Category: Lost In Hatteras- 2008 Archives

Contrast abounds in NYC. For example, here is an old condemned building on the river, neighbor to a multi-billion dollar (failing) industry residing in a multi-million dollar skyscraper.

Here is the Brooklyn Bridge, looking from Manhattan to the East:

Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883, 125 years ago. According to wikipedia, over 150,000 people crossed the bridge on opening day. Nobody was windsurfing under it on December 26th, but there were tons of people walking and driving on it : ) Maybe a new stop for your Urban Sailing Tour, Geoff?!

Meanwhile, back in Hatteras:

Dale sent me this picture from X-mas Eve at the Canadian Hole. Looks like Dave C. powered up on his 6.5. Not a bad way to spend the Holidays! Glad you guys got out there!

Dave C. at the Hole (Photo: Dale B)

And, per reader Paul’s request, the greeting card picture sans text. Paste away, with credit to Anne for snapping a sweet Hatteras shot! If you look closely, the Frisco Pier is in the background.

Photo: Anne

It’s great to see family and friends, but I’m getting a little stir crazy from the lack of action… I just read “Ultramarathon Man” by Dean Karnazes. Dude’s a major inspiration, maybe I’ll start running to burn off some of this extra energy… Figures that I’m about to turn 30… Read the book to get the reference : )

Have fun out there, Folks!

To my family, friends, and anyone else who happens to click on a link to this page:

Have a wonderful Holiday Season, may the wind be at your back, yada yada yada… You get the point : )

Much Love and Gratitude,
Hope to see you soon,
Andy

Anybody here on Hatteras has gotten some great Holiday Gifts from good ol’ Momma Nature over the last couple of days! I know the Northeast is getting slammed with ice and snow right now… but I gotta tell ya, it’s been 60 degrees, sunny and windy down here! Not to rub it in or anything… : )

Drew, Gary and I surfed the other day, head-ish high groundswell, and nice and clean with light offshore wind. It was lining up for some long, workable rights, and quick, steep lefts on the bar that we found. Bonus points if you can find Gary in the picture below:

Sunset surf, click to enlarge!!

Friday afternoon, the wind showed up! SW, warm, and slowly building throughout the afternoon. There was still a bit of swell left out there, but I really wanted to get some more time on my new freestyle board… So I did it all! Cape Hatteras is rad. I was able to sail 5.0 on the Tabou 100, flat water at the Hole, and then when the wind really cranked up, I just switched boards and walked across the street to Ego Beach! Gotta love the ease of variety! There were lots of people out enjoying the warm winds at the Hole, and smiles and hootin’ and hollerin’ all around! Sailors included (but aren’t limited to, sorry if I missed ya): Anne, Martine, Dave, George, Dale, Norm, Charlie, Dan, and just one visiting sailor!

Ego beach as the wind was filling in

Caleb, Norm, and Dan also went out at Ego, and just one kiter by the time we got on it. There was plenty of space out there, that’s for sure! Fun sesh, hitting up sketchy shorebreak waves in the chest to head high range, and some nice jumps lining up on the outer bar. As the sun started to set, I crossed back over to the Hole, and did some flat water blasting under one of the most incredible sunsets I’ve ever seen!

I mean really… Come on!!(Photo: Anne)

Dale and I stayed out until it was virtually pitch black. I just couldn’t give it up, lit up 5.0, warm, unreal sky…Are you kidding?!(Photo: Anne)

I woke up bright and early this morning to try to catch the clearing winds, but it faded pretty fast. I scored a few passes in the straps, but it was pretty light out there… I’ll tell you what, the sunrise made up for the lack of breeze!

Dawn at the Avon Pier

Looks like some more weather will be pushing through over the next few days, but I’m outta here! We’re headed up North to play in the snow and visit with Family and Friends! Can’t wait to see y’all! In the meantime, keep an eye on Bill’s blog to see what you’re missing!

Happy Holidays!

