Tropical Storm??

Hey hey- Hope y'all had a great weekend! First off- Thanks to everyone who took advantage of the Labor Day Sale!! I truly appreciate your business!! And if you're still thinking about something, just give me a call, I'll get you hooked up with the goods!!

Secondly- we scored some seriously beautiful sunsets for about 4 evenings straight! Check 'em out:

2nd night

4th night. Big file, grab yourself a new desktop!

Third- I think we're in the midst of a tropical storm! It feels like it, at least. We had huge thunderstorms last night, an insane amount of rain, the road is completely flooded in Avon, there was some solid wind damage in Buxton this morning, and the (cranking) wind started East, veered NE, to Due North, and is supposed to finish off at NW this evening. Looking at the radar, there was definitely something that looked like a center of rotation, slowly floating by just offshore... Hmmmmm.....

Anyway, Stuart, Jim, Jim and I chased Keith down to the Southside but were too late to catch it. Stuart and I tried, but the wind had gone extremely straight offshore, and was super fluky and gusty inside the impact zone. We'll just say that it was a whole heck of a lot of work... But we each caught a wave, so whatever, it's always worth it. Here's Keith while the wind was still about 10 degrees off of straight offshore:

Go Keith GO!!

Pretty lines...

So now I'm going to go grab Anne from school, and we're gonna hit the Hole for the sunset NW sesh!! Woohoo!!

Labor Day Sale!!

Hey Folks! Just wanted to announce a sale for this weekend at Sailworld Hatteras! We're slashing prices on almost everything in the store, for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday ONLY! So come on down to the beach and check out the goods, or feel free to give me a call at (252) 995-5441 or shoot me an email. I'd be happy to help you out with anything you need, all you need to do is ask!

Shipping is available, or we can hold an item for pickup.

Some of the stuff ON SALE:




Sweeeeeeet......

If you do come down this weekend, you can expect a pretty hearty helping of NE winds... Should be a fun one! Hope to see y'all!

Lighthouse Video

Well the Lighthouse was working pretty well the last few days! When the wind stays more North than NE the swell never really pushes in the right direction to wrap around to the southside, so side/side on at the Lighthouse is pretty much the only option... Not that I'm complaining! The Lighthouse is pretty darned fun when it all lines up... The waves are a lot heavier than they look, and a little tricky to be in the right spot, so you do have to plan ahead a bit (especially with the whole current + light wind inside thing), but when it all lines up it's pretty sweet, with long down the line rides and sometimes some absolutely huge jumps...

I caught a little bit of footage with the GoPro camera. Of course, the half hour when the wind bumped up to the "lit" level was after the batteries died... Never fails... haha! But there's still some cool stuff in there... Check it out!

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse from Andy McKinney on Vimeo.

I caught a few pictures of Keith, too, before I went out last night (my trigger finger wasn't timing it right, Keith was making some sweet turns right before and after these shots):

The scene at The Jetty



Next up?? Keeping an eye on Erika...

First NE of the Fall!

I love this time of year... It seems like we always get the first good batch of Northeast wind sometime in late August or early September, and this year is not letting us down!

So, we all love that consistent summer SW wind... but the NE... is so comfortably cool and crisp feeling! I mean, it's still 80 degrees out, and the water's warm, but the humidity is all but gone. It's a welcome change...

It started to hit Monday evening, so Stuart, Dave, Dale and I caught a late sesh at the Hole, 5.5 and freestyle board, lovin' life (but sailing like poop). Same thing Tuesday morning, but I sailed much better. Here are a few pics from the GoPro boom cam:




Yup, sailing like poop! haha But hey, if you're not falling you're not trying hard enough, right??


Later in the afternoon, the waves started to bump up a notch, so Keith, Donny, Dave, Jim K, Stuart, and I went to the Lighthouse. We shared the water with a few kiters, surfers, boogie boarders, skimboarders, and swimmers... Etiquette was high on the priority list all the way around. Cheers!

Here are a few pics of Keith that I shot within 45 seconds of getting to the beach:



Needless to say, I rigged up pretty quickly thereafter... 5.0 and the Pocket 80. It was a bit light in the current on the inside, but overall it was a pretty sweet setup. Got some great jumps off, and a few really fun waves... Multiple turns, frontside and back... The Lighthouse is such a FUN place to sail!! So fun, that I couldn't be bothered to stop, for about 3 hours straight! I was starting to feel fatigued, when I heard a *pop* and looked down to see that my harness spreader bar had broken! Well, if I was tired before, that last reach back to the beach without a harness really took it out of me... Cramped forearms, biceps seizing up, the whole nine yards... But it was definitely all worth it, as the sailing was top notch fun!!

So, I stretched out and took pictures of Stuart in the fading sun. Check out the Stuart Show:

Loopin' off the first ramp... Good Man!







I love this picture!!

Big File if you want a new desktop

Another Big File

Yeah, loving the NE!! More today, hopefully tomorrow, and maybe even Friday too!! Yeah.... Fall in Hatteras!!!!!!!!! Woohooooo!!!!!!