Monday, November 16, 2009

Ida Action (2 Videos)

It's no secret, Ida caused her fair share of destruction across the Eastern Seaboard, including taking a good chunk out of NC12 up in Rodanthe.  NCDOT is working furiously to repair the road, and they even had a lane open at low tide today to let 4wd vehicles on or off the island.  There's lots of info all over the net about the storm damages and repair schedules and what not, so I'm not going to add any more to the confusion.  Check out islandfreepress.org and ncdot.org for the latest info and some crazy slideshows.

I will, however, add to the action report!  Ida kicked up some serious swell, but our winds were slow to catch on as the low hung out pretty much directly over us.  So, the first day or two were a wash (literally).  By Friday afternoon, however, the low slipped off shore just enough to kick up some North winds.  Friday had potential to be an epic wavesailing day on the southside, but North winds are straight offshore down there.  It doesn't sound like much of a difference, but NE is really the money direction, while due North is downright dangerous, especially when it gets big.  With the East beaches an out of control washing machine, we decided to hit up the sound side at Island Creek.  4.2 and freestyle board.  Check da vid:

Ex-Ida Windsurf HQ from Andy McKinney on Vimeo.


Major thanks go out to Drew for filming and Ace for the loaner on the camera!!


We had another batch of wind on Saturday morning.  Fluky 4.7 at the same spot, with really very similar conditions to the video.  By late evening, the wind died down, and the swell backed off to 12 feet at 15 seconds or something ludicrous like that.  I caught word that a few guys were thinking about paddling out down at the lighthouse, so I grabbed Anne, Banana (the dog), and the video camera and headed to Buxton.  Joey Crum and Brett Barley made their way off the beach in the fading light and caught a few mackers.  I've got nothing but respect for these guys, as these were exceptionally difficult conditions, and they made it look easy.  Check da vid:

Ex-Ida Surf HQ from Andy McKinney on Vimeo.



Yow!!!

5 comments:

Ken K said...

What an awesome wave ride! How many could even get out there to catch that?

LOL on your vulcan behind the post.

Could you describe the ramp you are using for those forwards in the video? Are you going off the back? The side?

rdm said...

man if you have to get stuck some place then it's good at least you can still windsurf! in the parking lot- saweet.

vid looks like you guys had a blast. hope you guys are comfortable on the island. good luck!

Catapulting Aaron said...

love the loop explosions... takes me back...

Andy said...

Ken- there's a reason only 2 people paddled out (and one of them is literally a professional surfer). Pretty heavy conditions, for sure.

We've been tweaking the loops a bit, even popping in completely flat water and focusing more on rig control than anything else. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't haha! But the best ones are still thrown downwind off the back of a steep piece of chop with a big hole in front of it.

Hey Ralph- as long as you don't need to go north of Lisa's pizza, it's just business as usual down here... so no big deal, really!

Luckily, it's only water, eh Aaron??

Mike Burns said...

Hey, Nice video sailing with the LI crew at Island Creek. The rest of us will be down the week after thanksgiving, so hopefully the road will be repaired. We're bringing Ted for the entertainment, so be sure to stop by for some beer and laughs. I want to see some of those spocks and forwards in person!!!

By the way, it seems like every trip we make down there this time of year, the road was either washed out a week or two before we get there or a week or two after we leave. I guess you've got to be used to it by now.

See you on the water,

Mike