Wave Jam!

Photo Janis M

Friday Sep 7

Left home at 4:15 am to get to Hatteras for windsurfing competition later in the week.

Got to Avon around noon after a great drive.  I hooked up with Ralph who shared his hotel room that night.  Light wind big surf.  Tried SUP near the point.  Junky and choppy.  A big shark scared us off the water.  Casey Ralph and I tried the cove with over head mello surf and a light onshore breeze.  SUP heaven with very long rides from outer break through to the reform.

Saturday.  Strong SW wind and huge surf.  Folks launched south of the Oregon Inlet.  I did not go out due to the meaty waves and weird wind.  Ralph had some great rides but destroyed a sail.  I had a great high wind session at the hole.

Janis photo

Sunday.  Sam Ralph and I had a gloomy rainy surf session at the cove.  Pretty fun on mediium and mello surf (head high) but not quite as magic as the previous session.  High wind and a rising tide got us off the water.  Did some group road surfing after being misdirected by an overly optimistic kid and settled on a sunset session on the sound north of Avon with Ralph and Casey.  Beautiful.

Monday. Great day at Ramp 44 near the pond.  North wind started with Big boards and good surf with long rides.  Wind picked up through the day although surf degraded but still fun.  Lots of people showing up for the event.  Saw a big sea turtle.

Janis Photo

Tuesday. Moderate NE breeze and lots of current. Ralph and I surfed ramp 49 for 4 hours near low tide with a stiff offshore breeze.  Beautiful sunny beach day with waste high surf.

Wednesday. East beach gnarly fun SUP but contest moved to south. Great SUP sail with Casey to the right

Thursday.  Bath House attempt at competition.  Pretty horrible conditions.  Fun SUP paddle session with Rob C down to the right.

Friday. SUP at bath house all day much in gloom and rain.  Late sesh with Randy, Ralph, Casey,(paddling) and Andy (sailing). Rainbows, dolphins, heaven!

Saturday. Ralph and I found a point break bar down at 49.  It had great lefts into a channel.  Rights took you into some very shallow water.  Great rides to the right but scary poundings on the sand if you fell.  Rob C and Mac joined us.  Later went to ramp 43 to watch the pros in a freshening breeze and big ugly on shore wind and surf.  Participated in a short ameteur expression session.  Very exciting with some close callls in the crowded waves.  Supposedly got second but no prize for second! Very fun.  Closing party, played cornhole had nice BBQ and won some raffle-based swag.

Mac caught me looking back at him.

Another backwave shot by Mac (I'm in there)

Ralph catching a beauty (Photo Mac)

Sunday.Mornring surf session with Ralph, Mac and Rob later with Casey.  Some big stuff came through.  A very satisfying session with some dolphins visiting and nice long buttery rides.  Check out with lots of cleaning help from Ralph. Ordered a new board from Andy.  An epic visit. Quick trip home, 378 miles in 6.5 hours! Oh, and I wasn't speeding either!

Just for Fun!

Friday: Sitting in an Idaho airport the day before Hatteras. We'll be starting an actaul Hatteras vacation at my place tomorrow if my flights go well.  It's been two years since my family actually vacationed together at Hatteras.  Irene didn't help matters last fall.  I have been down quite a bit in the winter, spring and fall but that always involves work on the house, of course I always manage to squeeze in some fun too but not with the family. My youngest and her friend were a great help this last spring prepping the house for the rental season.

So this one is just for fun and most of my siblings are coming too! The only work I plan this time is to put up some eye-bolts to hang a hammock for some serious R&R!

Saturday: On the road at 6:30 am with Lindsey driving separately to get Dan at Boy's State.
We had an exciting pit stop due to a leaking tire valve stem on the trailor.  Luckily Jenna heard it hissing and got right to a tir shop.  In and out in under 12 minutes.  I recommend Colonial Tire for NASCAR!

Everyone arrived as scheduled and we had a nice spaghetti dinner.  No beach action due to an afternoon thunderstorm.

Monday: Ken got a quick morning SUP session at ramp 38.  After all had breakfast we all headed over to ramp 38 and spent most of the day there.  Beatiful clear warm water, perfecct!  Ken caught an evening surf session on a windless uncrowded beach.

