Outer Banks Surf Update 2.15.11

Posted on February 15, 2011

Matt Lusk - Hurricane Earl Outer Banks Surf

We’ve hit the tail end of February. Spring is right around the corner…possibly early if you believe that furry prognosticator Phil. The birds are starting to chirp and the OBX weather is starting to warm up. I hear it could be 70 degrees by the end of the week?!

For any of the hardcore Outer Banks surf enthusiasts that brave the frigid elements to surf through the winter, keep on keep’n on (Ah hem, I’ll include myself in this category this year…every year is different depending on one’s motivational level.). For all of those fair weather fans, time to start dusting off the board…and your wetsuit…the water will still be chilly for a while. To help with your level of motivation, here’s a quick update on the OBX surf scene.

1. ESPN ran a great segment titled “Characters of the Outer Banks” that does an amazing job touching on all of the aspects of the Outer Banks surf world…professional riders, free riders, filmmakers, photographers, shapers, living legends. The OBX has them all, and ESPN offers a great gallery of pictures and overviews of the characters that add so much character to OBX surfing.

2. Last year (2010) a relatively unknown kid from the OBX stormed into Hawaii and nailed a perfect 10 at the Volcom Pipeline Pro. And Brett Barley’s star was born. Brett returned to Pipe this year, but he, and his board, didn’t fare so well. But at the end of the day, he’s surfing in Hawaii while the OBX has 39 degree water temps, so we can’t really feel bad for him. Below is a quick video of Brett’s highlights and his explanation of his demolished board.

3. Let’s stay on the topic of Mr. Barley. Matt Lusk (fab local surf photog…also covered in the Outer Banks Characters link above) just reported on his blog that he and Brett scored the cover of the magazine Local Sessions for the Feb/March issue. Congrats on another cover Matt, and a huge thumbs up to Brett for his fist cover! How could this be Brett’s first cover?! Brett, get in front of that lens dude. The issue also includes a “Behind the Lens” interview with Matt.

Matt Lusk, Bett Barley - Local Sessions

4. To round out the Outer Banks Surf Update, let’s see what local surf pro Jesse Hines is up to. Ah, a road trip. In the biggest sense of the term road trip…half way around the world to New Zeland. Surfer Magazine recently uploaded a video titled “Restless Road 2” that highlights a recent surf trip Jesse took with Mike Losness and Peter Devries. The website doesn’t offer much intro to the video, but I can tell you it offers a surfers view of some amazing landscape and even better waves. Well worth the watch. You can find the video here.

4A. But traveling around the world isn’t enough for Mr. Hines. Somehow Jesse also finds time for a fledgling music career. The Wave, a newspaper out of Delaware, recently caught up with Jesse while he was on the road promoting his new CD ”In the Right Time.” You can find Jesse music on his MySpace page.

Big Congrats to Local Outer Banks Surf Photographer Matt Lusk

Posted on January 6, 2011

Matt Lusk is a relative newcomer to the surf photography world. With only a few short years of experience under his belt, he’s making a strong name for himself, and the accolades are starting to accumulate. In fact, you could say he is absolutely blowing up!

Matt can already claim numerous spreads in great publications (Surfer, Surfing, Surfer’s Journal, Eastern Surf Magazine), and now he can add a couple more awards to the memory banks.

1. Matt was just announced as the Photographer of the Year for Eastern Surf Magazine.

Matt Lusk - ESM 2010 Photographer of the Year

2. Matt just scored a two-page spread in Australia’s Stab Magazine Photo Annual book…even the other side of the world digs him! Stab picks only 15 of the best photos from around the world to be featured in the book. Matt’s photo is an aerial photo of South Africas Damien Fahrenfort no hand backside barrel courtesy of Hurricane Earl.

Matt Lusk - 2010 Stab Photo Spread

In addition to capturing awards, Matt is still busy capturing amazing shots. As a great surf photographer must be, Matt is always hard at work looking for the next great photo opp. He recently took a trip up the coast chasing swell, meeting new surf compadres, and snapping great pictures. The trip led him all the way to New England, and Surfer Magazine was kind enough to get them on the web so we could all enjoy: rad pics here.

