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startingpoint This guy gets it. Hot tub party with Hurricane Joaquin. Photo Daniel Pullen
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This place blows. gohunt
It also floods, scorches and freezes. With enough wind and tide it physically moves, shrinking in some places and growing in others. (See: Cape Point.) It is — in short — dynamic. Even dangerous. And it has always been this way.
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That’s why the Algonquians made Roanoke Island and Buxton their native strongholds. It’s why turn-of-the-century hotels stuck to the soundside. It’s why old-school Hatteras folk opened the doors on their houses in the middle of hurricanes — so surging waters wouldn’t float their houses off the foundations — and why ’70s secondhomeowners made cheap-ass beach boxes that were borderline disposable. Why would anyone let their life savings ride on a razor’s edge of sand?
Even as we grew larger, gaudier and more year-round, smart residents aimed higher, stronger and toward the center. And we never lost sight of the big picture, or our healthy sense of gallows humor. We knew that this place could be wiped off the map tomorrow. And that was just the price of admission for riding a bucking barrier island where waves come in avalanches, sunsets spread like wildfires, and tuna loins rain from the sky. (Or at least your neighbors.) But nothing lasts forever. And that includes common sense. Because lately, the collective consciousness seems to be growing a bit too cocksure. In fact, over the past decade, a growing attitude implies that life here is like any other piece of well-manicured suburbia. No need to change a thing — except maybe your surroundings.
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Twenty years ago, any oceanfront property owner would beg for a 30-foot dune — today, they bitch they can’t see the beach from the bottom floor. Grocery chains submit plans to build walls of glass in the heart of Hurricane Alley. Retirees flock to sea-level neighborhoods, then wonder why their lawn furniture floats after heavy rains. Hell, at one point, just proposing pumping sand nearly prompted a local rebellion — now it’s cause for a parade.
Nothing lasts forever. And that includes common sense.
Is it ignorance? Greed? Fear? I’d argue it’s a change in values. Part of a broader cultural shift where 30-year mortgages and billion-dollar revenue streams wield more psychological power than raging nor’easters and rising waters. Instead of a “death by a thousand cuts,” it’s a “delusion by a thousand Band-Aids.” Beach nourishment and bulkheads can save us forever. FEMA and insurance companies will never bail out. And if they do, we’ll build artificial reefs or hire ferryboats. Surely some solution stands ready to keep us fixed permanently — in a place where nothing is permanent. But you don’t buy a beach house without owning erosion. You can’t score surf without taking a few storms on the head. Once you commit to the coast, you make Mother Nature your bride. And her personality is inherently tempestuous, turning from warm to cold to abusive in a matter of seconds. You can love her. Or leave her. But you will never tame her. The best you can do is laugh in her face and hold on for the ride. Just remember who gets the last laugh. — Matt Walker
Thank you for reading Outer Banks Milepost. We hope you enjoy it. If not — before chucking this issue in the nearest dumpster — please consider one of the following equally satisfying ways of expressing your disgust: roll up a makeshift megaphone to shout at the weatherman; stuff the pages beneath door jambs to stop incoming flood waters. Or simply add it to that six-month stack of newspapers you’ve yet to recycle. (Trust us: you’ll feel better.) Then, send any and all feedback — positive, negative or just plain confused — to: editor@outerbanksmilepost.com. Or light us up on Facebook with your opinions and ideas. We promise to find some way to re-purpose them.
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New For 2017! Boat & Tackle Show “Never turn your back on the ocean.” — Duke Kahanamoku “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” — Bob Dylan Issue 6.3 Fall 2017 Cover: Hold Tight. Sculpture: Mark Costello Photos: Ryan Moser/Daniel Pullen Reader You
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editor@outerbanksmilepost.com • sales@outerbanksmilepost.com
This project is funded in part by the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau.
Outer Banks Milepost is published quarterly (sorterly) by Suite P Inc. All contents are the property of Suite P Inc. and do not reflect the opinion of advertisers or distributors. Nor do their contents reflect that of the creative types (who would never, ever sell out). Comments, letters and submissions are usually welcome. Please include SASE for return delivery of all snail mail, however, Milepost and Suite P Inc. still aren’t responsible for any unsolicited materials. And don’t expect much else to move much faster than IST (Island Standard Time). Oh yeah: if you reprint a lick of this content you’re ripping us off. (Shame on you.) To discuss editorial ideas, find out about advertising or tell us we blew it – or just find out what the waves are doing – call 252-441-6203 or email: editor@outerbanksmilepost.com; sales@outerbanksmilepost.com. www.outerbanksmilepost.com
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“2016, Our Family Portrait” Kenneth Templeton www.kennethtempleton.com
03 StartingPoint The problem with permanence. 06 UpFront Big Oil’s back, bottled hope, and Billy gets burned. 19 GetActive Be the barometer. 20 Signals Through Time These 1870s journals are part hindcast — part history book.
26 Observations Three local weather experts discuss the state of modern science. 36 GraphicContent We put the “suck” in “Successories.” 38 S uper Natural Mother Nature’s most striking moments. 55 G o Fish Homegrown hot rods.
“Most of my narrative paintings start as seascapes. Then, I think, “That looks boring; I need to add something.” Originally, I was just going to paint myself sleeping. Then I saw Andrea Mantegna’s “Agony in the Garden,” from 1459. It shows Christ on the Mount of Olives, after the Last Supper, when Peter, James and John fall asleep on him. And sometimes I feel like you fall asleep — or drop the ball — on your loved ones, so I added our family. But there are a few more things going on: my father died in 2015, and my mother-in-law, Maxine, recently lost her husband of 63 years. So, I added the lightning storm for the turbulent year we’ve had. And then sometimes, working as an artist, I feel like I could be homeless at any moment. [laughs] And if I’m ever homeless, I’m gonna go sleep in the dunes.” — Ken Templeton
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upfront soundcheck IT’S ON
Coastal communities brace for yet another fight with Big Oil over offshore drilling.
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For the fourth decade in a row, Outer Bankers are facing the prospect of offshore oil and gas exploration off North Carolina. On April 28 — just months after the previous administration nixed seismic exploration and drilling in much of Atlantic — the new administration restarted the lease sale process for the Outer Continental Shelf, “in order to maintain the Nation’s position as a global energy leader and foster energy security and resilience for the benefit of the American people.”
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Now, once-victorious opponents are dusting off their gloves — along with barely shelved anti-drilling banners and yard signs. And while it may seem like a rematch, a lot has changed. Not only is the ring a lot bigger (the last battle included only Virginia to Georgia; this fight runs from Maine to Florida), but the rulebook is revised, the referees are questionable, and the timeline’s more aggressive. In fact, the Fed’s already begun swinging. (The first round of public comments ended Aug. 17.) But there are many rounds to go. And while Big Oil is always a bruiser, the opposition’s fit and ready from the last multi-year grudge match. Here’s the latest blow-by-blow of what’s new — and what to expect.
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THE FED’S THE REAL ENEMY When Democratic President Barack Obama officially opened lease sales in 2014, he picked a fight with environmentalists and coastal industries. But he was never fully on Big Oil’s side. Not only did his Department of Interior restrict leases to 50 miles off North Carolina — which eliminated the most desirable deposits, sitting roughly 40 miles or less from Cape Hatteras — but he simultaneously pursued offshore wind just as diligently. He also promised to listen to coastal communities, and when they fought back, he ultimately folded.
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From all indications, the Trump Administration is a much meaner foe, with staunch antirenewable policies and a cabinet of pro-petroleum staffers, including former energy company chair-turned-DOI Secretary Ryan Zinke, who this June told an offshore drilling conference, “You should be excited. If you’re in the oil and gas and energy segment in this society… the stars are lined up.”
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THE GOV’S IN OUR CORNER Last time, Pat McCrory led the Outer Continental Shelf Governors Coalition to open our coast. This time, our governor is leading the opposition.
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In July, Roy Cooper held a press conference at Fort Macon, stating, “I’m here to speak out and take action against [offshore drilling]. I can sum it up in four words: not off our
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coast.” He went on to issue an official statement echoing some of the stronger economic points: “Coastal tourism generates $3 billion annually, supporting more than 30,000 jobs.... Commercial fishing brings in $95 million per year, powering another vital industry.” Furthermore, surrounding Atlantic coast lawmakers and communities who once favored drilling now stand opposed, including South Carolina’s governor and the city councils for Virginia Beach and Norfolk. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management must consider their concerns before moving forward. For that reason, according to Katie Todd, Director of Digital Strategies for the NC League of Conservation Voters, “The governor’s role cannot be understated.”
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The bad news? Since it’s federal waters, BOEM doesn’t need the state’s permission. But NC can always employ some fancy legal footwork. According to the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Blakely Hildebrand, NC can review leasing plans for consistency with its coastal management plan. And if the state objects and finds leasing plans inconsistent?
governments had officially voiced opposition — including Dare County — and they remain on record moving forward. Meanwhile, stalwart anti-drilling groups such as Surfrider, Oceana, and Don’t Drill NC remain well-organized. And new groups like Wilmington’s Save Our Sea and BAPAC are adding energy.
“The U.S. Secretary of Commerce must override the state’s objection and find that the leasing plans are ‘necessary in the interest of national security’ or consistent with the objectives of the Coastal Zone Management Act in order for the leasing activity to move forward,” she explains. “In 1994, then-Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown declined to override objections by the State of North Carolina to Mobil Oil’s exploration plans off the coast, and Mobil’s lease was subsequently suspended.”
More importantly, the general public has changed stances. In August 2010, the Public Policy Polling group found that 50 percent of respondents in the state supported drilling, and 39 percent opposed it — that was after the Deepwater Horizon disaster. But a PPP poll taken between July 21-23, 2017 shows that seven out of 10 of respondents in North Carolina are now either “very concerned” (51 percent) or “somewhat concerned” (19 percent) about offshore drilling.
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“I can sum it up in four words: not off our coast.”
THE ARGUMENTS FOR DRILLING ARE WEAKER The current administration promotes oil and gas drilling as a way for the U.S. to achieve energy “dominance” and create jobs. But U.S. energy is already at record highs — Gov. Roy Cooper — mainly because of shale oil development and increased natural gas production — and a prolonged global oil glut has kept the price of a barrel low, leading to job losses in the petroleum industry. According to industry website, RigZone, the Houston-based consulting firm Graves & Co. estimates that of the some 440,000 layoffs around the world, “178,466 (40 percent) are in the United States.” On the flip side, NC’s coastal tourism industry keeps booming. In Dare County, visitor spending topped $1 billion for three years straight. So far in 2017, occupancy receipts through April were up 25 percent for the year. And while it used to be that big cash prizes, like revenue sharing, would lure states into supporting drilling despite the risk, there are currently no laws allowing Atlantic states to get a cut. Trump is even proposing to end the existing revenue sharing program with states that have offshore oil production. Add it up, you get a bad deal for coastal industries — and a lot more backlash on the money side. “Probably 99 percent of businesses are against it,” says Frank Knapp Jr., president and CEO of Business Alliance for Protecting the Atlantic Coast (BAPAC), an Atlantic coast alliance representing more than 41,000 businesses. “There is no upside.” THE OPPOSITION IS SUPERFIT For drilling foes, it took years passing resolutions and lobbying legislators just to get ready for battle. By the time Obama rescinded the lease sale in March 2015, hundreds of local
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“The opposition has coalesced,” says Knapp, noting politicians on both sides of the aisle are opposed. “The public is clearly against it.” THE RULEMAKING’S LESS CLEAR Not that it ever was. Every lease sale consists of a series of rounds, where states find out whether they’re still in the fight. Already, two public comment deadlines have passed: one for seismic drilling’s environmental impacts; another for responding to the first request for information on the 5-year leasing program. From here, the Bureau of Energy Management will review comments and then release a draft proposed program, followed by a comment period. Next, they release a Proposed Program, followed by another comment period. Then the Proposed Final Program will be released, followed by yet another comment period. Each one of these is potential victory or loss in the months to come. And that’s exactly how each fight has gone in the past. The problem? No one’s really sure if the same rules apply. “The process per federal statutes is the same as to how all these offshore explorations happen,” says Katie Todd. “But the reality is we’re dealing with a federal administration that doesn’t seem to play by the rules all the time.” But that’s no reason to give up. In fact, Todd says, it’s time to draw people who live inland into the fight, because any negative impacts would affect the whole state. And every argument and voter is an ally. As Todd puts it, “We’ve got to go bigger, go harder.” And if nothing else, we’ll go down swinging. — Catherine Kozak Ed. Note: For updates on the 2019-2024 OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program, its various stages and corresponding public comment periods, go to www.boem.com.
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upfront Princess Anne meets Queen Elizabeth II. soundcheck Photo: Joe Ernst/Outer Banks History Center
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A TOWN FIT FOR A QUEEN Manteo’s mid-80s makeover was designed for royalty.
Roanoke Island loves to celebrate its status among our nation’s humble beginnings. Over the years, the Outer Banks has gotten a lot of mileage out of the story of Sir Walter Raleigh’s failed attempt at a permanent English foothold in America between 1584 and 1587. In 1921, Dare County Superintendent of Schools, Mabel Evans, convinced the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction to fund a silent movie about the ill-fated colonists, and of course, Paul Green penned The Lost Colony in 1937 as something of a 350-year salute. So, when the 400th anniversary of the Roanoke Voyages approached in 1984 not only Roanoke Islanders, but North Carolinians, prepared for a major party. Although Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth of England was invited to the festivities, it was her daughter, Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne, who attended the dedication of the representative 16th century sailing ship, Elizabeth II, on the first day of the opening celebration. Earlier that morning, officials named the bridge connecting Manteo with Ice Plant Island — known today as Roanoke Island Festival Park — the Cora Mae Daniels Basnight Bridge, in honor of the Manteo native who played the role of Agona in the Lost Colony for a quarter century. During the afternoon, the princess and 500 invited guests enjoyed a private luncheon at Elizabethan Gardens. It was said that the ham biscuits were of particular interest to the English guests, as they were a “delicacy” that was “new to them.” The following day, a 75-boat flotilla sailed from Elizabeth City with legendary newsman Walter Cronkite leading the procession. He came ashore in Manteo and presented a 400th anniversary banner to commissioner Harry Schiffman. The CBS anchorman received a few gifts in return, including an honorary
membership in the Roanoke Island Yacht Club and a lifetime membership with the Friends of Elizabeth II. In the evening, the North Carolina Symphony played to an appreciative audience, and a fireworks display ended the night. It was big — really big — but the revelry was more than an historic one-day rager. Several lasting changes to the landscape transpired that are still enjoyed by residents and guests today. The idea of America’s 400th anniversary set many projects in motion that shaped the late 20th century Outer Banks. “The likes of which the area had not seen,” says local photographer and gallery owner Eve Trow Turek.
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Ham biscuits were of particular interest to the English guests.
In the early 80s, Turek was a reporter with the Outer Banks Current newspaper. Covering town and county meetings was part of her beat back when plans were put in place to ensure that when the world’s eyes were on Manteo and Roanoke Island, the town and the island looked good. She would eventually land a position as a county liaison to the state committee, a role that evolved into the Dare County Public Information Officer. Living in a downtown Manteo apartment during the construction of the Elizabeth II, Turek “woke up every day to the sound of hammers, and was able to see progress on the ship each day.” The idea of having a vessel moored across from the Manteo waterfront was “to have something tangible to help tell the story of the colonists.” Turek credits architect and conservationist John F. Wilson IV for many of the transformations
that took place. Wilson, a Roanoke Island native, ran for mayor of Manteo in order to help steer the direction of the celebration and the subsequent outcomes. “John had…such a caring vision for his hometown,” Turek says. “He was adamant that the town’s people were involved with how the town grew, planned and developed.” Consultants from N.C. State School of Design were brought in to “sit on front porches” with town residents and to “pick their brains and pluck their hearts.’’ Manteo would receive national and international attention and “wanted to be ready to play host” for the 400th. Roads and infrastructure received upgrades, billboards got kicked to the curb, landscaping projects bloomed, and 1,000 trees took root. Even the new route selected to funnel visitors directly into Manteo got a new name: Highway 400. The waterfront shops and the expansion of the public docks all remain part of the legacy. Angel Khoury gives a succinct summation in her 1999 book, Manteo: A Roanoke Island Town. Khoury suggests that the rundown Manteo waterfront in the early 1980s “was a far cry from being a fitting place to entertain the Queen of England,” which motivated Wilson and the Manteo Board of Commissioners “not just to see Manteo become the site of a shortlived celebration — but to achieve a much more far-reaching goal — the economic and aesthetic revitalization of the Town of Manteo.” So, while Roanoke Island spruced itself up to receive Princess Anne, it was the rest of us who really got the real royal treatment. — Sarah Downing Sources include: “Dedicate Bridge for Manteo’s own Cora Mae,” Coastland Times, June 17, 1984; Manteo, A Roanoke Island Town by Angel Khoury, Donning Publishing, 1999; “Three Days of Commemoration Events Thrill Crowds at Manteo,” Coastland Times, June 17, 1984; Interview with Eve Turek, May 31, 2017.
