Fine "Coastal" Weather

Caught a fun freestyle sesh at the hole this afternoon! It was the kind of day I refer to as "Fine Coastal Weather." As in, super windy, overcast, cold, and drizzling rain... Others might call it good hypothermia weather... All the water got blown out of the sound in the strong NE wind, leaving a little pool of butter flat water to play around in. Nailed 5 spocks in a row, but the gustiness got the best of me and started spanking me down after a half hour or so. Still, a super fun solo sesh that left me happy for making the most of an otherwise dreary day! Sounds like Bill suited up and challenged the bleakness, as well, down at Isabelle's. Nice job, man!

Anne came by with Banana and snapped a few pictures off! Thanks, Anne!

That sandbar is usually a foot or two deep!Pop and slide in the butter flat water!Mid spock!Clean Jibes are easy as pie without chop bouncing you around!
It has just been insanely windy here on Hatteras! Today was the 5th day in a row that I sailed my 5.0, lit up! And to top it off, our forecast is off the charts! There's just no end in sight to this relentless wind!

Solo Lighthouse Session!

Took a solo sesh at the Lighthouse this evening! It blew 25-35 all day, NNE, which kicked up a pretty sizable outside swell, but most of it was running past the beach and not really hitting too hard on the bars. I don't blame anyone else for not wanting to go out in the 45 degree air after the last few amazing 70 degree days, but, man was it fun! Way better than it looked from the beach! The lighthouse is funny, sometimes I love it, and sometimes I hate it, but it always looks the same, so I don't know why I can't make up my mind!! Well, today I loved it, so I guess that's all that matters for now!

Anne, Drew, Dan, Merideth, Audrey and a whole bunch of dogs acted as moral support and hung out on the beach while I tried not to get eaten by rogue waves! It was (again) one of those days where monster open ocean swells were just jacking up out of nowhere, threatening to send you to the bottom and your gear to Bermuda! I most certainly got worked pretty hard a few times, but all in all, the rush of careening down a logo high face prevailed and kept a smile on my face! Drew was kind enough to point the lens my way and snap some photos! Thanks, Drew!!

Lots of water moving around out there!This was about the 4th turn I made on that wave! Endless fun!Same wave, um-teenth top turn!The troughs were really deep!Back loop! (sooo close to landing 'em clean)Lining up a backside hitPow!
Next time y'all have to get off your lazy butts and join me! Give Drew somebody else to take a picture of, at least!

More Super Fun Ego Beach!!

I can't believe it! We are just in an awesome weather pattern right now! Third day in a row of warm (70ish) SW winds, gusting into the 30s, and a fun waist to head high swell at Ego Beach! Locals and visitors alike convened today to play in the Atlantic. I had a marathon sesh today, sailing for just under 4 hours straight, with only a 15 minute break on dry land to rehydrate! It was just too much fun to stop... As I got tired, I started having a really hard time connecting good wave rides, but I was able to throw a ton of loops off the perfect little ramps! So much fun!

Drew came out towards the end of the day and snapped off a few great photos! Enjoy!! And everyone say it with me: "Thanks, Drew!"

Loopin'I have got the weirdest bottom turn when I get tired!Fresh back from Maui, Olaf destroys the lip!!Loopin' again!Bill gets a thwack!Top turn on a nice open face!Jim M, fresh back from Egypt!! Nice gouge, man!
Great pics, Drew! Thanks!! Here's to many more days, just like today!!! Loving it!

5 Star Day!!

What an awesome day! First and foremost, my energy level is finally creeping back up towards normal! It feels so good to be bouncing off the walls again! Second, the latest edition of the New England Windsurfing Journal arrived today, with a bunch of pictures of, and an article written, by yours truly! Stoked on the coverage! Hopefully, it'll raise the Hatteras amp level for anyone thinking about visiting this awesome island! Third, we received ~25 some odd new surf and standup boards at the shop today, which is kind of like Christmas, except I don't get to keep any of them.... And lastly, we caught an awesomely fun evening session at Ego Beach this afternoon!!

