"Forbidden Fruit" The Tropical Storm Cristobal Story

Today, Guest Blogger Keith writes about his experience sailing Tropical Storm Cristobal! Enjoy!

"Forbidden Fruit" By Keith M.

The first Tropical system of 2008 to directly affect Hatteras Island was on Sunday July 20th. "Cristobal" was just under hurricane strength and just to the south west sending in south east wind at 20 to 30 and surprisingly few rain bands with the sky changing from dark clouds to spotty sunshine from one moment to the next. With the storm in this position every wave sailor around here knows what this means (and even a few kiteboarders:-)) The best organized, peeling, longest wave on the east coast that rivals some of the best breaks in the world. The only problem we have is that it only happens a few times a year if we are lucky. So you could imagine my frustration knowing that access to "the cove" of any kind, walking or driving has been shut down by the Audubon and the DOW. The nearest point to which you can drive a car is a spot we call "the old lifeguard beach" which is the parking lot at the end of the road just as you pass the closed ramp 44 (which takes you to the point if it was open) I've sailed around the point through the shoals before, this certainly is an option to get to the beautiful wave that the cove has to offer, but today...The forecast had me fooled.. they were calling for 3 to 5 inches of rain, thunderstorms and gust to 60 possible later in the day.. not exactly what I'd like to be sailing around in once I get out there.

So there I was looking at the sky, called Andy for the radar report... you could see easily head high long peeling waves in the cove over 1.5 miles away by standing on the dune. My main concern was lightning, some of the bands coming in were pretty dark and sketchy looking. Its much easier to do something stupid when you've got a buddy to do it with.. so Caleb came down and we rigged 4.7's. Launching from Lifeguard Beach, there was a surprising amount of south still in the wind which made the trip to the point full of tacks.. slow going at first.. lots of current on the inside and you had to deal with sloppy head high waves on the way out while under powered.. but with each tack the wind seemed to crank to the east a little more and the next thing I knew I was shooting around the point. The trick here is to come in high and hot and bare off and come right into the point itself where the water is about 16" deep to avoid massive chaotic crashing waves on the shoals and incredible rip currents. I planed through it without incident.. Caleb came in a little too close and caught his fin, got chucked, and restarted.. perfectly acceptable technique when "rounding the horn".

Minutes upon entering the realm of the cove I knew we were in for a treat. I was looking straight down a head high wave peeling for 200 yards, perfectly formed and not a ripple of water on its face. By this time the wind was coming from the perfect direction for wave sailing. One bottom turn after another, I was a kid in a candy store.. lightning? What lightning? This was unreal. With each top turn I grew more confident... you forget how gentle the cove wave is. The sets were clear and easy to pick out... mast high on the outside sets of 4 or 5.. just grab the best looking one.. no need to worry about getting caught on the inside because you are about to ride the longest wave of your life. On one wave I sailed out of the harness so long my arms and legs started to turn to rubber.. there was more wave to go.. but I just kicked out to get into the harness again for a break! Caleb was scoring some nice rides as well. The scale out there is soo huge.. I wish I had a way to dump the images out of my brain for everyone to see. We sailed for about an hour.. heck the sun even came out and started to burn my head!.. The sure way to guarantee that the sun will come out is to NOT put sun screen on. I couldn't believe it, the water was incredibly clear and bluish green.

As low tide approached the current on the inside bar started to increase and at the same time the wind started to slack off a little.. both Caleb and I ended up down in the cove quite a ways from riding a few long waves to the very end.. way too tempting to keep going... and now we couldn't get across the bar... so time for a break.. we waded in waist deep water working our way back up to the point. We had our fun.. and the wind didn't act like it was coming back so we decided to bail. Now that the wind was a little more east, it made getting back fairly easy..not much tacking..just got to round the point and it was a straight shot.. Caleb made it around without incident.. I however got to go on one last ride... this time I got chucked over the bars just on the north side of the point.. and within seconds... I mean seconds.. I was in the rip current of my life.. easily jogging speed and my sail felt like lead, no way could I get it out of the water and thats not the bad part.. the current was and did pull me through 5 or 6 barreling sand sucking head high waves that were breaking into 2 feet of water.. I thought I was done for sure. The wave was actually sand colored since it was sucking up so much sand! What a sight as I got dragged through this ride from hell in quick succession, doing what I could to protect my gear. Through 5 waves in seconds I was losing my breath, gear still intact which I couldn't believe.. through no action of my own I was spit out into a safe zone with no breaking waves, got to catch my breath and water start and get the heck out of there! Due to my disappearance Caleb was already hitting on my wife in the parking lot when I returned. (they don't call him the snake for nothing) claiming I didn't make it. Whew.. was it worth it? would I do it again? I think you know the answer to that:-)