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upfront soundcheck getactive startingpoint roadmap A cheering, jeering gokite look at recent events and their potential milepost impacts
THOSE WHO FAIL TO PLAN Plan to fail. (Or flail.) In the wake of several major debates over local development, including oceanfront hotel heights and the size of McMansions, KDH announced they’ll finally be updating their two-decade-old Land Use Plan. The first step is to gather local opinion on everything from water quality to taxes. Go to www.kdhnc.com and fill out the survey and you can help chart the Outer Banks’ future — instead of cursing its features. TURTLE TRACKS You’ve heard of Finding Nemo. This is more like “Stalking Squirt.” In May, little loggerheads met Lojak when CSI, NOAA, the NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island, and UCF partnered up to tag nine juvenile
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sea turtles with GPS transmitters, allowing scientists to track these endangered species and see how they interact with the Gulf Stream as part of renewable energy research — and fill gaps on their formative years. Educators and interested citizens can follow along at www.seaturtle.org.
of 12pm, provided local gov’t agreed. Nearly every board approved new rules at white lightning speed — except Nags Head and Currituck County, which both needed a little peer pressure before bellying up to the bar. But you can’t bust out the booze without a few hiccups.
DON’T BE A DUMBO The dope game keeps getting dopier — and scarier. In July, law enforcement busted a KDH man with two ounces of “gray death,” a high-power blend of heroin, fentanyl and — get this — carfentanil, a drug that’s 5,000 times stronger than heroin and is normally used to sedate elephants. So, if you’re toying with this stuff, you better buy Narcan in bulk.
ASS, GAS OR CAT-GRASS? Well, at least someone rides for free — or some Buddy. In this case, it was a threemonth kitten, who hitched a ride south from Northern Virginia, unbeknownst to his vacationing owners. When a woman saw little Buddy wandering a hotel parking lot, she turned him into the SPCA, where an embedded microchip helped track down his owners, ensuring he made it home without a scratch.
THIS BLURB IS NOT A REBEL BLURB Sunday got a little bloodier — and a lot merrier — this July, as Raleigh passed the “Brunch Bill,” letting restaurants and grocery stores start selling alcohol at 10am instead
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STUCK HERE ON PAVEMENT? Year-round housing may be elusive. Summer help might be scarce. But there’s a possible cure for one local issue: tumbling
trash cans. After years of watching the bins wander in storms, two inventors created Can Stand, combining a magnetic curbside pad with an attachable metal bottom to ground the rolling receptacles until pick-up day comes. (Or 65mph winds.) Kitty Hawk’s already agreed to a test run of 20. If they can make it through winter, we’ll assume they’re here to stay. OH, NOAH! NOT AGAIN! It used to be “the Ark” was just a clever name for a Nags Head church. Now it’s starting to look like a modern solution, as the town continues to battle storm water issues. Last year, Matthew turned the Beach Road into a biblical flood. This summer, a pair of July storms filled yards, streets and homes — one of which dumped nearly five inches in a couple hours — overloading the 50-year-old, 55-plus-mile drainage system. The town responded with a public forum to discuss possible fixes. ’Til then, keep paddling — and praying.
WE’RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE Or maybe we are. In a summer of wicked weather — including record rainfalls, brilliant rainbows, and horrid heat waves — tornado warnings stole the thunder, including a day in which four water spouts and ten funnel clouds spun across the sound, hypnotizing rental houses and bypass traffic north of the bridge. No serious damage was reported, but the accompanying photos and video may have broken the Internet. A BAR IS BORN Forget Ed Bundy. Or Bruce Springsteen. Or any of summer’s usual star sightings. This season’s biggest celebrity was a long, sandy blond named Shelly Island, which blew up off Cape Point over night, drawing huge headlines and helicopters from national news outlets, as crowds fawned over her gorgeous seashells. (And the occasional bombshell.) The irony? She never really was an island at all — more of an oversized
sandbar — but she wouldn’t be the first starlet to choose a more flattering name on her way to fame. CONDITION BLACKOUT This is not what we meant by using summertime to “unplug.” In late July, Hatteras and Ocracoke suffered the worst blackout ever when contractors building the new Bonner Bridge accidentally severed the power line, sparking visitor evacuations, angry residents, and frustrated business owners. At press time, the crisis was scheduled to end within days. But with projected losses in the tens of millions — and multiple lawsuits already pending — this will be a supercharged issue for months to come. For detailed reports on these stories and breaking local news on a daily basis — plus page after page of local discussion — please visit www.outerbanksvoice.com, www.obsentinel.com and www.islandfreepress.org.
SMART-ASS COMMENT OF THE MONTH “Anything that can be done to help miserable people escape from their drab, wretched lives for a few additional hours a week should be applauded.” — TW Mangrove, “Early Sunday Alcohol Sales Will Need Town, County OKs,” July 3, 2017, OuterBanksVoice.com.
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Jim Glatch, 55 startingpoint Visitor Pennsylvania “Katrina. I’m going to find a bathtub or a canoe and just wait it out like Tom Hanks in Castaway.”
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Brian Ford, 47 Valued Guest Pennsylvania “Shark. It’s quicker than having to sit through the storm. Plus, there’s at least a little chance of survival — just poke her in the eyes.”
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Adam Morton, 46 Welcome Vacationer Connecticut “Man, this is super tough, but I’d go with the shark. I had a house in the Keys during Andrew and I know how bad those big storms get. If one hit here headon, it would be absolute devastation. The shark, I’d just rear back and wail it on the nose as hard as I could.”
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Phillip Arnold, 36 Revenue Injector Virginia “I’ll play the odds with the shark because there’s always a chance it may not eat me. There’s no stopping the hurricane. It’s going to take everything out.”
Which would you rather face head-on: Hurricane Katrina? Or Mary Lee the shark?
V Ed isit iti or on !
Camden Stevens, 23 Good Tipper Virginia “I’ll take the hurricane. Only because I would just never want to be eaten by anything.”
Zach Louie, 20 Sunglass Shopper Virginia “Definitely Mary Lee. I love animals — I’d try to play with her!”
Chris Minnis, 53 Potential Sunglass Shopper Pennsylvania “Hurricane. You might have a shot if you pick a good hiding spot.”
Jessica Faison, 23 Aloha Purveyor Hawaii “Mary Lee. I always wanted to see a shark in the wild. Maybe I’d take a selfie while I give it a kiss. [laughs]” Interviews and images by Tony Leone
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One gal’s plan to spread good vibes via the Gulf Stream.
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This story begins twelve Octobers ago. A twenty-something artist was in Avon with her girlfriends. Riding waves. Drawing sketches. Stumbling across a bottle, she drew an image depicting the day’s events, added an email address plus a favorite Bible quote — Proverbs 3:5 — filled the glass and tossed it to sea. Then she forgot all about it — until this April.
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“I got a surprise email from Winston-Salem with the drawing attached,” recalls Dawn Moraga, the Ruby-haired artist behind Red Dawn Designs. “He said that he used to fish with his best friend in Hatteras. Last year, his friend died and left him his favorite book. Inside was the picture. He wasn’t sure when it was found, but he said the message must’ve really touched him because he didn’t save anything. Maybe that’s why it struck me so.”
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In some ways, it was a note to herself. A reminder of all that’s changed in just 12 years. Internet feuds are more common than phone calls. The world seems more negative, isolated and impersonal. When she heard about a local suicide the following day, it was like a catalyst to make a difference.
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“I didn’t know the man at all,” she explains. “But for someone to not have the ability to overcome all that pain and sorrow, really bothered me. I started thinking about all the times I’ve felt down and someone’s called me out of the blue and encouraged me. I figured this person never had that. Then I thought: What if I threw out a bunch of bottles with positive messages for total strangers?”
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“What if I threw out positive messages for total strangers?”
So, one evening Moraga and five friends — Bri and Brooke Vuyovich, Jessica Wallace, Neke Turko, and Anna Lee Vincent — started stuffing bottles with pretty pictures, bits of scripture, and happy vibes. Nobody shared their efforts, keeping every message private and personal, ensuring maximum freshness for whoever found it. Then they made sure they went as far as possible. Instead of flinging them past the shorebreak, Jessica chucked hers off Kitty Hawk Pier. The rest chartered a ride to the Gulf Stream where, in the words of Point Runner mate, Lucas Jolly, “I dropped ‘em in a mess of current. There’s no telling where they’ll end up.”
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Or how long they’ll wait to hear back. It might take days — it may take decades. They may never know anything at all. But for Moraga, that’s not the point. “Technology’s so funny,” she continues. “Everyone’s constantly ‘sharing’ stuff, but nobody communicates and nothing is personal. So, if one note touches one life in a positive way, I’ll be happy. And I think just finding a message in a bottle would make someone smile — I know I’d be stoked.” — Ren Höek
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Ed note: we’ll be sure to update any findings via future issues and Facebook — or whatever technology takes over in coming years.
Bri bottles her emotions. Photo: Jon Carter
One hand-penned letter’s worth a 1000 post-shares. Photo: Jon Carter
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upfront soundcheck BEST FORECAST EVER Surfalorus Film Fest guarantees three days of epic waves.
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Get ready to reel. Photo Matt Lusk
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You might get an early nor’easter. You might get a tropical swell. You might get a flat spell. Such is an Outer Banks surfer’s fall. But there’s one surebet: Dare County Arts Council’s Surfalorus Film Festival. This 6th annual spinoff of NC’s Cucalorus indie-film favorite promises a building swell of quality surf flicks, vintage sticks and legendary tributes, Sept. 21-23, ready to stoke ocean enthusiasts Saturday • 9/23 from “notable pro” to “never stood up.” Here’s a Conditions: DAWN-TOspecialized forecast of DEBAUCHERY Friday • 9/22 what to expect.
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Thursday • 9/ 21 Conditions: FUN-TO-FROTHY
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Perfectly timed with the ESA Eastern Championships, expect grom-sized shenanigans and double-overhead energy as young competitors crowd Jennette’s Pier to see the appropriately titled, Take Every Wave, and Limitless — where Manteo High’s Logan Marshall follows native shredder Jesse Hines. Plan on occasional flurries of free popcorn and froyo with extended showers of reggae rhythms, courtesy of Sensi Trails.
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Manteo’s DCAC gallery lines up long walls of deep visuals to salute shooter/shaper Mickey “2M” McCarthy: Daniel Pullen curates tasty, 2M-inspired images by top photogs; Steve Wise stacks vintage sticks to the horizon; and Chris Bickford draws signature lines across his new book, Legends of the Sandbar. Plus, DJ Ninja rotates classic vinyl over short, peaky submissions and heaving barrels of NC beer, and Nic McLean shares a quick vision of his reeling 2M tribute, to be revealed in 2018.
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It’s an all-day marathon session. Start with Surfrider’s Beach Sweep, a 9am cleanup set across local accesses that washes into Outer Banks Brewing Station’s backyard where participants take pints on the head from 12-4pm. Come nightfall, the Brew Pub’s outdoor big screen lights up with world-class submissions, like Chris Burkard’s Under an Arctic Sky, Nathan Oldfield’s The Church of the Open Sky, and Sea | Lone by Luca Merti. At 10pm, the 21+ pack paddles inside to hear The Damn Truth go richter across the bar ‘til closing. (Then heads home to wipeout on mattress reef).
Doors open at 6:30pm. Events start at 7pm. Nightly raffles include prints, sticks, skates — and a lot more. For the full schedule, charge over to www.surfalorus.com.
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Fill coastal gaps by downloading mPing and uploading observations. Image: NSSL
CITIZEN ‘CANE
Three easy ways to help the Weather Service stay alert.
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Those National Weather Service geeks have all the tech gear. Doppler radar. GOES satellites. Computer models. What they really need is a good set of eyes. Lots of ‘em. “Observations of something as simple as precipitation type are absolutely essential to the forecasting process,” says Dr. Kim Elmore, researcher at the National Severe Storms Lab (NSSL). “Unless we have very advanced automated observing systems everywhere — which we don’t — how will we know [the most current] conditions?” Here are three ways the average citizen can help fill in the gaps.
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Cooperative Observer Program: With over 11,000 observers in the United States — including nine on the Outer Banks — the COOP is among the world’s oldest citizen observer programs. Established in 1891, the COOP began as a way for NWS personnel to monitor remote areas and forecast weather. By 1933, the program was so successful that a science advisory group told President Roosevelt it was “…netting the public more benefits per dollar expended than any other government service.” Nearly 130 years later, volunteers still report daily maximum and minimum temperatures, 24-hour precipitation totals and more. But it’s a big commitment. Citizens must be willing to host measuring equipment, receive NWS visits and stay “a minimum of 10 years at one location.” (Apply at www.nws. noaa.gov/om/coop/become.htm.)
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Community Collaborative for Rain, Hail and Snow Network: Fort Collins, Colorado’s CoCoRaHS began in 1997 when the NWS failed to forecast a disastrous flash flood. According to education coordinator, Noah Newman, “A lot of rain fell in one part of town, but the Weather Service gauge was located [elsewhere].” In response, the program handed out rain gauges to residents. Today, there are more than 10,000 active participants in all 50 states, Canada and the Bahamas — including the Outer Banks. All you need is a highcapacity 4-inch diameter rain gauge, a little training and a willingness to measure at the same time each day. (Learn more at www.cocorahs.org.) Meteorological Phenomena Identification Near the Ground: Of all the community options, mPing is the easiest. Simply download the app at http://mping. nssl.noaa.gov, then use the interface to report whatever you see: rain, wind, snow, drizzle. Those observations go to National Severe Storms Lab, where they are collated with other citizen reports, allowing users to track changes in real-time. There is a laundry list of weather events and damages — including broken limbs and flooded homes — but you don’t need powerful systems to have an impact. As Dr. Elmore notes, “In the case of mPING, there isn’t any information that isn’t helpful.” — Kip Tabb milepost 19
signals through time Towns grow. Technology evolves. But as these 1870s journals prove, nothing connects Outer Bankers like a weather report. milepost
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“I have the honor to state that I arrived here yesterday — 15th — with the property sent to me via New Berne. I tested the line and found it ‘open,’ will start Pvt. J.E. Hayes out tomorrow to repair it… My Post Office address will be Cape Hatteras Signal Station, Dare Co., NC ...” With that first letter on August 16, 1874, Sergeant George Onslow sent word of the United States Signal Service’s new post on the Outer Banks. No small feat, when you consider what those early telegraph transmissions would mean for America’s future. “The Signal Service was formed in 1870 and was a forerunner of the National Weather Service,” says Jami Lanier, Cultural Resources Manager for the National Park Services’ Outer Banks Group. “By 1878, there were 284 field stations across the country, including the Cape Hatteras Light Station, which operated from 1874 to 1880. Stations were required to telegraph observations three times daily to Washington, D.C., where weather forecasts were made.” According to the Report of the Chief Signal Officer in 1877-1878, duties included “the readings of the barometer, the thermometer, the wind-velocity and direction, the rain-gauge, the relative humidity, the character, quantity and movement of upper and lower clouds.” For coastal stations like Cape Hatteras Light Station, Signal Service representatives were also tasked with hanging warning flags for mariners when necessary, and assisting in any occasions of maritime distress. In 2015, the Outer Banks Group acquired two leather books full of letters to D.C., detailing the Signal Services’ humble Hatteras beginnings. The worn yellow pages brim with inkpot cursive and stuffy language, a veritable fossil record of 19th century life on our remote barrier island. And while the daily reports ring strikingly familiar in terms of regional names and atmospheric conditions — even some good ol’ bristling at government bureaucracy — life itself couldn’t be more different. We gripe about losing cable for a couple hours —Sergeant Onslow spends days finding telegraph lines before he can fix them. We bitch when a weatherman biffs the wind direction — he repairs his anemometer arms mid-hurricane. (Or his assistant does — for the hefty monthly wage of $12.87.) Shipwrecks are commonplace. Island doctors are nonexistent. And tragedy and toil pour off the pages in sheets. What follows are excerpts from Onslow’s stint as the station’s first sergeant from 1874-1876. By turns painful and comical, the letters are more than standalone updates. They offer a record of how winds and weather shaped both geography and community — body and soul — mixing technology and true grit to put meteorological science on the map. — C. White
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Cape Hatteras, N.C. Aug. 22, 1874 To the Chief Signal Officer of the Army Washington City, D.C. Sir: I have the honor to state that the following named articles of property have not been sent to this office and are very badly needed, viz. One (1) office clock, One (1) Brush for cleaning Battery One (1) large Rubber Syringe for Battery. One (1) Brass support for the standard Thermometer. One (1) Plug Switch for telegraph wire. I would respectfully state that I have no Table nor Chairs but can buy a table suitable for Telegraphic use for $1.50. It will cost $0.75 per chair — freight included — to get chairs from New Berne, would respectfully ask if permission is granted me to purchase the table and Two (2) chairs at the above cost. I would also state that there is no Copper wire here to connect Telegraph Relay with Battery, it will require about thirty (30) feet., would also state that to get a good exposure for my Anemometer. I had to erect it upon gable of House and that it is very dangerous to climb up to read dial and especially during stormy weather and at night. I would therefore request that a “self register” to Anemometer be sent to me. There will be 170 feet of copperwire required for it. Would also state that I have no office lamp and cannot purchase one at this station. The regulations of the Lighthouse Board will not permit me to use Kerosene oil. I will therefore need a “solar” lamp to use Lard oil. Would respectfully state that it can be purchased in Philadelphia. I would respectfully state that there is no staff nor Halyards at this station to display cautionary Signals from. It will cost $15 to have a 50 ft. Staff erected without Halyards. They cannot be obtained here. Very respectfully Your Obdt. Servt. Geo. Onslow Obsv. Sig. Ser. U.S.A.
