Just Surf

I've been missing all of the Fall wave sailing action but have been able to snatch a few surf seshes.  OIB, Surf City, Wrightsville.  Here are a few pics Jennifer took during some small leftover NE wrap at OIB.


Wow.  Great shot Jennifer. 

 Pump pump!

 Check out the school in the bottom left. 

 End o the day

You've got 1 night. Make It Work.

She gave me 1 night and I was so glad to get it.  Packed in a hurry the night before so I forgot my camera but did manage to get most of the necessary gear.  Arrived in Avon with a massive t storm dumping rain and sparking.  After that one moved out no more weather to speak of other than great Bermuda High wave sailing conditions.

I think it stormed most of the morning with a lot of WSW.  Anyway the wrap around was really clean after so I grabbed the 85L dacurve quad and paired it with a 4.7 North Hero I demoed from Ocean Air.  After the initial rigging I added down haul and was set the rest of the day.  That sail felt great and it was easier to spill off the power than my old Ezzy.  The quad is my 1st true wave board of any kind and after initially having trouble last year adjusting it was wonderful to get that thing dialed in.  Suffices to say my initial issues were just that I needed to get used to all that rocker and pivot jibe / tack.  For a few hours the conditions were ideal side off DTL and I had my most fun sesh ever.  I've got to keep working on my skills to extend the range of the wave board when the current gets gnarly but I have high hopes.

All in all I sailed from 2:30-dark the Friday and all day Saturday.  Saturday was certainly much more challenging with lots more current, weirder wind and direct choppy wind swell- but bigger nuggets. Keith took this photo late Saturday.  Here I am well past exhausted, getting absolutely sand blasted head to toe and dreading the drive back- but still buzzing from 2 great days.  Mike Wazenski sailing in.

Andy took shots of Keith on these nuggets.  The rest of Keith's photos are here.

Typical this time I would have all kinds of issues with the video but it is what it is.


ego beach june 28 from rdm on Vimeo.

Fish Camp also got some gopro action.  Nice!  A dream indeed.



This is mostly for my reference but here is Avon Ocean wind readings for Friday and Saturday.  Note the clean wind from 2pm to 8pm.  Steadier direction too.  Saturday was a bit of back and forth on everything.

A little wave vid

This is a little sample of recent fun at Ego Beach across from C Hole.  There is a quite a wind shadow on the inside on SW here but with ramp 43 and 44 completely closed the conditions still lined up nicely. Keith McCulluch took some great photos of Andy McKinney also.  Link to Keith's photos

few waves at ego beach from rdm on Vimeo.

A little summer fun

Schedule:
Paddle surf Friday afternoon with Ken and Mark
Surf Saturday with Ken.  Saturday afternoon light wind wave sail with Ken while Mac and Mark paddle surfed.
Sunday little warm up sesh at C hole with Mac and Mark.  Then wave sailing with the OBX locals.
Monday solo wave sailing ahead of the front.  Keith did show up just in time for the storm to kill the wind but did get 1 wave.

Keith took some shots Sunday.  Perfect temps.

Bill on a nugget

 Ken A. is looking for pearls

Mac has a great report on paddle palooza and a few more pics here.

We Got Our Swerve On

Tippi Turtle, Mark and I had a blast Friday at Topsail.  Unreal funnesses.

Mac and Mark

 Ohhhh mymymy

 Ohh yeah.  Pretty dang good.

Here are some of Mac's photos.  Straight from the Waterturtle blog.

Offshore Surfing Sweetness

October 25th.  The day that for me started the marathon Sandy experience.  This event lasted until October 30th.  I knew heading to Hatteras was out of the question since Leah would never forgive me when I got stranded with Hwy 12 sure to wash out.  Southern beaches it was from Thursday to Sunday.

25th OIB.  Wave sail, paddle surf, surf.
Arrived just after lunch with a nice wave already coming in and a side onshore ENE wind.  Wave sailed on the 94L & then SUP for a couple hours until the wind gave out with an offshore shift.  Grabbed the paddle and paddle surfed with Chris B. until probably 5pm when the rest of the local crew came out.  Grabbed the surf board and surfed past dark under an almost full moon with red, red sunset. Gorgeous.

26th OIB.  Marathon surf day.
Sandy was getting close enough to really start tossing us some sizable surf so most of the locals took Friday off from work to soak it all in.  I got started around 9am steady catching fun rides while the size and current increased.  By afternoon everyone was hiking way up the beach so they could make the outside before getting to Sunset beach. 

Towards evening Kyle offered to give me a ride to the pier so we could do a drift back to the tower.  The surfing equivalent of a down winder.  So 5 of us loaded up and paddled out at the pier, but I didn't actually make the outside until I was ~ 400 yards down the beach.  Meaty waves and current were punishing when Lucas and I got caught in a bad section.  The 5 of us had a ball since we didn't have to fight the current for a while and the bars along the way were serving up some challenging but fun stuff.  Pretty scary drops and hold downs but that is part of the fun.

