You Never Know Who's Watching

Sam headed in to trade the longboard for the SUP and I was busy trying to be at the right place at the right time for some beauties rolling in on the sand bar.  He came back and noticed someone with some dogs taking shots of the action and struck up a conversation with her.  When he paddled out he told me about it and said he wrote the email address in the sand.  She returned Sam's email with some pics and turns out she is a professional photographer from Raleigh.  Here are some pics sent to us from Petra Glorie and her website EuroPhotoGraphics.com  Thanks again Petra, these are beautiful photos.

Note this particular sequence is a right I took to make up some ground against the current.  Lefts were the long fun rides while rights were consistently a test of character...

Could you walk away from these sets?

Sometimes it must be done. Like when you want to keep your wife.  Sunday the wind was slight but on shore then went completely away.  Here is a quick shot I took before heading home Sunday afternoon around 3pm.

But there's always the memories.

New River Inlet SUP Surfing with Sambo from r d moore on Vimeo.

Surf City Serves It Up Again

Sam and I hit Surf City again for some tasty waves and much lighter wind than last weekend.  The water temps are down from a week ago and dropped additionally each day.  With sunny skies and warm air the 5/3 is all you need though.

Surf City Party Wave from r d moore on Vimeo.

Saturday was the epic day at the inlet surfing with the dolphins for hours.  The rascals are real acrobats!  Check out Sam's posts- he has lots of HD video of dolphin antics and a few more of our waves.

SUP surfing limits. Know when to say when.

We had some pretty cool air last week into this past weekend.  Last Friday I paddled Belews with Barry and had to keep dipping my bare feet to warm them but man what a spectacular evening.  Lots of fog showing the warmth getting sucked out the lake in the evening sunset in the midst of all those colorful leaves.  This was my little warm up for Saturday when I met Sambo at Surf City for SUP surfing.  I rolled up about noon and he had been at it since 10am- I walked across the dunes and my heart fluttered as I saw the clean waist to shoulder (somethime head high) rights AND lefts.  A chilly NW wind had the waves walling up and I knew it was on!

We surfed just those conditions all day long in wind that was straight offshore and sometimes cranking into the high 20's.  This was the most consistent surf I've ever experience through the course of a full day- most likely thanks to all that offshore wind.  Anyone who has SUP surfed in that kind of wind knows what an incredible workout is it dropping in ahead of the waves.  Also the lighter your board the better it is at turning into a kite and soaring projectile.  We both had to keep draining our water supply and incredibly both had tricep cramps for the first time ever.  Nothing else just tris.  As the sun got lower and the temps started to head back down we discussed maybe heading in and saving some for the next day.  That idea came up a few times.  Then we got to the point of one more wave then we go in, we were actually catching lots of one more waves as the sun set.  Did we learn when to say when?  I think not, but are bound to keep trying. 

 Sam drops in

 Sam on cruise control

Smoke on the water Sunday morning