Summery Light Wind Day

The wind came up just long enough to get a few of us out on the water. I made it over to the flats but had to walk it about half of the way back. That's O.K. It's all part of the adventure. Hanging out with friends made this Summery light wind day fun. Hardings, Kitesurfed, 10-15, WSW, W, 12M Kite, 152 Ply board, with Des, Luke, Ron, Oliver.

Kite Eating Tree

I had my first encounter with a kite eating tree. I hope it's my last! The lines looked good but weren't, kite wouldn't launch, bounced downwind twice and landed in a gnarly, washed up skeleton of a tree and stump, shredding 1 section of my kite. It was the only obstacle on that entire stretch of salt marsh. My kite was drawn to it like a guilty soul to the devil. Frank and Jamie helped me tape the wounded kite, straighten out my line problem, and get out on the water before I imploded from frustration. It's sooo much better kiting with friends! Waq Bay- was very gusty. It was still fun but I was kiting pretty conservatively. It's hard to push my limits when the wind is jumping from 10 to 30 to 10. sometimes the gusts were so quick that the gust/lull I saw on the water was different from the conditions up at the kite. Mem Day Traffic- I left the house at 12:00, had no traffic. Frank left his place at 8:00, also no traffic. Sometimes the world isn't as it seems. It's better. Waq Bay, Kitesurfed, SW, 10-30?, 10M Bularoo/132 Ply Board, Frank, Jamie, Sammi, Andre, Coleen, Rob, Robert, Wo-Jo, others Picture- Robert was the last man out.

Hatteras- Day 5- Sum Up

Friday- A bunch of us rented SUP boards for 2 hours and messed around soundside. Then Frank and I had a great surfing session at the houses right up until the sun set. The waves were the best yet and the setting sun was making them sparkle and glow! Totals- 1 great day of kiting soundside, 1 brief oceanside session on windsurfer with others on kites, lots of small-wave surf sessions, 1 SUP session soundside, great group dinners/hanging out/hot tub times. Thanks to Frank for organizing it all and making it happen! Sum up or Shut Up- It was great to share my passion for sports with other crazy obsessed people like myself, but I did miss Barbara and the boys. We only had 1 windy day ouf of 5, bad luck. Hatt/PEI- How does Hatt compare to PEI? Hatt has better launches- no mussel farming bouys soundside, better waves for surfing oceanside. PEI is 3 times more scenic and has more to do and explore for the down times. PEI also has had much more wind when we've been there but that's just the roll of the dice. PEI is still my favorite vacation spot of all time, sorry OBX. Picture- It takes 6 to sink a SUP board. We're still paddling but we aren't going anywhere. Soundside, SUP, with Frank, Jamie, Sandie, Colleen, Andre, Eric, Bruno, Peter. Avon Beach, Surfed, Acid 94, with Frank.

Hatteras Day 4

OBX surfer at the Hatteras lighthouse I felt a little out of sync today. I was missing Barbara and the boys. How do single people keep from feeling lonely? The wind picked up too briefly to catch. I was first at the Frisco turnout but there was just enough wind for 14-17 Meter kites so I waited for it to pick up. It didn't. The crew showed up after a few hours and the wind just kept getting lighter. They wanted to wait to see if the wind would come back. I couldn't think of any new details of kiting or windsurfing to talk about so I eventually took off for a lighthouse surfing session and a unicycle ride to the soundside. Hatteras Lighthouse, Surfed, Acid94- front straps and mast base removed.

Hatteras Day 3

View from the deck, Matt's kite in the background at Avon Beach I got a taste of Hatteras oceanside windsurfing! Our crew spent the afternoon screwing around with big kites and boards in fairly small Avon Beach surf. I did some skim boarding (without kite). Just before sunset the wind bumped up, so I got happy, zipped back to the house, carried my gear down the road and boardwalk to the beach, rigged, and got about a half hour in straight sideshore wavesailing. The waves were disorginized, soft, but ridable in spots. I got a little grief for sailing classic but it felt great to be out there on equipment that felt so comfortable. Dinner was fantastic, thanks to Wo-Jo, Dan and Sandie! I counted 16 of us eating and a few more showed up for the after dinner discussion about about every detail of kiting and windsurfing that we could think of. We were all in living-is-easy beach vacation mode. Let the good times roll! Avon Beach, Sammi on Florian's 17m kite with Frank's Door64 Avon Beach, Windsurfed, N, 18-25, 5.7/Acid94, with kiters- Sammi, Florian, Colleen, Andre, Bruno, Amine, Matt, Peter, Rob.

