Sunday, May 17, 2009

Clinics, Wind, and Waves!

Busy busy busy... Where to start?? Chronologically, I guess.

Andy Brandt of ABK Boardsports came to Sailworld and gave a free windsurfing clinic on Tuesday night! Yeehaw! These things are fun, and everyone always walks away with a ton of new knowledge. Imagine how much you could learn from him on the water?!

Lots of questions, lots of answers!

Bits of wind here and there, with some fun SW most every day it seems. Here's Stuart packing up at the Canadian Hole the other night after a 5.0 freestyle sesh:


I gave another forward loop clinic on Friday night! It was sponsored by Sailworld Cape Hatteras, and part of the Hatteras Wave Jam 2009. Attendance wasn't epic, but neither was the forecast... A lot of times those two things go hand in hand. We did, however, have two of the crucial elements for a Forward Loop clinic:

Willing participants, and cheap beer!

As I said, the forecast wasn't great, but Saturday afternoon ended up being awesome! George, Bill, Andres, Olaf, Keith and I caught it up at Ramp 27. Half and half schlogging/powered on 5.5 and my Pocket 80, with waves in the thigh to overhead range! The big ones were pretty heavy, with some solidly barreling lips breaking in knee to thigh deep water... I was amazed that I didn't break anything, as I definitely took some nasty spills... until I started derigging and noticed that my extension was cocked over 30 degrees! Oh well, better a $60 extension than a $300 mast half!!

Bill on a nice one!

Olaf in the pocket!

Fun sequence of me kooking out:




We followed the sesh with a fun sunset Barbeque on the Beach. Good Stuff!!

Anne and me (check out the rad Wave Jam T-Shirt!)

Oooooh

Janice on grilling duty!

This morning we've had some fun SW in the 20 mph range, but we're expecting a big front to push through pretty soon here... I've been watching it on iWindsurf.com as it pushes south- it's blowing North at 35-45 up in Norfolk right now, and just switched North at Elizabeth City... And now Pea Island... Still warm and SW here, but not for long : )
Outer Banks wind meter map from iWindsurf.com

Time to tie down the porch furniture and secure the loose windsurf rigs lying around all those soundfront homes! Something tells me Olaf is gonna be busy repairing 7.5s tonight...

4 comments:

Juan Piantino said...

Hey Andy - my mane is Juan. I live in Rhode Island and sail on Cape Cod and other nearby beaches... I've been to Cape Hatteras a few times and I think I met you at the store once...
Anyway, I'm an aspiring looper, but I can't get to OBX for the clinics or the Wave Fest, so I was wondering if you could upload your loop clinic to your blog so I can get some tips... I know it's not the same but at least it's something...
Thanks for the great blog, and I hope to see you some day.
Juan (juani222 on iwindsurf)

George Markopoulos said...

Andy-thats me out in front of you in that sequence where you're ripping up that wave. I remember looking back and watching you the whole ride. and it was super cool to have that front row seat. I remember hooting an hollaring, though you probably didn't hear me!

Andy said...

Juan- thanks for the note! Get yourself to Hatteras man! Nothing compares to on the water instruction, but there's tons of great stuff on the web already about looping. Search for Jem Hall or Guy Cribb, I think they both have some good stuff out there already.

I heard ya George! Thanks for the peer pressure! It's fun to hoot people on, for sure. But I think I've hooted Stuart into some pretty sketchy situations that he probably would've (smartly) avoided had I not been urging him on! haha!

Andres said...

Hi Andy,
Haven't been online a couple of days so I hadn't seen the Loop Fest pictures. They look great. By the way it was really great sailing with you guys last weekend...so thanks for getting me out on the OBX Ocean side for the first time. Looking forward to when the Bermuda highs start arriving in June. Also, thanks for driving my equipment from the Ramp to the beach.

See you later,
Andres