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NORTH CAROLINA PADDLE BATTLE
Cops cracking down on surfers at Wrightsville Beach Pier
Photos: Words + Photos: Sean D. Ruttkay/EDAsurf.com
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April 28, 2009
23774 visits | 137 comments
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Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina is a surf town
better known for its abundance of smoking-hot college girls and nightlife than its death pits or thick slabs.
For decades, Johnny Mercer Pier has been a wave beacon. Starting as a wooden pier built in the 1940's, it's held major international contests that have brought the likes of Tom Carroll and Barton Lynch during the '80s. |
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In 1996, a series of strong hurricanes brought down the old wooden pier and in 2001 a new and much larger concrete pier was constructed with taxpayer dollars from FEMA. This large man-made structure has formed shallow sandbars, blocked southern winds and provided an express lane for paddle-outs on those rare big days ever since. "When a south swell hits Johnny's, the rights and lefts can pump," explains longtime pier surfer Austin Parker. "This is the one spot on the island where you can count on consistent left barrels and long ripable rights. I love this spot, but it's being taken away from us." And "taken away" it has been. Soon after the pier was constructed, two 15-foot signs were erected 500 feet from the pier on either side indicating that no surfing be permitted in that zone. These signs were promptly ignored, and the waves coming off the pier continued to be surfed illegally but with little or no enforcement. Then last year an incident involving a fisherman casting and hooking a surfer that resulted in a fight on the beach brought the issue back in the forefront. "We are going to follow the path of Henry David Thoreau, act in civil disobedience and continue to surf against these Gestapo-like tactics."
--self proclaimed (unidentified) leader of 'Free the Pier' movement
With summer around the corner, the Chief felt that now would be a good time to set the precedent that surfing near the pier would not be tolerated going forward. So around 8am on March 19th, with a brisk 46-degree chill in the air, a light offshore wind, and a clean waist-high wave coming in, the US Coastguard and the WBPD put their foot down. "There was not a single fisherman in sight on the pier," explains John Mitchell, who was surfing on the pole but in the legal zone that morning. "There were four of us out with these fun little waves when the Coast Guard showed up and steamed right for us then stopped about twenty feet away on the pole. We all were wondering what was going on when they started yelling over the loudspeakers at this young girl who happened to be twenty feet or so on the wrong side of the pole and the only surfer over there. When she paddled in, the police SUV was right there and it looked like she was give a citation." Eyewitness reported multiple cycles of surfers being called out of the water with sirens and megaphones over the course of the day. When authorities would clear the water and issue citations, more surfers would show up and surf after the police moved on. The police would then return and repeat the cycle. When surfers would not leave the water, the police apparently took to the pier with a bullhorn announcing threats of arrest to the surfers who refused to head for the beach for a citation. When asked if arrests have ever been made Chief Carey responded, "Yes, in years past, boards have been taken as evidence and people have been arrested. The violation of that ordinance is a class three misdemeanor and arrest is an option." He went on, "but we would not make an arrest unless the surfer resisted our orders or was mouthing off." If history is an indicator, this battle to surf the pier will continue for many years to come. Research found that surfers being arrested for surfing too close to the pier dates back to 1965. An interview by Peter Fritzler of UNCW with old school WB surfer Joseph Funderburg, indicated that many of the problems facing the JM pier surfers today are almost identical to the problems Funderburg faced three generations ago. In excerpts from the interview, Funderburg remembered, "The sandbars being just right around Johnny Mercer's Pier and the police coming down (the pier) and they had a bullhorn. They told us all to come in, and that we were surfing in an unauthorized zone. They threatened what they would call the U.S. Coast Guard if we did not come in. When we came in they took us all. They just took us down to Wrightsville Beach Police Department. They confiscated our surfboards, called our parents and we had our day in court." The stories of such back-and-forth between the authorities and surfers are as old as modern surfing in this little coastal town on the East Coast. In the end a starved surfer will surf a good wave if they see it, and a cop will enforce the law when they sees it broken. It seams until this particular law changes these two groups will inevitably clash. "We are going to follow the path of Henry David Thoreau, act in civil disobedience and continue to surf against these Gestapo-like tactics," says the self-proclaimed leader of the "free the pier" movement who would not give his name, he said, for fear of retaliation. He went on, "The Sea is for us to enjoy and if a wave happens to break next to a pier, then it is our right as sea-loving people to enjoy it." *** DISCLAIMER ON SURFLINE'S COMMENTS: Comments on Surfline are moderated with the intention to foster and continue the discussion on the topic brought up by the feature they appear under. Comments are not a place for personal attacks, profanity, or off-topic remarks, and any comments which contain any of the above will not be posted. Thanks --the editors MORE SURF NEWS SURFLINE HOME PAGE |
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Comments: (137)
Marcus Sanders 05/03/2009 11:50 AM * PREMIUM MEMBER - Real Name
Hey guys -- thanks for all your comments on either side. Hopefully, something can be done...