Matt Lusk - Chilly Surfer Pics

Matt’s on a tear that just cannot be stopped. He just announced today that he scored a spread in the newest issue of Transworld Surf Magazine.

Matt Lusk - Transworld Surf

Matt is also in the process of closing out his 2010 and kicking off his 2011 by posting his top 10 pics of the year, with the accompanying story behind the picture, on his blog. The pics are great, and so are the stories.

And now for what I’m sure is Matt’s biggest honor of the year. :) Matt has been one of the featured photographers for the Seaside Vacations annual brochure for the past two years. Here are a couple examples of the stellar work Matt captured for us this year.

Matt Lusk - Seaside Vacations 2011 Brochure

Matt Lusk - Seaside Vacations 2011 Brochure (rainbow)

Huge congratulations to you Matt! It’s great to see some local OBX talent getting the great recognition they deserve.

And thanks for being a part of our annual brochure! We love sharing your pictures with all of our guests.

Outer Banks Surf Update – 11.10.10

Posted on November 10, 2010

Matt Lusk - As Good As It Gets

Outer Banks surf is a fickle companion. The swell, direction and height, must match the contours of the beach. The shifting sandbars must be just the right height to fit like a puzzle piece with the swell rolling in. The tides can’t be too high or too low. The ever-changing winds must be out of the right direction to to meet the swell head on. But not too heavy, and not too light…just right.

With the right combination of swell, beach, tides, and winds the OBX surf can be amazing…world-class even, but with all those variables shifting constantly, it’s a wonder we get the right alignment at all.

Luckily, the Outer Banks offers some great advantages for surfers. First, since the OBX sticks out into the Atlantic so far, it offers one of the shortest continental shelves on the East Coast. This means the size and strenght of the waves steaming toward the Outer Banks does not degrade as much as most East Coast locations. Secondly, the OBX curves in a horseshoe-like fashion from Corolla to Hatteras. So, Outer Banks beaches can handle a wide variety of swell/wind combintions.

However, this does make it tricky to find the right spot at the right time. There is a lot of beach to cover, the sandbars are continuously shifting, and the winds on the Outer Banks can be a complete mystery…strong, light, north, south, east, west…always changing.

We struggle with surf forecasts all the time. Reports may look great. Surfers truck in from up and down the coast, and we all get skunked because something changes; the swell doesn’t materialize like we thought or the winds don’t cooperate. So is the nature of surfing. Flexibility and patience are a must.

Then there are days when the reports may not look good, but magically the conditions clean up and a surprise session sneaks up on us. No one has time to travel. Either you are lucky enough to be on it, or you miss it.

Such is the fickle nature of OBX surf…really surf in general.

On Monday, I started the day with a morning Beach, Surf, & Fishing Report, and in the report I mentioned that there was swell coming in, but the winds weren’t matching up to clean up the waves. And I was right at 9:00 AM…where I was anyway. I then carried on with my day not paying much more attention to the surf. Little did I know, it was going off.

Some of the OBX magic snuck up on us. Six to eight foot heaving, chocolate colored barrels. The winds laid off and the swell picked up. A beautiful fall day with the sun shining, temps in the mid 60′s, and the water temps matching the air temps. A perfect Outer Banks surf day?

There’s been a lot of talk online and in the coffee shops about how great it was, and I’ve heard more than one reliable source refer to Monday’s surf by saying it was “as good as it gets.”

And I missed it…ouch! Well, you can’t get every wave, and the brilliance of the Outer Banks is that I know there will be another perfect day just around the corner.

Pictures of Monday’s surf are starting to migrate online.

The legendary OBX surf photographer Mickey “2M” McCarthy posted a bunch on his FaceBook page titled “Perfect Waves Sweep Avon and the Lighthouse! 11.8.10.”

Matt Lusk posted some amazing pictures titled “As Good as It Gets” on his blog (one of his photos is above). As a side note, Matt is also featured all over the December issue of Surfer magazine…it’s awesome to see OBX surf with so much coverage! Great work Matt!

