For those unfortunate souls who've never been to North Carolina, we'll put it this way: Secret Spot Surf Shop is the Frog House of the Outer Banks. This grassroots, homegrown shop is dripping with flavor and personality -- just like its West Coast counterpart.
``We've always looked at ourselves as more or less a tribe,'' Hess said of his generation of Outer Banks surfers. ``We consider surfing the focal point of our lives, the way we try to get in tune with nature. Everything we do is surrounded by the surfing lifestyle.''