The “Battle of the Banks” did not go off this past weekend, but the Outer Banks waves sure did.

High tide was around 7 a.m. and rough seas washed over the dunes at S Turns shutting the road down for a couple hours.  Unfortunately, most of the contestants were not able to make it down south for the beginning of the contest.

However, the good news is that left a full day for the OBX and VB teams along with every other surfer in the area to hit some amazing OBX barrels.  The beach was packed with fishermen, spectators, cameramen, and about 50 – 100 surfers.  The current was intense, making it very difficult to get in position, but for the lucky few that did, there were some amazing rides to be had; 8 – 10 foot tubes with some rides lasting up to 30 seconds and covering more than 100 yards. 

I stood in awe next to Mickey “2M” McCarthy as he snapped the above picture.  Here’s a great compilation that was posted on SurfKDH.com showing some of best rides of the day, and here’s some props from ESPN. 

We missed out on a great contest, but we definitely didn’t miss out on great waves or great surfing.  Enjoy the videos below.