O'bee Surfer 05/03/2009 09:08 AM
Luke said "no one owns the water". Unfortunately this is not a true statement. U.S. Laws can be enforced 15 miles out to sea! Although the law is a little nuts, the only way to fight it, is organize and go to your city council and peacefully argue why they need to set "surf times" that would allows surfing. Present your case to your council members, that about all you can do! If you argue, fight, piss and moan, you will never get what you want....Rational and critical thought always wins!
sean dailey 05/02/2009 10:27 PM
i love the pic where the 4 cops are giving the 1 surfer a ticket. is this where our precious tax dollars are being spent? seriously, there are much bigger fish to fry. if they closed the pier to fishing, there would be a bunch of pissed off fishermen fighting the same as the surfers are forced to fight now.
ruggles ripper 05/02/2009 10:09 AM
sounds like the whole ruggles thing............someones gotta get arested
joe 05/02/2009 10:07 AM
Try the n.c. outer banks, no problems like that and many a plenty of good waves.
matthew gepp 05/02/2009 07:47 AM * PREMIUM MEMBER - Real Name
we are all about fighting the good fight/ but you cant shred all locked up either , there are enough waves to go around , who needs the pier anyway, quit all the crying and get out in the water surf on !
wb 05/02/2009 06:12 AM
there have been many recent articles pertaining to the town of wb's budget shortfalls. is this good & appropriate use of our town's human resources? seems like the problem is coming from the top (the chief) b/c i surfed there all morning 3 days ago well inside the illegal zone & the park ranger & police suv rode by at least 6 times and didn't bother me at all.
chris perzanowski 05/02/2009 05:25 AM * PREMIUM MEMBER - Real Name
The police should enforce LITTERING ! The surfers are the ones who volunteer picking up the garbage the tourists leave behind.
Casey Cruciano 05/02/2009 05:21 AM * PREMIUM MEMBER - Real Name
It's not the fault of the police, they are just following orders. It's the laws that need to be changed, so get some representation in the local government.
tom 05/01/2009 10:49 PM
forget the cops. dont stop surfin
NoreasterNC 05/01/2009 06:15 PM
Surfed there many times. It can be a Gestapo Beach. Not all pier fisherman are slugs, but the one that hit me in the chest with a 2 ounce sharp sinker sure was.
Judah 05/01/2009 03:27 PM
This seriously is insane...banning surfers for the sake of fishermen? Are people taking crazy pill's??? Here in HB/Newps I've been hooked many of times by fish lines. I just cut their line with my skag, problem solved. We also have a similar bs law here. The life guards black ball surfers for the name of saftey for swimers and will ticket or arrest you for resisting. Can some one please answer me why they allow the swimmers and pool toys to flounder on the North side surfing zone?
m c 05/01/2009 02:58 PM
this year i am 55 years old. i left wrightsville beach in 1974. At that time they would take our boards as a penalty for surfing in the "wrong places". The police guided by the rich bureaucrats have always been hard on surfers even tho we have saved more people from drowning than the lifeguards, police,and the coastguard put together.
ed 05/01/2009 01:25 PM
and 2 d local fishermen, how would you like if you polluters get banned from d pier? d problem is GREED, in this planet everything works in a BALANCE,this is OUR play groung,all of us n our children to come,LEARN TO SHARE !!! selfish bast****......
RandyT 05/01/2009 01:03 PM * PREMIUM MEMBER - Nickname
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Comments are closed on this story.
Seriously, the cops there need to focus on the meth problems and crack dealers in charolette's hidden valley than ripping off surfers for no reason.. all southern cops are stupid racist red necks.. this is coming from a so cal dude who has family all over north carolina and the rest of the south.. pigs need to find something better to do....
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