Jace did some excellent camera work while shredding on his 7'8.


27th Lake Waccamaw windsurfing.
I talked to Jace Saturday morning and after a surf check the local crew planned to take a rest day to recover from Friday.  I was zapped so a little cross training sounded good to me.  I launched solo from the sail club.  Lots of rain but temps were mild and it was nice getting some bump n jump on the 85 and 94 liter boards.  Lots of ducks and turtles hanging out so they kept me company.  I didn't get the wind I was hoping for but hopefully I'll get to use my 370 mast before New Years.

28th OIB.  Marathon surf day 2.
Sunday morning Sandy was pushing out and I arrived to see some of the prettiest peeling lefts of the trip.  Jace stopped by after attending the early service for a surf check and we were stoked with conditions.  Now the wind was dead offshore and no current to speak of!  The surf hung in there until about 4pm and then flattened out with the high tide.  The perfect way to end the Sandy surfing experience.  Here is Jace on his longboard and more gopro action.


29-30th Belews Lake.  (Sandy hooks around to the north)
Leah made me come home :[  I left warm temps, sun and wind to come home to cold rain and wind.  So I switched from spring suit to 6mm full suit and hit the lake with the 4.7 and the 85/94L boards.  I have to say NW wind at Belews is not the ideal direction.  Even for NW this was an especially aggravating day.  The wind was so strong there were leaves being blown from one side of the lake to the other.  That is 1 mile.  Even with all that and gusts in the 30s and 40s it was basically unsailable (but I did anyway).  Tuesday on the other hand was super fun.  The wind clocked due west and this makes for great sailing south of the 2 big islands.  You get the best thigh high swell and ramps for right hand jumps of any direction in my experience.  That was the sixth day of water sports.  And on the seventh he rested.  (by raking lots of leaves).

The New Old Faithful

Meet the new to me Will Allison 8' magic stick.

Soooohhh many lefts

Day 2 Rafael location.  I have a 8'10 paddle board in Buxton that needs to be picked up.  I never missed it at all.

Shortboard Wavesailing

Keith says this is the best sesh of the year for him.  I think most would agree with him.  Lots of wavesailors and kiters out with side off conditions.  It was challenging getting out due to powerful current but the outside was very comfortable with my 5.0 and 94L board.  This was the next level for this humble beginner.

Keith's Photos



Some of my photos

Leslie Surf at the Point

Keith, Sam and I hit the point today for some light air wave sailing.  The sets were fun and we got a good wrap around the shoals the entire day.  Keith gets the style award but I am Mr Clean after going through the wash cycle so many times.  Ian, Ken A. and Sarah came out later so we pretty much had the whole point to ourselves.  Great times. Bill's blog has the goings on from the previous 2 days.

Keith's Point pics are here.  Nice!  Below are some of mine.

 Carnage

*

Isaac Makes a Pass

I spent 3 great days with the OIB crew this weekend.  Saturday was sooo clean and the sets started coming in early so I got about 10 hours of paddle surfing the Fanatic Prowave 8'10 not counting some time on Kyle's longboard when we traded off.  That longboard was a ton of fun and Kyle was stoked on the SUP too!  Sunday was another 9-10 hours of paddle surfing... bigger but not quite as clean since there was a little side-on chop to deal with.  Monday I got a 3 hour side to side-on wave sailing sesh in on the Prowave.  The size was still there and T-storms just inland stoked up a nice breeze.  What a fantastic way to cap off the last day before heading back to work.

Once again I was having too much fun to take many pics but I did get a few from Saturday.  Chris and I had the place to ourselves most of early Saturday and Jace made it a little later Saturday and Sunday.

Hilarious.

August Action

I drove through lots of mist and rain to get there but the skies opened and we had a beautiful sunny day Friday.  Sam, Ken and I had a blast at C hole and then evening action in the ocean.  Like Keith said- hey it is August, we're lucky to get any wind at all.  Well, since it has been a vacuum in Greensboro I wholly agree.

Keith and Andy had the higher wind before we got there.

Threes Company

Fity is on it!!!!!!!!!!

Step Into Ripple

The Hawaii and Mavericks crews have been hounding Leah for some time about us all getting out to Belews Lake to share tow in techniques but Leah's schedule is prohibitive.  Imagine- the biggest and smallest wave surfers in the world getting together to show that it is all about making the most of what you have.  Laird we'll make it work eventually.

Leah learned short board wake surfing faster than I did when we first tried it with our friends Joe and Jennifer.  Adding the paddle gets you through chop from lots of summer boat traffic.  Click for video
  

The wave maker.  A 14' fiberglass tri hull with 40hp Suzuki.

The poor man's fat sack.  5 gallon water container.  We don't have to have it to surf but hey it also makes a nice cushion when the board is tight in the pocket.