PHOTO BY ROBBIE JOHNSON. COURTESY OF HOT WAX SURF SHOP the cove By Matt Corpening During its heyday in the 1960s and 70s, The Cove at Fort Fisher near Kure Beach was epic. A rare combi-nation of manmade and natural elements created one of the best spots on the East Coast. It was shrouded in secrecy because the only thing better than surfing great waves is surfing great waves with no crowds. In the 1920s, erosion carved out a semi-circular cove in the beach south of Kure Beach and north of the Fort Fisher recreation area and historic battleground. On the northern edge of the newly formed cove was a natural outcropping or reef made of coquina — a rock composite of limestone and sediment native to coastal areas on the Atlantic Ocean. The Fort Fisher coquina reef separates the surface water from the underground freshwater Castle Hayne aquifer. Before Fort Fisher coquina was entered on the North Carolina registry of Natural Heritage Areas in February 1982, coquina was often used as a building material in coastal regions. In 1926, when a portion of the reef was excavated to construct part of US Highway 421, it changed the topography of the ocean floor, and altered the way waves broke around it. Longshore current, also known as a littoral drift, began to flow more freely with the reef, transporting sediment south. The size and shape of the wave that began to break at The Cove was further altered by the pieces of concrete and other foreign objects that littered the ocean floor. The stage was set for a surfer’s dream unlike anything else in the region. The late Fisher Culbreth of Carolina Beach, former US Amateur Surfing Champion and fisherman, surfing The Cove on December 24, 1994. 61 www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
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