Cape Hatteras, N.C. Aug. 31, 1874
In 1875, Onslow wrote of an August storm so fierce: “Large oak trees were wrenched off.” Twenty-four years later, another summer tempest nearly wrecked the bureau itself. Photo: H.H. Brimley/Outer Banks History Center
To the Chief Signal Officer of the Army Washington City, D.C. Sir: I have the honor to state that on account of the high wind which prevailed here the past week I could not get out on the line until Wednesday morning. I took Pvt. Jas. E. Hayes and went over the Telegraph line from Body Island to a distance of 15 miles above Nags Head. I found the poles very badly damaged by lightning. I had to have 10 of the old poles taken up and replaced by new poles. I could not get the poles handy and had to have them hauled a distance of 4 miles and could get nothing but a yoke of Oxen to do it with and it took a great deal of time. After I got the line O.K. to the distance of 15 miles above Nags Head I left Pvt. milepost
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Jas. E. Hayes to go farther north and I returned to New Inlet to under run the Cable at that place which is reported broken by a very large wreck passing up during the early part of summer. I searched for where the cable entered the Inlet but could not find it. I dragged the channel for the cable but could not get it. I tested the line from the north side but could get no current although I had a strong battery at this place. I am very sorry that I can not get it to working sooner but would respectfully state that with but one man and the line in such bad condition it is impossible to get it in order sooner. From what I can learn the line is washed away at Whales Head for a distance of about a half mile. Would also state that to send a man from this place up such a distance as that is attended by no little expense. I would most respectfully state that I think it better for me to commence taking Obsvs. on the 1st of Sept. so that the record may be complete for the month. And also as I can not assist Pvt. Jas. E. Hayes
any I furnished him with money to get anything needed for the line. I hope that if the wind and weather permit — and I can mend the cable — I may be able to have the line in order next Saturday. Would respectfully state that I am doing the best with the means I have and the line in such bad condition as it is. Very respectfully Your Obdt. Servt. Geo. Onslow Obsv. Sig. Ser. U.S.A.
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Cape Hatteras, N.C. Feb’y, 12th, 1875
To the Chief Signal Officer of the Army Washington, D.C. Sir: Your letter dated O.C.S.O. January 18 — directing report in full where in the Sig. Ser. Tel. line was useful in saving the Schooner Helen Rommel has just been received. On Nov. 22, the Schr. Helen Rommel passed Cape Hatteras light-house at 5 p.m. bound south with light S.E. breeze. At 10 p.m., being off Ocracoke 10 miles at sea she encountered a heavy Gale from S.S. E. The wind sea being so high she could not make headway and consequently wore ship and scudded for Hatteras. Finding she could not weather the Cape and vessel being in 12 fathoms water, the starboard anchor was let go with starboard and port chains attached where the vessel lay in great peril until 2 p.m. of 23rd. Finding it impossible to remain at anchor any longer the chain was slipped and the vessel scudded for the beach and struck ¼ mile S.W. of the extreme point of Cape Hatteras at 3 p.m. with very heavy sea and high S.S.E. Gale and heavy rain. The Observer repaired to the scene of disaster at over a distance of 2 miles from station to see if he could be of any service or render any assistance to the Capt. Msgs. were also sent to the shippers of the cargo which consisted of hay and also to the owners of the vessel and they Tel. instructions to the Capt. at this place. The schnr. was set afloat on the day of Dec. and towed to Norfolk for repairs. She was valued at $18,000. Very respectfully Your Obdt. Servt. Geo. Onslow
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We are a full service pharmacy aimed at providing an extraordinary customer experience. Our goal is to aid in the health and wellness of every customer. Cape Hatteras, N.C. April 22, ‘75 To the Chief Signal Officer of the Army Washington, D.C. Sir: In compliance with instructions contained in Cir. No. 27 Current Series, I have the honor to submit the following. The rainstorms of winter at this place generally come from the S.E. or S.W. and are preceded by falling barometer and generally S.E. To S.W. winds, with heavy Cirrostratus clouds moving from S.E. or S.W. The upper clouds if moving from S.W. indicate moist weather but if from West or N.W. generally indicate fair weather. Sometimes the ocean swell is full and heavy from S.E. although the wind is different. This is often a good sign of southerly winds and rain. The temperature invariably rises with rain from South. The wind
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generally veers to the south when it precedes rain. Should it veer back to South it may bring high winds but not much rain. We sometimes experience long rains from the N.E. Although the barometer remains above 30 inches our prevailing wind is N.E. Previous to nearly all our storms the barom. rises very high — about 34.40 in. — and then falls rapidly. In Winter a couple clear days and heavy frost will be followed by rain from South. The humidity generally rises to about 80 or 90 and sometimes even 100 before rain. These observations are only from winter storms. As to high winds I can only give what I observe in the storms experienced here since my arrival. In the Gale of Sept. 28, 1874, the barom. began to Fall three days previous and kept falling until the gale reached its height of 75 miles per hour at 9 p.m. of 28th. It fell 29.393 inches and then rose suddenly and the wind shifted to West. It was during the time the wind shifted from the S.E. to S.W. and then on to West that it blew with such force. Previous to this high wind the Atmosphere has a thick haze or smoky dust and during the storm heavy Cumulus clouds lay off in E. After the wind changed the Atmosphere was much clearer. Very Respectfully, Your Obdt. Servt. Geo. Onslow Obsv. Sig. Ser. U.S.A.
Cape Hatteras, N.C. July 5, 1876 To the Chief Signal Officer of the Army Washington, D.C. Sir: As directed in Paragraph 256 “Instruction to Observer Sergeants,” I have the honor to submit the following Semi-Annual Report of the working of this Station for the past six months, ending June 30th 1876. The location of Office and Instruments remains the same as per last report. Private James E. Hayes remained with me until May 31st when he was relieved and ordered to Portsmouth, NC by Special Orders No. 79; he was succeeded by Pvt. Thomas Burke from Portsmouth, who reported for duty June 3rd — he has thus far shown himself to be both studious and efficient in his duties. Reports have been received from the same stations as per last report and Probabilities have been received from the C.S.O three times daily with as much regularity as the condition of the Government telegraph line would permit. The line south to Smithville began working though on the 14th of March and worked — with occasional interruptions — until March 24th during which time reports were received from that place three times daily. Reports have also been received from Cape Lookout with as much regularity as the condition of line would allow. There have been 30 “Warnings” ordered, five of which were not justified. Can learn of no benefits or injuries resulting from the display at this station. The Government Telegraph Line has proved of very great value and service in procuring speedy assistance to wrecked or disabled vessels in this vicinity embracing that portion of the coast from Hatteras to New Inlets, a distance of fifty miles — assistance or information has been furnished for six vessels during the past six-months as follows: Feb’y 4th, Schooner Clara Davidson got wreckers form Norfolk, Va. Saved. Mar. 21st Schooners Shiloh and Sottie Sea, both total loss, information given to owners and consignees. April 15th, Schooner Saw Dolphin. Saved. April 27th, Schooner Emma M. Fox. Information to owners and cosignees and orders in return to Captain. May 1st, Schooner S. Warren — total loss — information forwarded to owners and underwriters. May 15th. Schooner S. Sturdevant, saved by wreckers from Norfolk, Va. In every call the assistance received has been through the
Hatteras Light House — they are all ready out at sea before they see Warning. Trusting that this may meet the requirements of the paragraph above referenced to. I am Sir, Very Respectfully, Your Obedient Servant Geo. Onslow Sergeant, Sig. Ser. U.S. Army
Cape Hatteras, N.C. Sept. 20/76 To the Chief Signal Officer of the Army Washington, D.C. The Signal Service arrived with weather gauges and a telegraph. In the late 1800s, cameras became available — and the public Sir: got its clearest weather report yet. S.S. Priscilla, August 1899. Photo: H.H. Brimley /Outer Banks History Center I have the honor to write to explain the reason of the Record Sheets of this station for the 17th, 18th and 19th being incomplete in the record of the winds velocity and also in my failing to be able to record the daily velocity of wind for the same dates. I would respectfully state that from 5 a.m. of the 17th to 10:35am — time of accident — the wind blew a hurricane from S.E., attaining a velocity of 74 miles per hour at 10:35 a.m. where my Anemometer Cups were blown off the spindle the wind increasing in force all the while. It reached maximum about 12.30 p.m. at which time it was not short of 100 miles per hour. It was perfectly fearful picking the water up in sheets from the surrounding ponds and, instantly changing it into spray, dashed it against the house like rain. Large oak trees were wrenched off and blown across the roads. Several small schooners here were overturned or dragged their anchors but received no damage. I had an extra set of cups which I had Pvt. Burke put up as soon as it was safe for him to ascend the ladder to where the instrument is located. They were put up at 3:30 p.m. of the 17th the wind having abated to 73 miles per hour. They recorded the wind well when unfortunately one of the cups became lossed and was torn off the connecting arm rendering my last set of cups useless. During the afternoon, the wind veered around to the West moderating all the while until by 9 p.m. there was but 7 miles per hour. I had a diligent search made for use of Government Telegraph line; and had there been no line or had the line been out the last cups and recovered them on the afternoon of the 18th when I put them on as of working order the losses would have been much greater and the condition of the soon as possible. They are now working as well as ever. wrecked Sailors more distressing. This wind raised a fearful tide sweeping clear across the beach from Sea to The section of line north of this Station has worked with more regularity Sound. And on the beach 20 miles south — about 5 miles north of Ocracoke — it during the past six months than ever before for the same period of time — with carried a schooner drawing 10 feet water upon the beach. As high as our telegraph this exception — Since June 18th communication has been entirely cut off from the poles stood, the vessel lays high and dry. Crew all saved. The telegraph line is reported north and since I turned in to C.S. O. The Repairs Fund, I am left in doubt as to down for miles between Hatteras and Ocracoke inlets. Poles with insulators attached the propriety of repairing line without further instructions from Washington. I feel have drifted upon the beach here which I have every reason to believe come from positive from my knowledge of my section and from information received that both south of Hatteras inlet. My Repairman is on line north making repairs on line which is the North and South sections of line belonging to this station are in good order and no reported to be in bad condition. need of repairs. I will end by stating that old settlers state that the storm of 17th was the most There is the same amount of interest manifested for the service by sea-faringsevere experienced in a period of 35 years. men as heretofore reported, there seems to be a general desire by Sea Captains and Very Respectfully, the leading men of Hatteras Village to have the office removed to that place as vessels Your Obedient Servant would there be benefited by the display of Cautionary Signals before they get out to Geo. Onslow sea, and while in good harbor whereas at present — with our displays or warnings at Sergeant, Sig. Ser. U.S. Army milepost 25
OBSERVATION Three coastal experts discuss the state of modern science — and what it means for the Outer Banks and beyond.
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On the Outer Banks, everyone’s a weather expert. Or at least they think they are. Salty captains spit data on sea surface temps and ancient storms. Tropical Young Turks track systems ten days in advance. Old wives’ tales fill the gaps, predicting winter freezes by squirrel activity and wooly worms. And yet, many of these lifelong fanatics are just as likely to dismiss decades of official data, seeing scientists as pushy outsiders in lab coats, full of vague predictions but no real answers. The irony? Some of those scientists live right here in Dare County. Between Duck’s Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility and Skyco’s Coastal Studies Institute, dozens of coastal researchers pass through, spending summers, semesters and decades diligently documenting our dynamic coastline, and sharing the results with the world. Four years ago, the planet’s leading private wave forecaster, California-based Surfline.com, opened a Nags Head office, adding three fulltime meteorologists to the mix. And while all of our professional experts agree there’s no better place to study the weather, they’re also the first to say that nobody can fully understand all the processes. In fact, that’s their job: to constantly question every finding. “Some people see not having a decisive answer as not being committal,” says Dr. Reide Corbett, a CSI marine chemist. “But you may not have a definitive conclusion. Until you have additional data the best answer is, ‘Maybe.’ And people hate to hear ‘maybe’.” Yet, people love to offer their own unverified observations. Whether it’s naming a short-term coastal formation, “Shelly Island.” (It’s really more of a giant sandbar.) Or blaming it on beach nourishment. (Not likely.) Or linking it to climate change. (Wrong again.) Throw in some social media, political biases, and the occasional bad model run, and it’s easy to see how people’s trust in science can erode — even as their own neighbors are doing real research with global impacts. We sat down with Dr. Corbett, FRF research oceanographer Dr. Katherine Brodie, and Surfline meteorologist Mark Willis to discuss what makes the Outer Banks such a hotbed for data and debate. And to find out how we can all help advance scientific discussion in a modern climate where everyone’s a weatherman — and nobody’s perfect. — Matt Walker
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Milepost: The Outer Banks has a strong lineage of scientific study. We actually came across a log of early weather letters from 1874. Why here? MARK WILLIS: It sticks out. We get every kind of weather you can imagine, from snow storms to nor’easters to hurricanes. And it keeps you on your toes — it’s not Southern California, where they get the same winds every day. So, just being exposed to the variety and different challenges keeps it exciting for weather nerds. KATE BRODIE: I agree. From a scientist’s perspective, you’re drawn to where the signal’s large. And we can pretty much guarantee every fall we’ll have some set of tropical systems come through, and every winter we’re going to get a whole big string of nor’easters. It’s the Field Research Facility’s 40th anniversary, and scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic have been coming here since the place opened, because they know they can keep building on the same basic research principles. We’ve got the infrastructure, the facilities, the knowledge, and the equipment to put stuff in the surf zone and get it back with good data.
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REIDE CORBETT: I would say there’s plusses and minuses. It’s extremely energetic. It has currents coming from two different directions. We also have the second largest estuarine system on the back side. But it’s also a struggle to keep instruments working. And coastal dynamics happen on time scales anywhere from minutes to months to years — and it’s hard to keep scientists here. So that poses a challenge. But if you’re attracted to coastal dynamics, we live in a perfect lab. It’s funny you brought up instruments. Is that an ongoing problem? In the 1874 log, the observer writes about his anemometer breaking in a hurricane — then he sends his assistant out to fix it. KB: We still do that! When people evacuate, we stay. I can check all the gauges on my phone. And if I see something go down, we’re out there fixing it. We were on the pier during Hermine and there were hurricane gusts. The whole thing was shaking. MW: Gosh. For us, it’s webcams. After every storm, cams go down. But you bring up the anemometer. When I worked at the Morehead Weather Service office, we still called Alligator River Bridge to get wind reports. And they’d look at the Davis Weather Instrument sitting right there. As digital as the world is now, it reminds you of how some things haven’t changed that much. I’ve lived in few places where weather permeates the community so completely. Are we more aware? Less aware? Do we just think we’re aware? KB: Mostly, people are really inquisitive. They want to better understand, “Why does the beach look like this today and this the next day?” And we’ve had a great working relationship with Nags Head. One of CSI’s grad students uses our equipment to make measurements of how the dunes are evolving near where the beach nourishment area is north of Jennette’s Pier. And the town is really excited to see the results, assimilate that info, and see how we can do better.
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RC: But I would contrast that with 2010’s sea level rise report. Dare County was part of the coalition fighting that report — though they were fighting what the report might impose more than the science. And people can sometimes have a chip on Reide Corbett their shoulder. They don’t want someone coming in and saying, “You shouldn’t live on this pile of sand.” Not that I’ve ever said that — because I live on this pile of sand! And that’s why I start a lot of my talks with, “I live in Kill Devil Hills. What happens here matters to me.”
“if you’re attracted to coastal dynamics, we live in a perfect lab.”
