Surfing in Virginia

Virginia Surf Spot Map


OBX is always the "day-cation" for my wife and I. Surfing, fishing, and just getting away from tourist makes it worth the slight drive (shorter if you take the ferry out of backbay).

And I would probably pick Virginia Beach living over Jersey living almost any day of the week... despite a difference of maybe 3 inches on a wave. Jersey.. Arm pit of the east coast.....

Surf in Virginia Beach is small like Florida; but with storms comes waves and the week of ECSC (tropical storm Danny) and the week prior (Tropical Storm Bill) gave us waves around 5-14ft. Average wave without it blowing out is 2-4 feet and higher waves and less crowded conditions in the winter.

Spots? You have the North End of VA BEACH (around 85th street) which is decent and not to crowded. You have the ocean front (15th street pier and 1st st jetty) and Crotan which all have similar conditions but are crowded in the summer and I avoid it at all cost. And last you have Sandbridge which is my main spot until winter. There are spots around Va Beach that has some good spots (as good as we can get without a hurricane or nor'easter off our coast) with no crowds even in summer. Just utilize surfline and charts and local knowledge and you can find surfing with no crowds almost year around.

Furthermore Nags Head is only hour and a half away and Hatteras and all its joy is maybe 2-3hrs depending on what spot your hitting up.

Check surfline.com for cam feeds and pictures that are submitted as well as flickr (search Virginia Beach) and you'll see a few ECSC shots posted.

I recently moved to VA Beach from Central Florida, usually surfed Cocoa Beach and Satellite Beach. There are a lot of surfers here and parking is sometimes a bi#tch. VA beach surf is not too much different with the exception of Sebastian Inlet and I would assume New Smyrna inlet as well. It's ok in the fall/winter/spring for east coast but not nearly as good as New Jersey or Outer Banks, they both have a lot more exposure to swell, and can sometimes block VB from getting as good of swells as it could. The good thing is your an hour and a half drive from the OBX which can hold some serious size because your so close to the continental shelf. Don't assume it's good here because it's good during ECSC week, we rarely see "good" conditions. It's a cool area, but jersey's probobly you're best bet if your really trying to find good waves in place you can live.

3/2 wetsuit? For most of winter since the water does not get that cold; but the air does. I rock a 4/3 with hood, booties, and gloves in winter; but then I might just rock a spring suit on those rare 70+ degree day in mid winter... I hate east coast weather!