March Madness

I've been so hoping to get conditions to use my 85L RRD FSW. That opportunity came Friday at Canadian hole. After a morning/afternoon of sailing bigger gear for the 2010 Windsurfing Magazine board test in warm light WSW the weather took quite a turn. It is amazing how weather patterns can change on the banks. The front made its way down from the north and the edge was an abrupt change from bright blue sky to swirling dark grey clouds. The NE wind came in like a fighter jet. Lucky Andy gave us the heads up in advance of the front so we derigged the bigger gear and stowed the boards. Stu actually headed out with a big board and a 7.5 as the wind began its swing- he had to body drag his way back in and even Josh had to help the rest of the way. It was a team effort to wrestle in that big kit in that kind of wind.

After a brief delay due to a water spout near Avon we all hit the water with the smallest kit we had. In my case a 3.5 and 85L board. Overpowered is not the word. I would have paid cash for a 65 or 70 liter that afternoon. Awesome. First time on my 3.5 too. I hit some but not all of my jibes on port and starboard. Big jumps with lots of spray on the lands. Good times.

OBX trip with Leah. The words escape me!

This was one of the best long weekends I've had in my life. Leah and I decided to get away for a relaxing weekend in Buxton and had a blast! We were tired from the early morning drive but the SW wind woke us up Friday afternoon. Leah was on the 4.2 with her 166L GO and I chose the 5.8 with my 106. Stuart from Ocean Air came out to the hole and I got to sail with him as long as I could stay with him! He's a ton of fun to watch and offered me some pointers to get my form dialed in. I was having trouble staying up wind with a small fin- between previous advice from Andy and Friday sailing with Stuart I now have no trouble at all! I understand it well enough I think I could even pass it along.

Andy came out around 6:30 for my scheduled jibe lesson. I've been hacking away at pivot jibes on the lake with the >150L boards but jibbing the 106L board was beyond me. I tried his patients but he proved to have plenty. By the end of the lesson I was coming out of the pivot and sailing clew first. By the end of the day I had most of my sail flips nailed! Anne and Drew came out too so towards sunset we finished the lesson and ended the day with some relaxing runs.

Saturday the wind took a rest and so did we. Leah and I hit the beaches in Buxton and visited the lighthouse. Late in the evening we hit the beach north of Avon for some SUPing and socializing. That was a true pleasure and my first time actually in the ocean at the obx!

Sunday sunday sunday. This was just one of those days that was right on and I knew it as soon as I went out for my morning run in North Buxton. I have no idea how many miles I actually ran because I wasn't counting. After lunch we headed to canadian hole- the SW breeze was steady and building nicely. Leah rigged and we spent the first half hour working on her beach starts. Once she got the sail handling the rest was butter. Here is Leah on her first day beach starting. She did great and had no problem staying upwind- even though it was blowing into the 20's!

Leah beach starting! from r d moore on Vimeo.

As for me, well those lessons from Andy helped me spend more time in the straps and blasting! I just can't believe how windsurfing can be this much more fun but it is. Here is a vid if you would like see some of my day from the first person shooter point of view.