MW: And I think once people know you’re their neighbor, they trust you more. That happened when we put a camera at the Kill Devil Hills bath house. I heard it was a hard sell, because people are like, “What do they want? Money?” And it’s like, “No, we’ll get what we want through the [web] traffic, and lifeguards can use it for monitoring
DR. KATHERINE BRODIE
“Why one house gets knocked down and the one next door survives — that’s the tough stuff.”
Research Oceanographer, Army Corps of Engineers Kate Brodie pushes a tiny pile of sand back and forth on her desk. Metaphorically, it serves as a miniature demo of her work studying nearshore sediment flow. In reality, it’s just a mix of nervous energy and natural environment. When your job entails mounting instruments from dune to shoreline, you’re bound to track in some sand — especially when your office sits smack dab on the beach, inside Duck’s Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility. “I couldn’t ask for a better place to do this type of research,” says the 32-year-old Massachusetts native and geological oceanographer. “It doesn’t look like much, but it’s unmatched, really, in terms of data and history.” Sand-blasted and salty, the FRF wears the years of a battered battleship that’s served her country for decades. Built in 1977, it is home to both the longest pier on the entire East Coast, and arguably the longest continuous collection of coastal processes data on the planet. (Its only rival is Australia’s University of New South Wales’ 40-year program.) As the head of the Remote Sensing Program, Brodie’s orders are to steer nearshore studies into totally new territory. “Science does pretty well at predicting waves and storm surge,” explains Brodie. “Understanding the special variations of sand nearshore — like why one house gets knocked down and the one next door
survives — that’s the tough stuff.” Luckily, she’s got cutting-edge tools. In the old days, a researcher might install a series of pressure gauges in the surf, plunging up and down to get a handful of wave heights. Or, they’d strap on a GPS and walk the beach to collect a line of data points. Brodie drives straight into the heart of the storm and blasts it with laser beams. Enter CLARIS — Coastal Lidar And Radar Imaging System. For the past six years, when a storm hits the coast, Brodie and fellow researchers climb in an ORV and drive the beach taking real-time measurements using RADAR and LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), which bounces lasers off the breaking waves — the foamier the better — to collect every drop of motion and thousands of data points. “The LIDAR renders fine detail shapes of these waves coming through the surf zone,” she explains. “We’ve used it in labs, but CLARIS lets us observe in the field what’s going on at the surface to what’s going on under water.” Brodie turns to her computer. The screen looks like a Lite Brite on acid as a digital silhouette of shorebreak claws at the dune like a lion’s paw. Using algorithms and equations, she can reverse engineer the data points to know just what’s happening to make those waves, from the depth of the swash zone to the size of the sandbars 50 yards off the beach. It also renders 3D
images of the beachfront, down to a footprint, yielding results that are already reshaping coastal research. Scientists in Australia and Europe are currently running their own experiments, while the U.S. Geologic Service uses it to test their new model for wave run-up prediction. And the technology doesn’t just work on a 100-year storm or hurricane. A good ol’ nor’easter will do the trick — or a once-in-a-decade sand dump. “We’re looking at this beach nourishment project as a natural lab experiment,” says Brodie. “We have such a high-energy coastline; we look forward to seeing how it responds.” But not every beach town has the fed’s finest research facility headquartered nearby. So, this year, Brodie’s team began adopting the most common of recording tools: drones and GoPros. With the help of some custom circuitry, 3D-printed mounts, and computer programs, they can fly the coastline and record wave activity, then convert the footage into bathymetric maps. “Our hope is, one day, any community could see a storm coming and fly their own coastline to document the sandbars,” says Brodie. “They could upload it to the cloud, where a coastal model would more accurately predict the longshore impacts. That’s the ultimate goal: you’d get a storm surge forecast and an erosion forecast.” In detail down to the finest grain. — Eugene O’Reilly milepost 29
“A lot of what we know in the future is based on what we know of the past.”
DR. REIDE CORBETT Marine Chemist, Coastal Studies Institute East Carolina University Warning: Reide Corbett is one of those people designed to make you feel dumb. Not intentionally. The 46-year-old researcher employs a perpetually smiling and encouraging demeanor that defines any good college professor. But sneak a peek at his resume, featuring heady phrases like “ferniforal study” and “naturally occurring radionuclides” — and full of hidden subtext, like being the youngest tenured full-timer in East Carolina University’s history — you soon realize you’re not the brightest bulb in the room. And let’s not forget his 99 published, peer-reviewed papers. “I’m hoping to have 100 by the time this comes out,” Corbett giggles. What lies behind all this drive? The huge salaries that define careers in higher education? Some strange fetish for fifteen-syllable phrases? Nope. It’s curiosity — plain and simple. Why spend your life locked into one discipline when you can study the whole? Especially when you learn more about your surroundings in the process. “All science is connected,” explains the Cherry Point native and Florida State graduate. “While working on my chemistry degree, I discovered oceanography. I realized I could apply what I was learning to a subject I was passionate about. Now, working around all these ECU geologists for 17 years, I’ve gotten more into dynamics, sediment resuspension and this meld between chemistry and geology.” milepost
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Translation: a bit of everything. And in some cases, everywhere. Among Corbett’s 25-plus research expeditions, you’ll find boat trips to New Zealand to study how floods and storms impact the sedimentary record, and Antarctic cruises designed to monitor the flow of rapidly melting sea ice. Yet he always finds ways to tie the findings to right here at home. “As that water melts, it brings a lot of freshwater into the ocean, which changes density,” Corbett explains. “These density differences create this large global scale circulation that sets the whole ocean in motion. So, you’re going to see those changes influence the currents we see. Including the Gulf Stream. And that’s just one aspect.” Even Corbett’s local research remains ridiculously varied. Right now, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s got him hunting down sand resources for future nourishment projects. The Department of Transportation wants to know how shade from the proposed Mid-Currituck Bridge might impact SubAquatic Vegetation. But some of his most impressive ongoing work digs deep into our native soil: “coring” area wetlands to shed light on one of the biggest scientific topics of our time: sea level rise. “A lot of what we know in the future is based on what we know of the past,” he explains. “We collect these long cores of sediment in the marsh, slice them up into centimeters, and put them through a process that tells us the age of the content. Then we try to link
them to ancient climate anomalies that we’ve had in the North Atlantic — the Medieval Warm Period, the Little Ice Age — and see what sea level’s done during these periods. Then, if we have models that suggest what climate will do in the future, we can then relate what the influence on sea level will be.” The better the resolution, the better they can relate. In 2006, Corbett cored a five-meter sequence that reached back five millennia. “It’s one of the best records in the world for looking at high-resolution sea level change over 5000 years,” he says. “And we found it a mile from this office — right by the Virginia Dare Bridge.” In 2015, Corbett literally wrote the book on the subject — or at least the chapter on the age-dating, in the Handbook of Sea-Level Research. But it’s not all book smarts. Or brainwork. A lot of Corbett’s motivation is merely to relate science to real people — and real life. Because at heart, he recognizes that all these cold hard facts have real human implications, for him and his neighbors. “Messaging is key,” he explains. “Why argue about whether we should or should not have built stuff on the Outer Banks? It’s too late. We’re here! How do we move forward? Should we continue to grow? Can we continue to grow? That’s where we should have the discussion.” We told you he was bright. — Hugh Middity
conditions.” And it helped our reputation with different stakeholders. But the other part is we get blamed for stuff a lot, too. [laughs]
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And weather’s different than most sciences because everyone experiences it. Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s a celebrity, but there’s no one on Mars to go, “I’ve been here for six generations.” Or to make assumptions like, “There’s a new island; it must be beach nourishment.” RC: But I think we’re probably seeing this in most disciplines. Because of the digital age, anyone can become an expert — or think they’ve become an expert — because they can Google it. So, it creates a challenge for making sure the broader public has the best science. KB: And it’s really the difference between what your gut or intuition is telling you and what the data is telling you. And you can influence your gut and intuition really quickly. Marketing people have been taking advantage of that forever, right? But when you plot these longer time series and get the data, you’re like, “This is different than what my intuition was saying.” That’s the scientific process. But not everyone looks at the data. On the flipside, there are efforts within the scientific community to incorporate people taking pictures and making observations into our own research. You have to be careful with sources and quality control, for sure, but that’s cool because it’s scientists saying, “How can we take advantage of this digital age?” MW: Weather Underground is a good example. And the [NOAA] National Severe Storms Laboratory has a system called “mPing” where anyone can go onto this interface and submit precipitation type. And it’s actually incredible. It’s a great way to see where the rain/snow line is. So, I could be saying it’s raining here, and two blocks away someone says it’s snowing, and this documents it.
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MW: Yes. And to me it’s the best use of crowdsourced data I’ve ever seen. That’s positive. But the other side is dealing with social media. Because surfing has athletes with huge audiences. And they’ll post a Surfline chart that we don’t want them to post. It’s a computer model that’s working way far out and nobody’s verified it. And we’re saying, “No! It’s not gonna happen.” But, no matter what our forecast says, if Kelly [Slater] or whoever posts that a hurricane is going to produce a big swell, we still get blamed when it doesn’t happen 240 hours later. I think a lot of people believe all these predictions come purely from computers. But there are a lot of humans checking on these results. What’s it called? Hindcasting? Verification?
“it’s really the difference between what your gut is telling you and what the data is telling you.”
KB: Hindcasting. Validation. Verification. We just got into a little bit of now-casting. So, not trying to Kate Brodie predict anything, but running our numerical models and validating in real-time. Then you look at: When did we do a good job? When didn’t we? And when we didn’t, why? And let’s see if we can improve the model. MW: I’ve seen the need for that evolve in my field. When I was getting out of college, I was worried I might not have a job because the models were getting so good. Now, there are model forecasts for every surf spot. You can output every 15 minutes. That’s a lot of info to sort through. Where we’ve found value in humans is dumbing it down to give you, “Is the surf going to be good or bad in the next few days?”
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RC: Red, yellow, blue, right? milepost 31
But all that’s still a broad spectrum with a lot of hedging and probabilities. And the hourly forecast gives you a 50 percent chance of rain. People want specific answers. KB: Yes! How do you communicate uncertainty? And there’s still so much uncertainty, even inside of these computer models right now. They’re parameterizing a lot of really complicated physics that we don’t fully understand. And in some graduate programs you see more of an emphasis in training students to communicate scientific results to someone with a non-science background. Because if we as scientists can’t figure out how to communicate our important findings in a meaningful, interpretable way, then so what? It gets hidden in some journal some place. MW: To me, this is a massive problem with storm forecasts. The tiniest track change makes a real big difference. But doesn’t it say “cone of uncertainty” right on the graphic? KB: And Matthew was a huge surprise for so many people because that center storm track kept it offshore, but we were still in that cone of uncertainty. Then things changed a little bit, and all of a sudden that cone of uncertainty really mattered for where the severe impacts were going to be. MW: And that skinny black line, you know? The threats of a tropical cyclone can be widespread. The windfall is displaced to the northwest. And you see the storm track go offshore, but the rainfall doesn’t care about the track. We saw that happen with Matthew.
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RC: That’s why the [National] Weather Service and other organizations are bringing in social scientists to figure out the messaging. Sea level rise is a perfect example. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report is trying to do a better job of demonstrating what the error in some of these projections are. Because it is a real problem. As scientists, we understand the average versus the predicted value and the error bars, but some of the general public just see it as we don’t know what we’re talking about. But it’s the media — guys like me — who deliver the message, ultimately. And we can make mistakes. Or it’s Facebook, where a single emoji can undermine a whole century of accepted science. What’s that mean for science moving forward? RC: That’s where we are, right? That’s climate change under our current federal government. That’s reality.
“you see the storm track go offshore, but the rainfall doesn’t care. We saw that happen with Matthew.” Mark Willis
Reide, I heard there was a meeting where someone asked you, “Do you believe in climate change?” And you kind of snapped. You said… MW/RC/KB: [Simultaneously] It’s not a belief!
RC: [laughs] That’s a problem. Because, to a scientist, data is never a belief. It’s data. But it’s almost like you have to re-educate everybody over and over again. And even more so now. I think back to when I started grad school; research wasn’t in the mainstream. And now it is. KB: It totally is! What’s that Facebook page, I F#*king Love Science? Some of their stuff is great. And some of their stuff is totally wacky. [Ed. note: at press time, that page had nearly 26 million followers.] RC: Yeah, they did something on Shelly Island, too. But that whole story became news because a pretty picture went viral. That’s what started this whole thing! Now it’s on CBS News and every other channel. Is a lot of this human nature? I know correlation is not causation. I know the difference between local weather and the global climate. But some things milepost
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Easy come, easy go. By the time you read this, Shelly Island could have already reconnected to the cape — or been swept away by a recent storm.
still scare me — water temps haven’t gotten under 40 the past few winters. Sandbars are moving less. I feel like seasons are disappearing — or mingling. But I know it’s easy to see the boogie man everywhere. Either tell me I’m right, or make me feel better dammit! KB: I would say these are things that are in your recent memory. But what’s cool about looking at a 30-year record of waves and water levels and winds — and the morphologic response of the sandbars and the beach — is you see trends go up and down in time scales of a few years. So there’s all these big climactic patterns that we have influencing the weather right here, and the weather right here is influencing what the waves are doing, and the waves are influencing what the sandbars are doing. So you see the last little piece and that’s clear in your recent memory. RC: That’s why we need these long data records. Because things are changing. We see them changing. And it’s the time scales that they change on that’s important — whether it’s going to influence next week, or 20 years down the road. Just a shift in the Gulf Stream is going to influence water levels, and that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with sea level rise.
MW: Look at Shackleford Banks. That surf spot is gone. Waves are breaking into the trees right now. But if you look back, it happened around 1940, too.
distributors of information, now what? As the people on the front lines of weather changes, what’s our responsibility as coastal citizens?
But that’s kind of a mixed message. We hear you loud and clear that climate change is real, but, at the same time, this sounds like, “Don’t worry about what you see right now.” So when do you sound the alarm? And how do you motivate people to make changes?
MW: To me, it’s to put good info out. That’s our responsibility. We have 1.2 million followers on Instagram. And that’s an opportunity to be an authority in our field, and not jump on everything that goes viral.
MW: Well, NOAA’s already kind of sounding the alarm when it says 10 out of the last 12 years were the warmest years on record. But then what? I’ve seen reports suggesting we may see a greater number of intense hurricanes because of climate change — but then it also may lead to more El Niño years, which means a shearing pattern. So, it’s two opposing theories; either one is possible. KB: And anything in between! [laughs] RC: Yes. And?! What’s wrong with that?! [laughs] That’s how complex our world is. So, if we’re all recipients of information and
KB: Focus on your observations. Focus on what happened, where it happened, and maybe not on the why part of it. And that’s hard to do. As humans, we see something and want to say, “I think it was this. I think it was that.” But lots of times, we don’t know with absolute certainty. RC: I would like for the coastal community to be open to the data. Whether it’s good for them or bad for them, at least consider the data that’s being presented — or the observations you’re seeing for yourself. One thing I thought was interesting with that North Carolina sea level report is several people weren’t arguing the data or the message — they were arguing that it would be difficult to do anything about it. So what?! Yes, it’s going to be hard. And it’s going to be tough for a whole lot of people. But that doesn’t mean you ignore it. milepost 33
And a lot of the same people who fought the sea-level report pushed for beach nourishment. But what’s really weird is I’d argue that the long standing philosophy was always, “This place won’t last long.” Now it seems there’s a whole group of new people who don’t seem to understand they’ve bought land on a shifting sandbar. KB: We had a big meeting on dune management challenges and developed coastlines. We brought in all these top scientists for a tour. And [the coastal manager] was explaining that they nourished the beach and the result was a huge dune. All the scientists are like, “This is great! Look at this coastal protection.” And the manager went on to explain how some homeowners were upset because they no longer had an ocean view from the first level. See, I would argue whoever owned that house, did not grow up here… KB: But at the same time, maybe it’s the scientists’ fault in how we’ve communicated risk [over the years]. Calling something a 100-year storm is not an intuitive way to actually explain the actual risk associated with that event. You have that risk probably every year.
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“Focus on what happened, where it happened, and maybe not on the why part of it.”