After an extra long day and a half of waiting for even a trace of wind (but happily surfing head high groundswell in the meantime), I finally got a chance to try out my new Tabou Freestyle 100! I’ll tell ya, that was a long 44 hours, staring at that beautiful beast, waiting to get some breeze…

The wind was super light, so it wasn’t the most appropriate testing conditions, but I just had to get out there and see what it was capable of. The meter was reading avg 13, lull 11, and short lived gusts to 17 or 18 mph. I was definitely milking it with a 5.7… But here are my initial reactions anyway:

Once out of my living room and onto the beach, the board looked a lot smaller than I initially thought it was. That held true for feel under foot once in the water. Don’t get me wrong, it was exceptionally stable, but underway it had the twitchyness and responsiveness of a much smaller board. The step rail really made the tail feel narrow and responsive underfoot, especially when comparing it to other flat decked freestyle boards.

Even though the board felt small underfoot, it still “planed up on a fart” (to borrow a phrase from Andy Brandt). With virtually zero sail power, the board still just wants to get up and moving. So that’s a pretty rad combination of characteristics- ultra maneuverable, responsive, and light, but planes up as early as boards that feel much bigger and relatively “dead” underfoot.

How does it slide? Well, my first attempts were a bit ugly, but once I got used to how little energy it takes to pop the board, I slid through a perfect 540, one handed spock, and even attempted a halfway decent grubby. This is all under super light sail power, mind you.

I can’t wait to get this board out in some real wind!!

Wow, the whole Holiday thing has been keeping me busy… No time to write!! By the way, there’s still time to send out Gift Certificates and/or product, in time for the Holidays, so give the shop a call or send me an email and place your orders!

Last week was pretty fun, although I must have angered the wind gods with something I said… For two days straight, every time I rigged up and got in the water, the wind died. It got to the point where Dave and Ralph were chasing me out of the parking lot, before I had a chance to mess it up for everyone…

Here they are, ripping around, well juiced, 15 minutes before I hit the water and ruined it for everyone:
Dave, mid flat-water jibe

Ralph, in the straps and ripping

George, entertaining the “crowds”

Retribution came on Friday, when it blew 30-45 for a few hours in the AM. I think I’m getting old, because as I was loading up the truck, I hesitated as I walked by Anne’s 3.7… and I decided to take it! Did I rig it? Well, no, I just hung on to my 4.2, but the action of simply putting the thing in the truck was a pretty major admission of truth for me. I am getting dangerously close to the dirty 30s…

Ghost town, 60 degrees and blowing 30! Where is everyone?!

Ego Beach, looking seductive

Ralph shot a few minutes of video and sent me this short clip: (Thanks, Ralph)

Speaking of video, I’ve put some of my previous ones up on Vimeo.com. The original files that I uploaded are exactly the same as the ones on youtube, but the quality is much better on vimeo! Check them out, here!

Other than that, Stuart and I snagged a killer Saturday, sailing in the AM and SUPping in the PM… Which had the effect of knocking me out before I could get to D’s Holiday Party, and I missed the Parade, too… Man… slacking!!

Blog special of the day: Starboard Flare 104 Wood (The link is to a review of a smaller 99 liter version, the 104 planes up even better)!! Freestyle boards are super fun and easy to sail, and I think everyone should own one! It’s hard to not plane out of a jibe on these things… Plus, you can rig small, light sails, and still outplane everyone on their 8.5 race sails! What’s not to like?! So here’s the deal- this board is brand new, although a previous model year, so we’re going to hook you up for $949!! Pick it up in the Spring, or I’ll ship it to ya, doesn’t matter, but get your name on this board!! Call the shop or send me an email!

Anne attended a ABK Boardsports clinic this past October, here in Hatteras. This is what she has to say about the whole affair:

The fall 2008 Hatteras ABK camp ROCKED! Thanks to the ABK crew for a fun weekend full of sailing (even on the day when there wasn’t that much wind). It’s just crazy how much you can learn from these guys in only a few days. Planing jibes, fin first sailing… whatever you can think of, they’ll teach it. This was my second clinic and I was amazed at how much I learned. I can’t wait for them to come back and help me with forwards (ha!). Let’s face it windsurfing is hard. After all, if it were easy… you know what they would call it. See you in the spring!

So there you have it. Thanks, Anne! A week or two after the clinic, we had some HUGE winds. I mean, lit out of my gourd on my 4.2. The cool thing is, Anne, who weighs about 50 pounds less than me, was tearing it up on her 3.7, trying chop hops and blazing through planing jibes! Before taking the clinic, she probably would have just stayed in the car (sorry sweetheart, but you know it’s true), but after the clinic, she was full of confidence, and her sailing showed it!! ‘Nuff said, take a ABK clinic and reap the benefits!

