surf hatteras: premier summer surf camps

Who Are the Staff?

Surf Hatteras has at least 9 qualified, full-time staff members working during every session this summer. We maintain at least a 1:2 staff to camper ratio or better. This, of course, is to ensure the safety of your child, but it is also to make sure that each and every camper gets the personal attention he or she needs every day.



Staff Qualifications

  • All staff members are certified in CPR and First Aid.
  • All surf instructors are certified lifeguards.
  • All staff members have experience working with youth.
  • All receive special training for their positions.
  • All surf instructors have extensive ocean experience, particularly in the Outer Banks.
  • Our surf instructors have over 85 years combined surf experience, all over the world in all kinds of conditions.

Michael John Meredith
Surf Instructor & Counselor
This will be Michael John’s fourth summer(!) as a surf instructor for Surf Hatteras and we are thrilled to have him back. He is a life long surfer from Virginia Beach, VA and a graduate of Campbell University, where he served as the Student Government Executive President and majored in Business Administration. Mike is an avid waterman who surfs equally well on both long and shortboards and has experience on both the east and west coast. He also has lifeguarding experience with the Virginia Beach Lifesaving Association. One of the most talented surf instructors we have ever had, Mike is fully invested in each individual surfer’s progress in the water.

Kristen Meredith
Surf Instructor & Counselor
A veteran surf instructor at Surf Hatteras, Kristen is a sophomore at Longwood University this fall where she plays on the Varsity Field Hockey team. She has been a surfer for over a decade, and has a special knowledge of the breaks of Hatteras Island, where she has been surfing with her father and brother for most of that time. In high school Kristen was a peer leader, mentoring students in the freshman class, and has also been involved coaching middle school field hockey. In her free time (when she’s not surfing) she is usually free-boarding or going for a run on the beach.

Lex Booth
Counselor & Videographer
Lex is a rising freshman at the University of Virginia and is another veteran counselor. A Virginia Beach native, Lex grew up in the waves of Virginia and the Outer Banks and was at one time himself a camper at Surf Hatteras. Having seen his own surfing improve tremendously by viewing the video footage of himself at Surf Hatteras, he can't wait to share the same experience with others. Lex has also been a Student Leader in his high school's Young Life ministry and has helped to organize and lead a number of events and retreats. Lex spends his spring seasons on the lacrosse field as both player and youth referee, and he is also a talented musician, excelling at a number of instruments from guitar to trumpet to piano.

Hilary Walker
Counselor & Photographer
Hilary is from Charlottesville, Virginia and just finished taking a year off after high school. During this time she traveled to China where she lived in an orphanage and cared for abandoned children with medical problems. Hilary is also an experienced photographer. She has participated in multiple photojournalism projects and her work has been displayed in a number of local galleries. Hilary loves the outdoors, especially the Outer Banks, and looks forward to photographing and caring for our surfers all summer long.

Anne Carney Raines
Counselor & Videographer
Anne Carney is a rising freshman at Indiana University. She just took a year off before college where she traveled (with Hilary) to China to work in an orphanage for special needs babies, and then to Uganda to assist at the small NGO her family started 30 years ago. Anne Carney played lacrosse and swam competitively all through High School. A lover of the outdoors, she has also backpacked through the Alps and Spanish Pyrenees! She loves the beach and is truly excited to get to know each of our surfers this summer.

Ross Byrd
Camp Director & Surf Instructor
Ross, our director, is an avid, life-long surfer/swimmer from Virginia Beach, VA and a graduate of the University of Virginia. He was the Director of High School Ministries for Galilee Church in Virginia Beach for three years, and now serves in the same capacity at Christ Episcopal Church in Charlottesville, Va. He has led countless summer camp sessions caring for children and teenagers in the Outer Banks, in Virginia, and even internationally in Nicaragua and China. As a surfer, he has ridden waves around the globe - from Costa Rica to Hawaii, California, New Zealand, and Fiji. He is also a professional musician and an accomplished singer/songwriter. At Surf Hatteras, he is dedicated to ensuring that each camper is safe, well cared for, and having the week of his or her life.

Hannah Byrd
Camp Coordinator & Media Director
image004.jpg
Hannah is a graduate of James Madison University where she studied Psychology. She is currently halfway through a Masters in Counseling. Hannah is a native of Virginia Beach, but has spent her summers on Hatteras Island for the past twenty years. This is now Hannah’s fifth year as Surf Hatteras’ camp coordinator, and her passion for kids shows through in everything that she does. In the off-season she is on staff as a youth worker with her husband Ross at Christ Episcopal Church. Before Surf Hatteras she worked as a snowboard instructor at Massanutten Ski Resort, and for two summers she worked as an oceanfront lifeguard in Virginia Beach, where she placed in both local and regional lifeguard competitions. Her favorite aspect of Surf Hatteras is seeing each camper’s confidence increase over the course of the week - in surfing, and in just being who they are.

John Bain
Assistant to the Director & Surf Instructor
John grew up surfing with our director Ross, and this is his third year working at Surf Hatteras. John recently graduated from Duke University with a master’s degree in coastal management and is currently pursuing a PhD in coastal ecology at Old Dominion University. He has extensive experience leading and teaching youth, ranging from full time employment as a youth minister to volunteer work. John also spent two summers as a lifeguard at a sports camp outside Austin, Texas where he taught sailing and swimming. He is a self-proclaimed “beach rat” and has been surfing for nearly twenty years. John enjoys both longboarding and shortboarding and has extensive surf experience in the Outer Banks as well as Costa Rica, Hawaii, and California. When not surfing, John can be found fishing, boating, or in the nearest hammock.

Travis Kesler
Assistant Director & Surf Instructor
Travis is a man of many talents. His lighthearted demeanor and passion for kids earned him the Teacher's Assistant of the Year Award in 2009 at Virginia Beach Middle School. He’s no slouch in the water either—his surfing turns heads, no matter what board he’s riding. Travis has been riding waves in the Outer Banks as long as he can remember, and his family heritage can be traced back to the area. He looks forward to sharing his love for surfing and for Hatteras with all of our campers this summer. On another note, he is also an acclaimed musician and a talented artist who worked as an airbrush artist for Austin Surfboards not too long ago.

Coleman Mills
Surf Instructor & Counselor
Coleman is a rising junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill majoring in Exercise & Sports Science, and he is returning for his second year as a surf instructor with Surf Hatteras. He is from Williamston, NC and has been surfing for 8 years, year-round, mostly in the Rodanthe/Outer Banks area. Coleman played both soccer and tennis in high school, and was active in Boy Scouts, where he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. As a former Surf Hatteras camper himself, he looks forward to making camp a great experience for every camper. Coleman is also an experienced skateboarder, snowboarder, and wakeboarder.