Windsurfing near Harkers Island
- TheStrait (6 km)
- North River (14 km)
- Radio Island (14 km)
- Lola, Cedar Island (38 km)
- Pine Cliffs Recreation Area (39 km)
Directions
Take Hwy. 101 S. from Havelock and follow signs to Cape Lookout National Seashore or Harkers Island. When the road dead ends at the eastern most point of Harkers Island (aka Shell Point), you're there!
Sailing
Harkers Island gets the strongest and most consistent northeast wind of any launch in the Emerald Isle/Morehead area. It is almost guaranteed whenever a high pressure is centered over New York or Pennsylvania. It is also a good place to sail in a SW, but most people prefer Island Riggs (closed/closing) or Radio Island. This is a high intermediate to expert sailing area due to strong currents at the launch site and the intensity of the shorebreak. There is good chop hopping in the channel just off the launch, and great flat water sailing in Mike's Hole to the lee of the grass islands (so named because a guy named Mike learned to duck jibe there). Wavesailing can be had by sailing 2 miles across the sound, up Iron Creak (a long drag at low tide), and then doing a 200 yard portage over Core Banks to the ocean. The waves here in a NE may be the biggest along the outerbanks due to the long fetch from Diamond Shoals; likewise for the shorebreak. Also, by the second day of a big nor'easter, the current runs a long the beach at a blistering pace. This spot was pioneered by Don Ketterrer and Bill Hanner, both of whom will tell you that if you can sail the ocean off Harker's, you can sail anywhere. If you break a mast on Core Banks . . . well, you figure it out. DO NOT learn to wavesail here.