Monday:

Nice sunrise

And by the way, a couple pics of Jenna riding two weeks ago:

Surfing Monday morning I thought I came upon Blackbeard's remains until I recalled his head was taken to Virginia:

We all spent most of the day together at the bath house near Frisco.  Very mello warm ocean.  Dan tried some ocean sailing without much luck.  God on him for trying.  Lindsey returned from Ocracoke with Lindsay.

As we were checking out the fishing scene at Hatteras the wind really came up.  I had a message from Bill Bell looking for some company at Ramp 30.  I headed out there in the late afternoon to an empty beach with the exception of Bill's truck.  I sailed a 5.3 in overpowered conditions.  Wild chop and chaotic swell with a strange surf break.  Pretty fun but not the best surf-sailing.

Lindsey, Lindsay and Dan went to the movies but a huge thunderstorm ended the show early.  They got a rain check (lightning check?)

Tuesday: The heavy wind clocked north.  Around ten am I sailed at the old lighthouse beach on a well powered 5.8.  Old man Jim was out there ripping it up.  Agian not great surf sailing but awesome big swell on the outside.  I later sailed at the hole.  Lots of sailors, 5.3 then 5.8. 

Wednesday:

Dan and I rented another SUP and surfed down at Ramp 49.  Small friendly waves in offshore breeze.  Dan got some good rides. Lots of shopping and time spent at the Ramp 38 beach, crowded but a nice mellow crowd. Repaired the broken foot wash faucet.  All ate dinner at Diamond Shoals restaurant.  Took some astronomy lessons from Dave on a beautiful clear night.

Thursday:

Dan and Dave were up early for an all-day deep sea fishing adventure.

Ken got his butt kicked during a couple morning surf sessions.  Dead onshore waves with some size.  He saw a sea turtle though!

Friday:

Ken did some road surfing with a trial launch at Ramp 30 . No good.  Met George at Ramp 43, we sailed 5.8s in good wind and bad surf.  Saw a huge sea turtle out there.  Wrapped up with  a couple hours of 4.6 at the Hole.  Got a board 360 from port tack first try but no luck from 20 tries on starboard!

How was your stay?

Please share your thoughts and experiences from your stay at Relaxation Station. If you experienced any issues or dissappointments please share those too and we'll do our best to address them to make your next stay even better!

Spring Break, Spring Cleaning!

Back at Hatteras for a week with my youngest and her good friend to prepare the house for the 2012 rental season.  We'll also try to squeeze in as much fun as we can between chores.  The girls had a couple kayak trips from the back yard after helping unload all our stuff.

Sunday

A nice dry sunny day!  Chores, kayaking, then a trip to the beach.  I paddle surfed in small beach break in an offshore breeze while the girls flew a kite and played on the beach.  As we drove off the beach we were escorted by a pod of dolphins swimming close in. Our new neighbor is building quickly:

I'll try to grab a picture of the construction daily from the kitchen window to show the progress.

Monday

Rainy and windy last night into the morning.  After a sunrise lull the wind kicked in.  Sailed 3.8 at the hole after short runs on a 5.3 and then a 4.6.  Joined by Mark staying on the OBX for a month! and George L who just got a job in Maui!

Back to the house to get some cable TV stuff installed and get working with the girls. 

Tuesday

The neighbor house got its roof framing today.

We headed to the beach before noon for some science fair work and fun.  Jenna marked out a 100 yd stretch of beach and documented the amount and types of trash on the beach.  There was surprisingly little.
I tried some SUP paddling while Jenna was surveying.  No luck though as there was about zero surf other than a modest shore break.  The east side was pretty wild from the last two days of wind.

On the way back from the beach we bought fiudge, I picked up my repaired board (another masterfull job by Donnie Bowers), and Susie bought some great flip flops at Fox. Visited Andy and Anne at the shop with their new baby Katherine.  Congratulations! Back at the house the the girls went for a long kayak trip out to the sound while I did some chores.  We had dinner at Diamond Shoals restaurant.  Not much work done today but pretty fun.