Anne and I attended the wedding of my friends Tom and Pearl over the weekend. They’re both windsurfers, so it was, by default, a rad wedding. We had an unspeakable amount of fun hanging out with some old windsurfing friends. Congratulations, guys, it was great night, and a lot of fun to see everyone!! If any pictures surface, I’ll post ’em up, but they might need censoring…

Of course, the whole East Coast was going off while we were driving home, but that’s a given when that many windsurfers are pre-engaged in a non-windsurfing event…

Chesapeake Bay, Going Off!

This was tonight’s sunset. You could be here!! In fact, you probably should be here, looking at our forecast! Temps up to 70, winds up to the mid 20s for the next 4 days straight! Suh-weet!! Get here!
Sailworld Cape Hatteras steal of the day: Brand Spankin’ New 2007 Starboard Carve 111 Technora, $949!! Only one left! This board is sweet with freeride/freerace sails in the 5.0 to 7.5 range, and offers smooth handling, early planing, and accessible speed. It likes a locked and loaded stance, yet remains smooth and easy in the jibes. Shoot me an email or call the shop to snag this one time blog based deal!! By the way, the Revolution 5.8 is still available!

Alright, so a week or two ago I claimed my first grubby. I even had video of (half of) it. I was pretty stoked on it, to be honest! But yesterday, I nailed one so clean that I planed out of it! WAY better than the first one I claimed… So now, I’m really gonna claim it : ) That’s good news, because it was one of my 2008 windsurfing goals. Anyone else have any luck with theirs, now that 2009 is looming on the horizon?

Billy D, Mach 10

Billy D, Dave C and I had it all to ourselves

We had perfect freestyle conditions yesterday, 5.7 and 100ish liter board. It was pretty punchy wind, and the gusts were pushing through in these nice, visible long lines. It made it really easy to pick out the right spot, timing wise, to chuck a move. I really don’t mind gusty conditions, it opens up the world to such a huge range of possibilities: Hass or helitack in a lull, loop and jibe in the huge gusts, spock from a gust into a lull… If you open your eyes and work on appropriate moves at appropriate times your success rates can really skyrocket!

Closing time at the Hole, Thursday evening.

10 minutes later…

Zach and Sean passed through

Anyway, a bunch of you took advantage of the DaKine Handwear Sale, so it’s time to move on to the next item on crazy blog-only closeout from Sailworld Cape Hatteras:

Sailworks Revolution 5.8

This Sailworks Revolution 5.8 is a previous year’s new closeout. The sail matches up well with bump and jump/freestyle wave type boards really well. It’s built durable enough for surf conditions, with solid rod epoxy battens and tons of x-ply. It’ll rig on either a 460 or a 430, standard or reduced diameter mast. Bigger, power hungry folks tend to like the longer, stiffer mast option, while smaller, more finesse oriented sailors usually like the shorter, softer 430. Regular price is $605, crazy one time only blog based blowout on the last one: $399!! That’s over 30% off! Holy $&@*!! There’s only one left, so the first person to email me (at the address in the Welcome section of this blog) gets dibs. If this is an item you would like someone to buy for you, simply click the envelope button below to email them a link to this page!

Stoked on a surprise session yesterday! Cape Hatteras is such a rad place… All of the forecasts were calling for 5-10 all day long, but we got a surprise mid-day 20-25 two hour burst of wind! Good stuff, straight West, so Stuart and I sailed the Slick down in Buxton. My good ol’ VT sailing buddy Don showed up on his kite for a little while, too. Our differing geographic home bases were readily apparent: Stuart and I were wearing 6 and 4 mil suits, respectively, with hoods, boots, and mittens, while Don was ripping around wearing nothing but trunks…

2nd topic of stokage: We just got the December issue of the New England Windsurfing Journal in the mail! I wrote a piece about a speed sailing session from about a month ago, and both Keith and I got some great Lane DuPont photos published! Stoked! Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Out into the gnar we went! Visions of reeling, mast-high lefts led me down to Isabel’s, where, not surprisingly, I met up with a handful of other windseekers searching for the perfect setup. Running over the dunes, our eyes met with…

Wanna know what happens next? Get a subscription (or order a copy through the shop)!

