About Wrightsville Beach Surf Travel
While North Carolina’s Outer Banks will always hog the lion’s share of Southeast surfers’ attention, the southern flank of the Tar Heel State — home to Wrightsville Beach — is no slouch when it comes to fun, sometimes tubing, surf. Because Wrightsville is the home beach of the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, it is one of the East Coast’s more lively and diverse surf towns (in the warmer months). It also makes for line-ups crowded with surfers of myriad ability, as UNC Wilmington is ranked quite high in the Best Colleges for Surfers list.
Wrightsville’s hint of surfing magic comes most from its fortunate geography. Positioned toward the southern end of North Carolina’s last, and only mainland, coastal sawtooth, Wrightsville can pick up Autumn and Winter Nor’easters, as well as the full brunt of hurricane swell from the South and South-East. Like any East Coast U.S. beach town, Wrightsville is a collection of sandbars that shift seasonally, with the exception of its pier and jetty breaks, which offer up reliable peaks year-round. And also true to EC form, when it’s good, Wrightsville can spew some of the most round, makable, A-frame barrels one could ever hope for.
While summer days in Wrightsville promise trunks and hours of beach lounging, the winters promise cold temperatures in and out of the water. Plan accordingly.
Crystal Pier:
The Oceanic Pier houses a wonderful restaurant where guests can view the surfing below. Most of the action takes place on the south side, and “Crystal Pier,” as it’s sometimes called, can produce consistently ridable waves on any given swell. Generally, this place draws more intermediate surfers, as it tends not to break as hard as C Street, where all the heavies converge. While the crowd is less ferocious, the idiot factor increases exponentially, which makes for lots of dodging and weaving. This should be your last resort. It can be fun, but check the other Wrightsville Beach spots first. From C Street, head south on Lumina until the road ends into a left turn. Take the turn, go straight, and — blam! — you’re there.
C Street:
Keep an eye on the conditions and tides if you want to get C Street good. It’s one of those spots that can offer up fun shorebreak peaks when it’s high tide and the swell is waist-high. But as the tide drops and the swell rises the outside banks come into play and C Street can get pretty darn good. It’ll get hollow on a legit hurricane swell, but it’s also somewhere you can ride a longboard and have fun when it’s small.
Figure Eight and Shell Islands:
For years this area — and most notably the town of Wrightsville Beach, one of the oldest beach resorts in North Carolina — enjoyed a fair amount of anonymity in the surfing world. That was, until a flashy, mild-mannered regular-foot named Ben Bourgeois exploded on the scene. With his teeth cut on the crystal thin lips of Wrightsville beachbreaks, Ben steadily gained worldwide exposure as one of the most dynamic young rippers in the sport today. Ben is still the only NC surfer to ever qualify for the World Tour, and there are dozens of groms from Wrightsville to Kure Beach hoping to follow suit.
Although significantly less powerful and consistent than the Outer Banks, Wrightsville still comes through more often than not. And in terms of variety of breaks, subculture acceptance and dedicated populace, Wrightsville Beach is the best surfing environment in Southern North Carolina. Unfortunately, though there are several good breaks in the New Hanover area, the beaches have suffered an overcrowding problem in the past 10 years or so, partially due to the booming popularity of the nearby University of North Carolina at Wilmington. College-bound surfers are particularly vulnerable to the hook of school at the beach, resulting in a nerve-racking surfing experience on some days. Still, most surfers here, local and transplant, take it all in stride and recognize that the town has more positives than negatives, more shakas than middle fingers and just enough stoke to go around (so far).
Figure Eight Island stretches five miles from Rich Inlet to Mason Inlet. It’s basically a private community of the wealthy elite that is inaccessible without a pass or special permission. That doesn’t keep surfers from finding their ways in, but the only way to check it is by making the paddle northward from Shell Island across the inlet.
If you’re not into exploring or paddling, Shell Island itself is usually a great place to check when all the rest of Wrightsville Beach looks like crap. Lying at the north end of Wrightsville Beach is a high-rise Holiday Inn that marks the point between Wrightsville and Shell Island. Moore’s Inlet separated the two islands until 1965 when the geniuses of the Redneck Corps of Engineers filled the Inlet with dredged sound material to extend Wrightsville Beach. Then they built a hotel on the filled Inlet.
Despite these brilliant achievements, surfers usually paddle out here unimpressed, meaning that the waves here appeal mainly to the New Hanover County area’s longboarders. Tropical south swells have been known to produce conditions of epic proportions along these islands, so it might be worth a look. Just drive north until you can’t anymore and check out the swell. You can usually get an idea of what’s happening on Figure Eight by how Shell Island is picking up the swell. Bring the binoculars if you’re really serious. And, hey, if the surf sucks, forage around the dunes for edible raspberries. This is also a great place to run your dog and meet other dog-runners.
Surf Hazards
There aren’t any sea monsters that’ll pull you into the depths around Wrightsville Beach. By and large, expect your standard East Coast hazards. There may be small sharks, stingrays and jellyfish, but nothing that’ll kill you, per say. And when the swell’s pumping strong currents, rips and undertows can form.
Surf Pollution
Announced in 2018, the Town of Wrightsville Beach will be making some upgrades and improvements on its water and sewage treatment facilities. The changes are in their initial phases as of the writing of this, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction. Old clay pipes throughout the municipality will be replaced with newer PVC piping, hopefully alleviating the issues with leaks and burst pipes. Like all coastal communities, Wrightsville surfers should always pay attention to the water quality results immediately following any heavy rains or storms.
Best Surf Seasons in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina
1) Fall
(September-November) this is where the sweet nectar’s at when it comes to surfing Wrightsville. 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—Wrightsville’s definitely holding.
2) Winter
(December-February) things can slow down in North Carolina during the winter months, but when a booming swell from the North Atlantic or Nor’Easter comes roaring down, Wrightsville Beach is more than happy to get into the swing of things. The temps don’t get as cold as the Northeast, but a thick wetsuit and all the requisite neoprene armor helps.
3) Summer
(June-August) summertime in Wrightsville can be good and bad. In one sense, the college is out for the summer vacation and locals get their town back for a few months. On the downside, there’s not often a lot of swell. Plus, tourists kind of cancel out the college kids and the lineups seem to be as full of humans as ever.
4) Spring
(March-May) things start to slow down around Wrightsville Beach during the springtime. 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 and before you know it you’ll be back in trunks.
Directions to Wrightsville Beach
Wrightsville Beach is located 12 miles from Wilmington. The major east/west interstate artery, I-40, leads to Wilmington, which is also served by U.S. highways 17,74,76, 117 and 421. Follow I-40 East to US-117 S/N College Road. Turn left onto Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and continue onto Eastwood Road. Continue straight onto US-76 East/Wrightsville Avenue to Wrightsville Beach.