Hurricane Cristobal Surfing Photos - Swell Recap Part Three

Words by John Streit. Photos by Shaun Devine, Jon Carter & Streit.

All good things must come to an end. So is true for cross-global travels and hurricane swells. The afternoon of Thursday, August 28 saw the consistent, powerful surf sent to the Carolina coast by Hurricane Cristobal continue to pulse; but by the next morning’s light, the rapidly exiting storm took its special shot of swell along with it. Sometimes you just have to enjoy the moment, and everyone who paddled out in the Mid-Atlantic on this day definitely did just that. Appropriately, the summer of 2014 went out with a bang, as it had been one of the most consistent in recent memory. Our own Shaun Devine’s guest from New Zealand, Basil Harrison, moved on to his next destination of Germany just two days after Cristobal’s passing — adding to the magical nature of the classic summer hurricane swell’s presence during his stop in our region. A coincidence? We think not.

When we pulled up to this beach access south of Rodanthe Pier, there were bombs exploding everywhere. This one caught then lens of Shaun Devine to produce an iconic sequence of power straight from the eye of Cristobal. The slight southern angle of the beaches south of the pier picked up a significant amount of size compared to all points north. This one shows its teeth. 1 of 9. Photo: Devine.