Speaking of the shop, we’ve got some killer deals kicking right now! Over the next few weeks, I’ll be highlighting some specials, blog based insane deals, for a limited time only!! Starting with:

DaKine handwear! We’ve got a limited stock of Full Finger Gloves, Half Finger Gloves, Cold Water Gloves, and Cold Water Mittens. If you email me an order within the next two days (by Friday, December 5th, at 1 PM), I’ll give you 40% off the regular price of $27-$30!! Please note the model, size (xs, s, m, l, xl), shipping address, and a daytime phone number that I can reach you at to finallize billing. Please do not email credit card info (for your own protection)!! My email address can be found in the “Welcome” section of the blog, top right.

DaKine Full Finger Sailing Gloves (Reg $30, SALE $18)

DaKine Half Finger Sailing Gloves (Reg $27, SALE $16.20)

DaKine Cold Water Gloves (Reg $30, SALE $18)

DaKine Cold Water Mitts (Reg $30, SALE $18)

These are great stocking stuffers for the sailors in your family!! Act now, as this is a limited time frame sale on a limited stock of handwear! If you would like to subtly hint to someone that this is a gift you would like to receive, simply click the little envelope button below to email them this blog post! Happy Shopping!!

Where to begin? Chronologically, I suppose…

Happy Thanksgiving! Has your buzz worn off yet? Mine hasn’t! Anne and I drove up to NY, cannonball run style, to hang out with my family. My parents hosted 26 family members this year, slightly down from an all time high of 32. Our house isn’t huge, but it’s a heck of a lot bigger than my Grandparent’s old apartment in the Bronx… Still, every bed, couch, and even some carpeted floors were occupied as sleeping space for the night, once we all wound down. It was great to see everyone!

A few of us decided to take a nature walk on Friday, to burn off some of those extra calories. I really enjoyed getting out into the woods for some exercise, in the cool, crisp NE air. Living the endless summer is really fun, but I definitely miss the mountains on occasion.

I dare you to jump!

Looks like the stream erodes the banks during floods, the tree trunks collapse in, and then over time bend and regrow vertically.

Most of the underlying rock formations were slate. Slate is basically moderately compressed clay beds. Clay has a flat hexagonal molecular structure, and when it gets lightly compressed, all of the particles become aligned and form sheets of rock. It’s pretty easy to make thin, rectangular pieces out of a bed of slate, which is why it’s historically been used as a roofing material.

The Crew, L-R me, Anne, Dad, Jim, Pauline

Steep Stream Banks

Waterfall through the trees

There was ice building up at the base of the waterfalls

We raided the closets to make sure everyone was appropriately geared up. Jim’s 20 year old boots didn’t handle their release from captivity too well…

On the epically long drive back to NC, Anne and I stopped at a highway rest area. This guy was walking his horse in the dog walking area.

Make sure you scoop the poop, dude!

We returned to Hatteras to find sun, wind, and temps in the 60s! Very nice welcome home gift! Stuart and I sailed Ego Beach for awhile, juiced up on 4.2s. The waves were really disorganized on the outer bar, and sometimes about head high and barreling in the shorebreak section. It was a sketchy session, with insanely shifty and gusty winds. The only truly ride-able wave sections were breaking in thigh deep water 20 feet from the beach… I came away unscathed, but Stuart snapped his mast in half and tore his sail : ( Some other guys did some road surfing, ended up at Ramp 34 for awhile, with a 50% success rate at getting out. Then they headed down towards the point, and apparently scored some fun chest high waves.

After getting worked pretty hard a few times, I joined everyone else at the Hole. Billy D, Dave C, Keith, Jeffro, Jim K, Dotty, Petra, and a few others were out there, tearing it up. Petra went windsurfing for the first time in 4 months, now that her hands are all healed up!! She looked to me like she hadn’t missed a day, she was killing it out there!

Keith, holding it all together in a gust!

Petra, back on it!

Jim K, heading out.

On to the November Wrap-Up:

13 windsurfing sessions (5.7 x1, 5.0 x8, 4.2 x4)
7 surf sessions
2 skatesailing sessions
6 rest days (4 of which were missed-its!!)
2 sessions in a 3/2 wetsuit, 14 sessions in a 4/3, 4 sessions in a 6/5/4

So, when it was windy, it cranked (almost every sesh was 5.0 or smaller)!! And when it wasn’t windy, there were great waves to surf! There were a few really cold days, but most were a reasonable temp (I tend to overdress, a lot of my 4/3 days would have been fine in the 3/2).

