Hey guys i got accepted into University of North Carolina at Wilmington and Flagler in St. Augustine Florida. How many swaylockers live at or around these school? If I attend the school near you, would I be able to rent shaping space if I promised to clean it up after I was done?
I think “the boys” are from around there. You are going to be stoked on the surf down there. Just don’t get caught by security throwing tennis balls at signs from out of the back of a truck. That’s how I got kicked off campus for a year. I was only visiting so it was okay. Good luck
I was born in wilmington and currently in my last semester at UNC-W. Cant really help you with shaping space (I dont know anyone who rents it, if I am still here you are welcome to my backyard, but I am thinking of moving to RI or somewhere in the northeast). Waves here don’t get as big as in jersey. Lots of kooks in the lineup and its only getting more crowded, you can still find a bar to yourself if you look hard enough though. The school is pretty cool, but it has its issues too (parking, transit systems, housing, etc.) Lots of tension between residents and students since the school grew real fast and more college folk have started moving into the surrounding subdivisions and neighborhoods. Downtown is nice, traffic is bad, and the sewer systems suck. I think we spilled something along the lines of 10 million gallons of sewage into the creeks and ocean this year.
^ that is pretty discouraging. I also applied to URI and will probably make it in there as well. I visited URI and really didn’t like it all that much. Cold and Dark. I am considering applying to CA school more and more.
for what it’s worth, st. augustine is a pretty cool town. i’ve had some really good surf at the pier and a-street. there’s lots of shapers around jax / atlantic beach (a few on sways, me thinks)…make friends and trade services for shop time.
here is a great site, for St. Auggie,
go to the forums there, you might be able to find somebody with some shaping space.
I’m a Flagler Alumni, still living in St. Augustine. In my opinion, the best part of Florida. Great school too, small classes. Seems like that’s your educational trade-off here. Wanna go to a big school, or small private school. Oh, Gainesville’s only 45 minutes away from St. Aug if you HAVE to get the rock star out of your system. GO GATORS!!! Yeah, we also have all the blanks you could need, rental shaping bays, and finish services. Good luck with your decision, seems like two pretty sweet choices.
Although I can’t really say much about Flagler, I can tell you that UNCW has a really established surf club and team. I’ll be able to tell you a lot more after April 15th since we’re headed down there for a surf contest. A lot of their team riders are sponsored and they took first place at the Terrapin Collegiate Contest in MD in October.
And seriously, you caught URI on a bad day. After surfing down in Florida two weeks ago, I’d rather be wearing a 4/3 and surfing perfect waves than surfing wind slop in only a bikini. You get used to the cold water really fast and the waves make up for it. We get actual groundswell here. Parking on any campus is always bad, but URI does allow freshmen to have cars. Even if you don’t bring one, you can almost always find a ride. I go to the beach around 3 times a week and I don’t have a car. When it rains, it floods. But it’s kind of awesome because classes get canceled. We actually don’t get that much snow here. Also, the beach. There are so many great spots within a 15 minute drive. Every place has its flat spells, but URI has enough other stuff to do that you won’t mind. The whole campus is a hill so there are some sweet hills to bomb on a skateboard, and there’s a ski resort within 15 minutes.
As for shaping rooms, I’m not really sure what you’d be able to find, although there are several sways members up here who might be willing to help you out.
you heading down to the contest at Fort Fisher being thrown by the surf club? It should be good time with some warm weather and hopefully, waves. I am not part of UNC-W’s surf club but ill probably enter the open log division.
Wilmington is a great town, sure it has its problems but every city growing this fast does. Once you live here its hard to leave, I know I could never move away nor could any of my friends. The surfs good for longboarders. You hardly ever go more than a week without something to ride. Make friends with boats so you can avoid the crowds, lots of barrier island with nobody around. I love Wrightville Beach, dont move here its already to crowded in the lineup!
rachel it’s not so much the cold that bothers me but more the short daylight hours during the winter in norhtern latitudes. When I visted in October the sunset much earlier there than it does in Maryland.
Yeah, the Cape Fear Surf Fest. We’re trying to get 6 people together to enter the college team division. It looks like we might have an all girl team too.
The sun does set pretty early during the winter, the worst it gets is around 4:30. It really freaked me out when I moved up here but eventually it sets later and later. I have mostly morning classes so I can surf early in the afternoon until sunset.
I applied to Flagler this year but decided to go to Florida Atlantic University. I have been to St Augustine many times and have visited the college once. I loved it. The whole vibe the town has is great, but the college is limited in majors. Its definitely worth checking out though.
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I applied to Flagler this year but decided to go to Florida Atlantic University.
FAU?..you’re right down the street. where do you surf around here??
Im not there yet…Im goin in the fall. Cant wait though!
So, did you enjoy your time down in SNC? Hopefully you were able to get some of the waves that formed up before dark on sunday. How did the contest go?
It was great. Saturday the waves were small but not too bad. What I usually expect when I’m down there. I surfed in one of the collegiate heats and didn’t come in last so I was pretty stoked about that.
Sunday. Wow. It was crazy. They postponed the contest, and then we stood on the beach for a couple hours, huddled underneath scaffolding with a tarp over it as the sand was whipping at us and the rain was blowing horizontally. Once the front passed the sun came out and the wind was trying to turn offshore. The current was super strong and just whipping people down the beach. I didn’t advance in my heat so I didn’t have to surf thankfully. But the guys down there were ripping it up, I was really impressed.
I still prefer the waves in RI. And the campus is a bit closer to the beach than UNCW. But the people are really nice and appreciative that we drove 16 hours just to surf in their contest and lose.
hey i go to URI and let me say when the waves get good it gets really good up here. There are so many different types of breaks which are unique to the northeast, however you need to really like cold water if want to surf throughout the winter up here. I gets ridiculously cold and the weather is not the nicest (the gray days). People say you dont need a car here, but i would disagree. The swell windows are very short and often times u dont have time to be waiting for your friend to get out of class. One other thing i dont really like about URI is the rural environment. The school is really in the middle of no where, the closest cities are newport ( 30 min) and providence (1 hour away). You need to make friends at URI or else you will have nothing to do. URI is a dry campus so forget anything on campus. All the parties are on the surrounding beach towns 15-20 minits away. URI is a ton of fun and u cant beat the waves however you need to be aware of the location and the amount of rubber you will need to get through the season.
I am also looking at UNCW for next semester, i would say there is much more of a surfing and art culture in Wilmington but the waves are nothing close to new england. The weather is much nicer and u cant beat southern girls. UNCW is also a better school academically if that means anything to you. I would say a car is also a must at UNCW, in order to catch it when its good. There is also the city of Wilmington 10 min away from campus.
However in the end if could of done the entire college application over again, i would of applied out west. California gets the most consistent waves, it is either good or really good by east coast standard. Also you cant beat the vibe of California. I would look into san diego and santa barbara schools if you are interested in out west.