Hatteras Day 2

This- is what I came for! It was 10-20+ for most of the day. I got up at 6:30, was on the water before breakfast, off the water at 7:00 PM., in the hot tub around 8:00, dinner was at 9:00. Nice day! Downwinder to Nowhere 2- I thought that I was a good enough beginning kiter to go along on a downwinder from the Avon houses to Salvo first thing in the morning. I didn't look at the wave size because my eyes were still asleep. I was relieved to get out thru head high waves, but left my board behind on my first turn. Matt rescued my board. Jamie had a similar fate so the downwinder crew was reduced to just Matt. I tried to pick him up in my truck, four wheeling down the Avon ramps onto the beach, but was always behind him. Eventually I lost him in the rain and fog. No worries, he just hitch-hiked back. He had a smile across his whole head after carving miles of waves in a perfect side shore wind! Chimi House- We all ended up at this flat, shallow soundside spot for the rest of the day. I took turns providing newbie support and kiting. We were almost the only ones at this remote spot (you gotta walk in). When I walked back to my truck for my lunch, I could hear Frank yelling, "yeah baby!", all the way back at the truck. That seemed to be how we all felt. Chimi House, Kitesurfed, S,SW,W,NW, 10-20+, 12M/6' surfboard, ply 132, with Frank, Jamie, Sammi, Matt, Sandie, Peter, Wo-Jo, Dan, Bruno, Amine, Nakita, Eric, Wo-Jo.

Welcome to Hatteras

Downwinder to Nowhere It's great to see Hatteras! I've been hearing, "Hey man, you've got to go to Hatteras!", since I started windsurfing, 100 years ago. I'm finaly here. We tried to do a downwwinder from the Frisco Pier to the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum but the wind died and the forecast lied. It was a little dissapointing to pump up and wait for nothing but we talked about every detail of kiting and windsurfing that we could think of, did a little surfing back at the the houses in Avon, and talked about every detail of kiting and windsurfing that we could think of. Mini Surfboard- I tried using the 6' Caution kite surfboard as a surfing surfboard in the tiny waves. Bad idea. I caught a few waves but it was a struggle and I never got standing on it. The only one getting good rides was Matt on a longboard and Frank on a boogie board. I still got happy just being on the water in this place! Drive Time- 13 hours, coastal route, stopping for bathroom and gas only. 6:00 AM- 7:00PM, Sunday-no-traffic speed. Lively chat with Sandie made the drive fly by! Avon Beach, Surfed, knee high, with Frank, Matt, Wo-Jo.

Matunuck Wind Classic

Waves happen. So does perfect side shore wind. But both happening together during a wave event in little ol' New England? I wouldn't have thought it possible. Before the wind happened Matunuck Wind Classic- So how was it? The wind didn't come up until about 6:00 but then it was fantastic! Small to med waves with easy sideshore riding, tons of wind, small sail and board, sunny. The event had a tiny turn out, probably due to the rainy forecast and late wind. Still it was fun to ride with some guys that are much better wavesailors than me. There were some kites there too, in spite of the difficult launch. NW, offshore wind at Deep Hole? The Pt Judith meter says it was NW but it was nothing like the offshore NW day that I had at Deep Hole a few years ago. Maybe that was really a N wind? Today was mostly a perfect side shore wind, sometimes just very slightly side off but still plenty strong enough (except for one lull that stranded me in the hole for a little while). The lull that stranded me in the hole for a little while- Big lull, little board and sail, I ended up in the deep hole struggling to keep the board horizontal just around sunset. The wind had dropped and shifted a little more offshore and the point blocked the wind further. I tried paddling in but was getting pulled towards the rock wall instead of the nice little sandy beach. Then I noticed that the wind had come back with a vengeance. I was back to the parking lot in 1 run. I did a few more runs in the now perfect conditions, just for good measure. This foolishness earned me the prestigious, "Warrior Award", during the very serious awards ceremony. LOL! Overall- This session was one of the highlights of my year for the near perfect down-the-line wave riding conditions and the good company. Thanks to organizers Steve and Nate for a fun, informal event, and for getting us out there on a day that looked hopeless but turned out to be spectacular! Deep Hole, Windsurfed, W, WNW, NW? 20-40, 5.8/Acid94 briefly, 4.2/RW85, with Steve, Nate, Hank, others.

Blessing of the Fleet

The fire Dept. put up a small flag for us to use as a wind gauge. Today was the blessing of the fleet for motorcycles. They took over W Dennis Beach. There were hundreds of them. No stinking kites and windsurfers allowed. So we set up our own blessing next to the Lighthouse Inn. We blessed the wind. It didn't work. The wind was just strong enough to get us going but not enough to work on much. Location, Location, Location- The wind was spotty for the day. They had forecasted the best winds for Chatham and offshore sites like Fogland, very true. Fogland and Chatham both looked stronger thru the AM and that held all day, about 5MPH more at those spots, due to the extreme heat for this time of year apparently. It was 90 F and sunny in Newton, 58 and foggy in West Dennis when I left. It was still fun to get on the water with the kite crew. West Dennis Beach, Kitesurfed, SSW, 8-15, 10-20 briefly, 12M kite/ Door64 & Ply152, Frank, Sammy, Colleen, Andre, Phil, Dan.