Kate Brodie
RC: I also think there are people who’ve been here a long time who are only recently accepting the changes that are taking place, and do think that sea level is influencing some of the changes we’ve seen or the past several decades and that dynamics are difficult to control. MW: And we even see long-time residents crossing over dunes that they just rebuilt and planted sea oats on. It’s like, “No! don’t do that.” And as a scientist, part of your job is to educate people over and over again. So, it’s just a continuous fight. We’ve got 150 years of studies. What’s our scientific future? Is there a future Woods Hole that could happen here? RC: A future Woods Hole might be a bit of a stretch. I do see ECU beginning to invest in CSI. The provost was down recently and said, “In two years you’ll see the number of faculty double; and the amount of money those faculty bring in double.” The UNC system wants to continue to have coastal science as one of its primary initiatives. And I think there’s real interest in strengthening our partnership with the FRF. So, I think those opportunities are there. KB: I know that the Corps, USGS and NOAA have been working toward bringing a lot of agencies together to study the coastal zone together. And in the past three years, we hired six new, young Ph.D.-level researchers who have moved to the Outer Banks. And that’s exciting, because I have people to collaborate with and have lunchtime discussions with — or grab a beer with after work — and that’s where the cool ideas happen. So it’s exciting to see where it all goes. MW: I’m obviously biased, but I think there’s an opportunity for the private sector to get involved in these collaborations. We just got a federal grant to install cams for different uses in the Southeast U.S. And I hope that will be a building block to help bring our own expertise to the bigger scientific community in ways we never have before. Well, we’re in a dynamic time, and we’re a dynamic place. Why wouldn’t you want to come here to study dynamic stuff? RC: Whether they move here or not, right? It’s great to have people come here for a few weeks, a few days, a few months, and carry all the info back to where they came from. Because ultimately it gets more people to come here and study, too. Maybe they’ll buy an OBX shirt while they’re at it. [laughs] The preceding interview was edited for length, clarity and flow. For a complete transcript of the roundtable discussion — including the complexities of finding funding and implementing policy — go to www.outerbanksmilepost.com.
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MARK WILLIS
“The bottom line is we want to keep people informed.”
Meterologist, Surfline.com
It don’t take much to make your way onto the Weather Channel — at least for a couple of seconds. Simply agree to the prerequisite “Aren’t I dumb for not evacuating?” hurricane interview. Streak past the live report during a peak wind gust. Or, if you’re feeling really brave, try tackling Jim “Judo Chop” Cantore. But to score a halfhour of precious airtime? Going toe-to-toe, isobar-forisobar, with atmospheric ace, Dr. Marshall Shepherd? That takes a real weather nerd. Or shall we say, a WX Geek. “That’s a show where they bring in a meteorologist with a special focus,” laughs Mark Willis, Director of Forecasting for Surfline.com. “I happened to go to grad school with one of the producers. One day, he called me up and said, ‘Let’s talk about surf forecasting.’ Next thing I know, I’m in Atlanta.” But Willis is not some Spicoli storm chaser. The Virginia native’s passion for weather prediction grew out of timing Outer Banks surf missions. By college, he was proficient enough to score his first job at Surfline while still earning degrees from Florida State University and University of Hawaii. In 2005, he jumped into the big leagues, working for both the National Weather Service and later the National Hurricane Center, where he spent nearly a decade reading charts and issuing warnings, from Eureka, CA, to Morehead City, NC. By 2011, Willis was living in New York, managing
the entire marine program for the Eastern Region of the National Weather Service. And that’s where he met the true test of his prediction skills — and felt the full weight of his position bearing down — in the form of Hurricane Irene. “Now that was stressful,” he recalls. “Because it looked like a big event for New York City. And the NHC will say there’s a 10 percent or 20 percent chance of storm surge exceeding a certain level. But the mayor of New York City does not want vague info; he wants a number. The day before landfall, I found myself on the phone calculating with other experts. I think we came in around six or seven feet. If we had added one more foot, it would’ve triggered the biggest evacuation this country has ever seen.” Shortly after, Willis jumped back to his roots at Surfline, which had undergone its own rapid intensification. Today, it boasts proprietary modeling data feeding two sister weather sites — Buoyweather and Fishtrack — 350-plus web cams, 40 million monthly page views, and a team of ten meteorologists. And his duties go way beyond telling deskbound boardriders to take a sick day seven days out. Big-wave surfers pick his brain before hopping planes to other hemispheres. World Surf League event directors demand daily updates on which days are ripe for competition. Before the International Olympic Committee added surfing to the 2020 Olympics, they
asked Willis which beaches in Japan were likely to break. When Space X was deciding where to splash down their rockets, Willis did a study to reveal the flattest stretches of ocean for every season. “Models and satellites are good a week out,” he explains. “But past seven days you can’t beat climatology. And we have a 35-year historical waveheight database. That’s way better than what the Wave Watch 3 model’s going to give you.” Which explains why Surfline also works with NOAA’s Integrated Ocean Observing System — a partnership between public agencies and private firms that decides things such as where to put wave buoys, as well as supports research efforts by the U.S. Navy and the Army Corps of Engineers. They also give every coastal NWS office a free account so they can keep tabs on impending storms. And if a system brews, stations like CNN, ABC — and, yes, even the Weather Channel — tap into their web cams so audiences can livestream the impacts as they come ashore. And you never, ever know who’s watching. “During Matthew, there was a White House press conference that split the screen with our feed from Daytona,” says Willis. “For me, that was a real highlight — and not just for selfish reasons. The bottom line is we want to keep people informed.” — Sue Purcell milepost 35
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We could’ve made these posters more motivational — we just didn’t feel like it.
Beanie babies. Backstreet Boys. Pogs. Flip phones. Here’s another ubiquitous ‘90s novelty item we won’t miss: “Successories.” For those too young to remember, these poster-sized Hallmark cards once dominated offices and airline catalogs, mixing full-size nature shots with sappy, inspirational quotes designed to keep overworked cubicle rats spinning their wheels. (A slight upgrade from the late ‘70s’ cute-but-doomed “Hang in There” kitten.) While picking through weather shots this issue, we thought, “What would any diehard Outer Banks beach bum hang in their salt box?” Here’s a half-dozen of our own half-assed efforts.
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sup n Not all atmospheric info comes from a satellite.
In fact, for most of history, every bit of weather data collected consisted of pure observation: humans watching horizons for some hint of movement, then recording the day’s events from their personal perspectives. Today, cameras perform the same purpose. And, for each forecaster, there’s a thousand photographers training their eyes upward, waiting for the sky’s skirts to start billowing. We asked four local lensmen to submit some of Mother Nature’s sexiest moments and the stories behind them.
per natural Eight shots that show Mother Nature at her most striking.
Photo: Daniel Pullen
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In summer, I’m always watching for afternoon thunderstorms. Something to come close enough to give me good lightning — far enough to not be too dangerous to shoot. Or start raining on top of me. [laughs] This one seemed to come from Corolla right down the beach. Standing in the wash with an aluminum tripod, I stayed extra-conscious of how close these intense bolts of lightning were getting. Every time it flashed, I’d count the seconds. I decided if it got within a mile — or five seconds — I was outta there. Amazingly, it never did. And if you look, there was still one diehard fisherman out on the pier. I remember thinking, “Now, that’s the guy who should be worried.” — Ray Matthews
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you never know what kind of sunrise you’ll get at lake Mattamuskeet.
I’m looking for high clouds, gaps on the horizon where sunlight can slip through and light up the underside, and a smooth surface to show off the reflection. This day had it all. The pre-dawn sky went from dark blue to purplish as the sun crested
Rest, Relax, Refresh Sleep is essential to good health. The Outer Banks Hospital offers home sleep testing, which is the first step in screening for obstructive sleep apnea. If you have concerns about the quality of your sleep, consult with your doctor to determine if it’s time for a home sleep test.
the horizon. The clouds were more scattered, and the colors a bit bolder. Then, as the sun got higher in the sky, the clouds filled in and created this amazing wedge. It’s so symmetrical it almost looks Photoshopped — but I assure you it’s not. — Mark Buckler
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I heard town saw a lot of waterspouts this summer.
But we see a lot more in Hatteras. This one was massive. Luckily, it stayed several miles off the beach. That’s why the ocean is so flat in the foreground. But you rarely hear about tornadoes — except during hurricanes. After Emily, one of the news helicopters took me up for 20 minutes, and you could literally see where funnel clouds had crossed over. They’d touch down, hit and run for 100 yards, dissipate and come back down, cutting paths through the pine trees. It was almost like someone was finger painting. — Daniel Pullen milepost 45
If you asked people, they’d say it didn’t snow at all last winter.
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But we did get one solid dusting. In fact, for about ten minutes, it came down really hard. I walked around Kitty Hawk playing with shutter speeds — then I used the flash to freeze it, so it looks like a blizzard. Right after I got this photo, it stopped snowing. That evening got warmer, and the next day was really nice again. Kind of like that old joke: if you don’t like the weather, wait 10 minutes and step outside. — Cory Godwin
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When I first moved here in the 70s, it seemed like the whole sound would freeze over every year. Now it feels more like every eight-to-ten years. But in 2015, we had a big one that lasted three full days. This is the Virginia Dare Memorial Bridge, but we flew from Oregon Inlet to Corolla, and you could see some version of this beneath every span. Because even though the surface is solid, underneath the water keeps flowing, so it pushes the ice through the pilings and slices it in perfect sheets. They crack off into big pieces, and the wind and tide piles them up like broken glass. And, normally, you’d never notice the tide moving in and out, but the ice literally freezes the process. — Ray Matthews milepost 49
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Sea smoke is a strange phenomenon.
We get it a couple times a year when things first get cold. Often, it takes an “Alberta Clipper” — which sounds like a hockey team. [laughs] But, it’s actually this massive high pressure that swoops down from Canada. So, it’s really more reflective of freezing air than warm water. I’ve seen photos from New Hampshire where the water’s in the upper 30s and the air’s probably negative ten. Now that’s cold. It’s a level of freezing I’ve never experienced. But if it’s December and the ocean is 60 and the forecast shows a high of 15, I’ll be in Frisco before sunrise, looking for sea smoke. — Daniel Pullen milepost 51
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when most people think of chasing storms, they think of the midwest.
But you can just as easily do it here. This day began as a wildlife workshop at Alligator River. When I saw this shelf cloud rolling in, I looked at my client and said, “We’re done shooting bears.” We raced south, stopping periodically at Bodie Island Lighthouse, Oregon Inlet, the old lifesaving station, Pea Island. At Rodanthe Pier, we finally stopped and let the system pass over. So, in this case, I guess the storm chased us. — Mark Buckler milepost 53
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weight or bagging bill fish. There’s lightweight fly rods. Beefy tuna sticks. Whatever species you aim to catch, they can fine tune your setup to sink the hook.
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Technicolor dreamcasters. Photos: Ryan Rhodes
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FLAIR FOLLOWS gogolf FUNCTION gofast
For seasoned anglers, a custom rod is the perfect mix of style and stealth. artisticlicense
Nathan Pruitt’s garage is filled with fishing gear. There’s the “heaver” he used to hook his biggest drum ever. (Fiftyfour inches.) A jigging rod that yielded citations for four different species in a single day. (One silver snapper, one red snapper, one grouper, one sailfish.) And at least a dozen trusty others, bowed with brave tales of “man beats fish.” (Often ending with “man eats fish.”)
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But the ones he loves most are the ones he’ll never use. In fact, some are still ideas in his head. As the brains and fingers behind Hand Tide Stix, Pruitt can take a carbon blank, a handful of guides and spools of technicolor thread, and build a one-of-a-kind creation that caters to an individual angler’s very whim — from the cork handle to the ceramic tip — then connects them with whatever fish they’re looking to catch.
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“When you have something made for you with your name, your color, your print, it’s literally part of you at that point,” says the 41-year-old KDH resident and manager of TW’s Bait & Tackle. “And that’s what I want to make in a rod: an extension of your arm.”
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publisher of Rod Maker magazine, an industry leader for 20 years. “Today, it’s a comparatively small industry. In the U.S., about 225,000 custom rods are built each year — which is only one to two percent of the overall fishing rod market.” It’s more than mere snob appeal. In fact, a custom rod can be the most functional purchase an angler can make. For example, let’s say your mission is catching red drum this fall. You’ll need a “heaver”— 13-foot rods designed to cast heavy weights beyond the shorebreak. But you won’t find them at Dick’s Sporting Goods, because mass-produced models stop at 12 feet. And since heavers are mostly used in the Carolinas — you need to get someone local to make them. Preferably someone who knows how to use them. Someone like Nick Walke or Ryan White. “Nick has a real relationship with a lot of drum fishermen at Cape Point because of his casting ability,” says Pruitt. “And Ryan is a tournament caster. His family’s been building them forever.”
The only limits are your taste — and your pocket book.
“In Florida, I loved building snook rods,” says Pruitt, who moved up from Fort Lauderdale 20 years back. “Here, I love drum fishing. But building a trout rod is probably my favorite, because it’s so challenging. It requires real sensitivity. A light rod, a light touch can help the cause.” Once Pruitt knows what you aim to catch, he’ll account for your size. Age. Gender. Strength. He’ll even watch you fish, noting where you hold the rod or how you reel, mentally cataloging countless variables. From there it’s up to you.
“Blanks” can be graphite carbon or fiberglass or some mix of the two — and just about any length. Handles are usually cork or EVA foam. Guides can be as simple as stainless steel or top-notch titanium. Styles run from basic chevrons to brilliant tiger stripes to “exploding diamonds.” He’ll even order decals with your name, special sayings — or just a pretty flower. Add a wrap of camo or abalone shell. The only limit is your taste — and your pocket book. “Materials are the big thing,” says Pruitt. “They make guides from crazy ceramics or glass insets that can be really expensive. Encase that thing in titanium, it’s a different level altogether — up to $1000. But if you keep it simple, it can be pretty affordable. You can get a trout or beach rod for $250 to $300.” That’s probably $50 more than something decent off the rack. And they often have priceless appeal. In fact, Pruitt’s made retirement gifts for Duke professors. First rods for toddlers. Even rods to commemorate loved ones. “I’ve seen guys hang rods on the wall in honor of their dads,” he says. “One time, I built a rod where the cap came off for a client who wanted to put his father’s ashes inside.”
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Likewise, many charter captains have lasting relationships with custom builders. They can add structural touches that make rods last. Or add some special bling that goes with a boat’s brand. Whatever helps put more bodies in a boat — and more fish on the dock.
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“Mike Lucas had a strong connection with all the charter boats,” says Pruitt. “He was the real rod-building legend of the area until he passed away. But still by far the best builder I saw on the island.”
“I love it when I go fishing, look around and see all my little babies,” he grins. “Nothing makes me happier.”
Recently, Wayne Fowlkes — a VB legend who made rods for both Presidents Bush — died in April. That leaves the next generation to continue the traditions. But it’s not all hucking
Ed note: The International Custom Rod Building Exposition — the industry’s largest event — happens Feb. 24-25, 2018 in Winston-Salem. More at www.rodexpo.com.
He actually calls them his “babies.” Beneath fluorescent lights, he births several at once. Various stations hold rods in different stages, each one attached to a “wrapper” — a kind of sidewise spindle that rotates. As it turns, Pruitt layers on the threads, mixing weaves and colors to tie the guides in place. Between ties, he adds layers of epoxy, which saturates the fibers into a glossy sheen. The materials can be brilliant — even space age — but the concept reaches back to the sport’s very roots. “All fishing rods were handmade until perhaps the late 18th or early 19th century,” says Tom Kirkman, editor and
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Every rod gets some level of special treatment. And while wall-hangers may be nice, for Nathan, his greatest satisfaction is creating something he loves, then seeing it make other folks’ lives better.
Just like any proud papa. — Ryan Rhodes
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PHOTO BY PIVOT VISUALS
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fooddrink robust beverage on friends seeking a natural remedy. The tangy taste came back with high praises, so he stocked a few stores. Before long, the beach was buzzing for more.
Take two of these and call us in the morning. Photo: L. Dub.
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Today, Welch mass produces under the banner Barrier Island Organics. Now FDAapproved, Mother Earth’s Root Cider flows from a 15,000-square-foot facility in New Jersey and ships all over the country.
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THE soundcheck NEW getactive HOOCH
“Each batch is about 500 gallons,” Welch says. “We currently do about 1000 gallons every three weeks.”
Forget moonshine. Healthy concoctions are the new beach buzz.
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The first sip strikes like lightning. It sends a shockwave of citrus, vinegar and garlic across the tongue, rippling down the esophagus like a liquid heat wave, igniting the internal engines. But this is no shot of liquor. It’s a vegetable-based elixir designed to reverse years of abuse, neglect, and to “cure what ails ya.”
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Or as Mother Earth Root Cider founder, Mark Welch, puts it: “Whole raw food equals optimal health.”
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That’s not necessarily news. For generations, cultures like the Carib Indians of Jamaica passed down recipes for tonics and remedies to combat disease and promote overall well-being. But in our pharmaceutical-obsessed modern world, trading prescriptions for plants is a tougher sell. Until you find you really need to.
which meant taking too many antibiotics. “At that point in my life, I had hit a breaking point,” says Welch. “My wife and I have always tried to eat healthy, so we decided to go about the healing process through plants.” After some research on which plants provided optimal benefits, Welch refined his recipe into a heady blend of apple cider vinegar, whole lemon, horseradish root, ginger root and turmeric root — both flown in from Hawaii — garlic, white onion, beets, serranos, and habaneros. All blended together in their whole, raw state. No roasting. No seedless. It’s no wonder the tonic packs a punch.
