Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, USA

Historically, Delaware and Maryland have lagged behind neighboring states in maturing a population of surfers and, thus, surf advocacy. Nevertheless, a large contingent were regularly hitting the Indian River and Ocean City waves by the late 1960s. Skip Savage ran Surf Shop East during the 1960s attracting large crowds of longboarders to Rehoboth Beach. Since then, Ocean City has become the focus, providing a home for many modern surf shops and the year round crew are always ready for action regardless of the conditions.

During the 1920s and 1930s, a few solid surfboards, made of redwood or mahogany, arrived on the Atlantic coast from places like Hawaii and California before the Tom Blake paddleboard era arrived in the late 1930s. Tom Smith and Babe Braithwaite were notable Virginia beach locals, responsible for introducing the first solid board to Florida pioneers, Bill and Dudley Whitman. Some teenagers got to stay at home and surf through WWII, but things were pretty quiet until about 1951, when the first balsa boards started to filter through from Hawaii and the West Coast. The most popular spot in Virginia was the Steel Pier, which was located at Rudee Inlet; modern-day feuds with fishermen were as yet non-existent, and shooting the pier was a common pastime.

Bob Holland opened Virginia Beach’s first surf shop in the early 1960s, stocking Jacobs, Webers, Hansens, and Hobies, but the shop closed soon after, partly because people thought the logo T-shirts in the window were actually undershirts, not street wear. Surf fashion was in its infancy! But the late 1960s surf explosion brought surf clubs, competitions, local board manufacturers, and crowds to the line-up. Virginia then followed the rest of the East Coast into the stale 1970s and anonymous 1980s before the 1990s brought renewed interest and the desire of local governments to embrace and expand surfing within the state. A large amateur competition scene has grown up in the Mid Atlantic states, and over the years a few notable surfers from Virginia (including Wes Laine and Todd Holland) have made the transition to the professional ranks and the world’s liquid stage.