Wednesday

A warm but gloomy day.  We did lots of chores this morning, great work girls.  Hot tub was repaired.  We headed to the beach which was pretty rough and a bit chilly but fun.  Stir fry at home after some hot tubbing and kayaking.

Thursday

A gloomy cold windy day.  Time for .....shopping! We ran the Avon gauntlet of shops and all three of us picked up various souvenirs and gifts for our families. 

Also the Charter cable guy fixed out TV issue and Midgett inspected the house and blessed it for the season.

Friday

Lots of road surfimg on a very windy rainy north wind day.  Finally hooked up with Bill Bell and did a reef run from north of Avon.  We were on a 3.8 and 3.7 and it was pretty wild.  Bill was looping as usual and scored a really high semi-endo loop out at the reef.  The girls hung out at the house all day and were nice enough to clean out the car for our ride home tomorrow.  Good job girls.  Lat in the day the sun came out and the wind stayed up.  I headed to the hole for a sunset session and met Andy and Dale there.  Dale advise I rig a 4.6 and it was spot on.  I tried a few forwards with some moderate success.  Sailed into the sunset and head ed back to a dark parking lot.  Awesome last full day of our visit.

Saturday

Pretty blue-sky morning.  The house is ready.  So much thanks to Jenna and Susie for all their hard work to get the house ready.  We have gusts visiting today.  The 2012 season (fourth year) begins!

February Visit

I drove down Thursday night (2/16) after work.  After ninety minutes of creeping on the DC beltway the rest of the trip was smooth. 

On Friday I worked around the house.  In the afternoon I bought a $120 beach pass for 4-wheeling and stuck it next to my $90 Assateague pass, ughhh!  I rigged up my 5.8 sail for my SUP  on a gloomy NW breeze beach just north of Avon (ramp 34?).  Just before launching the sun broke through and on my first run out I saw a pod of dolphins.  They stayed very near me for my hour-long session.   Nice mellow wave rides mostly 3 or 4 feet with a couple shoulder high sets.  A nice rentry into the Hatteras waters.

Saturday was a sunny light wind day.  I had an am SUP session at ramp 34.  Pretty good sized swell, easy to catch but closeouts mostly.  In the afternoon I launched a SUP with sail at lifeguard beach in an onshore light air.  A few nice rides but I quit early as things were setting up a little too much like when I broke a SUP board and trashed a sail near the lighthouse.  I tried out the south side. Ramp 49 where I saw a whale while driving on the beach.  I surfed knee high beach break in a light offshore breeze.  Nice mellow fun.  Oh by the way all action was in the presence of dolphins.  Quite close at times, got startled once by two six feet to my side.  Supposed to blow tomorrow.  Maybe a surf sailing session?

Well Sunday was gray and rainy all day.  The wind came up but tired after chores all morning, the gloomy cold windy rain did not beckon.  That night the northerly wind picked up to gale force.  The house really rocked!

Hopping at the Hole (photo Andy McKinney)

Me at Canadian Hole (photo Andy McKinney)

Monday the wind continued but the rain stopped.  I launched at the Hole with a 3.8.  Soon I was joined by Andy and Lopi.  What a great session!  Fully powered 3.8 sailing with Lopi and Andy spinning and looping all around me.  I got some shove it tips from Lopi and had a lot of fun doing nose first jumps off of the occasional steep chop. Andy took a couple pics. Check out his Wind-NC link. After the session packed up and headed home via Edenton to see what the place was like.

Fall Fun!

Ramp 49 Relaxation!

Friday (11/11/11)

Arrived about 1 am driving straight from work.  Sailed the Hole in the morning on powered 4.6.  I tried about 20 loops with little results except a smashed nose on my JP 93 liter board.  I later had a noonish session on a 5.3 but the wind was backing off quickly by then.  The ocean was pretty huge and nasty.

Nice wave, bad position!

Saturday

Ralph came to visit around noon.  We went straight to the Avon pier for some head high SUP action in a fairly strong side off SW breeze.

With the breeze picking up we headed to Ramp 34 and sailed our SUPs at a little cove with two point breaks and a healthy rip inbetween.  You could catch a wave and sail down the line towards the little cove and when the wave ended you were in a friendly calm patch to do your jibe and head out for more.  The wind started geting unreliable so we tried a little paddling in the same spot but the wind picked back up and the waves were pretty elusive.  Ralph treated me to a pizza dinner to wrap up a pretty fun day.

