Mana Love and Wave Sailing at Old Lighthouse

I love the kick pad on the tail.  Chose some shore break with thigh to occasional shoulder high heavy break.  I couldn't believe what the nose of the Mana pulled out.  Never pearled and I don't know why.  Mana is money.

Wave Sailing at Old Lighthouse Beach-

Hit Lighthouse beach again in the evening.  Not as easy as yesterday and enough west to make it really weird on the inside.  Fun though!  Lots of locals came out.  Usually they make it look easy.  They did not make lighthouse beach look easy yesterday.  My experience is best described as prolonged panicky scrambling interrupted by brief periods of sheer bliss.

I did not keep my cool trying to water start in the huge holes.  My heart rate and breathing were not properly controlled and the sesh totally zapped me after the first 1.5 hours.  I was a little bummed that I missed sailing with all the local experts that arrived a few hours after Keith and I but was glad to come out none the worse for losing my focus.  The few waves I did ride made it no doubt worth the effort!

At Old Lighthouse Beach and The Hole

I started yesterday morning early at the Hole with Dale Bendula.  Stayed on the 5.8/106 all day.  Wind was NNE and a little up & down but fun as always.  It was a great oportunity to dial in my jibes on the 106 in chop and fluky wind.  My hand is healing well and no major sail handling problems!  Dale took a break to cut the grass and Ken from Wind NC drove up.  He was on Andy's 5.2/twin freestyle.  The wind filled in nicely a little and we had a ball when Ken was planing easily.  We also traded rigs since I had a 5.8- wow was there a big difference between the old Ezzy wave and the new Gaastra IQ.  The Gaastra was flatter when not powered and much more crisp.  The old wave sail has much more low end grunt but not nearly as smooth in transitions.  Not as easy to clear the clew either.  

I got the message too late but Keith M and Olaf scored a fun sesh at the lighthouse.  I stopped by to wach for about 45 min and it looked big and fairly easy.  I was zapped and cramping already so I didn't rig.  Maybe today!  Keith has the blue sail.  Wish I had a better camera.

Last night Andy at Wind NC put on a sail clinic for the Raleigh crew.  They have over 20 new members this year and tons of stoke!  It is awesome to see all the excitement from new and senior members.  Great group.  Andy does a great job with these clinics and there's great info for new and experienced sailors.  Good times.

Oct 1 NNE at Canadian Hole, OBX NC

The last time I was on my 85L exo wave was the end of July at the Basin.  That was 2 straight days of SW with the 5.2/85L combo.  Yesterday evening I sailed the same kit on the 85L stick with Dale Bendula.  Dale was on a 95L slalom board with 5.5 and passing me on each run.  We worked it out so that when he jibed I would too from a distance behind, he would catch up midway, pass then repeat jibe so it was great sailing with a buddy for a change!  He covered more ground but I could out jump him, at least yesterday :]

The Raleigh crew (Triangle Windsurfing Club) is sailing up at Salvo this weekend too.  I'm looking forward to putting faces to names!  Sounds like a lot of excitement for the sport with those folks.

The wind forecast has changed for the next few days.  Looks a little lighter with NE switching to NW towards Monday.  The surf has been massive but should be dropping to a more manageable level starting today.  Hopefully we'll be wave sailing and SUP surfing soon too.  More updates to come.

The 9' Mana is at Wind NC.  Wow.

Surfing Igor at Ocean Isle Inlet, CB North End and Sunset Beach

Being mobile is the ticket for NC dynamic conditions. I sampled Igor's sinuous waves from the north end of Carolina Beach to the NC state line at Sunset Beach. My new thermo-form splint allowed me to paddle surf with reasonable comfort in some really fun conditions.

Ocean Isle North End Sunday

Where's Waldo?

Waldo found.

Typical end to the rides. Not prudent to be greedy! Get off here or eat the bar.
Windsurfer's delight. Off side off on 3D playground.

