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).