Trading Tubes on North Carolina’s Outer Banks with Noah Schweizer and Cam Richards

Originally posted on SURFER | By Zander Morton | Last updated Nov 21, 2024 4:30 PM ET

Let’s face it, surfing is more popular than ever. Travel to Hawaii, Bali, Portugal, etc., and you’ll find crowds have doubled during the last decade. In fact, you’ve probably noticed that same trend in your own backyard. Blame it on Covid, wave pools, the WSL, pop culture… whatever the reason, surfing’s bull market isn’t slowing down.

But all is not lost. The great thing about surfing is no matter how busy it gets, you can still find an empty peak and trade tubes all day with your friends. The clip below, featuring Noah Schweizer, Cam Richards and Knox Harris on North Carolina’s Outer Banks is case in point.

The Outer Banks has 200 miles of coastline. On any given swell, hordes of surfers will gather like sheep at the first sign of cars parked on the side of the road together. Oftentimes, that means 50+ surfers will create an insta crowd, leaving miles and miles of empty peaks for those willing to explore.

And that’s exactly what happened. Richards and co zigged while everyone else zagged. After finding an empty sandbar slab somewhere along the banks, they hid their car (seriously), sprinted over the dunes, setup camp on the sand, and spent the day trading 3-foot tubes at a dreamy peak that was here today, but gone tomorrow.

That’s the beautiful thing about surfing: You can buy all the gear, but you can’t buy the wave, weather and sandbar knowledge that can only be gleaned from a lifetime of experience. To anyone that says you can’t surf alone these days…let’s just say you aren’t working hard enough.

This article first appeared on SURFER and was syndicated with permission.

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