Between Holden and Ocean Isle
First thing at high tide the waves were tubing and breaking hard near shore. Unfortunately it was a harsh closeout so certainly not geared for longboard turns. The OIB inlet was much like the CB north end. We used the 4th street beach access and I was able to get out first try on the 10'5 no problem. It has been a long time since having off shore wind while paddling- it was pouring out of the inlet so strong I had to paddle my ass off and jump on the nose to get the drop but the return trip after each wave was such a relief! I don't know if it was a combination of the tide dropping or the swell size growing but it got to the point I couldn't get out through the shore pound. Every ripple was breaking hard and the 10'5 beast was too much. Jennifer and I gave up and hit the water tower for some body surfing. Donald Obst and crew happend to be there too. We found the current much stronger than the inlet but the set lulls were much longer. Again though the surf was beautiful but closing out... there were lots of short boarders getting really short rides. 9/10 were like drop, zip zip, oof, eat shit. Much respect for them.
CB North End Saturday
There were a number of firsts for this sesh. Coolest was meeting Dwight, Jacky, Brian M., Surf Machine, Z, Brad and others. Great crew with lots of energy, bow hunting skills, nunchuck skills and surfing skills. I'm so used to shore break it took a while to get used to catching this big long period swell. You think it will break on you but no- it just holds a clean face forever! It was the most fun you can have standing up. I collected Mark and Jennifer then drove out on the beach for the first time in my first 4x4 too. Meet the pimp wagon.
Inshore warm up

soooo clean...

Mark braces for launch
Jennifer (A #1 photographer) sailing the Drive on a light NE at the Basin at Fort Fisher

Sunset Beach, the West End Thursday, Friday

I wish I would have taken pictures Thursday morning at low tide. I was very surprised to find Igor's initial swell making it to Sunset with such quality. Leah was doing really well on the 10'5 in thigh to waist high glassy surf. I was body surfing with Rob, John and Brian so I got some sweet views of Leah riding those waves. I'm amazed how quickly she's gotten the hang of the punch throughs paddling out and turning to ride the shoulder. Leah ended her sesh around lunch time so I surfed the rising tide the rest of the afternoon until the south wind blew out the surf around 5pm.

Nearer to high tide. Not as good but still fairly clean.

Brian Luisana on his first SUP wave
Sunset next to Bird Island

The new custom is here!

Crafted from the latest in thermo-form plastic technology courtesy of Greensboro Orthopedics and Sports Medicine!

Solo mountain biking on the 8th. Rounding a sandy bend. Loose rock, smack-down, slide, ooomph. Metacarpal of index busted at the knuckle.

It could be way worse. With this puppy I should be able to surf, paddle and windsurf. I'll just have to adjust- lucky my form is already ugly so it won't be that noticeable.

I'm thinking back to Earl and ahead to Igor- can I adjust in time if the conditions come the end of the week at OIB?

Early morning Earl swell.

Earl puffs at Lake Waccamaw Sail Club

Sept 6 at the Cove

Hurricane Danielle at OIB

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. A beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine?

Hurricane Danielle passed east of Bermuda but delivered some awesome surf at Ocean Isle Beach (OIB). It is south facing so not a bad spot for any NE wind that leads the way when storms come close. The east facing beaches like CB and WB tend to get blown out pretty bad with any on shore or side shore wind so I think it was definitely the right call.

Friday Leah and I hit the water tower south of the OIB pier for a warm up day. The surf was a little bumpy but you could score some fun short rides to get the sea legs. Later the wind turn a little side on and I rigged the 4.7 on the 10'5" SUP. What a blast! Easy surf so no problem getting out but soooo fun ripping one little wave after another. I even made some friends with the local surfers who were stoked on the wave sailing. I met David and his son from SC- very cool long boarders. His son was catching waves tail first and spinning on the face like LH on the SUP. Very nice.

