Happy Mother's Day, and A Radness Update!

First and Foremost:

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there, most importantly to my Mom, the best Mom around! Love you! Here she is with me and my Dad during a Hatteras visit about a year ago:




Next, the radness update:

Hatteras has been FIRING (surprise surprise)... Friday's SW winds were pretty much ridiculous, gusting up into the 40s at times, but mostly hovering around 25-30 mph. I scored a Three Session Day:

1) Dawn(ish) at Old Road. 5.0, litski, with waist to chest high "waves." There was so much cross chop from the wind, combined with high tide, that it was way more of a bump and jump session than a wave sailing session. Stuart and I sailed for about an hour before the "Sky of Death" migrated close enough to scare the snot out of us. Turns out there was a tornado warning, and Anne's first grade class was crouched in the fetal position in the school hallway while Stuart and I were chucking loops in the ocean......

2) Afternoon (after storm) at Old Road. 4.2, stupidly over powered at times, cleaner waves due to the lower tide, but still more of a jump fest than a wave riding day. Lots of big stalled forwards, a few back loop attempts, and a few major splat downs made for a pretty darned fun session. Stuart and Olaf also joined in the fun, and Catapulting Aaron was spotted on the beach with a camera (maybe he'll post some pics up soon?)! I hear Ego beach was also pretty fun, maybe a cleaner wave there?

*5/15 Update: Aaron posted some pictures from this session here!

3) Evening at Island Creek. Back to the 5.0, flat water freestyle sesh as the wind slowly faded with the sun. Stuart, Brian, Aaron and I got silly for Scott MacDonald who out snapping pictures for Windsurfing Mag. Hopefully he got a few cool shots off before the wind totally disappeared!

So three solid sessions, with some huge jumps and some flat water freestyle made for an awesome day on the water! Oh yeah, I even opened the shop for about 6 hours over the course of the day, so we did some biz, too! (Don't worry Brett, I'm not a total slacker when the wind blows)

I was looking forward to a recovery day Saturday, but no luck! Like clockwork, right at closing time, the wind kicked in again, but this time out of the NE. It felt like Fall, with warm water and chilly air temps. You know you're getting spoiled when 64 degrees feels chilly! Anne and I joined the crowd at the Hole for a quick sunset session, lit up 5.0. I got a bunch of flat water loop practice, and nailed quite a few spocks and 540s, but only on starboard... Yet another session goes by without committing to some port side freestyle....

Our forecast is off the hook right now! Strong SE today, then a major West to Northwest blow Monday and Tuesday! No rest for the weary! The big question is where to go for today's SE... The usual "Go To" spot for a SE wind is the Cove, but unfortunately it's no longer easily accessible due to the beach closures. I guess some side-on wavesailing at Ego or Isabel's will have to do? Either that or some butter flat water at the hole!