Stocked to the gills! Shiny new shticks for your quiver!
This was one of those perfectly fun days, where anyone with a decent waterstart could have had a good time out there! Warm SW winds powered my 5.0 (most of the time) through the waist to head high sets. There were a bunch of people out, most of the locals and a few visitors challenging the Atlantic. If you really looked hard, you could find an occasional head high set, but most of the waves were smaller and weaker, so the sesh was relatively low risk. I took quite a few on the head, actually, and came up unscathed everytime, so no big deal!

What an awesome setup! Could you ask for anything more?! (except maybe a focused picture!)
Moment of note: well powered off the beach, as a big set slowly made it's way in, I launched into a huge, really lofty, controlled, smooooth back loop! Of course, I botched the landing, but the setup, launch, initiation, and follow through just felt absolutely perfect (until I slammed into the water)! Other than that, I was able to get off a bunch of forward loops, and caught a handful of really fun waves, although the wave rides were really hard to link up with all the warbles, cross chop, and current on the faces... Still, a super fun session!

Jim K on a big closeout!
Billy bottom turns as Dave launches!
At sunset, I crossed back over the dunes, and got in a half hour freestyle sesh in the sound. It's really fun to blast around, watch the sunset, and get rad! I had the place to myself, so no need to look before jibing, just throw and go whenever, wherever you want! Nabbed a few good spocks, no 540s, and spent a lot of time in the drink! Good fun, and I think I put on a pretty good show for all the sunset watchers (there were lots of 'em tonight)!

One last thing: Charlie and Dan get the Lazy Awards for the day, for driving all the way around from Canadian Hole to Ego Beach, instead of just carrying their stuff over the dunes! LAZY!!! :)

The Southwest Is Here!!

Well, the windows are rattling... again.... It has just been cranking everyday down here! Unreal. Looks like Billy and Keith caught it pretty good at Ego yesterday, check out some pics here! To top it off, looks like more warm SW wind is forecast for the next few days. Actually, the forecast for the next week is insane! Over 20 mph everyday until next Thursday! If you have the ability to hop in the car and take a quick vacation, now would be a great time to do it! The only suspect wind direction forecasted is Monday's SE... which usually doesn't happen, but when it does, it has the potential to be epic Cove conditions! Come to think of it, this may be our last opportunity to sail the cove for a while, as the beach driving lawsuit takes place in about a week, on April 4th... Well, we can always sail to the cove, Dana's done it a hundred times, but it sure would be nice to have some fresh water in the truck to rehydrate with...

Anyway, come on down and enjoy some spring conditions here on Hatteras!!

Back On It!

Finally got back in the water this afternoon! It's been windy pretty much everyday, I just haven't had the strength to go. But today it got really windy, so how could I not go windsurf? I went for the late afternoon lighthouse sesh, which ended up being solo in the 45ish degree air and due North winds.

The lighthouse is pretty singular in that the waves have serious punch here, they're always bigger than they look from the beach, and the outside is always WAY bigger than you would think it would be. All of those rules applied today! It looked about knee high from the beach, with an occasional whitecap on the outside. ummmmm nope! There were some sets pushing head high on the inside bar, and the outside, well, let's just say, those weren't whitecaps... They were logo high ocean swell jacking up and breaking just about anywhere they pleased. This was one of those days where you just never feel comfortable on the outside, like somethings about to eat you!

Not to mention the wind was just cranking! I was lit on my 5.0, barely able to hang on. I didn't realize this fact on my first pass out, so of course I jumped just as high as I could off the first piece of vertical swell I saw... Which ended up dropping out from underneath me to reveal a Huge trough behind it, and insane amounts of sail power to boot! Bigggg jumps, yow....

Anyway, no pics of the sesh because I was the only one there! I do, however, have some shots of Jim K and Stuart from Saturday, sailing warm SW winds at Ego beach, and Drew and David at the Hole! Enjoy!

Jim K, going up!
Stuart throws some spray!

Sorry!

I know, I know, I've been leaving y'all hanging for the last few days... It hasn't been for lack of conditions, it's been due to not really getting out of bed or off the couch! I'm finally starting to feel a bit better now, and I always say this, but you just never appreciate feeling healthy until you get sick! So if you feel good today, go outside and take a walk, because tomorrow you might just be bedridden for awhile!