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For Welch, the moment started in his kitchen five years ago. After being diagnosed with atrial fibrillation — characterized by an abnormal heart rhythm — he was unable to take most over-the-counter medicines,
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“It was helping people with gout and diabetes because it stabilizes blood sugar,” he explains. “The turmeric eases back pain, and folks like the alkalizing effect.”
“The idea is to use all parts of the veggies as a means of retaining almost all of the goodness that a raw product has to offer, which also means a larger yield and less waste,” says Welch. “In fact, we retain about 98 percent of the raw product.” Before long, Welch began testing out the
At press time, you could find them in thirty stores, from as far north as Maine to as far west as Beverly Hills. Cases fill his warehouse, from which they then go to veggie stands like Ed’s Tarheel Too — and even bars like Chilli Peppers — serving health nuts and party fiends with each savory sip.
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Think produce section in a bottle.
Expect a bit of sediment— think produce section in a bottle — slight texture, big flavor and plenty of good stuff. How good?
“I’ve only been on one antibiotic in the past few years.” And tonics aren’t the only homegrown health drink craze. Across the Outer Banks, other backyard brewers are experiencing a boom. Instead of canning Kölsch, they’re concocting kombucha. “I’ve been brewing at home for the last seven years,” says Jason Schultz of Ramblin’ Root Kombucha. “Personally, it keeps my digestive track in line. Other friends say it helps boost energy and keeps their reflux in check.” For those not already on the bandwagon, kombucha is every Southerner’s dream
beverage — a fermented sweet tea — except kombucha gets brewed with a SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacterial yeast). It may look like “jellyfish from space” but this creepy substance creates all the good properties that make it worth drinking. More good ingredients call for more time. “The initial fermentation takes about three weeks,” says Schultz. “Once you make the tea, the sugar is added, then the SCOBY. The yeast eats the sugar, creates alcohol and CO2, then the bacteria comes in and eats the alcohol and creates a low alcohol, low sugar beverage with lots of benefits.” While it does retain some sweetness, the final product is effervescent with a vinegarlike bite — and just enough trace levels of alcohol to get the government involved. “Going from homebrew to commercial has been the biggest hurdle,” Schultz admits. “Because kombucha is fermented, it must be overnighted to NC State, where it then must pass four tests and then be approved by the Department of Agriculture.” Instead, Schultz taps the local market. Or — in the case of Manteo’s Avenue Grille — they tapped him. “I actually began brewing and serving my kombucha on draft at Avenue Grill in Manteo,” Schultz says. “Thanks to that experience, I’ve learned that selling my kombucha in kegs allows for a better, fizzier product.” Currently, Schultz shares space in Stumpy Point with Lost Colony Brewery, syphoning batches from fermenter to keg to 16-ounce jars of lemon ginger, blueberry and gingerspice blends for outlets like Mom’s Sweet Shop, Nags Head Pizza, and Waverider’s Deli. And while the flavor profiles are worlds apart, Schultz and Welch share a common denominator: a respect for healthy living and happy customers. “You not only get to meet lots of cool people with inspiring stories,” says Welch, “but you get to go home at the end of the day knowing that your product is changing peoples’ lives. And that makes going to work a lot easier.” — Fran Marler milepost 57
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Saints of the rhythm: Dorer, Johnson, Carrigan, Kenyon, Hanson and Flick. Photo: Chris Bickford
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“I was walking away when one of Chip’s friends came up to me,” Carrigan continues. “He said, ‘Chip’s band wants to meet you.’ Before I knew it, Jeff asked me to join.”
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They couldn’t go on as Mamba Jamba, but the nucleus was there for something different. Fleckinstein stood ready to apply his trained ear as a professional piano tuner to everything from drums to dulcimer. Carrigan held down bass and guitar. Dorer and Davidson could sing, chant, drum, and dance. What they needed was a strong lead vocalist. Carrigan knew just where to go.
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THE BEAT GOES ON Soul Tribe Evolution keeps the drum circle fires burning.
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Bonnet Street Beach Access. The tail end of a hot and muggy June day. Fifteen-to-twenty people gather around, pounding out tempos on congas, bongos, djembes, maracas. Probably half the players aren’t from the Outer Banks, but they blend right in — even if the beat seems to wander a bit — caught up in the joy of being outdoors and sending a sound into the air. Matching the constant crash-and-repeat of waves, the percussion steadily coalesces around an AfroCaribbean rhythm and a single voice.
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“Don’t you worry ’bout a thing,” it soars. “Every little thing is gonna be alright…”
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The song, of course, is Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds.” The singer is Jannie Kenyon. The drummers are Christine Davidson and Jeff Hanson. Now, strip away the beach and bystanders. Add guitarist/bassist Kyle Carrigan, Fleck Fleckinstein on vibraphone, drums or anything with strings, swirl in the jangling barefoot dancing of Michelle Dorer — and you get Soul Tribe Evolution, a pop-up percussion collective that turns backyard bars and wedding ceremonies into a private drum circle. But no matter the venue, every primal performance is really a tribute to the memory of one special man. “If it wasn’t for Chip Hedenburg, I wouldn’t have this kind of confidence,” says Davidson, who also plays Indian flute. “I like to stay in the background with things. Chip told me I could stand in front of people and perform. Jeff kind of came in about the same time. We’ve drummed together ever since.”
A successful professional musician, Carrigan had lived in New York for a number of years before coming to the Outer Banks to be an artist and gardener. The following April, after meeting Hedenburg for the first time, he went to a fundraising event for Hedenburg’s medical bills. A new face, Carrigan didn’t know anyone, so he started to leave.
A teacher, mentor, yoga instructor, and musician, Hedenburg touched many lives in profound ways. Roughly ten years ago, he began organizing beach drum circles, which grew into monthly events that drew regulars and randoms alike. A few signed up for adventures they’d never considered. “I went to Burning Man with Chip twice,” recalls Hanson, a former Army Corps FRF oceanographer. “It was a transformative experience. We both retired early after attending that crazy party in the desert.” Hedenburg opened his own yoga shop. Hanson began contracting his wave-prediction skills to businesses like wind farms and surf sites. They formed a band with Davidson called Mamba Jamba and began playing out. Then, in late 2015, Hedenburg was diagnosed with lung cancer. On June 20, 2016, he passed away. Summer Solstice, Chip’s favorite day of the year. “We always said Chip was the center of the wheel,” Dorer remembers. “And he was himself until the very end.” That night, they gathered to bid farewell with a ring of fiery rhythms. Little did they realize it was the beginning of a new group. Of course, Hedenburg’s hand was in this iteration as well. “I first played with Chip on Christmas Eve, 2015 — just the two of us,” Carrigan recalls. “When we played music, it was right on beat.”
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“Kyle and I have been friends for a significant time,” Kenyon recalls. “He came to me and said, ‘We’re going to have our Full Moon Party. I told everybody about your voice. Would you like to have a little tryout?’ That was like a childhood dream to be a part of a band.”
Every primal performance is really a tribute to one special man.
That was less than a year ago. Still, the group keeps evolving. Depending on the performance, longtime circle member Sage Noriega might join the dance while Gia Quattrone spins fiery batons. Meanwhile, the group moves between the tribal beats Chip laid down and more complex styles — Latin influences and sometimes syncopation that is reminiscent of jazz. “Chip loved Afro-Cuban rhythms,” Carrigan says. “I’m a ‘no rules’ kind of guy. I love music like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Ramones, jazz, New Orleans music. And Fleck definitely brought a wide variety, as well.” But the heart of the music remains percussion. A pulsating, mesmerizing beat that flies in many directions, creating fresh sounds. Just like the drum circles that continue each month, encouraging all newcomers. Which is, according to Davidson, what the group should be doing — and also why it remains a fitting tribute to Chip Hedenberg and his vision of music’s ability to bind a community. “It’s very comfortable,” she says. “We’re like a beautiful family that is constantly changing.” — Kip Tabb milepost 59
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SAND upfront MAN soundcheck For beach sculptor Mark Costello, every day is an Etch-a-Sketch.
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Thrilled by the completion of his first spiral in the sand, Mark Costello raced over the dunes, across the beach road, and into his apartment. He grabbed his camera and ran back out the door. Two minutes later, he returned to find the sculpture, which he’d so carefully crafted that morning, pierced by twin tire tracks.
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“Two old guys in a Jeep,” someone nearby told him.
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Mark snapped an image anyway. At the time, he remembers being angry. But, five years later, he’s gotten over it. Flipping through a manila folder of photos, just after sunrise on a sun-splashed June morning, he offers an easygoing laugh when he comes to his momentous — and mangled — debut.
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252-987-2097 26248 hwy 12, Salvo, nc 27972 milepost
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“Other people will defend my work, but I tell ’em don’t worry about it,” Mark says. “Usually every morning when I come back, I get to re-create. That’s okay. With sand, nothing’s permanent.”
or bitterness or resentment. At 56, the “Sandman” — as locals call him — enjoys a simple, quiet existence in Kill Devil Hills. He tends to bonsai trees. Carves ornate canes and walking sticks out of wood he finds. Mostly, he plays in the sand. And, man, does he play. Sculpted domes, cones, pyramids, and spirals, some measuring 30 feet across. Huts made of washed-up sticks and sea grass. Shells spiked on ship timbers like totems. A few years ago, he created a seating area of sand chairs for folks to enjoy Fourth of July fireworks, complete with cup holders. “I love staying connected to nature,” Mark says. “That’s the most important thing for me and my sanity. I just love being out on the ocean. There’s no sense in me being on that side of the craziness over there,” he adds with a wave toward the beach road.
Florida, where he performed in the park’s shows. He also spent years at Zoo Atlanta, building lasting relationships with elephants and occasionally cleaning up giant loads of pachyderm poop. (He laughs as he flips to a photo in which he’s holding a shovel and catching a pile of dung — as it’s expelled!) Mark lived in Asheville for a few years and recalls hating the feeling of being “hemmed in and locked in with mountains everywhere.” Jobs on the water proved more enjoyable — dive instructor, underwater construction — but it was actually a landbased opportunity that put the Sandman on his present path. He worked as a heavy equipment operator for the US Army Corps of Engineers, and after retiring in 2006, he had an epiphany.
graphiccontent Most of Mark’s life has revolved around
“I moved dirt for them,” he says with a smile. “A few years later, I finally discovered, ‘Wow, I can still move the Earth.’ It brought me peace and serenity.”
gosurf
Costello moved to the Outer Banks six years ago to be closer to his two sisters. And to
There is no room in Mark’s life for anger
maintaining that connection. Former jobs include swimming with dolphins at the old Ocean World attraction in Fort Lauderdale,
Southwestern Flair With A the beach, of course. Armed with a hoe and three smoothing sticks — plus whatever Mother Nature provided in terms of flotsam and jetsam — the Sandman got to work. Immediately, people took notice. How could they not? Considering a good-sized whelk makes beachgoers go bonkers, a seashell statue sticking out of a sand spiral is bound to stop traffic — and cause a full range of reactions. “What people think is different and they don’t understand, they’re fearful of it,” he says. “But I’m the nicest guy in the world. I’m approachable. I’ll chit-chat.” A few think he’s crazy and give him a wide berth as they pass on the beach, oftentimes with a look of skepticism etched on their faces that screams, “When are you going to grow up? Why are you playing in the sand?” Others see the geometric creations and accuse him of being an alien, using his shapes to send messages through the cosmos and welcome UFOs. Most, however, will stop by to say hello and ask friendly questions. The most frequent query he gets is, “How long did that take?” Mark usually responds that it was from the time the sun came up until it got “about there,” pointing to the sky. Don’t even think about asking him if he’s got the time: “The time is now,” responds the man without a watch.
“
“Every morning I get to re-create. With sand, nothing’s permanent.”
Some comment on how much work it is for him, but the Sandman corrects them: “No, that’s a lot of play.”
Still others, enjoying their brief week of a restful vacation, tell Mark how they would love to have his life. “You can,” he tells them. “Just step into it.” Provided you’re prepared to step away from all the world’s distractions. Mark has no TV. Is computer-illiterate by choice.
Avoids all political bickering. And while he prefers to remain anonymous, his body of work keeps making fans. The locals who visit with him, and the families who rent houses on his stretch of beach year after year, eagerly anticipate his next work of art. Last summer, when illness kept him away for long stretches, he found several notes to “the Sandman,” left on the beach and telling him he was missed. He keeps a notepad of moving messages collected over the years. “I’ve created this following of people who come by to see what I’ve done,” Costello says. “I get a lot of people saying how grateful they are. They thank me for what I do and tell me they look forward to coming back. I create for me, but I’m also grateful it has an effect on so many people.”
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Southwestern Grille and Wine Bar
As the sun rises in the sky and the tiny waves at low tide quietly rise and fall, he reflects on a lesson learned from his Grandpa Costello, who to Mark was the perfect image of the old guard, the silent generation that didn’t speak just to fill a void. One day when Mark was visiting, the 96-year-old spoke to the boy for the first time: “Boy, you learn something new every day. If you don’t, you’re not paying attention.” And so, every day, Mark tries to see something new in his environment: birds or crabs doing unusual things, unique items washed up on the beach, an interesting find on one of his free dives. One of the most satisfying discoveries is another sand sculpture. He regularly sees both kids and adults emulating his work. If they then travel elsewhere and design cones and spirals on a faraway beach — suddenly his ideas could be all over the world. “Just your actions can affect people,” he says. “You can do the littlest thing, say the kindest thing to somebody, and just change thousands of lives because it spreads.” And with that, the Sandman picks up his smoothing stick, enters his latest creation, and patiently begins whisking away the impressions left from beachgoers who enjoyed his work the night before — working backward to erase even his own footprints. — Steve Hanf
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Sarah and I move boxes from the garage into the house. This shouldn’t take long, but it does. The boxes aren’t marked correctly, if they’re marked at all, and we take breaks to sip ice water with lemon and check the news for weather reports. Nothing much changes; the coast is clear, and we are bored. The contents of the boxes don’t interest us today as they might otherwise. Today it’s only a matter of necessity, of preparing for the worst. Sarah’s stepmother comes outside again to remind us that the attic is full, and we roll our eyes at her when she turns her back. Smile at each other. Lift another box. Begin again. This time of year, it’s all we can talk about. Arlene, Bret, Cindy, and now Dennis. Names we know so well, their positions charted and re-charted on maps, lines of latitude and longitude marked with red pins. The newsflash updates on the radio: listen, listen. There are half-whispered conversations in the aisles of the grocery store, while standing in line at the bank. The forecasts all point in our direction, and we can’t help but fall into old routines. We roll out tape in X-marks and clear debris from our yards. Some people buy sheets of plywood to cover windows and balcony doors. Dennis the Menace, a man spray paints on a board covering the entrance to a tackle shop. Sarah and I point and laugh at this while we drive down the beach road watching others prepare for the storm. It’s a catchy phrase, one they will use later for T-shirt souvenirs. I survived…. Survival is, of course, assumed.
