Local Surf School Making Headway

There’s nothing about the building at 2500 South Virginia Dare Trail that stands out. The corner lot across from the beach in Nags Head was an old gas station before the bypass was built. More recently, a rental shop and fitness center occupied the small space.

Pull open the door and step inside, though, and you’re transported into another world. Bright, airy colors fill the room, along with all things surfing and art. Young women who grew up in the water offer cheerful greetings. A baby and a dog compete for floor space as the proud mom beams nearby, soaking in this dream-come-true scene.

If it were a movie script, Hollywood execs would trash it for being too wholesome and cheesy. But the real-life story of Bri Young of Outer Babes Surf Club and her business called Outer Surf is an OBX success story worth sharing – sort of like how she shares her passion for surfing with countless girls and other clients.

Outer Surf’s Girl Grom Camp is for beginners, ages 8-12 who want to learn to surf and become more confident with the ocean. Additionally, the girls get to be creative exploring different art mediums; Photo by Katie Slater.

“I think I would definitely be a little lost if I didn’t have this sport,” Bri says. “It’s so cool to see how it’s being shown to other people, how this is a really good outlet, an awesome sport, and like an art. And you can do it, too – especially the young girls.”

Outer Surf may have expanded its reach to surfers of all ages and genders now, but Bri’s heart will always have a soft spot for girls who come into the shop looking for all the things she never had as a kid.

The former Brianne Vuyovich grew up in Kitty Hawk and remembers surfing for the first time with a friend’s family when she was 6. She eventually would work for Kill Devil Hills Ocean Rescue as a lifeguard before graduating from First Flight High School in 2012, but nearly all the time she spent in the surf was with guy friends, often using her brothers’ equipment.

“There weren’t many girls to surf with growing up here,” Bri recalls.

That idea stuck with Bri even as she left the OBX. Her travels after high school took her to Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia. And while she didn’t set out with a goal of teaching people how to surf, she grew to realize that sharing her passion for the sport was a natural fit in these far-flung locales.

“I loved it. I love just teaching people and showing them how to surf because it was something that brought me so much joy,” Bri says. “Watching people discover it for the first time is really cool.”

The fun times were about to come to an end, though: When Bri came home from New Zealand, with her thoughts turning toward another move to Hawaii, she shattered a bone in her leg and would endure a year of surgeries and physical therapy.

Left: Bri and Banyan. By Sophia Knox. Middle: Outer Surf’s Bri Young, husband/business partner Riley Young and son Banyan. Photo by Bri Young. Right: Bri, Riley and Banyan. Photo by Sarah Roselynn.

Still, that injury came with a silver lining. While stuck at home, she met the man who would become her husband, a fellow KDH lifeguard from Australia named Riley Young. Now it was time to settle down a bit and figure out what to do … and Bri kept going back to those memories of how alone she felt as a female surfer on the Outer Banks.

“I knew I always wanted to start a surf club for girls because there’s nothing that got the girls together here,” she says. “So that’s how Outer Babes started, which then led into the business Outer Surf.”

LEFT: Eva Klauser, Maddy Wagner and Acy Davis who were the original three attendees for the very first Outer Babes Surf Club meeting, held at the Kill Devil Hills Ocean Rescue building. Photo by Bri Young.

Bri laughs at the memory of how nervous she was when sending emails to some of the moms she knew whose daughters were competitive surfers. That first gathering at the KDH Ocean Rescue building saw three girls show up. Bri still has a photo of that special trio in the front of the shop.

What were they in for? A little bit of everything, as it turned out.

“We would meet up every week in the beginning and surf together. And if we weren’t surfing, we’d watch some films and study different boards and their functions and different fin setups and what that means – there was a lot of surf education involved with our club,” Bri says. “Then we would do art when the waves were really bad.”

The girls loved it and started to talk about it with their friends. A year in, Bri started fielding calls from parents asking if she did lessons for girls. That seemed like a good idea, so she set up an LLC and did lessons as a side project, buying used boards, setting up shop on the beach, teaching everything herself, all on her days off as she continued lifeguarding with KDH.

