Sunday, September 1, 2013

It was a Dark and Stormy Night

Walters boat in Stage Harbor


2 days kiting on the Monomoy flats, 1 night sleeping on Walter's 42' cottage on the water. Me, Josh, Paige, and Walter. I love it! The adventure, the beauty, the salt crust in my hair.

This is not a relaxing-on-a-sailboat kind of 2 days. We dinghy out from the Barn Hill boat launch, 15 minutes to the sailboat, 2 trips to move our gear and 3 people. Then we dinghy out to the flats for kiting. My tiny dinghy becomes our trusted steed. More like a miniature pony.

Walter's handsome steed of a sailboat is highly civilized. Very roomy, clean, and comfy, hot showers even. I can't whack my head on anything if I try.

It's a good night for sleeping on a sailboat, stormy, windy. My favorite moment- I'm in my sleeping bag listening to the beat of lines against the mast. The boat rocks gently. Faint evening light outlines the open hatches and portholes. A fresh breeze blows in. Water gurgles and whispers around the hull. The only thing missing is a little snoring. Ah, there it is! I sleep like a burnt out light bulb, right through an incredible thunderstorm apparently.

 Mayhem and Madness
Great time. Thanks for sharing your Madness Walter!

Learners Report
Josh- gets solid on both carving and pivoting into and out of toeside, can ride toeside both directions but better in his favored direction. He says he feels all twisted up like a pretzel riding toeside. Welcome to the club.

Paige- finally gets perfect learning conditions. Yay! She does great. She's flying the kite 1 handed, bodydragging downwind, starting to drag to each side. I've never seen anyone go from totally crashing the kite 1 session to flying it easily 1 handed the next. Her water skiing upbringing is starting to shine through.

It was fun to see Brad teaching Kristen out on the flats too. Also fun to see lots of other friends kiting by out there.

Click on pics for full size.

5 comments:

Kitermike said...

Great way to end the summer and kick off the fall season! We counted over 60 kites on Saturday! We stayed at the Camp that night enjoying great food and and great company. At 3am I saw the first signs of lightning followed by a loud crack of thunder and then the rain! Sunday brought a little less wind and after a hearty breakfast we ventured out. It was an incredible weekend spent with wonderful friends in an awesome setting! Great to see you all!

scooper said...

Nice report Mike! Thanks for giving a broader perspective on a great weekend!

Dunoyer said...

Gorgeous adventure. Waller is da man!

Kitermike said...

That Red sled would come in handy at some secret spots!

scooper said...

Mike- Red Sled! I love it.
You got a secret spot in mind? I'm up for anything. I just wish I had a bigger duckie. It'll plane with 2 people and 3 kites, any more than that and it still gets there but slow.

Jean- You know it! Good to see you and Jamie out there.