Illustration by Holly Overton
Sarah rests a box down on a stack in the bedroom and pauses to slip the strap of her tank top back up over her shoulder. She’s sweating, and she fans the air in front of her chest with both hands. Useless, she says, glancing around a room littered with boxes and folded sheets. Storm probably won’t even come now. I laugh, check the sky from the window, and nod in agreement. What can you do? Best to be prepared, I tell her. Sarah shrugs. Maybe, she says. In a few days, we’ll watch Dennis arc up the coast beside us, stall, and then pivot on his heel back around toward the warm water of the Gulf, up over land. The movement of a dancer. It is not what anyone will expect, and yet this is how it will happen. Of course, we don’t know any of this as we store the last of the boxes where they will be safe above the flood line and sink into chairs on the front porch. Sarah squeezes a slice of lemon into a new glass and hands it to me, leaving behind an outline of sticky fingerprints. Cheers, she says, raising her glass to mine. I lean in so the rims of our cups touch briefly, the sharp ping of glass meeting glass, ice cubes cracking on contact with each other. Cheers, I repeat with a laugh. Above us the sky is still so very, very blue; there’s not a cloud to be seen for miles. — Amelia Boldaji
LESS JOBS LESS MONEY
ALL THE RISK
Every year, coastal tourism pumps more than $3 billion into the NC economy. No spills, just proven results. To learn more about why offshore drilling is a sucker’s deal, go to nottheanswernc.org. milepost 63
endnotes Late-summer nerves got you high-strung? Chill the flute out when the 2017 Surf and Sounds Chamber Music Series brings strings, piano and pipery ensembles for free shows at Town of Duck Amphitheater (Aug. 23, 6:30pm), Cape Hatteras Secondary School (Aug. 24, 7pm), and Manteo’s Dare County Arts Council Gallery (Aug. 25, 7pm). Tune into www.bryanculturalseries.org for deets. • Rock those Aug. blues away when Donavon Frankenreiter mustache-rides into Real Watersports, Aug. 26, 6-9pm. And the Sky Blue Concert series keeps jamming through Nov. 30, including slide guitar by upper-lip hair farmer Mojo Collins on Sept. 7. Brush up on all the live acts at www.realwatersports.com. • Skank it easy — fast and slow — when Outer Banks Brewing Station serves up Ska standouts The Pietasters (Aug. 26), followed by reggae rockers The Movement (Aug. 31), Through the Roots, and Iya Terra (Sept. 14). More at www.obbrewing.com. • NC Coastal Federation and the National Park Service kick up sand — and gather trash — with a Soundside Clean Up at Salvo’s Haulover Day Use Area, Aug. 26, 9-11am. Check in at www.nccoast.org. • Cruise your way toward the big day when Aug. 27’s OBX Wedding Fest fills Pirate’s Cove Pavilion with every style of vendor in a laidback setting — plus food trucks and music — to promise smooth sailing for every planning decision. 10am-5pm, $10. Details at www.obxwa.com. • Top surfing talent works and plays all Labor Day weekend when the WRV Outer Banks Pro heats up Jennette’s Pier, Aug. 30-Sept. 4. This World Surf League event draws top pros for daily battles and nightly Pacifico bashes — like Bonzer Shack’s Sept. 3 streak of Three Amigos, Zack Mexico and a secret guest — plus at least one lay day of foamboard foolishness from Catch Surf. Sched and updates at www. wrvobxpro.com. • Support local causes — and celebrate local artists — when the Island Art Show returns to the Rodanthe-Waves-Salvo Community Center, Aug. 31. From 10am5pm, see every style of creative expression, hear live tunes, and help dedicated do-gooders like the SPCA and Island Meals. Then come back Oct. 19 for fall’s final imaginative installment. Find ’em on Facebook. • On Sept. 1, charge over to Manteo for First Friday’s monthly gathering of later shopping and community sharing, where Dare County Arts Council Gallery stokes folks out with a surf photo exhibit curated by Daniel Pullen, and a vintage board show by Steve Wise. Plus, Sensi Trails will strum da reggae riddims to totally Spicolify the outdoor atmosphere. More at www.darearts.org. • Lose the red eyes and put on some lipstick. On Sept. 2, the OBX Tribute Rock Concert glams up Roanoke Island Festival Park, as Trial by Fire teases Journey, Slippery When Wet pouts like Bon Jovi, and Pandora’s Box unleashes Aerosmith. 4pm, $30 (plus taxes and fees). Get VIP pricing, parking and shuttle details, plus more festive fine print at www.roanokeisland.com. • Stephanie Kiker, Randy Hodges and Carolina Coto are just a few of the 25 original talents who’ll make up the Hilton Garden Inn’s OBX Arts & Craft Festival, Sept. 6-7.
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SEPTEMBER 23rd, 2017 11:00AM - 6:00PM LIVE MUSIC! SUSTO . ZACK MEXICO . SENSI TRAILS . PHANTOM PLAYBOYS
All You Can Eat Steamed Crabs and Sides, Local Wines & Beers, Plus a Souvenir Glass! VIP/SPONSOR TABLES AVAILABLE - EMAIL JOHN@SANCTUARYVINEYARDS.COM
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NOVEMBER 25th, 2017 12:00PM - 5:00PM LIVE MUSIC . WINE SAMPLING . NEW WINE RELEASES . HAYRIDES
All You Can Eat Steamed Oysters, BBQ & Crabs While They Last! COURTESY OF “I GOT YOUR CRABS” IN KITTY HAWK
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graphiccontent gosurf outthere gohunt Day at the Docks meshes watermen traditions and tasty seafood in Hatteras Village, Sept. 15-16. Photo: Daniel Pullen
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BENEFITTING THE ROGALLO FOUNDATION While perusing the painting, pottery, jewelry, and metalwork, you can bone-up on NEST and the Dare Literacy Council, both of which benefit from this fully free show. Find updates on their Facebook page. • Hold onto your rods! The Hatteras Village Surf Fishing Invitational returns Sept. 7-9. And the Cape Hatteras Anglers Club Bingo Night continues every Wed. on Light Plant Road in Buxton, through Oct. 18. (At which point it switches to every other week.) Proceeds support annual scholarships and non-profits. Games start at 7pm. Winning details at www.capehatterasanglersclub.org. • The Comedy Club keeps landing national stand-ups at KDH’s Ramada Plaza Hotel through Sept., including Jim Moran (Sept. 1-3), Beatty Barns (Sept. 7), Mike Stankiewicz with John Kensil (Sept. 14), and Rob Brackenridge (Sept. 28). Tix and times at www.comedyclubobx.com. • You need this next one like you need the holes in your head. On Sept. 7, Outer Banks Hospital’s Ear Nose & Throat Center hosts a Revitalize Your Senses Tent Event to promote healthy sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch, 11am-1pm. And flex your mind and body for free, three mornings a week through Sept. 15, with OBH Wellness Camps at KDH’s Ocean Bay Blvd Beach Access. (Mon/Fri, 7am; Wed, 6am). Bring a yoga mat or towel, sunscreen and water — plus a donation or non-perishable item for the Beach Food Pantry. Full deets at www.theouterbankshospital.com. • The 8th Annual Walk Against Addiction makes tracks around First Flight High School, Sept. 9, to support healthy lifestyle choices and raise funds for counseling, rehab/detox transportation, and more. $10 buys a tote, $15 scores a shirt. Plus, you can hang out with Oxford House’s Kurtis Taylor and pharm-abuse fighter, Dr. Christine Petzing — and enjoy a cookout with Mighty Wind United Methodist Church. Can’t make it? Go to Blue Water Grill and buy a copy of their new recipe book, Cooking With Blue — every dollar feeds the cause. More at www.walkagainstaddiction.org. • From 10am-12pm, skip next door to KDH Rec Park to march with Sept. 9’s Outer Banks Great Strides for Cystic Fibrosis. Find their Facebook page for details. • Or celebrate the 40th Anniversary of NC’s Mountains-to-Sea Trail by hiking a few miles of Cape Hatteras National Seashore — or just take a financial shortcut by stroking a check. For maps, details and ways to donate, go to www.MSTinaday.org. • Tutu tired to move? Watch the Richmond Ballet gracefully open the Outer Banks Forum for the Lively Arts’ 35th season, Sept. 9, at First Flight High School. Come back Oct. 21 for classic American pop harmonies by Black Market Trust. Or take in Steel Wheels’ bluegrass mountain twang, Nov. 18. All shows at 7:30pm, $28. $25 for students. More at www.outerbanksforum.org. • On Sept. 9, the skies over Nags Head’s Soundside Event Site go crazy with color when the Outer Banks Stunt Kite Competition gathers world-class pilots to compete in categories like precision, choreography and dual team. Meanwhile, super-sized shapes soar overhead and families learn to fly their own freak flags. More at www.kittyhawk.com. • Calling all entrepreneurial aces! The application cut-off for Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce’s 2017-2018 Leadership OBX Program is Sept. 15. Ten learning sessions and a two-day retreat help establish a sense of community and leadership skills. Get apps, pricing and potential scholarship opportunities at www.outerbankschamber.com. • Dive down to Day at the Docks, Sept. 15-16, as Hatteras Village celebrates community, heritage and watermen traditions with feats of fishing skill — and seafood-making prowess. Start Sept. 15 with a Hurricane Awareness Town Hall and the 6th Annual Taste of North Carolina, Hatteras Style, at Lee Robinson General Store. (Times TBA.) Then, feast on Sept. 16’s full day of fresh seafood, live tunes and family festivities, including a Fishy 5k and Dock Dash Fun Run, Chowder Cook Off, Outer Banks Catch Community Tent, the infamous Concrete Marlin Contest, and — of course — the annual Blessing of the Fleet. (Plus, NC Coastal Federation will lead free shoreline tours to celebrate National Estuaries Week.) Full sched. and updates at www.hatterasonmymind.com. • Paddling pescadors compete for eyepopping prizes when the Kitty Hawk Kayak Fishing Tournament dangles lines from dawn to dusk, Sept. 16. Entry fee of $40 includes a captain’s cookout and awards ceremony. Registration and rules at www.kittyhawk.com. • Kiteboarders prove their worth in the surf, Sept. 16-22, when the Cape Hatteras Wave Classic Presented by Patagonia posts up at
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K E G F LY I N G C O M P ET I T I O N • C R A FT B E E R GA R D E N • L I V E M U S I C K I D S ZO N E • LO CA L F O O D V E N D O R S . . . A N D M O R E ! PRESENTED BY:
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endnotes Real Watersports. Two categories let male and female riders take a shot at cash prizes and bragging rights, plus a guaranteed party on both sides of the week. More at www. realwatersports.com. • On Sept. 16, the Currituck Heritage Festival goes buckin’ nuts at Powell’s Point. From 1-9:30 pm, hear live music from Jug Tucker and the Daniel Jordan Band, watch a Kansas City Barbecue Society-sanctioned cooking competition, and savor food, beer and cheer from various vendors — then go witness prograde bull riding. Festival entry is free; rodeo pricing and details at www.visitcurrituck.com. • As long as you’re rolling in dirt, you might as well grow something. Head to Elizabethan Gardens’ End of Summer Clearance Sale, Sept. 17 — and Big Fall Plant Sale, Sept. 30- Oct. 7 — for big discounts on perennials, shrubs, ornamentals grasses, and trees. And workshops like Sept. 2’s Container Gardening, and Sept. 16’s Plant a Tree or Two, show you just where to stick ’em. Prices and times at www.elizabethangardens.org. • Cauliflower ears grow wild at Kelly’s, Sept. 16, when the Outer Banks Boxing Club’s Baddest Man/Woman on the Beach pits fighters of both genders and all skills in a non-profit fundraiser. Weigh-ins at noon. Fights start at 5pm. Pugilists must have an updated USA Boxing card. For more info, call David Derby at 252548-4623. • Punish yourself three ways to Sunday when the Outer Banks Triathlon returns, Sept. 16-17, with four states of swim-bike-run masochism: Sprint, Olympic, Triathlon, and Half Triathlon. Or, ditch the jogging and dive into the Aqua Bike divisions. Get full details at www.outerbankstriathlon.com. • Personally, we’d rather drown… in beer! Luckily, Trio celebrates the start of Octoberfest, Sept. 16-17, where Lederhosened staff run Germanstyled suds and food from table to table. Hell, we might just stay put until Sept. 20’s Vintage Beer Dinner, a coupling of the freshest vittles with the finest, cellar-aged fermentations. More at www.obxtrio.com. • Roll out the barrels as Eastern Surfing Association celebrates 50 years of spitting tubes — and crowning champs — at the annual Easterns event, which brings top amateur talents to Jennette’s Pier, Sept. 17-23. More at www.surfesa.org. • What’s for supper? Find out Sept. 19 at The Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, where author Sharon Peele Kennedy demonstrates cooking Shrimp Outer Banks Style. Come Sept. 26, John Ratzenberger serves up tasty tidbits on the local Civil Air Patrol’s role in WWII. (Both 2-3pm.) And every Wed., Drew Pullen revisits the Civil War on Hatteras Island at 2:30pm, while Sam Green promotes Painting Canvas-Backed Decoys at 12:30pm. (Both through Nov. 17.) In-between, enjoy Dixie Burrus Browning’s native perspective on Hatteras life, via photos and watercolors. Find full details at www. graveyardoftheatlantic.com. • Lukas Nelson does his daddy proud at Kelly’s, Sept. 20, when he leads Promise of the Real through a full night of “cowboy hippie surf rock” to celebrate the release of their self-titled album. Get an earful at www.promiseofthereal.com. • Hoot! Cheer! Or just chill as the 6th Annual Surfalorus Film Festival stacks up three days of flicks, sticks, photos, and raffles, Sept. 21-23. Turn to page 18 for more, or get the full lineup at www.surfalorus.org. • Outer Banks Surfrider’s Annual Beach Sweep & Trashfest stokes out nature lovers, Sept. 23. Clean up an access from 9am-12pm, then bring your filled data card to the Brew Pub for a free party, 12-4pm. Learn more at outerbanks. surfrider.org. • The NC Beach Buggy Association does its part down south, Sept. 23, with Operation Beach Respect and Adopt a Highway events at Hatteras ramps — with a picnic and Board of Directors meeting to follow. And it’s perfectly timed for the 2nd Annual Hatteras Island Surf Fishing Challenge, Sept. 22-24. Learn more at www.ncbba.org. • The 4WD community runs amok when the Off-Roading With Luke & Eddie Outer Banks Jeep Mutiny rolls through town — and a variety of beach locations — Sept. 21-24. Find ’em on Facebook for updates. • Lose that rebel flag and be a rainbow warrior, when the 7th Annual Outer Banks Pridefest returns, Sept. 22-24. This year’s main event is outer and prouder as they move to Downtown Manteo on Sat. for the new Miss Outer Banks Pride Talent Show, hosted by trans performer Jennifer Warner. (She also emcees Sunday’s Drag Brunch at Avenue Grill.) Don’t forget Fri. night’s Booze Cruise on the Crystal Dawn. And make Pamlico Jack’s your after-hours sweet spot for Fri.’s Pride and Joy Drag Show. And come Sat. night, comedienne Lady Bunny shows off her naughty bits. Full sched and threeday passes at www.obxpridefest.com. • On Sept. 23, Sanctuary Vineyards’ Crabdaddy
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Bryan Cultural Series
Invitational Art Show October 2-28, 2017 Glen Eure’s Ghost Fleet Gallery Nags Head, NC
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Dorothy Papadakos
“Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde”
Silent Movie with Organ Accompaniment
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Sunday, October 15, 2017 at 7:00pm All Saints Episcopal Church Southern Shores, NC Tickets $15
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Dr. John Noffsinger
Women in the Works of Charles Dickens Sunday, November 12, 2017 at 4:00pm All Saints Episcopal Church Southern Shores, NC Tickets & information available online at bryanculturalseries.org Our endowment managed by the
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Feast on steamed seafood and hot bands, like the Phantom Playboys, at Sanctuary Vineyard’s Crabdaddy, Sept. 23. Photo: Mike Carter
screams “I Got Your Crabs,” as they serve all-you-can-eat hardshells, all-you-can-sample wines, and all-you-can-hear songs by SUSTO, Zack Mexico, Sensi Trails, and The Phantom Playboys. Plus hay rides, games and Crabdaddy Olympics. 11am-6pm. (Pinch $40 tix at www.sanctuaryvineyards.com.) And stop in any Thurs. through Sept. for free Acoustic Sunsets shows by Natalie Wolfe (Sept. 7), The Break (Sept. 14), Slow Livin’ (Sept. 21), and Three Amigos (Sept. 28). • Southern Shores’ Chickahauk Beach Access becomes a feeding frenzy of amped groms and good times, Sept. 23, when the 9th Annual Throwdown North of Town returns to fuel competitive fires and raise funds for a local family facing a medical crisis. Learn how to help at www.throwdownsurf.com. • On Sept. 28, Corolla’s Currituck Beach Lighthouse and North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services promote Deaf Awareness Day by offering American Sign Language climbs at 11am, 2pm and 3pm. Home school groups are encouraged to join. Find ’em on Facebook. • Fight cancer one step at a time, when Sept. 30’s 8th Annual Get Pumped for Pink 5k/10k laces up at The Gym in Kitty Hawk. Proceeds help the Outer Banks Hospital’s Get Pinked! and More Campaign, which provides critical cancer services to locals in need. Register at www.theobxrunningcompany.com. • Lady anglers hook up the Hatteras Island Cancer Foundation, Sept. 30, when Avon Pier hosts the 3rd Annual Fish Like A Girl charity fundraiser. More at www.koruvillage.com. • Or join a fishing comp of a different color, as the Jim Fulford Red Drum Tournament strikes Jennette’s Pier, Sept. 30, 7am-1pm. More at www.jennettespier.net. • Mix white and red wine with a hell of a good time — and good food — at The Lost Colony Wine & Culinary Festival, Sept. 30. Top local chefs pair specialties with primo vino, a Craft Beer Garden pours local brew, and live music fills the historic grounds behind Waterside Theater. 1-5pm. $50, ($25 for nondrinkers.) Find tix, VIP options and surrounding culinary events at www.tlcwinefest.com. • Then lush on over to the Bonzer Shack for a late, live show by native artist-turned-NYCmulti-instrumentalist, Holly Overton, at 11pm. Come back Oct. 17 and get your swerve on with high-octane power trio, The Emily Musolino Band. More at www.bonzershack.com. • Bold, refined flavors hit the palette — and the wall — Oct. 2-28, when the Bryan Cultural Series Invitational Art Show brushes through Glenn Eure’s Ghost Fleet Gallery. Twenty longstanding, local talents hang several paintings apiece. Find the full list of participants at www.bryanculturalseries.org. • Savor a medley of banjo, fiddle, mandolin, and more when The Bluegrass Island Festival stuffs Roanoke Island Festival Park, Oct. 3-7. This 4-day favorite features Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Rhonda Vincent & the Rage, Darin & Brook Aldridge, and too many other talents to list in a single lick. Daily tix just $45. Find a complete sched — plus VIP options and parking deets — at www.bluegrassisland.com. •
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OCT 7-8
For schedule details, visit DUCKJAZZ.COM milepost 67
endnotes Fiddles — or fixtures? You’ll have to decide, because the Outer Banks Parade of Homes community concert with the Mint Julep Jazz Band, 4-6pm, followed by a 7:30pm jam at the does its own hoedown of top house builders and tight jambs, Oct. 5-8. Get the latest plans Blue Point. Oct. 8, it’s all-day ditties between two stages, including Robert Jospe’ Express at www.obhomebuilders.org. • Like rustic charmers? Self-guide your way along the Kill Devil Trio, The Rad Trads, Marquis Hill Blacktet, and Davina & the Vagabonds — plus the Hills Historic Landmarks Open House, Oct. 6, Second Marine Aircraft Wing Jazz Ensemble and 1-6pm. Stop by KDH Town Hall for a guidebook, then the First Flight High School Jazz Band. Get the full What’s black and white and rad all over? Downtown Books’ Legends of The Sandbar get to snoopin’. For more info call 252-449-5318 or visit sched at www.duckjazz.com. (Then show up before signing on Oct. 6. Photo: Chris Bickford www.kdhnc.com. • For feel-good hooks, you can’t beat 10am to secure your turf.) • On Oct. 7, Nags Head Manteo Rotary Club’s Inshore Slam, Oct. 6-7, where Elementary School Great Pumpkin Fair fills the fishing and fun feeds a longstanding local scholarship — grounds with gourds and games, bouncy houses, bake raising more than $300k over the past 20 years. More at sales, and silent auctions. Plus, special $50 raffle tix put www.rockfishrodeo.com. • Stick close, ’cause Oct. 6 is you in the running for a brand new car! To find latest also First Friday, where the Dare County Arts news or to volunteer, head to their Facebook page. Council promotes portraits by Adele Castillo and a • Fill up on BBQ and bivalves, Oct. 7, when the 16th live performance by Old Enough To Know Better. Annual Oink & Oyster Roast parks at Longboard’s Plus, peruse locally-designed masquerade masks to buy Island Grill to raise funds for the Flight Rotary Club. and wear at Oct. 28’s Black Opal Masquerade Ball at $30, 12-4pm. More at ww.oinkandoyster.org. • Then Pirate’s Cove. This year’s fundraiser is a “gala in three try not to crap your pants when everyone’s favorite, acts,” featuring technicolor costumes, a vibrant menu by most terrifying haunted trail — Wanchese Woods — Lone Cedar, and a still-in-disguise national act. More at opens the season, Oct. 6-7. Pricing and dates at www. www.darearts.org. • More a fan of black-and-white? You wanchesewoods.com. • Lose the axe — and hitch up won’t want to miss Chris Bickford signing copies of the ox — as the Island Farm Pumpkin Patch brings Legends of the Sandbar at Manteo’s Downtown Books, Oct. 6, 6-8pm. Stark, telling out hay rides, corn husk dolls, and other facets of 19th century life, Oct. 7, 14, 21 & 28. $8 images and pure, passionate copy by one of our beach’s most visionary photojournalists. See for ages 6+. An extra $5 buys a future jack-o-lantern. Wear your Halloween costume on for yourself at www.legendsofthesandbar.com. • Come Columbus Day weekend, it’s the Oct. 28 and receive a surprise. Ye timely info awaiteth at www.theislandfarm.com. • Is your return of a classic: the Duck Jazz Festival. Be on the Town Green, Oct. 7, for a free surf and kite gear stuck in the past? Trade it for something new to you at the Real
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NOVEMBER 25 thru JANUARY 20*
gohunt
Gardens closed the month of February!
