Set Adrift: Chesapeake Bay Surfing

Video by Brian Kelley. Words by John Streit.

The transition in to autumn means the winds of change are indeed blowing. As cold air dives down from the arctic, it interacts with the warm, humid air of the summer-that-was to occasionally create foul weather. As persistent, fierce winds buffet the ocean-exposed shoreline; surfers with the local knowledge often opt for the sheltered — but still wind-swept — waves that fill in to the Chesapeake Bay. There’s something mysterious and tantalizing about surfing a place that hardly ever comes to life in terms of rideable surf. Let’s face it, there is no uncharted territory when it comes to surfing Virginia Beach’s ocean-exposed beaches. But in the Chesapeake, you are one of the relative few that have been so stoked that you refuse to let 40 mph northerlies hold you back. Enjoy Brian Kelley’s artistic vision of searching for waves less common places.