As I’ve mentioned here before, we’re still in the waiting period for the Battle of the Banks surf contest, but unfortunately they chose to sit this swell out in hopes of bigger and badder swell heading in towards the end of the is week. Keep your fingers crossed. Here’s the latest update from the Battle of the Banks FaceBook page:

Looks like we are going to see a prolonged run of solid surf late this week, over the weekend with fading surf for early next week. We need to watch the winds/swell as the storm pulls away as we may see things try to come together for us. Still a ways out but worth keeping an eye on. -KURT (SURFLINE)

Lastly on the OBX surf front, here’s a link to a great video from local OBX surfers and local surf shop 158 Surf & Skate, highlighting some of the fall surf. Enjoy!

Outer Banks Surf All Over the December Issue of Surfer Magazine

Posted on October 22, 2010

Matt Lusk - Chris McDonald Outer Banks Surf

The Outer Banks, and the East Coast in general, enjoyed a pretty active hurricane season. The December issue of Surfer Magazine (on sale November 1) will feature an overview of the action, and the Outer Banks is all over it.

Well, to be specific, photos of local surf photog, Matt Lusk, will be all over it. And to be even more specific, Matt’s photos of a sequence spread of Jesse Hines, a full page of Michael Dunphy from helicopter, half pages of Benny B and Asher Nolan, and a full page of Chris McDonald (Matt’s photo is above) will be featured in the mag.

Congrats to Matt and the surfers. Can’t wait to see OBX surf represented well!

Outer Banks Surf Legend

Posted on July 13, 2010

Bob Holland - MattLuskPhotography.com

On the 4^th of July, Bob Holland, 81, was gracefully gliding down the line in his classic long board style taking advantage of some summer swell on the Outer Banks. To repeat, 81 years young!…kudos Bob.

Holland has been riding waves for 71 years (wow!), and has the stories to prove it. He’s won championships and befriended legendary surf icons like Bruce Brown, the creator of the legendary surf film Endless Summer, which by the way Brown showed for the first time on the East Coast in Holland’s home…a silent version that Brown narrated while watching!

The Outer Banks Sentinel recently ran an interview with Holland that covers some of his extensive history and touches on some great stories. Holland’s example gives all surfers something to work towards as we wander down the inevitable path of aging. Keep charging.

Outer Banks Surf Update – 6.10.10

Posted on June 10, 2010

OBX surf was cranking for a quick few days to end the month of May. Head high, clean waves at just about all of the great spots, water warm enough to leave the wetsuit in the parking lot, and bright sunny days. Unfortunately, June has not started in the same way. Gorgeous weather, but no swell to report.

Hopefully the doldrums won’t stay for long, but surfers understand Mother Nature is a fickle, and we’ll patiently wait for the next OBX surge. For now, we’ll excitedly ponder the close of the spring surf season and hope the 2010 summer shines upon us, especially with some great surf contests on the horizon.

The head high days in May were covered by a variety of great surf sources:

ESPN Surfing has a great gallery of photos of the action all along the East Coast.
Local OBX surf photographer Matt Lusk has a great story featured on ESPN Surfing that includes Led Zeppelin, a four hour drive with Jesse Hines, lots of coffee, jet skies, a secret OBX surf spot, and a whole bunch of world-class surfing.
Surfline offers an overview of the storm and some quotes from the East Coast pros.
East Coast Surf Magazine offers 25 pages of amazing surf photos from all along the Right Coast.

Outer Banks Surf Contest Season Kicking Off

The water is warming up, and thousands of folks planning their summer trip to the OBX to hit the beach. Summer is here, and that means that there will be a lot of surf contests in the cards for the next several months. The Outer Banks District of Eastern Surfing Association contests have already started to kick into full swing.

This year’s contest dates are June 26 or 27, July 17 or 18, Aug. 7 or 8, Sept. 11 or 12 and Oct. 16 or 17. They’ve also scheduled a potential make up contest on Nov. 6 or 7 with the end of year awards banquet planned for Dec. 12.

The top-ranked surfers go on to the regional competition the following spring, which is scheduled for May in Atlantic Beach. The top surfers in that event head to Hatteras in September for the Eastern Surfing Championships.

