Ocean Sailing Video

Still buzzing from that swell... Which is Still Lingering... Sweet...

Anyway- I put together a short vid from 2 different ocean sailing sessions last week. The first one was powered 5.0 in nonexistent surf, the second one was barely schloggable 5.7 in head high surf. Both were really fun :) Enjoy!

2 Ocean Sessions from Andy McKinney on Vimeo.

Stuart, Anne and I showed up at the beach last night just in time to rig up and then hear some thunder... Doh! So we did a "Lightning Fast" de-rig, got back in the truck, and got the heck off the beach! The sailing looked pretty fun, but it certainly wasn't worth getting electrocuted for ;) Ken and Bill said it was pretty sweet for about an hour or two.

Check out that sky! We ended up getting quite a light show, but from the safety of our house...



Looks like a few lightwind days approaching... But keep your eye on those weather charts- Dare I say it... (Bermuda High?!)

Summer Swell

The first swell of the summer has arrived....... Life is good! We've had days and days of fun swell, with some wind mixed in here and there for sailing, and even some light west to clean it up for some butter smooth surfing....... ahhhhhhhhh........ I'm sooooo tired....

We didn't think to stop and take any pictures until after we had had our fill and it started to back off a bit and get bumpy... So these are representative of some of the worst conditions from the last four or five days!! Yow! Anne is responsible for most of the pics taken from land (Thanks Anne!)

Keith, Ken and I sailed one of the first days in super light on-side-on wind. I tried a 5.7 on the Pocket 80. Man, that board schlogs like a champ! I think a 5.5 would be perfect... I'm gonna have to update my quiver a bit.

Keith!

Author

Author again


On to the Surf! I have no idea how many waves or even how many boards I've ridden... Shortboards, longboards, SUPs... They've all been in the mix!

Drew!

Anne!

Laura!

Drew!

Author!

Happy Anne!

Drew!

Laura on a looooooong one!

Stuart!


Looks like wind this afternoon and tomorrow! Some of this swell might stick around, so it should be FUN! See ya out there : )

Happy Father's Day, Windy Weekend!

Happy Father's Day, Dad! I know it's raining and gross out up north, but hopefully you had some fun anyway. Here's a picture of us burning the midnight oil playing pool a few Christmases ago:

Dad, lining it up!

We're just finishing up a windy weekend down here on Hatteras Island! Gotta love it when the weekend warriors can score some fun conditions... Saturday saw some pretty strong SW breeze all afternoon, but unfortunately the tide was too high to take advantage of the little bit of swell out there. So, we freestyled it up at the Hole! Good stuff, pretty well powered 5.0 on the Tabou 100. The 540s were coming with ease... time to try something new and start falling again :) Actually, everyone was pretty amped up- Wendy claimed success with tacks and duck jibes, Roland nailed a few willy skippers, Contos was working on the duck jibes, Ken threw a few loop attempts, Drew was going fast and staying upwind, Anne got on 24" lines and Keith tried out my 28" harness lines! Sweeeeeet....

I remember seeing a GoPro video from one of the Maui sites, maybe Kanaha Kai (?), with a pretty cool under boom mount, looking forward. I decided to give it a try, and I like the outcome. I can see it being really handy for dissecting a move, because you get a great view of the sailor, the gear, and the water conditions. Anyway, here's a quick vid- what do y'all think? Worth exploring some more?

Canadian Hole, Boom Mount from Andy McKinney on Vimeo.

Stuart, Marty, and I sailed again this afternoon, after the wind switched north. 5.0 again, but this time on the Pocket 80 and in the ocean. Not much wave to speak of but some fun jumps. I set up the GoPro again and got some cool footage. I'll probably pull some clips out at some point but in the meantime, check out a few image grabs:

duck jibe

side-on bottom turn (clew first, switch stance)

loop

touchdown!

Facebook is blowin' up with windsurfing pages! Check 'em out and join in the fun-

Windsurfing Magazine

Windsport Magazine

East Coast Freestyle

East Coast Wavesailing

Hatteras Island Boardsports

Looks like some more wind for the next few days... Hope to see ya out there!

