From watching the region's landscape suspended in the sky, to testing out one's balance on the ocean surface, to diving deep in the water in search of hidden ecosystems, businesses in the Cape Fear region have long embraced water sports at every elevation. Here are some of them.
Tony Silvagni learned how to ride waves at a young age at Kure Beach, eventually becoming a professional surfer. Silvagni found, along the way, that his passion was teaching and nurturing surfing skills in others.
Silvagni, the owner of Tony Silvagni Surf School in Carolina Beach, has competed in worldwide events winning titles including the 2016 Trump Hyuga Pro Longboard Champion in Miyazaki Japan.
Silvagni and instructors have been teaching young and older students about proper paddling, stance, wave formation and water safety, among other skills, since the surf school opened in 2008.
Silvagni’s family moved from Williamsburg, Pennsylvania, to Kure Beach in 1993 where Silvagni received guidance and support from his friends and family to start surfing.
“I started to learn to surf from a friend, Corey Mullen, who got me into the sport, and then my brother, dad, mom and sister were all super helpful and got me to stand up on a bodyboard and then it evolved from there,” Silvagni said. “Since then I’ve been competing in amateur contests in my youth years. And then I eventually ended up turning pro right around 15 or 16 years of age.”
Silvagni received a degree in business marketing from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. During that time, Silvagni discovered what he wanted to do with all the skills he had garnered over the years.
“While attending college I ended up working a job and then finally finding my passion and my love and what I wanted to do, and that was teaching surfing,” he said. “I always knew that I would want to give the wealth of knowledge of what I learned at such a young age. I was traveling to all these exotic places all around the world, and I knew there would be this opportunity to help other surfers and give them a skill set to be able to build from.”
Besides surfing lessons, Tony Silvagni Surfing School offers paddleboarding lessons, surf camps and beach equipment rentals.
The business has seen exponential growth over the years, he said, and it moved to a new location at 107 Charlotte Ave. in Carolina Beach in April.
“I bought my own first piece of land for my building, which is made out of shipping containers,” Silvagni said. “They are 9-feet-high, 40-feet-long and 8-feet-wide. We connected the two shipping containers to have a storefront.”
Because of its prominent sandbars, Carolina Beach is a great location to teach surfing, Silvagni said.
“It’s a beach break, so it’s a sand bottom. There’s no rocks and reefs and stuff like that,” he said. “It’s going to be a little bit better off for someone learning to surf.”
Carolina Beach is also a great location for all the businesses that rely on tourists and people participating in water sports, he said.
“Water sport businesses drive tourism for all local businesses,” Silvagni said. “When you offer these experiences and these amenities people are more willing to come and spend money elsewhere, and I think that is where it helps thrive the rest of the community.
“People are here for activities and experiences,” he added. “So I feel like it’s important to have these types of opportunities for people to take advantage of the ocean and learn a new sport.”
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