Outer Banks Featured in June Issue of Surfer Magazine

Posted on April 29, 2010

The June issue of Surfer Magazine features a double page picture spread of Oliver Kurtz in Rodanthe taken by local surf photographer Matt Lusk.

Congrats to Matt and Oliver for scoring such a prominent placement in Surfer showcasing the world-class waves the Outer Banks has to offer.

Some of Matt’s OBX surf images are also featured in the current issue of Eastern Surf Magazine.

June 2010 Surfer Magazine

Outer Banks Surf Update – 4.5.10

Posted on April 5, 2010

Winter is melting into spring, but the thaw is a slow progression; especially after a long and cold winter along the East Coast. The air temperatures are on the rise, the water temps are following suit, and the days are getting longer. The smell of spring seems to be in the air, but the outside threat of a cold snap still lingers, and the chilly waters off the Outer Banks are a reminder of the harsh winter.

ESPN Surfing recently covered the slow transition from winter to spring surf along East Coast, including a great photo gallery with some stellar OBX shots.

Luckily for the Outer Banks, spring seems to be getting a pretty firm grip. The temps have made their way to the low 70’s and the sun is shining. The water temps are still in the 40’s, but they will jump pretty quickly as the days stay warm and as the warm gulf stream pushes water inland.

This past week has seen some great OBX spring swell with a three day period of consistent waves in town. Here’s some of the action:

In addition to the ESPN Surfing coverage, local Outer Banks surf photographer Matt Lusk was recently interviewed by FuelTV for a portfolio/interview piece on their website titled ‘Point of View with Matt Lusk’. It’s a great piece that gives insight on the Outer Banks surf culture, surf photography, and Matt, and the piece also displays some of Matt’s rad portfolio of OBX surf photos. Here’s a great quote from the article:

Where are you based? What excites you about shooting at home?

I am based in Kill Devil Hills on the Outer Banks of NC. I have been fortunate enough to do a bit of traveling and still feel the Outer Banks is my favorite place to shoot. The dynamics of each season, the isolation, exposure to weather events, world-class waves, the unique culture and population distribution, and the beautiful landscapes and wildlife offer countless opportunities for a plethora of images on a daily basis. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.

Early Spring Surf Session on the Outer Banks

Posted on March 18, 2010

While most people on the Outer Banks were donning green and gathering along the “Beach Road” for the St. Patrick’s Day parade this past Sunday, a hearty crew of surfers were taking advantage of some stellar spring surf conditions along the OBX.

A low pressure system moved off the OBX coast on Friday/Saturday and hung long enough create some decent swell, and by early Sunday the wind had calmed and swung around out of the west to pepper the swell with some light off shore breezes.

To his credit, local photographer and surf enthusiast, Matt Lusk, was in the right spot at the right time to score some great pictures of the action. Matt’s post highlights some great images from the day. Here’s an example:

Matt Lusk - No Place Like Home, Brett Barley

Some of the Virginia Beach crew made the trek south to capture some of the OBX surf magic, and here’s a great post about the importance of research and preparation in order to be in the right place at the right time…there’s a lot of luck involved with surfing, but some good research sure helps.

Outer Banks Surf Update 3.9.10

Posted on March 9, 2010

Matt Lusk

The Outer Banks is a very unique surfing environment, especially during the winter months. The remote location of the OBX along the mid-Atlantic coast means that the beach breaks are generally empty during the winter, but mid-Atlantic waters are still plenty cold.

Days are short, water is cold, but the breaks are empty, and great surf doesn’t hibernate for the winter. So, while surfing in early March may not be on the “to do” list for most, there are hardcore surfers along the Outer Banks that see a great opportunity for beautiful surf with no competition for waves.

Last week, Matt Lusk traded his digital camera for a video camera to capture two local Outer Banks pro surfers enjoying thick, chocolate barrels all to themselves. It takes a strong commitment and a thick wetsuit, but the payoff is huge. The video highlights Jesse Hines, who is recently back to the lineup after broken leg last fall, and Brett Barley, who captivated the surfing world in January with his “Cinderella story” at the Pipeline Pro.

View the video here.