The Hawaiian word “Kahuna” usually refers to a person, one who is an expert in a field, the best of the best. But Andrew Spraugh sees it as describing Ocean Isle Beach, the town that took hold of his heart and imagination as a boy during annual summer vacations. He sees Ocean Isle Beach as the best of the best and created a surf wear brand called OIB Kahuna based on that idea. His latest venture, though, seeks to give back to his community by helping to preserve its history. His documentary, “Ocean Isle Beach: A Journey Through Time And Tide” tells the story of Ocean Isle Beach through interviews with long-time residents and new visitors alike. And it is nearing completion.

Andrew, who moved from High Point to Ocean Isle Beach in 2012, has a history with the town that goes back much longer. “This is the beach that when we grew up, like going to vacation, this is where we always went to,” he said. “God, the earliest memory was probably like 10 years old or something.”

He said his family would rent a house on the beach each summer with another family. “And so what we’d do is that we’d get with our best friends, they’re still great friends with us, the Mills family. They were like, hey, it’s easy if we just go together. Not to mention their kids and us were very similar in age, like my best friend then was Chuck and we’re the exact same age. And they still come down to vacation too, which is great,” Andrew said.

“I just remember the stress of getting down here, like driving down 220 back then was hilarious and you had to go through all the little towns,” he recalled.  “So that was the best, you have that memory of us coming down 220, like the whole family’s going together. Even when we were backed up in traffic, it was just so much fun just being in the car with everybody then.

“Then you get there, that feeling of we all got out of the car…and now I’m my dad’s age, so I now I know where he’s at, but then I was like, why does the guy seem so stressed, dude? This is so much fun.

“We would just get out and the first thing we do you run out, you run right up into the vacation rental. You know, you as soon as you get in the house, you’re just like, ahhhhhh it smells like the beach. First of all, coming to the beach, it smells like the beach. And it does. You can smell it the difference. And meanwhile, the parents are like, my dad and mom were very good, so they’re like, okay, okay, let’s just get the luggage out and stick it in the house. And then it’s alright let’s go ahead and just go, like, everybody, just go to the beach. And we’d go straight to the beach. Even if we got here early, we would just go straight to the beach.”

Being permanent resident of his favorite vacation spot hasn’t damped Andrew’s excitement one bit. “It’s still like that now. Even my children, we live right across the street (from his surf shop on Beach Drive), we’re so spoiled, it takes five minutes to get there. And I’m actually going later this afternoon. The back of the van is just covered in sand, and we’re like, it’s the beach, that’s what happens,” he said. “But that was that feeling, like even now, and that’s, you know, almost 40 years ago, still, like, it gets me. Later today, I’m going to drive across the bridge again, and I’m still going to be like, ah, this so…I mean, you know, it’s just…you never want to lose that feeling of kind of like being a tourist. I mean, it’s just seriously the greatest feeling in the world.”

Andrew said he knows he’s not the only one who fell head over heels for Ocean Isle Beach, and he wanted to create something that would give them a connection to the town. 

“I remember missing it so bad. I would have loved to see pictures if I couldn’t be here, and I bet other people feel the same way. So OIB Kahuna started as a Facebook and Instagram page, Andrew said. “And then a couple years later, I was like, you know what? I already have experience with merchandise, I could make a hoodie. That’s the first product, a hoodie. The reason being is I was like, well, people who come to vacation here usually live in colder places. And people who do live here know that they need an actual hoodie in like January and February. So that went really well. The first batch, I think we sold like 12, which made us ecstatic.”

Then came the idea of making a film. “I want to film a documentary for Ocean Isle Beach because no one’s done it on video,” Andrew said. “There’s been books written, and some of them go way, way, way back, which is really good, but it’s before the island was Ocean Isle Beach.

“So I’ve been wanting to do this, and recently it’s gotten kind of on fast forward. So then I believe Miss Virginia had passed, and I was like, oh man, we’re gonna start losing individuals who were here and have memories of when the original, town started. It’s a perfect time because now there’s more change going on,” he said.

So Andrew started seeking out and setting up interviews on video with some of the town’s long-time residents. He called upon Ocean Isle Beach Mayor Debbie Sloan Smith, and she was happy to participate.

“I walk in and she’s showing us photos and just starts talking, and I’m like, well, I haven’t hooked up my mic yet, so I’m hooking up my mic, haven’t leveled it yet, I’m like, well, we’re gonna get what we get,” he said. “So that part I think is going to make it a lot of fun because it’s going to feel more real, because that’s what this town is. You don’t want something so polished that people can’t connect to it.”

Many people have been happy to talk the walk down memory lane in front of Andrew’s camera. “One of the most fun was Jim Culpepper and Barbara Parker. These are people who grew up here.  Her family was from Parker Point, which is, I think, the far east end of the island down near the ferry landing. And Jim is a Culpepper, he’s been here forever,” Andrew said. “We were setting up gear and they just started talking. And it was great, they were just two friends sharing stories, which is what you want.

“And then from there, you decipher facts, basically, because the dates they say, may, or may not be right. But it’s good when you hear one story and I’m talking to a friend who comes in the shop and like, oh, and they repeat the same story. You’re like, oh, so this has got some truth to it.

“Now the real goal is to get the Williamson family. If I can get them together even better because then they’re all sharing family stories, which is what you want.”

But the story of Ocean Isle Beach is more than just history. Andrew is collecting stories from visitors as well. He’s set up each week at the Pure Markets summer market grabbing comments from passers by. 

“We have a little tent set up where people can to stop in and I’m asking, hey, we’re filming a documentary, would you like to be a part of it?” Andrew said he plans to ask everyone how they found Ocean Isle, how long they’ve been coming, and what they like about it. “You have so many that this is their first year. Or other ones will stop by and say oh, I’ve been coming here for 30 years,” he said.

When it’s finished, the documentary will move from Ocean Isle Beach’s past to present to future. “The structure is we start with how it was founded. That’s pretty simple. Everybody has told that story a lot, but we want to hit that. But then we go into something about how hurricanes have changes the island, the landscape and how they affect us. Then that blends to how the community came together after one of the hurricanes. And then we go into the community aspect, how the community is here, which blends into a lot of the heyday, which was like the ’80s and ‘90s. We got a lot of people who have those memories during time and that transitions into now. You have that growth, then we go into how is it now, and then we go into how do we think OIB might be in the future and what we hope it to be,” Andrew said.

The plan is to have the documentary film and its accompanying coffee table book, released by this November, but the summer of market interviews may push the timeline back a bit. 

This project was originally funded with a Kickstarter campaign, which is still available and offers rewards like special access to behind-the-scenes footage and tickets to the eventual premiere screening. 

“I want to hold myself accountable,” Andrew said. “We want to get it premiered somewhere for sure. I do have friends who actually own a theater, so I already talked to them, and they’re like, we can make that happen.”

Near the beginning of this project two years ago, Andrew met a couple of film students in from James Madison University, Chloe and Jake, that were in town on vacation, and they’re now helping with filming and editing and getting the documentary infant of as many eyes a possible. 

“They already know that process, because they’ve already done films and then had to get distributed to get it funded,” Andrew explained.

But that’s all in the future. For now, Andrew is having a blast getting to know the people who have made his favorite beach spot what it is today. 

“The best part is hearing these stories,” he said, “like watching Jim and Barbara talk back and forth, having Debbie pull out a document, and just hearing these obscure stories, that’s been by far the most fun.

“And not to mention, seeing their faces and how excited they are to be able to tell these stories.”