“It brought me so much joy doing it and seeing all these girls and then every year, the numbers grew,” Bri says. “The more it grew, the more I could hold more camps, and little by little and very organically we got to the space where, OK, I can hire an instructor; all right, now we’ve got a shed where all the boards were kept; and then it was, OK, now we’re gonna switch up our location. So, we were growing. But COVID happened and every surf school shut down.”

Except, for Bri, it made sense to keep going with this relatively safe outdoor activity. And that’s when the calls started flooding in. Farmdog Surf School started referring people to Bri. So did WRV. And Secret Spot Surf Shop.

In the fall of 2022 Outer Surf secured the lease at 2500 South Virginia Dare Trail in Nags Head, conveniently positioned across the Beach Road from a great sandbar. Having a brick-and-mortar spot provided ample space for a retail shop, a cozy meeting room for classes and gear storage. By Sophia Knox.

“Our growth that happened in one year was crazy because all of our friends were really supporting us,” Bri says.

Farmdog went a step further, encouraging Bri to set up shop at the beach in Nags Head across from its building. Bri loved the great sandbar there and let Farmdog know that she’d love to rent the building on the off chance it became available. In the fall of 2022, after she missed out on another beach road building she loved, Bri got the incredible news that both Farmdog and Momentum Fitness were leaving the building.

Endless renovations, painting and troubleshooting followed. But finally, Outer Surf had a space for the business to blossom into what it is today, including cozy couches for meetings and a place to watch surf movies, plus a space for art projects and gear storage.

And Outer Surf had space for a retail shop and boards for ever-growing surf camps. Five employees now run things: Bri, Riley, a camp manager, and girls who have grown up in Outer Babes.

“That’s the coolest part for me, that it gave them a real job they could do,” Bri says. “They’re able to learn responsibility and it’s a fun job.”

About 25 “sub-contractors” work to provide daily lessons throughout the summer. People still call the shop asking if they only serve girls, but the instruction is for everyone now: boys and girls, men and women, even the occasional grandpa and grandma. Friends approached Bri recently with the idea of further expanding the camp model, and now women can gather for luxurious, all-inclusive Outer Surf retreats at a rental house in Hatteras: surf instruction, catered meals, and lots of fun.

LEFT: While the original business model was formed based on educating young females (via Outer Babes Surf Club), Outer Surf offers instruction for everyone. Pictured here, a vacationing family taught by instructors Zach Edwards (2nd from left) and Stefan Turko (far right). Photo by Kaylee Schuster. MIDDLE: Growing rapidly in popularity, luxurious, all-inclusive Outer Surf Retreats are offered at a rental house in Hatteras. Geared towards adults, retreats include surf instruction, catered meals and more. Photo by Sophia Knox. RIGHT: Women’s Retreat. Photo by Sophia Knox.

It’s a lot to take in for Bri and Riley: learning how to run a growing business, owning a new home, managing an expanding family with first Koa, the Portuguese Water Dog and then Banyan, who celebrates his first birthday this fall. Meanwhile, wave after wave of Outer Babes “graduates” are getting older and moving on to college and other grown-up pursuits.

Even as they leave the Outer Banks, they’ll never forget their time with Bri as they built a surfing community for girls that will live happily ever after in this place.

“I became really good friends with Bri,” says Chloe Wienert, who has been part of Bri’s surf world from the time she was 12 through helping with camps and lessons this summer after high school graduation. “Bri really helped me out and I try to reciprocate as much as I can. She has so many connections growing up on the Outer Banks, and so much experience being all over the world. She just has such a caring personality and I feel so much gratitude for her. She’s like one of my best friends even though we’re 10 years apart. She just really looks out for the younger girls.”

Steve Hanf is a former professional sportswriter who now teaches journalism at First Flight High School.

Author: Steve Hanf

Steve Hanf is a former professional sportswriter who teaches the journalism classes at First Flight High School. The dormant Nike Running Club app on his phone offers a reminder of the seven half-marathons and one full marathon he completed … several years ago.