About Virginia Beach Surf Travel
Being the focal point for both surf and surfers in town, it plays host to numerous competitions throughout the year. From the Eastern Surfing Association to the military to the local shop challenges to the riotous East Coast Surfing Championships, if it’s a surf event in Virginia chances are it’s happening in Virginia Beach. The ECSC is the second longest running event in the world, attracting hundreds of professional and amateur surfers from around the world. During the ECSC, everyone in Virginia Beach is a surfer. The whole town is surf crazy. Fortunately, it marks the end of summer, at which time the crowds thin and the jetty is, once again, made for surfers.
1st St. Jetty:
It is the best of surfing. It is the worst of surfing. 1st Street is where it all happens, like it or not. For more than 30 years, Virginia Beach surfers have been corralled into a one-block bumper course that boasts every walk of life. From clueless tourists to bumbling novices to sponsor-me hotshots to grumpy never-beens, this is the place. The rock jetty traps sand and forms what is usually the best, or only, setup in town. Everywhere else can be a lake and the jetty will usually muster a surfable wave. Make one mistake on a crowded day, and the scrutinizing locals will make you wish you’d never paddled out. V.B. surfers take heckling to an art form.
First Street is comparable to California’s Doheny, a mushy right peeler that is often packed with beachgoers. The only difference is you don’t have the option of Lowers or Salt Creek just down the road — this is often the only show around. If there is a ripple at least as high as a johnboat wake, the gang is on it. Where once there existed a semblance of a pecking order, the lineup has deteriorated to total anarchy with the safeboard revolution. Surfing’s sanitary state has welcomed untold masses to the lineup. The result: danger. Especially in the summer months, injuries from other people’s boards are as common as tourist inquiries such as, “Do those suits really keep you warm?”
Croatan to Pendleton:
Just across the inlet from 1st Street is one of V.B.’s nicest neighborhoods and most frustrating waves. Croatan is a predominant left breaking off a wooden groin linked to a rock jetty. It’s infamous for disappearing lips. Somewhere during a bottom turn on what appears to be a well-formed wedge, the top of the wave mysteriously vanishes, leaving one stranded atop the ghost of a wave.
Croatan does have its moments, specifically at high tide during a nor’easter. The jetty to the north offers some shelter from the wind, while bending the lefts into an occasionally punchy shorebreak. When it does get good, or on any sunny day, crowds flock. It has earned nicknames such as Croatnam, Crowded-tan and Kookatan for obvious reasons. While its sister 1st Street is normally a predictable, rolling wave, Croatan’s shifting peaks make it an enigma. Therefore, an inexperienced crowd can be even more dangerous. It’s not uncommon to be sitting on top of several surfers, waiting for that elusive wedge.
Croatan Beach is lined with million-dollar homes, whose owners have banded together to make it as difficult as possible for visitors to surf. Recent parking ordinances have made the trek to the beach a long one, but that has not decreased congestion in the lineup. Since Croatan is a neighborhood first and a surf spot second, residents have little use for public phones, showers or bathrooms. Bring your own bottled shower or you’ll leave with sandy toes.
Camp Pendleton:
At the south end of Croatan, Camp Pendleton boasts a rarity in local surfing — ample parking. With a large lot and a wide surfing area, it can and does handle huge summer crowds. It isn’t an aggressive crowd, so competent surfers can still have their pick of the sets. Aside from a handful of residents, most of the crowd is transient, often commuting from inland cities.
Pendleton backs up an Army Reserve Base, hence the name. From the lineup, you’ll often hear explosions from the neighboring firing range and witness soldiers hanging from hovering helicopters. It gives an otherwise average session a G.I. Joe adventure feel.
Despite the crowds, Pendleton offers a pleasant reprieve from the 1st Street mayhem. The vibe is mellower, and there is more room to breathe. The wave breaks on an outer sandbar, normally dissipating over a trench near shore. It actually gets hollow on larger swells and can handle more size than 1st Street or Croatan.
