The roar of the surf could be heard well before he crossed the dune at Carolina Beach.

But exactly how good Bertha's waves were remained a blank for someone else to fill even as he stared at the ocean.

"It's so pretty, Zac," his girlfriend, Celine Russo, said as they carried their boards onto the sand. "And glassy."

"Is it?" he said.

"And it's barreling," she said.

"Barreling?"

For a passer-by, the conversation would have been puzzling. Tanned and trim with tattooed waves down his shoulder, Adair looks like a surfer. But he no longer sees like one.

A car accident five years ago means Adair peers at the world as if through a soda straw.

Sliver of sight

If he lines up with his good eye, he can make out part of a nose, or maybe a mouth.

On land, Adair, 33, has his cane, his ski poles, his guide dog and his own stubbornness to rely on. His confidence can sometimes make you forget he's blind.

On the water, he needs someone to tell him when to paddle, where to face and when, he hopes, to duck.

Signals can get crossed, though. And Adair's blindness is never more apparent than when he's caught staring blank-faced into a wave that is about to cold-cock him.

But when his timing is on and the waves are waist-high and glassy, nobody would guess Adair is blind, said Shawn Hardesty, another of Adair's surf partners.

"The first time I saw him catch a wave and ride down the line all the way in," Hardesty said, "I was like, 'Man, that's unbelievable.' "

The idea of a blind surfer is hard for some to believe.

"I try to laugh it off and look forward to the next day," he said. "Anything that is going on in my life -- it doesn't matter what it is -- vanishes when I step in that water."

"Everyone was just screaming," he said. "I wouldn't get out of the water. I was like, 'I'm going to stay the night here.' "

Adair has also surfed in Hawaii and Costa Rica.

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