Wrightsville, N.C., 1912

We continue to spotlight some of the gems in Skipper Funderburg's "Surfing on the Cape Fear Coast." Here are two Wrightsville postcards, the bottom one hand-dated as July 12, 1912. A little hard to see in this view, but in the lower postcard, toward the viewer's bottom left, you will see a kid with a Hawaiian-style paipo (bodyboard):



"In the book, Land of the Golden River, Vol. 1, published in 1975, local author Lewis Phillip Hall (1907-1980), wrote of his personal experiences surfing Wrightsville Beach. 'In the early twenties (1920's), before the jetties were constructed, a sand bar ran the entire length of the beach. We swam out to the combers (breakers) where (it was) making up [probably: "macking up"]. At times there would be ten or fifteen youths in a crowd. It was a beautiful sight, ten surfers riding the cresting wave a long time... I'll have to admit, however, that we did not ride our boards standing erect, but lying halfway the board.'"