6pm – 9pm
(FRI and SAT in Jan.)
TUES to SAT in Dec.
*Closed DEC 24, 25 & 31, JAN 1
Last tickets sold at 8:15pm.
Entertainment on select Fridays & Saturdays in December - details online.
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Watersports Fall Swap Meet, Oct. 13-14, where your trash becomes someone else’s thrash. (And vice-versa.) More at www.realwatersports.com. • Maybe your brain’s stuck in the 60s? On Oct. 14, twirl up to the Tap Shack in Duck, where Shakedown Saturday channels the Grateful Dead via local acts like The Ramble, Aquarium, and Scott Franson — topped off with an extra strong dose of VB’s Last Fair Deal. Sit on Bearded Face Productions’ Facebook page for updates. • Dire wolves do the singing during Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge’s Free Red Wolf Howlings, Oct. 14 (6-7:30pm), and Nov. 18 (4:30-6pm). Open-air Tram Tours track critters for a fee, Oct. 14 & Nov. 11 (9am-12pm). And the free Preschool Young Naturalist Program spits natural knowledge every Fri., 1011am. Call 252-216-9464 for reservations and details. • On Oct. 15, hear Dorothy Papadakos lay some pipe organ behind the silent horror classic, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at Southern Shores’ All Saints Episcopal Church. 7pm. Find $15 tix at Duck’s Cottage, Downtown Books in Manteo, Gray’s in Kitty Hawk, and Sea Green Gallery in Nags Head. Or buy them online at www.bryanculturalseries.org. • Hit balls for a healthy cause when the 24th Annual Kelly Hospitality Charity Golf Tournament descends upon Nags Head Golf Links, Oct. 16. Tee time is 12:45pm. And 100% of proceeds go to Outer Banks Community Foundation. Learn more at www.kellysrestaurant.com. • From Oct. 17-22, the Wings Over Water Festival flies through town with 99 ways to enjoy local wildlife, from paddling tours to photo workshops. And on Oct. 21, hear live human and esteemed nature guide, birder, and keynote speaker, Noah Strycker, drop crazy avian knowledge. Swoop over to www.wingsoverwater.org for details. • Calling all Muggles! On Oct. 19, Trio hosts a Harry Potter Dinner, where chefs will pair pinots and pints with Hogwarts-inspired haute cuisine. (Sorry, no polyjuice potion.) But keep the cape and wand handy, ’cause Trio’s Annual Halloween Costume Party
magically appears, Oct. 28. More at www.obxtrio.com. • The Theatre of Dare starts the 2017-18 dress-up season, Oct. 20-29, with The Great American Trailer Park Musical — another rip-roaring sing-a-thon from the witty knaves who brought you Spamalot. And if your wish is to perform, then happy holidays: auditions for Dec.’s Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!) will go down in Sept./Oct. Details at www.theatreofdareobx. com. • Fresh seafood and watermen traditions share top billing when the Outer Banks Seafood Festival returns to Nags Head’s Soundside Event Site, Oct. 21. Besides the best area restaurants, you get educational seminars, local artists, a boat and tackle show — plus shad-kicking country by Kevin Mac and the Jamie Pridgen Band. $5 includes free shuttle to and from the festival. Buy “seabucks” on-site to sample the vittles. Full sched. and pricing at www.outerbanksseafoodfestival.org. • The only way to catch fresher fish is to corral it yourself. The Capital City 24-Hour Tournament herds down from Richmond, Oct. 21-22, and the 9th Annual NCBBA Red Drum Tournament wrangles Ramps 23-38, Oct. 2528. For details — and the word on Nov. 18’s beach clean-up — go to www. ncbba.org. • Smashing, baby! Yeah! The Outer Banks Tennis Association’s 15th Annual Charity Classic Tennis Tournament shows community love, Oct. 20-22, by running four days of matches to raise funds for local hospice care and develop area tennis programs. More at www.outerbanks.usta.com. • Fill your Halloween bag with Swedish fish — while seeing live sharks — at the Roanoke Island Aquarium’s Trick or Treat Under the Sea, Oct. 26-27. Full scoop at www.ncaquariums.com. • Scream queens rule when Halloween International Film Festival comes to KDH’s RC Theatres, Oct. 2628, featuring independent horror movies, nightly after parties, Scaryoke, and more. Plus, the 4th Annual Outer Banks Halloween Parade of Costumes marches around Kelly’s, Oct. 29. Get all the gory details at www.obxentertainment.com. • Less spilling guts — more
ROANOKE ISLAND HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION PRESENTS
SPONSORED BY
GRAND TASTING
Sept. 30, 2017 On the grounds of Roanoke Island, NC
Wine, food and fun on the Roanoke Sound
FUNDED IN PART BY
www.tlcwinefest.com • 252.473.2127
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endnotes stands in the Cape Hatteras swash, Nov. 1-4, and Sat.’s Bob Bernard Open Individual filling guts — as the Outer Banks Restaurant Association’s Fall Restaurant Week brings Tournament, where participants under 16 don’t pay a penny. Get full details at www. special, fixed-price menus to participating eateries, Oct. 27-Nov. 4. Plus, Oysterberfest capehatterasanglersclub.org. • Suck the last breath out of Halloween with The Island busts out the brine at a date TBA. Feast on deets at www.outerbanksrestaurantweek.com. • Farm’s Evening Lantern Tours: Draped in Black, where Victorian death rituals rivet boys, “Mmmm... Brains...” Thirteen recognized experts dissect their shared body of knowledge on the fate of The Lost Colony when The First Colony Foundation’s OBX History Weekend ghouls and goths, Nov. 3-4. More at www.theislandfarm.com. • Cheer up! Nov. 3 is another First Friday. This time, DCAC’s featured artist is local oil maestro, Marcia Cline. Plus, hosts a symposium of presentations, Q&A sessions, tours, costume displays, and archaeological walks. Dig into the past at www.firstcolonyfoundation.org. • Strap on your peg country artist Ray Johnson kicks off Outer Banks Veterans Week, which supports a freefor-veterans writing workshop and culminates on Nov. 11 with another live concert, leg and hobble back through time, Oct. 27-29, when the Ocracoke Pirate Jamboree TBD. Learn more at www.darearts.org. • Kitty Hawk Elementary School Fall Carnival’s a converts the quaint island village into an 18th century shantytown of costumed interpreters, little tardy this year, as the autumnal favorite slips to Nov. 4. From 10am-4pm, enjoy fall sword fights, strolling minstrels, and black powder demos — capped off by a Silver Lake games and good-natured fun to make every school second count. Find ’em on Facebook. • naval battle of blazing cannons and Blackbeard’s demise. Find ’em on Facebook. • For a On Nov. 5, the 8th Annual OBX Shrimp Cookoff invites top chefs to sautée, grill and fry closer look at nautical craftsmanship, try Oct. 28’s 5th Annual Roanoke Island Maritime little buggers for a chance at bragging rights — and to help the Outer Banks Center for Museum Wooden Boat Show in Manteo. $30 for exhibitors; includes a pass for the Dolphin Research. 12-3pm. $25. welcome reception and a museum Flipper over to www.obxdolphins. t-shirt. More at www.townofmanteo. org for all the deets. • Then boogie org. • Haul stern over to on to Kelly’s, Nov. 5, for Gentle Elizabethan Gardens, Oct. 28, for Expert Memorycare’s 2nd Annual Harvest Hayday, where the fall Carpe DM. From 2-8pm, a little traditions fly like autumn leaves. dancing goes a long way to help From 10am-1pm, enjoy hay rides folks dealing with dementia. Learn and mazes, scarecrows and games — more at www.gemdayservices.org. • plus hot cider, pumpkin pie and Whatever you do, don’t forget Nov. bonfires to warm your heart. More 7. That’s Voting Day for all at www.elizabethangardens.org. municipalities. Find out who’s • Watch kegs fly — and humans running and what they stand for — chug — when the 3rd Annual OBX then remember to cast your ballot. Brewtag returns to the Soundside Find polls and candidates at www. Event Site, Oct. 28. Teams concoct darenc.com, under Board of soaring machines for silvery Elections. • On Nov. 10-12, cylinders; people fill their fuselages everyone’s favorite race — the with craft beer. And proceeds Outer Banks Marathon and benefit The Rogallo Foundation. Southern Fried Half Marathon For more information visit www. — dashes through town, promising OBXBrewtag.com. • If that don’t pasta specials, post-race parties, and make you sick, you can always binge the occasional leg cramp. Learn on candy at First Flight more at www.outerbanksmarathon. Elementary’s Annual Trick or com. • Get a head start on the Treat Night, Oct. 28, where the Christmas shopping, Nov. 10-12, halls becomes a haunted house of Marcia Cline breathes living color into local landmarks when Dare County Arts Council opens her month-long exhibit, Nov. 3. when the Mann’s Harbor Holiday happy faces and unhealthy eating Gift and Craft Show lines up a super habits — all to nourish young minds. strong field of top local artists and vendors. (Sat., 10am- 5pm; Sun., 11am-4pm.) Find the 4-7:30pm. Find ’em on Facebook. • On Oct. 29, cruise north to the telltale heart of Duck — deets on their Facebook page. • Avon Pier pits man against sea creature— and cold beer The Waterfront Shops — for five hours of ghoulish games, diabolical DJs, and shopping — with Nov. 10-12’s 4th Annual PBR Classic charity tournament. Wanna squeeze into Nov. discounts to die for. 10am-3pm. More at www.waterfrontshopsduck.com. • Listen up, 20’s Thanks for Giving Yoga Class at Spa Koru? Just bring nonperishable food for the witches! For nearly 30 years, the Black Hat Society Luncheon’s gathered the Sun. before Hatteras Island Food Bank. More at www.koruvillage.com. • On Nov. 11, fight food Halloween to hang out and cackle with girls who “are committed to a magickal life of fun, insecurity — and see undersea creatures — when Roanoke Island Aquarium celebrates compassionate sisterhood and chocolate forever.” Join the coven by finding Sandy Caswell Veterans Day by charging no money to enter. But bring a canned good for Roanoke Island on Facebook. • Fill your bag with sweet swag on both ends of the beach, Oct. 31, as Food Pantry, or you’ll be forced to retreat. More at www.ncaquariums.com. • Hey, ladies! Creepy in Corolla carries on at Currituck Light, 6-8pm. Meanwhile, Koru Beach Klub Looking for a little Dickens? Try Nov. 12’s Bryan Cultural Series Lecture at All Saints hosts a Trunk or Treat for those caught south of the bridge after dark. Stuck in the middle Episcopal Church, where noted scholar John Noffsinger gets in touch with the famous with boo? Set sail for a free, 6pm Roanoke Island Maritime Museum Haunted House. British novelist’s feminine side. 4pm, $15. More at www.bryanculturalseries.org. • And don’t (Google the ghoulish lot for the latest.) • And for adult entertainment, you can’t beat the forget: furry orphans need love, too. On Nov. 17, Join Wags and Whiskers Gala 2017 at Brew Station’s 17th Annual Exotic Erotic Halloween Ball, where a $100 cash prize the Duck Woods Country Club, 7-11pm, where The Crowd howls, the dancing purrs, and guarantees bold costumes, occasional bulges and at least one buxom bustier — and Black Masala shakes gypsy brass music all night long. More at www.obbrewing.com. • Celebrate six the proceeds benefit Coastal Humane Society, Feline Hope, Friends of Felines, and the Outer Banks SPCA. $50. Get all the hairy details on Facebook. decades of dangling anglers when the 60th Annual Invitation Surf Fishing Tournament
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Hello Fall! Hello Locals! World Famous FISH TACOS Lunch &Dinner S p eC IA LS
Kwan’s Authentic
Pad Thai eVery THurSdAy!
r) (Starting In Octobe
LATe NIgHTTiki
Bar
No Outer Banks Visit Is Complete Without A Trip To Mama Kwans!
Milepost 9.5 • Highway 158 in KDH • 252.441.7889 • MamaKwans.com
Lunch: 11:30 am • Dinner: 4:00 pm • Tiki Bar: 11:30 am – Until • Call for Closing Times!
Fuel Up On Fresh Seafood • Land Grub • Burgers • Wings • Surf Snacks
Fall Back @ the Shack!
OUtdOOr SeatinG & GameS
Starting Late September
Bonzer Breakfast Sunday • 11:30 am-3 Pm
ring toss • Corn Hole • Ping Pong • Connect 4
Live music on the weekends (Weather Permitting)
r Open Fo ner!
Lunch &
din
MP9 on the Beach Rd. • KDH • BonzerShack.com • 252.480.1010
milepost 71
Our Backyard’s a Trip Far-out Food and mindbending beers — all served up with world-class service.
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