15th St. Pier:
The wooden fishing pier has frustrated V.B. surfers in summer as much as it has been a saving grace for them in winter. Surfing is restricted within 300 feet of the pier, and during the summer, it isn’t allowed at all during the day. Local law enforcers generally frown on surfers and don’t hesitate to issue citations for any of a number of infractions, such as surfing too close to the pier, surfing without a leash or surfing during restricted hours. In winter, when the tourists have vacated, the officers slack off and the pier often becomes the place to be. During sizable nor’easters, it provides an easy paddle and a well-shaped right on the south side. When ice-cream headaches come with each duck-dive, a dry paddle is everything.
The north side shorebreak is known as “The Box,” not for its resemblance to the super-hollow outer reef in Western Australia, but rather the base of the pier that protrudes like a box. However, when the sandbar is right, south swells produce extremely fast tiny right barrels. Since this spot is off-limits during summer, it’s a bodyboard haven. In 1985, Hurricane Gloria took off a third of the pier, which has never fully been replaced. Prior to that, locals would sneak out to the end when it got big and hop the railing, often under chase by the police. Nowadays, the shelter of the pier isn’t enough to get you into the lineup on bigger days, but it’s better than nothing. Battles with fishermen, which were once as common as along the Sebastian Inlet Jetty, have settled somewhat. But don’t drop your guard, or a sinker to the head could ruin your session.
North End:
NortFrom 42nd Street at the end of the hotel strip and extending up to Fort Story, Army post, at 89th Street. This spot has easy access, varying sandbar breaks, and rides best with steady Southwest winds.
The surf at the North End is best at chest to head-high, but can handle more. North and south swells come through regularly, and the locals are friendly enough to share.
Surfing is restricted Friday through Sunday and holidays during the summer months. Check out the signs on each street access for specifics.
Surf Hazards
It’s Virginia Beach, surfing there probably isn’t going to kill you. After all, Virginia is for lovers. By and large, expect your standard East Coast surf hazards. There may be small sharks, stingrays and jellyfish, but nothing that’ll eat you, per say. And when the swell’s pumping strong currents, rips and undertows can form.
Surf Pollution
Virginia Beach averages about 39 beach closures a year due to high bacteria levels. The water isn’t necessarily dirty, but like all coastal communities, Virginia Beach surfers should always pay attention to the water quality results immediately following any heavy rains or storms.
Best Surf Seasons in Virginia Beach
1) Fall
(September-November) if you’re a Virginia Beach surfer, this is where the payoff is at. Hopefully a couple offshore hurricane systems charge up the Atlantic and bring swell to the zone. When it turns on in the fall—when the water’s still warm, the winds are light and offshore—Virginia Beach is definitely holding.
2) Winter
(December-February) things can slow down in Virginia during the winter months, but when a sizable swell from the North Atlantic or an especially powerful Nor’Easter comes pushes swell south, Virginia Beach can definitely get into the swing of things. The ocean and air temps don’t get as cold as the Northeast, but a thick wetsuit and all the requisite neoprene armor helps when it gets a bit brisk.
3) Spring
(March-May) Virginia Beach during the springtime can be a bit of a bummer. Limited ground swell and conditions in flux make it hard to find a consistent rhythm during these months, but on the plus side, the air and water start to warm back up.
4) Summer
(June-August) summertime in Virginia Beach is both good and bad. In one sense, it’s summertime and the livin’s easy. On the downside, there’s not often a lot of swell. Plus, surfing with tourists isn’t really that fun.
Directions to Virginia Beach
The Norfolk International Airport is 20 minutes from the beach. You’d be hard pressed to find access like that anywhere else in the world. When road tripping the west take Interstate 64, U.S. 460 or U.S. 58. From the north and south, take Interstates 85 or 95, and U.S. 17. And if you’re approaching from the north, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (U.S. 13), a 17-mile span connecting Virginia’s Eastern Shore with Virginia Beach, is worth the effort. Greyhound buses and Amtrak trains also service the area. And if you’re feeling like a pirate, you can approach via Inland Waterway.