So I've chalked up a few "missed its" on my calendar, but I think by this evening if the wind is still cranking I'm going to have to hit it up for a short session. It's warm (70+), with moderate SW breeze... tough to pass up!

Anyway, in the meantime, check out these few pages of gnarliness from surfkdh.com! This one is a couple of local NUTS tow surfing the way way way outer bars off of Buxton during the macking swell from a few days ago. These kids are insane, and are definitely pushing the limits of local surfing! This next one is from the same day (I think) up in Kitty Hawk. Pretty rad, too! Big waves, for sure.

If you need a windsurf fix, surf over here to watch a video of the March 5th speed runs in France! *Note: you have to click the "watch it" button for the video to start loading! If you're out of the loop, this is the day Antione Albeau became the fastest sail powered man, worldwide, ever, when he hit a 500 meter run at 49.09 knots (56.49 mph)! Nice editing job. This movie gives a great feel for the spot on the canal. It's gotta make you think a bit, too: These guys are hitting highway speeds, so let's make some comparisons. First, and most obvious, are the safety differences, such as lack of seat belts, airbags, anti-crush zones, etc. Luckily, the chances of them being hit by an oncoming mack truck are very limited! Second, is the layout of the area, and their sailing zones. The canal is only 30 meters wide, comparable to maybe a two lane highway? If you watch the video, the sailors are virtually hanging their butts over solid ground while ripping down the course! No breakdown lane or wide shoulder area! Scary, how precise they have to be, at the speeds they're going!

If you scroll further down, they've also got some of the Cabo Verde wave contest on file! WindsurfJournal.com should be a daily click for any sailor out there, lots of great stuff on that site!

The Stars...

...are not aligned... There is a macking swell out in the Atlantic right now! The buoy topped out at about 12 feet at 16 seconds this afternoon. We often see larger wave heights here, but rarely at such a long period. Actually, as I write this, it's reading 16 feet at 8 seconds, however that generally produces a smaller, more disorganized, more dumpy wave. I don't think anybody stepped off the beach down here today, but had they done so for scale, I'm sure the faces were well beyond double overhead. Also, the wind kicked up to solid 4.2 weather this afternoon! This could have been an epic day of windsurfing, but there were a few factors holding me back:

Avon Pier, trying to remain upright!1st and foremost, I'm sick. I must have picked up a bug from my millions of close friends up in Chicago over the weekend. Makes sense, as my immune system has only dealt with about 300 people over the last 3 months!

2nd, although huge, the ocean was a washing machine down here in Avon. Whitewater as far as the eye could see! Not too appealing. Pics from up north make it look way more ridable, but the wind was straight offshore up there... not so hot for moderately safe windsurfing! Drew and Bill have some great pics of the ocean from their spots, check 'em out!

So, we made the most of it and banged around the Canadian Hole on 3.7s to 4.2s! Getting some fresh air and exercise seemed to help flush my system out a bit. I'm definitely feeling better now than this morning. On the water, I took it really easy and just mowed the lawn, back and forth... Also spotted: Keith and Martine, freshly back from the slopes of Colorado, Jim K, Stuart, and a few visitors! Stuart was on fire today, chucking loops on both tacks despite the super flat water! Nice job, man!

Jim K, sending it skyward!Stuart Duck JibeJim K lays it on rail
Jim, going Huge!
Stu, showin' off!
Stu, chuckin' it
Stu, going up
If you need more of a fix, check this short clip out. "Huh?!" was my response. Also, be sure to watch 2 for 10, a ten minute flick of Andre Paskowski and Gollito showcasing some of the latest freestyle moves, including lots of combos, like triple spocks, and some sort of spock into burner type thingy! Rad.

Looks like more wind is in store over the next few days, so come on down and join us!

The Windy City...

...was not too windy!

This ain't Cape Hatteras!
Just got back from a great trip to Chicago to hang out with my bro and his fiance Pauline! We had a great time, and pretty much made the most of every moment! I'll admit to having some serious culture shock, especially the first day or two...