The water’s still warm (enough) and the wind is cranking, so come on down and join us for some fun! We’ve got just a little bit of stock left in the shop, too, and everything’s on a killer sale, so if you need anything, now is the time to buy!!

Happy Birthday, Dad! I hope you have a great day today. Can’t wait to see you guys over Thanksgiving dinner!

I can’t let you get away unscathed, Dad, so I’m going to show everyone a short video of you and Mom tearing up the dance floor last spring. Looks like you’ve still got it!

While that’s loading up, let me tell y’all about how good the surf has been the last few days! We’ve had pretty glassy conditions out there, and two straight days of perfect longboard waves. Think Malibu, but going left. Super fun (Thanks for the call, Dan)! This morning, everything switched around and intensified a bit, so we took out the shortboards and caught some really long, fun rights. The lefts were still working, too, but they were a lot shorter and steeper. Drew and I just finished up a drift session, we went from the Motels down to about D’s Spot, and caught countless waves. What a way to start the day!

So, pulling the beached 50′ sailboat back into the water didn’t work. It survived the last batch of NW wind and solid NE swell, but got pushed another 20 feet up towards the dunes. The steering mechanisms are now completely shot, so now the plan is to tow it off the beach on dry land. Apparently, the owner can’t afford the process, so he had to sign ownership of the boat over to the towing company. Kind of a bummer, but hey, it’s a lesson learned. They don’t call it the Graveyard of the Atlantic for nothing… I’d say he got off pretty easy, as he’s still living…

They brought out the big rigs

And Mr Fixit showed up to help!

They created an I-Beam frame

Luckily the beach is wide and flat right now!

It’s still on the beach, but down towards Ramp 38 now. I guess they have to step the masts and get it “road ready” before they tow it down the highway. Hopefully they can get her seaworthy again, and maybe she’ll have better luck the next time around!

A bit of a chill has set over Hatteras Island the last few days! Not to worry though, it looks like mid 60s again by Monday afternoon… A little cold snap has never kept me from having fun, though, so it’s been a heck of a few days!! Thursday was decision day, the question being between windsurfing perfect 5.7 slick conditions, or surfing super clean head high groundswell… Considering how much windsurfing we’ve been doing, the surf conditions won the battle for my limited amount of free time… Man, it felt good to paddle around for a bit! There’s nothing quite like laying into a bottom turn in silky smooth water! Sorry, no pictures, but it was very pretty out there!

The wind kicked back in, NW all day Friday and this morning. I broke out the thick suit and DaKine mittens again to fend off the chill. Oh, and the portable hot tub, too : ) The puddles were frozen this morning, and the thermometers were reading 33 Fahrenheit… Perfect windsurfing weather! Anne came out to Ramp 34 with me, mostly I think to make sure I didn’t kill myself… She’s the voice of reason balancing out my inner windsurfing demon : )

It ended up being a killer session (but short, about 30 minutes before the wind backed off). The waves were perfect, peeling left at waist to shoulder high, and super easy to read. If we had conditions like this during Wavefest, but 30 degrees warmer, everyone would have gone pro by the end of the festival! Every pass offered up a great ramp on the way out, and a 3 to 4 bottom turn wave on the way in. I got in one of my best port tack forwards yet, virtually planed out of the thing with a totally dry landing! The very next run out, a perfect backloop ramp popped up in front of me, and I took it for all it was worth! Before I left the house this morning, I was looking at Jonas Cebalos’ page. He just posted up a huge backloop sequence, where he apexes, and then floats down and at the very last second completes the rotation and noses in. Lately, I’ve been trying to rotate at the apex, and usually over-rotate on the way down, so this morning I tried to change it up a bit, Jonas Style! What a difference! I nosed in and landed standing, but couldn’t hold onto the boom with my cold hands! Stoked on the progress!

Anyway, Anne snapped off a few pictures before her fingers got too cold to hold the camera! Thanks for keeping an eye on me!!

She thought my pre-game get up was humourous, mainly the socks…

Powered up right off the beach

Long shoulder high waves… FUN!

