine. It was pretty intense and it really hurt my neck, not to mention the fact that I went without air for a lot longer than I am comfortable with.
Mort often than not the waves are more like these and this is just enjoyable as hell because you cruise for a long time on these waves and while we might not be catching tubes or whatever the hell that is called (barrel roll?) it is a lot of fun. Plus these types of waves can be counted on basically all year round.
Right now the beaches are pretty desolate as one would expect in January, but that will all be changing in a few months and the beaches in North Carolina, last summer anyway, was one of the few places where NC residents stood up to police and protested their closing. The people won that fight and it was kind of nice to see.
The best spots for surf on the Outer Banks depend on who you are talking to and a real surfer would probably get on my case for not knowing what the hell I am talking about but basically any location on the Outer Banks is going to have a break of some sort, and if it doesn't have that, it is going to have consistent waves for beginners to have a bit of fun with, basically all the time.
This is obviously not a map I created but you could have little red lines drawing in-between all of those red lines and the answer to "is there any surf there?" would still be "yes."
Several times a year me and some pals head out there and rent a villa and one of the main things you can count on us doing, probably poorly, every single day is enjoying these waves. It is great fun and honestly, if you find yourself in NC one day you really should go give it a go.
We may not have the clear waters that Hawaii has, or as big of waves. What we do have is lodging that costs much much less and waves that can be counted on all year round.