They've got a killer apartment just north of the city in a high rise building. It faces the lake, and the views are amazing! The rising sun pretty much beats right into the main wall of windows. Luckily, they've got blinds, so I was able to sleep in a little after staying out, well, altogether way too late! They did a lot of work to their place, and it shows! It is definitely a sweet setup, in a great (read: diverse and interesting) neighborhood.

Sunrise from the bedroom!
The Sweet Living Room/Kitchen Area
While in Chicago, I ate like a champion! As much as I like the culinary choices here on Hatteras, they're a little, ummm, limited... We ate Colombian (I spoke Spanish, terribly, to the waitress), Ethiopian (killer family style meal, I spoke English to the waiter), and Thai (have a guess as to what language I used there)! They were all really good meals, and I was surprised by the hospitality given by the restaurants! Felt like I was part of the family while out at a public restaurant! Very cool.

We had a pseudo bachelor party for my Bro, who's getting married in April! Really fun, he's got a lot of great friends up there! We spent the afternoon at Chicago Indoor Racing, an indoor go kart track. These karts are ridiculous, topping out at 30-35 mph! Crazy, driving around a really technical course with 10 other guys all trying to come in 1st place! I'm really glad they supply helmets! Then it was off to the bars and restaurants for the rest of the evening! It turned out to be a really late night, as I'm sure you can guess...

We also spent a day at the Chicago Aquarium (literally, like 8 hours in the place)! It was really well set up, right on Lake Michigan. It got me really excited to get into some 80 degree water to go snorkeling! Come April, I'll be there, on a trip to Jamaica!! Sweeeeeeet, I can't wait!!

All in all, it was a great trip, and it was good to get off the island (I haven't left the outer banks since New Years). It took me awhile to get used to all the people and commotion up there (not to mention roads and highrises), but by the time I left, I was walking just as fast as my bro, and found myself wishing I had a watch.

Now that I'm back, though, I could care less what time it is...

Gemeni!!

Nothing epic the last few days, but we've had a lot of fun nonetheless! There's been a wee little wave out there, and a bit of wind pretty much everyday. Got out on the 5.0 the other morning and sailed through my best spock 540 yet, back in the flats down in Buxton! Stoked!


Last night the breeze picked up a bit, so Anne, Drew and I took turns sailing the Starboard Gemeni, aka The Biggest Board Ever Made! It's a tandem, so you kind of want it big, but man is this board huge! It's also a ton of fun to sail, even in mediocre conditions. We only really got it up and running once or twice in the biggest gusts (of like 14), but it's fun just trying to coordinate tacks and jibes and even uphauling... Huge thanks to Jim Drake for giving us the opportunity to sail this behemoth!!

The board is not only fun, but a great teaching tool, too! Drew's only been out windsurfing a handful of times, and I gave him an impromptu harness lesson in the 20 minutes we were out there. Within minutes, he was comfortably hooking in and out with good form (and not looking down)! Nice!


Well I'm off to Chicago for the weekend to visit my brother Jim and his fiance Pauline! Should be a ton of fun, and it'll be good to get off the island for a few days (it's been a while)... I won't be traveling with gear, but I think it's still pretty cold up there anyway, so no big deal! Carry on only, easy as pie!

New Pics, Old Pics, Rad Pics

Lots of pictures for you today! Zofia sent me a bunch of shots from Super Windy Saturday (thanks so much Zofia!!!), and the last few days have seen a variety of conditions, with lots of surfing (welcome back Drew!!), and some skate sailing to boot! Loving it down here!! Come visit soon!

How often do you see a backloop at the Canadian Hole??!! (Zofia pic)
Dan on a Ego Beach Nugget! (Zofia pic)

What do you guys think of these slideshows? Yay or nay?

Drew and I surfed the shorebreak at 34 Tuesday morning, mostly knee to waist, but a few barreling chongers came through!

I happened to catch the set of the day! (Drew pic)
Drew on a long, slow peelerSkate sailing is really really fun in next to no wind! Stuart, Anne and I hit up the culdesac for a sunset session last night. I spent most of my time working on the sail handling for a burner! Will I be able to do this on the water? Probably not, but you never know!

Anne and Stuart Skate it Up!