Getting gnarly in Back Bay/False Cape

After a week of the most solid and consistent surf of the year (check out surfline’s feature: http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/east-coast-swell_41968/), Saturday, March 20’s conditions left plenty to be desired. The swell finally backed off to traces after providing one last fun push Friday night. South-southwest winds winds blew in even warmer air temperatures and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

Word was there was still some waist- to stomach-high surf in the Outer Banks, but Josh Alley and I decided against committing our resources to chasing those kind of waves, especially after scoring super-fun waves seven out of the last eight days.

Recently, we had talked about how cool it would be to kayak from Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge – toting surfboards and gear – to False Cape Landing, hike across and get some surf.

So with the surf knee high in Sandbridge and actually pushing through in the Outer Banks, we thought a scouting expedition to False Cape would be a great way to spend a day on the water without getting out of town – a change-up of sorts to pounding pavement in search of waves. Plus, we thought we could happen across a fun sandbar doing its thing down there, possibly in the waist-high range.

Scoring surf was a fairly low priority on this trip. It would have been nice, but this was more about figuring out the best way to approach a trip like this – to see whether or not it was possible.

After glancing at a map, we learned pretty quickly that this kind of trip is suited best for an overnighter. We faced six-mile paddle to False Cape and a half-mile trek to the beach from the landing.

Still, we figured an hour’s session would still be possible if we played our cards right, so we went for it. Surfboards were strapped to the kayaks’ backs with bungees, gear, food and water were packed away in the holds and we were off… straight into the teeth of a 10-15 mph southwest wind.

This made the trip down extremely exhausting, with plenty of wind resistance and water splashing into our boats. We decided quickly that the much closer Barbour Hill Landing would be our best bet, then walking across the spit to get to the beach.

On our way, Mother Nature put on quite a wildlife show. Within a three-minute span, we saw a kingfisher, a bald eagle and a herd of deer actually charging through some shallows near the marsh. So unreal.

After the nearly two-hour, highly physical paddle, we arrived at Barbour Hill Landing ready for our hike. It was nice to use the legs after the upper body workout we just endured. We hiked around the west side of the giant dune, which is only about 10 feet shorter than Jockey’s Ridge in Nags Head, but far more vegetated. The ecosystem of the high dune and the swale below offered an interesting contrast.

After the three-mile hike, we arrived at the beach to find sub-standard surf. It looked rideable, but marginal. We decided to save energy by resting then hiking back to continue what we believed to be the much easier paddle back. After all, the wind would be at our backs.

And it was. As the sun set behind Back Bay, offering one of the best panoramas I have ever seen, we rode the wind and its tiny swell back towards the refuge’s landing five miles ahead.

Then the sun went down.

Things change in a hurry on Back Bay during twilight. Sillhouettes make judging points of land difficult, and things just look different and eeire out there.

We got a little mixed up in a cove as the sun disappeared, but Josh’s iPhone had GPS, so we were covered. We were definitely stoked he packed that thing.

All in all, it was definitely an exhausting day of adventuring through the region’s mot pristine natural area. It’s crazy to think that False Cape State Park is fully enclosed in Virginia Beach’s city limits.

But this trip would be much better suited as an overnighter, and with the promise of actual solid surf. Still, I’m stoked we scouted it out and learned a ton about what to do down there.

Lost board alert & Used Distance SUPs

***A good friend of the shop and frequent blog contributor, John CSB, accidentally left his 6'0" WRV quad in the parking lot at 1st street on the morning of 3/23.  Anyone who returns it will receive a $40 gift certificate to Surf & Adventure Co., no questions asked.  If you have any info, call 800-695-4212 or email SurfAndAdventure@gmail.com***

In other news, SB local Bill Gassett has a few distance Stand Up Paddle boards for sale.  Boards are by Joe Bark.  Contact bill at bgassett@londonbridgetrading.com

18ft. Joe Bark hand-shaped

16ft. Joe Bark Hand Shaped:

Research Pays Off

In a previous posting, I mused about stumbling upon good waves despite scanning swell and weather reports. 

While that provides a special feeling all its own;  I find something equally gratifying about checking the swell, wind and tide models, using local knowledge to theorize where it’ll be breaking best, going to find it – and then –  scoring it just as you predicted.