Int'l Surfing Day/Surfrider Foundation

On June 20TH, the Surfrider Foundation and Surfing Magazine will present... THE INTERNATIONAL SURFING DAY SURFRIDER FOUNDATION MEMBERSHIP PACKAGE Here's the deal: Join or renew your Surfrider Foundation membership on International Surfing Day, June 20th, 2009, and Surfing magazine will print your name in its upcoming Green Issue! That way, not only can you brag to your friends that you finally got in Surfing magazine, you can also show them that you're down with keeping our oceans, waves and beaches clean and healthy. In addition to getting your name in the mag and receiving a year's membership to the Surfrider Foundation, we'll also throw in a special limited edition International Surfing Day t-shirt. All this for only $20.00!! And for those of you who really want to go big, we're also offering this killer deal: Join or renew your membership for $620 (as in 6/20) and you'll get your name AND YOUR PHOTO in the magazine!! In addition to your Surfrider Foundation membership, you'll get the International Surfing Day t-shirt, a subscription to Surfing magazine, a Dakine deck pad and leash and an ISD water bottle. To top it off, we'll throw in a limited-edition, 25th Anniversary Surfrider Foundation Casio G-shock solar paneled watch! These offers are only available on International Surfing Day! Go to this webpage on 6/20.

I received the above in an email from Surfrider, and it seemed to be an appropriate message to pass on to as many people as I can. If you'd like to sign up to be a member of the Surfrider Foundation, go to this webpage on 6/20/09 and click on "Become a Member."

The time has never been better, really. Locally, the Outer Banks Chapter of Surfrider is spearheading a campaign to head off an attack on our local beaches by the petroleum industry. Here are some excerpts from a recent email I received from them:

The purpose of this letter is to introduce you to our “Clean Beaches=Healthy Businesses” campaign to stop drilling for oil or natural gas off of North Carolina and to invite you to attend our June 20 informational rally and International Surfing Day event at Bonnett Street in Nags Head.

With last year’s lifting of the federal ban on offshore drilling — and Bush’s last-minute allowance of rigs within three miles of America’s coast — North Carolina is once again in the position of battling back petroleum interests. If it seems like we’ve been here before, we have — roughly every 20 years. But the current fight is our most dire ever since the economic crisis has weakened public support for environmental issues.

If that’s not frightening enough, this March, commissioner Richard Johnson suggested Dare County ‘revisit’ their position to keep oil off our coast. And, from our understanding, as least half of the board is leaning in the direction to let the petroleum companies in, even though NC’s coast generates $15 billion every single year [2002, The Marlow Co.] — $12.5 billion directly from the beach — compared to just $24 billion that the Mineral Management Service estimates the state stands to earn from revenue-sharing from offshore leases after 30 to 40 years.

In other words, our elected officials are seriously considering risking $450 billion in reliable revenue for a chance at $24 billion down the road.

Also: if you haven’t already, please submit a public comment to the Department of Interior (http://www.mms.gov/5-year/2010-2015DPPComments.htm) by Sept. 21. They’re gathering as much input as possible before suggesting which states should get derricks. And even if the current administration is less petroleum-happy than the last, they will gladly sacrifice whatever state seems willing in order to seem ‘reasonable’ to the public at large.

The good news is our chapter fully believes we can fight this one. We had our first meeting down south at Lisa’s Pizza in Rodanthe last week — as well as tabled the Real Triple S kiteboarding event in Waves — where we received lots of positive feedback and got a good chunk of stickers and petitions out. No matter their political leanings, most local businesses seem to recognize that claims like ‘drilling is clean’ and ‘save money at the pump’ are just false promises to get leases while the climate is ripe to snatch up offshore rights. Now our job is to convince our elected officials to listen.

If you can’t make the June 20 ISD event, please go to www.surfrider.org/outerbanks and sign the individual petition there. If you’re a coastal NC business, sign the ‘business sign-on’ as well. And for more info on why this is a terrible risk for our livelihoods and way of life, check out www.nottheanswer.org.

Or, consider this fact: at the kiteboarding contest last week, the only Gulf Coast resident we couldn’t get to sign the petition worked for an oil company – and that was his only reason. Otherwise, any person who’d ever lived in the shadow of oil derricks couldn’t grab a pen fast enough – including a woman who also worked for an oil company in Houston, but still signed because – in her words – “Galveston’s a s--t-hole.”

That’s why she flew from Texas to Hatteras. That’s why people come all the way from Quebec. Why Pennsylvania tourists come here – instead of Jersey. It’s why Jersey residents drive eight hours south instead of their very own beaches: to enjoy a purely natural ocean experience, free of not just oil rigs but the very image of big industry and pollution.