Well, if you’ve read this far, you deserve to know that we’re jumpstarting the Black Friday Thanksgiving Sale at Sailworld! Killer prices are available on anything left in the shop, starting today! Availability is very limited, so if you’re looking for anything, give us a call or swing on by! Actually, the Thanksgiving week forecast looks incredible right now, with 20+ knot winds every day starting Monday, and ending… well, never… So jump in the car and come on down!! : )

**Update** Please answer the new poll, in the right hand column. Thanks, hope to see you!!

Oh, I’m stoked right now! We’ve had a ton of wind over the last few days! I took a rest day on Monday, but could have surfed some really fun waist to chest high, super clean waves. Then the NW wind hit on Tuesday… Stuart and I have been hitting up the Buxton Slick, every free moment! And I’ll tell you what, the confidence is building fast!! Stuart’s starting to sail out of clean Spock 540s, and I nailed my first Grubby yesterday!! It’s amazing what consistent, clean conditions do for your progression!

The other thing I’m amped up about is getting to wear my thick wetsuit! Man I love that thing! It’s a 6/5/4 Billabong surf suit with a built in hood. Even though the temps were in the 40s yesterday, and 35 this morning, the suit felt a bit like overkill… but it’s sooo comfortable… It feels like a giant, supportive but stretchy Ace bandage wrapped around my whole body. It’s probably what gave me the confidence to hit the Grubby!!

Shot some more video… Enjoy!!

Oh yeah: Wind wise, it’s been cranking! Sailed 5.0 yesterday AM, then lit up 4.2 in the evening! And more 5.0 this morning, but it’s been slowly fading all day here. Tomorrow looks like another perfect slick day, more westerly and a bit warmer, and then it’s supposed to light up again this weekend!!! Unbelievable this Fall!! You’ve got to get here, if you’re thinking about calling it quits for the season!! Actually, this morning was by far the coldest it gets here, all winter long, so if you sailed today, you can make it all year here!

Anyway, this picture was taken after derigging my 4.2 last night. Gotta love it!

***Update*** I just uploaded the Buxton Slick video, it’s at the bottom of this post…

****Update #2**** The Island Free Press has posted an informative news item about the beached sailboat, here. Apparently, this isn’t the first time this boat has been in trouble…

Big news in Avon this weekend! Some fella from up North ran his 50 foot sailboat aground across the street from the Food Lion. Rumor is, he went below deck and mistakenly fell asleep while underway… Doh! No one got hurt, and his boat seems kinda OK, so everyone’s just laughing about the whole thing. He’s pretty lucky that the swell isn’t very big right now, and that he missed the Pier (by about a half a mile). Word is, they’re going to try to pull him out tomorrow morning at high tide. I wish them luck, because if they fail, there’s another big blow forecasted for Tuesday and Wednesday…. Drew has some great pics from last night’s rescue mission here.

Nino’s delivered a Pizza to him!

High and Dry!

Might as well clean the hull while she’s dry docked…?!?!

It’s been a super windy weekend! It cranked out of the South all day yesterday, with temps in the 70s and occasional showers. I snagged a dawn and sunset session, both of which were kinda lame performances on my part. I was up way too late Friday night, so my energy level was terrible for the dawn sesh. I still had a great time, and nailed a few loops and spocks and stuff, but was definitely dragging out there. Then, at work, Drew brought in a bunch of leftover brownies, and then Anne showed up with a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts that she bought for a fundraiser… So all I ate all day was sweets, and then I tried for the sunset sesh… Needless to say, I had ZERO energy… I’m usually pretty careful about what I eat, but man, yesterday was just terrible…

From what I hear, Ego Beach lit up pretty well in the afternoon, about chest high on the newly formed outer bar. Hope fully that sandbar stays put for a few swells, because it looks pretty well shaped. This was the scene when I showed up:

Whole lotta standing around going on

So yeah, the wind died off, and the tide got too high. Luckily, the sound is right across the street! There were quite a few people out there, who had come down for the weekend forecast. They definitely scored a sweet day!

This morning was cranking NW and a bit chillier. Anne, Stuart and I sailed down in the Buxton Slicks. Anne tried out her new 3.7 World Sail Surge, and claims “It’s GREAT!” Stuart was on fire this morning, nailing spocks on BOTH tacks now!! Solid performance! And I, well, yeah… I wasn’t really feeling it this morning… Oh well, it was still super fun! I took the camera out there again and shot some video. Enjoy!!

