Whalebone Surf Shop

Specialties

Whalebone Surf Shop has been serving the needs of surfers since 1975 with shortboards, longboards, funboards, bodyboards, skimboards, wetsuits, boardshorts, swimwear, sun screen, sun glasses, watches, wax, leashes, traction pads, surf racks, towels, and all the best clothing and accessories.

History

Established in 1975.

There wasn’t a street sign, traffic light or lawn in Nags Head, North Carolina when Jim Vaughn set up shop. But this little town on the Outer Banks — 130 miles of barrier islands south east of Virginia Beach, Virginia — had pristine beaches and perfect, peeling Atlantic wind swell. That was all a young surf-​retailing pioneer needed.

Vaughn and his business partner rented an 800 square-​foot house from a Catholic priest who had converted the dive bar next door into the Holy Trinity church. Vaughn carpeted the attic above the shop and called it home. After-​hours, the neighboring church played host to an array of surf films. «Jim Plimpton used to make surf films and, for beer he would play really outstanding Super-​8 movies for us,» Vaughn recalls. Plimpton eventually retired from the movie biz after breaking both his heels while hanging upside down from a homemade kite that his brother, «Berzerko Bob,» was pulling behind a boat…

To read the rest of our history go to our website!