So, if you have a second, and care about Hatteras staying Hatteras-ey, please check out some of the links, sign the petitions, support Surfrider, and help make a difference. I don't want to risk getting oil gunk lodged in my sinuses the next time I get worked at the Lighthouse. Do you? And as most of my readers are visitors from out of town, your names mean more on the petitions, since you're basically saying that you would not come back to Hatteras if there were oil rigs offshore and petroleum funk on the beaches! Thanks for your help!

Wee Waves (video)

I know I said that summer was here last time, but now it's really here... The only place that it really shows is at the Food Lion, in the form of huge lines and bare shelves. So we usually shop at the Village Grocery, at the northern traffic light in Avon. Better food, no lines. Just a head's up, in case you want to support a local business and don't want to spend all day getting your groceries : )

Fun little waves, and a bit of wind lately, although I've been getting scammed by some 6PM thunderstorms rolling in across the sound right at closing time... So this morning, I'm finishing my coffee and getting out there, no matter what!

I did put a camera on my noggin for a sunset SUP the other night. Check it out:

Piddly knee high SUP from Andy McKinney on Vimeo.

I've been teaching lots of beginner lessons, too. I'm a one man show at the shop these days... Putting in the hours, for sure. It's fun to get out there and spread the stoke around though, so I don't mind the long days! Check out Michelle, grinning ear to ear after learning heli-tacks on day one!

Now that's a happy camper!

Swing on by the shop and get yourself and/or a friend signed up! Time to learn the most fun sport in the world! See ya out there :)

Full-On-Summer

I have zero action pictures for you... but trust me, it has been super fun down here lately! We've been surfing and sailing our butts off, every free moment! I can't claim any epic conditions, but it sure has been fun... Lots of SW wind last week, some great freestyling weather, and a big blow on Friday finally kicked up a little swell. Stuart and I sailed most of the afternoon at "The Bush" aka "alter-ego" aka "across the street from D's spot." There was a short guest appearance by Keith, too, but he bolted pretty quickly. It's a fun little spot, although a bit inconsistent on the sets and gusty on the wind. Those are the conditions that really make you adapt a lot and therefore learn a lot, though, so I'm not going to complain! It was fun to share the water with some kites, too, including Jay, Lane, Pam, Brad, George, Dan, and some others that I didn't recognize. Good to see y'all out in the side-off!

Oh wait- here's a helmet cam image grab from some Canadian Hole freestyle action the other night:

3/4 of the way through a one handed spock

I'm happy to report CRYSTAL clear water. I'm talking the kind of crystal clear where you can see little pebbles on the sandbar, 8 feet deep crystal clear. It's downright gorgeous. While sitting out a lull in the sets last night, two little 2" long brown and yellow striped fish decided to seek sanctuary around the nose of my board. It was really interesting to watch them dart around with all of the currents and little bits of wave energy pushing them around, yet they never drifted more than 6 inches away from the nose of my board. I was thoroughly entertained, until a big set wave woke me up from my trance by crashing on my head...

Speaking of gorgeous, a few little rain showers here and there and some nice warm intermittent sunshine has made the flower gardens spring to life. I felt bad for y'all, not having any action pictures to share, so I snapped off a few pics of the flora around my house. Enjoy!






Maybe some more moderate SW this week, and the end of the week is looking great for wind! Swing on by the shop and grab the Serenity or a stand up paddleboard if you're jonesin' to hit the water!

Shorebreak Lessons

Happy June, everyone! And, Happy Birthday to Drew!! Yeehaw!

Stuart and I took Anne windsurfing out in the ocean the other night. It was pretty flat, except for a sizable shorebreak... so it was good practice at least, to get used to launching and landing. Anne asked me to demonstrate how to best get on and off the beach. Let's just say that it quickly turned into a "How NOT to get on and off the beach" demonstration! Haha, I had sand lodged in places that I didn't know I had places! I think that I learned more than she did... Anne did great, despite the quality of instruction, and made it off (and back on) the beach unscathed, even having to punch through a big barreling section! She's ready for the big league, now!

Anne "staring down the barrel"



The Latest NEWJ came out the other day! It's a Hatteras rich edition, with a recap of Windfest, a gear tweaking lesson learned (and passed on) by Stuart, and an ocean sailing lesson by me. There are some great Lane Dupont and Rick Eustis pics in there, too! Not to mention, Robby Naish on the East Coast!! Wanna know more? SUBSCRIBE (or call the shop and I'll sell ya one)!

Lots of South winds on the way! Should be a fun few days here... it's looking like a great time to call in sick, load up those trucks, and make a Hatteras blitz!