The forecast for this coming week looks INSANE, AGAIN! This Fall has just been incredible! If you’re not here, GET here, ‘cuz it’s gonna be good!

Sorry to keep y’all hanging…

Here goes:

Veteran’s Day: Obviously: Thanks to anyone who has ever selflessly served this country!! After thanking our “Silent Heroes,” you all must thank Anne and me for sacrificing to the wind gods. We spent the day on Ocracoke being tourists. We brought beach chairs, bicycles, books, and booze. We did not bring windsurfing gear… So of course, the sunny part of the forecast came true, but the windless part did not…

Riding bikes around the village

They have trees in Ocracoke!!

But they don’t make such a big deal about the Lighthouse…

Congratulations! You are 88.5 miles away from anything!

The fishing boats were out in force

The beach is firm enough to ride a beach cruiser!

Even though we missed a solidly good 5.5 day, we definitely had some fun. It was good to get off hectic Hatteras Island for a day, get a change of pace, yada yada yada… Looking at my logs, that was my first, true, full day off from the shop since September 7th! That’s over two months straight! How’s that for being a dedicated employee? In any case, I can think of no way better to spend the day than hanging out with my lady.

Wednesday was a bit lighter for wind, but still sailable. I got stuck in the shop, catching up on everything from the day before… And with the super short days this time of year, the sun was pretty much gone by the time I got out of work. Not to worry, though, with the full moon and some parking lot lights, Drew and I snagged a sweet skate sesh. What a great option for these lighter wind or shorter day sessions! Drew learned how to sail clew first, and dialed in his duck jibes and heli-tacks, while I worked out some kinks in the spocks and grubbys.

Speedy gonzales, aka Drew

Full Moon, helping us out in the visibility department

And yesterday, Thursday, was just plain old wicked!! It was pretty stormy all day, with gusty SE winds and rain squalls pushing through. By early afternoon, we couldn’t take it anymore and headed to the Cove. Stuart, Keith, Chad, Rick, Mike Burns and his NY crew, and Lane, Jay, and a few others hit it up, despite the inclement “coastal” weather. It was perfect 5.0 with chest to overhead set waves, slightly onshore conditions. It was pretty much impossible to not go huge on the jumps. Almost landed a few back loops… but not quite there yet… I just can’t stick the darned landings…

Thursday, November 13th, Frisco Pier Meter (courtesy iWindsurf.com)

There was one squall that blew through, that actually had me a bit nervous for a minute. The wind went from 22-27 mph (perfect 5.0), to 27 gusting to 40 mph almost instantly, with basically no warning… Tailwalking, barely under control, I got completely worked by one of the outside bombs. Man, I’ve never held on to my boom so tightly! No way was I letting go of my kit, way outside, in such a strong squall with building seas (The buoy jumped from 7 feet to 13 feet over the course of a few hours)! Once I surfaced, the gusts were so intense, I could only clear my sail during the lulls, try to waterstart, and basically get immediately ragdolled… Eventually, I scored a lull long enough to get my feet in the straps and the harness on, and then I was finally able to make it back to shore, tailwalking and avoiding waves the whole way in… I was stoked to touch dry land, that’s for sure!

After the squall, Stuart and Keith relaunched.

And the sun appeared as the wind crapped out!

Overall, it was a killer session in the Cove! Stuart and I were commenting that this Fall has seen quite a few sailable days out in the Cove/Hook area… Pretty unusual, but we’re certainly not going to complain about that!

And a final piece of visual entertainment for ya:

I finally got around to editing some footage that Ace took out at the Reef, from about a month ago… There’s some slightly bouncy helmet cam footage in there, but I think it came out pretty well overall! Enjoy!

Ego Beach served up the first starboard tack wavesailing we’ve seen in months on Saturday afternoon! Temps in the 70s, sunshine, and SW winds in the 20s made for an awesome afternoon! The waves were pretty weak, but every now and then something with a little punch and size would roll in. It sure wasn’t epic, but I’m sure not complaining! There were lots of people out on the water, and smiles all around.

Olaf on a nice one!

Roland checking out the scene

This morning (Sunday), Anne woke me up ULTRA early to bring her up the beach, so that she could run the OBX 1/2 Marathon!! It was the perfect day, cloudless and about 60 degrees, with just a touch of breeze to keep it cool. There were about 2700 contestants for the 1/2 marathon, and another 1200 full marathon runners! Quite a turnout, if you ask me! Anne had a great race, finishing 13.1 miles in 2:05:35, placing 93rd out of 314 in her age/gender bracket, and 424th out of 1748 females!

