Windy Wednesday

***Update:  Dale sent in a few more pics!!  (Thurs, 9:30am) ***

Wow, it has just been howling out here on Hatteras Island!  I was smart enough to grab Anne's 3.7 today, and I'm glad I did because I ended up using it pretty much all day long.  George, Jim K, Dale, Donny, Mark S, Freddy, and I hit the Hole in the warm, summer like SW winds.  It's tough to believe that it's December when the thermometer reads 70F...  We are LUCKY!!  I took a bunch of video footage that I'll work through eventually, but in the meantime, check out these pics that Dale sent in:

Jim K and Mark S, full speed ahead!  Jim gets the biggest sail award with his 4.0!

 

Mark, 3.4 and 66 liters

 

George (3.7)

Me (3.7 and 80 liters)

 

Thanks Dale!!


Mid-afternoon, I snuck down to Old Lifeguard Beach and sailed a 4.2 for about half an hour with Thomas, Charlie, Dan, and Lane.  The waves were super clean and had nice size, probably a touch overhead in the better sets.  Slight equipment malfunction cut the sesh short, but that's alright as it was time to get Anne on the water!

With an hour of daylight left, I ran back to the Hole and re-rigged Anne's 3.7 for her.  She showed up, tossed on her wetsuit, and charged on out into some seriously gusty winds.  After she had had her fill, I decided to let her in on a little secret- All of the other (190 pound) guys out in the water were on 3.7s too!  She just smiled and asked for a 3.2 for Christmas...

No Strap Jibes

There is a forum thread on iWindsurf.com where Spennie recommends jibing with both feet out of the footstraps.  That is certainly an unconventional approach, but I know a few people who jibe this way.  I figured that I'd give it a try, and recorded the sesh for posterity and a few laughs at the inevitable crashes.  Check out the outcome:



No-Strap-Jibes from Andy McKinney on Vimeo.

I found it harder to control the rig because I was too close to the mast base to have any leverage over the sail.  It was fun to try, though, and I'll certainly keep it in the ol' bag of tricks.

Any other experiences?  Add your 2 cents to the iWindsurf forum thread!

Cove Video!

It ended up blowing 4.7 all afternoon Thursday, so I spent a lot of time tuning up the 2010 Surge.  This sail is like a chameleon on the water depending on down and out haul combinations!  If anyone is looking for help getting a certain feel out of their World Sail please shoot me an email, but I've been really happy underdownhauling and adding a little extra outhaul for most applications.

Anyway, I tossed together a video from Wednesday's Cove sesh!  Conditions were Super Freaking Windy out of the ESE, with fun waves in the chest to head high range.  Queue it up full screen, turn up the volume, grab a non-windsurfing co-worker, and press play:


Windsurfing 30+mph Winds in The Cove from Andy McKinney on Vimeo.


Everyone please say "Thank You" to Ace for loaning me his video camera!  I'm pretty sure he knows how sandy everything gets out here...

So Windy!!

Something weird happened today.  I was blown off of my 4.2.  I couldn't hang on, I could barely waterstart.  Bottom turns were manageable, but top turns were out of the question, unless you went one handed and flagged the sail.  Very weird, indeed.  My suspicions were confirmed upon checking the meters:  Frisco Pier was reading average 38 with gusts to 47 mph!  Yes, yes, it was FREAKING WINDY out there.

It's all good, though, because we scored a sweet day in The Cove!  It wasn't until the last hour that it went truly ballistic.  The waves were in the chest to head high range, and most people were on 4.2-4.7 or 6-8 meter kites all day long.  One thing is for sure: there are a lot of smiling, tired, sore bodies on this island tonight!

 

Keith bottom turns as Stuart sets up for the next wave

I took a bit of video from the beach, and tied on a GoPro while sailing too.  Here are a few frames from the clew mount camera to tide you over until I get a chance to edit the vid:

 

One handed one footed top turn...  And yes, I sailed away from it!

 

No handed back loop... And no, I did not sail away from it :)

There is a lot more wind in the forecast for tomorrow and this weekend too!!  Come on out and join us!