The Fall Swell is Upon Us

Today we left town for Hatteras Island fairly early, around 7 a.m., expecting very good surf. We weren't disappointed. Driving past the S-Turns circus, we searched for the lesser known breaks known amongst locals both north and south of Oregon Inlet.

The tide was nearly topped off high, the wind was 10-12 mph from the west-southwest, and the seawater temperature was about 80 degrees. We found a good sandbar and noticed the south current was running hard between the wash and the first sandbar, about 5+ knots. A friend pointed south to an area cordoned off by the National Park Service to protect endangered turtle eggs and endangered shore bird eggs and chicks as the place to paddle out---about 350 yards south of the place we wanted to be when we finally reached the peak outside.

The surf was consistently chest to head high. But there were deep very impressive, south ground swell sets coming through around 2+ feet overhead every 25 minutes or so. All the tropics are boiling now with 3 named storms all lined up: Hurricane Hanna, Hurricane Ike, and Tropical Storm Josephine. I make the connection to them for the long 25 minute period between these ground swell sets.

This morning we surfed for 2-1/2 hours with friends we've seen year-in and year-out for the last twenty-five, every time there's surf. They are as much a part of the context we are in here as the island landscape or seeing rideable waves lit by the sun's Fall angle.

We return to these breaks tomorrow morning. I'll let you know how it goes.