The End of November Wrap-Up!

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!!