The race ended down near the Manteo Waterfront

The road to the finish, before the crowds showed up

Final Stretch!!

She made it!!

The crowd at the Finish Line

Anne, still standing!

It was a great event to see, and the party was just getting started when we left at 10 am! Other Hatteras Island runners included Grace Souter (1:50:45, 29/314!!!), Kristi Davidson (2:01:23, 48/171), and I’m sure many others that I missed! Nice job, everyone! Go ahead and take tomorrow off, then start training for the St Patty’s Day Marathon on Tuesday : ) All of the results can be viewed here, for anyone interested.

Following the two days of insane-o winds, the surf has been absolutely firing. Thursday’s winds were still moderately strong out of the West, in the 10-20 mph range. That’s straight offshore on the East facing beaches, so it was grooming and holding up those wave faces really well. I’m sure some people went sailing and kiting, but man, it’s been so long since we’ve had good waves… so I ditched the windsurfing gear to go surf. No pictures from Thursday, because no-one wanted to miss a single minute out there…

Last night (Friday) we went back out there, and the swell had dropped substantially but it was still really fun. I met up with Drew, Kevin, Anne, and NJ Josh for the sunset sesh. I took my little waterproof cam out into the lineup and came up with some pretty cool shots! Enjoy!

There were a few local boys cruising around

Anne on a nice, clean right

Drew gets the shot of the day!

Josh caught a bunch of great waves on his Starboard 9’8″ SUP, but this is the only pic that came out… Sorry, man! Trust me, he was ripping!

Anne

There’s still some swell in the water, and the wind is ramping up SW right now. Sunny skies and temps about 70 Fahrenheit, to boot! So yeah, if you wanna buy anything, better call or swing by the shop soon, because I might not stick around too much longer…

First and foremost:

Happy Birthday to my brother, Jim! Here we are, hanging out last April in the Caribbean:

That’s Jim on the left. As you can see, he got hooked up with the “handsome” genes. Jerk.

His birthday was actually yesterday, and I had meant to post this last night, but I fell asleep at about 8:30. Too much intense windsurfing knocked me flat on my back, and it was lights out before most 1st graders hit the sack!

Speaking of intense windsurfing, yesterday lined up for another super fun 4.2 day at the Hole. I’ve been rigging that sail on a 400, and it always felt pretty good but a bit twitchy. Yesterday, I grabbed the top half of Anne’s 370 when she wasn’t looking and used that with my 400 bottom. What a difference!! Man that sail felt great! The shorter, softer top allowed the leach to open just a little bit easier, while the stiffer bottom section kept a little more shape in the main panels. Good stuff! Try it out the next time your sail feels pitchy, or if the wind is super gusty. You just might like it!

Anyway, me, Stuart, Keith, Jim K, Billy D, and a few others hit up some solid bump and jump conditions, straight west winds, gusty and fun. The chop was just about perfect for big jumps. Stuart and I had a little loopfest out there, chucking forwards left and right, on virtually every tack. We even got off a few back and push loop attempts when the right piece of chop popped up in front of us! Super fun to be chucking yourself around out there! I saw Keith throw a few perfect forwards, too, and Jim K bail out of a MONSTER air! I love seeing people go huge, it gets me amped up to push it even more! No photos, due to the overcast, spitting rain conditions. Definitely “coastal” weather.

So yeah, I was exhausted, and I fell asleep at 8:30 and shirked all brotherly birthday blog responsibilities. Sorry, Bro! But late is better than never, right?!

My oh my, it feels mighty tropical out there today… The roads are flooded, and it’s super windy out of the North, veering NW (look out for some big soundside flooding when that happens!). Rainfall yesterday was just under 3″, and it poured all night, I’m sure just about doubling the totals. I’m hoping the rain clears out this afternoon for some open eyed sailing!

**update** We received another 5.88″ of rain on Wednesday!

Here are a few pictures from my commute this morning. I probably could have walked faster…

RT 12 is not only flooded, it’s whitecapping…

Uh-huh : )

Suddenly, the fake dolphin and dock to nowhere seem to make sense