With the resource of online oceanic and atmospheric weather prediction models, any surfer can become a backyard meteorologist. But whether or not one can apply that information to finding a surf break is an entirely different animal. You need to have put your eyes on a variety of spots covering the area you have covered many, many times to know which spot has the most potential.

So with the swell maps lit up and the wind looking like it would cooperate, Josh of S&A and I decided that the northern Outer Banks would provide the kind of wave we wanted last Sunday: clean, shoulder- to head-high and reeling. 

And on our first spot check, that’s just how we found it. We scored for about 2 ½ hours, but like so many days in the volatile weather environment of the Outer Banks, the wind clocked towards the north and picked up to about 35 mph from around 10. Just as this happened, the swell increased by about double with some straight-up caves pounding the extreme outside bars.

While the inside continued providing spitting barrels, the wind was holding us off the wave face and pushing us out into the deep between the outer bar and middle. You either had to be so far inside that a clear-out set would drill you, or you were blown into the deep.

We decided to shoot back to Sandbridge to check it, since Virginia Beach is always less windy. With the big swell holding less than 40 miles away, it wasn’t a stretch to think some fun waves could be pushing through.

Again, we scored; this time with S&A’s Cody at our secret bar working about chest- to shoulder-high and A-framing: super fun for sure.

The weather also provided some of the most eerie and beautiful vistas I have ever seen in the water on both Saturday and Sunday. With Saturday’s slack winds, warm air temperature and cold water temperature, a thick bank of fog blanketed the beach around the North End while a clean, head-high swell hit.

At some points, the fog would lighten enough for bright, ambient sunshine to light up the fog around us –  this time it was me, Josh, Drew CSB and Ronnie CSB – but thicker fog interjected often, turning the sky as dark as a heavy overcast day. It felt like we were surfing in a cloud; and I guess we were, technically.

The Sunday evening (daylight savings time rules!) session was equally dramatic, with dark rain clouds overhead and to the north, but clear skies to the west as the sun set. Golden light bathed the ocean, which was a deep shade of dark green against the gray backdrop of the rain clouds. It rained lightly for a time, adding to the surreal nature of the session (the fun waves added even more awe to the scene). Gannets were bombing the water offshore, picking off meals from a school of bait fish.

Both days were the kind of day when you thank God you’re a surfer and can connect with nature in ways most people never will.

• John CSB

Turning the corner

Last week, I paddled out in Sandbridge for the kind of session that most surfers would probably turn down during the dead of winter: An optimistic swell forecast was reduced to choppy, sideshore, waist-high slop. The air temperatures were in the 40s and winds howled from the north-northwest.

With water temperatures in the upper 30s, things didn’t exactly look appealing. If it were summertime, people would be stoked on the “little wave” they got that afternoon. It wasn’t Summer, though- it was March 4, just days removed from the coldest month of the coldest winter in more than a decade...(continued below)

(enjoy some pictures from a different session: Jon CSB's latest expedition up the Delmarva Peninsula........)

But something was different when I hit the water this time (I made the drive all the way into Sandbridge, so I said, ‘Why not?’ and just paddled out). As I took my first duck dive, the cold didn’t radiate through my back-zip the way it has been. No ice headache.
My hands and feet were hot, my core was warm, and for the first time in a couple of months, I felt… comfortable.
While the word “March” certainly looks a lot warmer than “February,” this year, the turning of the caldendar page has translated in to the turning of the corner of the spring warm-up. I don’t know by how much the water temperature has come up, but it is noticably warmer – I’m guessing four-to-five degress or so.

 

There’s still a ways to go before things won’t feel “cold.” It’s still definitely cold out there, just less cold enough to notice a real difference.
And while I dread the annual warm water crowds which will descend on our everyday surf breaks, I’m equally ready to be freed from the seal suit.
Here’s my predicted order of wetsuit neccesity as things get warmer: No hood by the first week of April, gloves off late April, 4/3 off mid May, booties off late May, fullsuit off mid June.
No, we’re not out of the woods yet, but the day is coming soon.
Look s like waves this weekend… Happy hunting!

 -Jon CSB