Saturday morning swell from Danielle was building in nicely. I took the 7'4" surf board up to Island Breeze since Leah and Jennifer would be coming later. It was dumping pretty bad there so after an hour or so I headed back to the water tower and ran into David again. After David introduced me to Dan Myers and his crowd from Charlotte I ended up surfing with them the rest of the weekend. Dan and his son Jason were on C4 SUPs and Jace was even doing head stands on his 9 footer. Everyone was hollering and having a fine time with the glassy shoulder to head high rollers coming in! I'm glad I met Dan and David- all the surfers in the family made the scene one of the best vibes I've experienced.

Sunday morning was the highlight for Danielle's visit. The wind finally turned off shore and pretty much stayed off to side off up until about 1pm. I found a little honey hole way up the beach away from most of the line ups and was killing it on the 10'5". I had dolphin and porpoise come in close in the surf while I was there. I love seeing them- just feels like having pets around or something. Most importantly it was one DTL ride after another and banking off the closeout section. I stayed out until I was completely dehydrated and came in with a huge smile after lunch time.

Jennifer, Leah and I headed back for a nice outro sesh early Monday. It was knee high with occasional waist high swell so very relaxing after Sat & Sun when it was a little too big for the ladies. Perfect SUP surf conditions with off shore wind and glassy clean water. I think I've lost my 10'5" for good now since Leah used it all day. She was really getting the feel for catching and riding the waves since she was having so much fun she stayed out for 2 straight hours without even taking in water! Yep. She has the bug.

* Jennifer once again blew me away with some great photos with the point and shoot. Too bad the camera settings were screwed up Saturday and Sunday. Kinda fuzzy.

Tiny - BIG - Psycho Chop - Perfect Glassy

Leah is officially a standup paddle surfer!







Leah and the RRD Wassup 10'. Perfect for knee to waist high stuff.

Jennifer takes a break from the photo shooting.

Leah and I hit Surf City Friday afternoon to find the ocean clear and relatively calm. Perfect for really getting the feel of the Wassup and the art of catching waves. Surf across from the Loggerhead Inn ranged from ankle to staggering calf high sets. If ever there was a perfect windless afternoon for learning to paddle surf in the ocean this was it. By the way, Leah doesn't have a SUP paddle yet so we walked across from the Loggerhead to rent a paddle from Herrings Outdoor Sports where we met Jennifer Hill. She is an avid SUPer along with her son and husband. This is a great shop right on the waterway and they have anything you'll need for kayaking or SUP. Jennifer even has a full carbon SUP paddle for sale... the one she won at the Cold Stroke Classic. You'd better be prepared to buy it if you hold it. Like holding nothing!

Saturday morning we hit County Line. There was a little NE breeze but only around 5mph. From the top of the dune the sets looked to be rolling in nicely and the tops crumbling. Upon closer inspection from the deck of the SUPs the waves were actually much bigger. I ended up taking some of the biggest drops ever- white knuckle adrenaline pumping stuff! Tossed in a few good catapulting nose dives too. The highlight of the morning was this one set that launched me off the lip straight ahead where I flew, landed and managed to avoid carnage to surf it until it closed. Juiced!

The most interesting feature at the Line is that the sand bars end fairly abruptly so the swell coming in from the deep water isn't as obvious sometimes further out. However the bar extends pretty far out so you do have time to set up but some of the waves do surprise and break a little earlier than you might expect. As the high tide peaked and started down the surf dropped as the wind picked up. It got plain windy and the ocean got extremely choppy. The surf turned into mostly wind driven chop/surf but I just kept on until evening when Jennifer arrived.

T-Storms rolled through Sunday morning and sucked up all that NE wind. It was still sprinkling rain but we headed on out to the public access across from the fire department. This is a great spot since it is one of the few that has a ramp over the dune rather than just stairs. It can be tough carrying gear with the rails on the steps. With all the wind we had Saturday I was fully prepared to sail the SUP Sunday regardless of the surf quality. Luckily the NE chopped cleared and the ocean was glassy knee - waist sets! The skies cleared later in the afternoon for a picturesque sesh. Jennifer took some awesome photos Sunday with my little point and shoot. She definitly has talent... I can only imagine what she could do with a quality camera. I'm still buzzing from this trip.