Ralph coming in after a great session

Sunday

Warm and sunny and small surf.  Ralph and I surfed a beach break at Ramp 49.  In the afternoon we surfed Ramp 34 on the east side about a mile north of Avon pier at a little cove/chanel set up.  Chest high smooth rights.  Excellent session!

Monday

SUP sailing at Ramp 27 in the afternoon.

Ralph's perfect breakfast

Tuesday

A warm sunny SW wind came up. We headed to Ramp 34 and launched short boards in a gusty winds.  Too many lulls made it hard to stay upwind.  Eventually we figured we needed our SUPs about the time Bill Bell and Chad showed up.  SUPs turned frustrating gusty conditions into great wave riding in waste to chest high waves.

Wednesday

Ralph packed it up and left earlier than planned with a hurt shoulder.  Not clear on what caused it.

I scoped out sites with Ramp 34 looking good but the wind hadn't built yet. I had a noonish 5.3 session at the hole to warm up for the ocean.  I returned to 34 to find Keith and Chad schlogging after a half hour or so of short boarding in moderate waves.  The wind never returned so I went back to the hole to salvage the day with a nice 5.8 sunset session.

Thursday

Cold north wind blowing in. Packed up and headed out around 10:30 after arranging some work from the builders.

After Irene

Authorities allowed property owners onto the island starting September 10th.  Remember the storm hit around August 28th.  Access was via an emergency ferry from Stumpy Point, a 2  hour ride.  I headed down on September 11th and arrived at the ferry just after sunset.  My ride experience to the island was great. Only an 8 minute wait and then a beautiful ferry ride across Pamlico Sound.  There was a full moon shining off of the undulating water driven by a balmy breeze.

Once on the island I delivered some tools to my neighbor who owns a house in Rodanthe.  After a soda and some chatting I headed down to Avon.  The house looked great. Just a little muddy residue on the concrete.  The interior was perfect.

On Monday I picked up my new SUP from Wind -NC.  It was a free replacement of my broken board.I took it to Avon pier and although choppy in-shore breeze I caught a wave on my first try.  Out the back again I saw a weird patch of water on the outside and realized it was water churning due to a school of fish being agitated.  Not wanting to meet the agitator I took the next wave into the beach and headed to Frisco after visiting Andy and getting some loop tips.  At Frisco I caught one wave paddling but it was choppy and surf was poor.  I put up a sail and had a fun hour sailing back and forth.  Then headed up to Rodanthe near sunset to check out damage.  Visited Rod, who invited me to dinner.

Pretty empty beaches

Tuesday
A pretty fun southside SUP session.  Moderate surf with some fun rides.  Dave joined me to try his first ocean SUP session.  With a huge "lounge" and mostly waist high surf, I thought it would be a good first day.  However when Dave showed up some larger sets started coming in increasing the shore break.  There was also an onshore breeze making the water slightly choppy and making it harder to get out.  Unfortunately Dave didn't make it out.  It was a pretty rough day to start ocean SUPing.  SUPs are pretty hard to handle in shore break.  I recommend getting very deep, holding the board near the nose with it trailing behind you before climbing on.  Then get to your knees and give several strong strokes to get past that impact zone near the shore.

Wednesday
Surfed the cove with a local fellow.  The cove has a really unique wave wrap and from the perspective of standing near the point, the waves go down the beach rather than into it.  Saw a couple dolphins and a big game fish jumping.  That one kind of creeped me out as I wondered what may have been chasing it.  The waves looked beautiful, peeling lefts.  Catching them was much harder tha I thought it would be.  Although some were head high when jacked up, they broke very gently.  I found myself stepping on the tail too early or too agressively to avoid a pearl and then losing the wave.  I finally figured that out and stayed forward on the board longer which resulted in some successful rides.

Driving to the cove

Thursday
Awesome cove surfing and then I saw at the same time: the rising sun, the setting full moon, a water spout, a double rainbow, and dolphins jumping out of the swells!

Heading back home!