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Spot: Buxton Lighthouse, NC
The Waves
According to a longtime local surfer, whose name was protected to protect the innocent: “The wave is generally a left, best on a north east swell with a northwest wind. Not easy to come by as the wind usually clocks from the NE to the SE, but choppy days can be fun when the bar is set up right. What you need is the NE wind to generate the swell and have the wind back up NW. Be prepared, put on your paddling arms as when it is good there is usually a 10 knot current to go with it. With time as the jetties have deteriorated and fallen in it has caused the currents to increase even more. I've surfed the place for 30 years now and I hate to sound like an old man but it is not as good as it used to be. An outer sand bar has formed which tends to break up the bigger swells before they hit the beach and the strong currents that have eaten at the jetties tend to dig a trough down the beach that never used to be there and screw up the wave sometimes.The angle of the beach has changed and a SW wind which is very common tends to get a good sideshore bump on the water but the jetty is still there which when conditions are right produce a nice barrelling left which can go for a couple of hundred yards. Pick your waves carefully as there are plenty of closeouts to go along with the good ones. People have always compared it to Rocky Point. It just doesn't do it like that very often. But the Lighthouse is one of the more consistent places around and a rideable wave can usually be had there if there is any swell at all and the winds are cooperating.”
Best Swell, Size and Direction
A picture paints a thousand words, so we’ll let YouTube do the convincing here. Although Cape Hatteras is even farther south than Los Angeles, because it sticks so far out in the ocean, all four seasons are very distinct here.
Like just about everywhere else in the United States and the northern hemisphere, fall is the time that all true blue Hatteras locals live for. The trees are turning, the crowds have gone home, the water is still warmish, the winds have a tendency to blow offshore and there is swell from all directions, with the odd angry hurricane swell to make things exciting.
Click here for a YouTube of Hatteras in the fall,
Where fall is moving from warm to cold, spring is going the other way. Click here for a YouTube of a recent session at the Lighthouse. This is in March of 2008 and it’s still full wetsuits, hoods and booties, but offshore winds and A frames all up and down the beach.
For a YouTube of winter, click here and you’ll see one guy out in cold, crisp conditions, surfing by himself. According to the person who posted the YouTube, “Water temp was 40 degrees, air temp was 45. If this had been summer swell there would be people in the water as far as you could see.
This promo video from Hatteras Surf Camp gives a pretty good idea of what the Outer Banks are like in the summer.
Surrounding Spots
To the north: Avon Pier, Waves and Salvo, Rodanthe, S Turns and Pea Island. To the south: Frisco Pier, Ocracoke. Mostly beachbreaks, with an occasional pier or jetty to break it all up and give it some character. When the swell is moving and the winds are right, there is more ocean energy than human energy, so go get some.
Difficulty Level
From green square to triple black diamond, depending on swell size, sandbars, tide, wind, etc. When a hurricane swell or a Noreaster swell is moving through the Outer Banks, it’s easy to see why so many ships got wrecked along here, and it’s almost impossible to get out.
Click here for a look at Hatteras during Hurricane Noel, and some of the local lads doing the first tow session out there.
And for more thrills, click here for some video of the USCG practicing their rough-water boating on the Hatteras Inlet sandbar.
Localism Factor
Like most places in the United States and the world, this far east outpost has video cameras pointing at it and surf forecasts and has been overrun. Localism and regulating is pretty much impossible so when it’s crowded, it becomes a matter of the most skilled get the best waves, and devil take the hindmost. According to A Local: “There was a period during the late 70's and early 80's when the local boys could get pretty vocal in the water but that has changed and most are pretty used to seeing plenty of people in the water. The local boys will get their share though and with any crowded spot there will always be a flare up now and then. If there is waves there will be plenty of people in the water.”
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