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Our new windsurfing instructor is in town and hit the ground running with her first lesson which received great comments from her students.  Sharon Lowrance is from Cocoa Beach, FL and has years of experience. Like me she wants to increase the enthusiam for windsurfing.

Thursday and Friday had good winds (15+) but not many people were getting on the water.  I guess everyone had to work.

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Fleet 32 is having a regatta this weekend in Virginia Beach.  Go to http://www.hobiefleet32.org/ for more info.  We’ll be displaying our 2009 Hobie 16 for sale.  Some interesting features for the new Hobie 16:  it now comes standard with EPO rudder blades, the tramp lace line is smaller diameter, and the righting line is static, not bungee.  The rudders are great, not sure about the lace lines, and the righting line appears to be a way to cut expenses.

I’ve had a few out-of-town Hobie parts orders and I’m glad to take on the new customers.  Hopefully, we can keep you guys happy and on the water.  John in VT, hang in there.  Summer is just a few weeks away.

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I know I shouldn’t complain about traffic but everything’s relative.  I know on the DC beltway if you’re not going 10 mph above the speed limit you’re a liability.  Around here you can stuck behind someone going 10 mph BELOW the speed limit and when you finally get the chance to pass them while going the speed limit it’s as if they were standing still.

It was another great year for Windfest.  After a blustery first day, Friday and Saturday were very enjoyable.  Although wetsuits were still preferred attire I survived Saturday w/out one.  Spoke w/ a lot of great people, had a bunch of demos, and even got out on the water myself.

Speaking of which, I woke up Sunday looking for a big dose of vitamin I (the I stands for ibuprofen).  I must be getting old and out of shape because I had to think back to why this was necessary.  It turns out, when you spend the whole winter sitting on your tail and never going to the gym you might feel a little sore when you do just a little stand-up paddleboarding, sail a dinghy, and go windsurfing all in one day.  Even if it is just a short distance.  This could be a painful summer.

The Hobie Cat Bravo I brought along continues to get a lot of favorable reviews.  The boat doesn’t get enough credit in my opinion.  When I tell people it’s a Sunfish on steroids they laugh but I say it seriously.  Saturday it was powered up perfectly; throwing a hull w/out having to dump the wind too much.  I even had Fernando, a 200 lb. customer on the boat w/ me, and we were still powered up nicely.

I also tried something new w/ my GoPro camera.  I normally use it to record video while either shooting from my wrist or using the head strap.  This time I mounted it on the top of my windsurfing mast and pointed it down for an “aeriel” shot.  Although I wasn’t powered up on the board the shot turned out great.  I’ll continue to experiment w/ this.  If you’re looking for a camera that can shoot video and pics in a water environment I highly recommend the GoPro.  However, be advised that it’s not as user-friendly as today’s digital cameras and requires some trial and error to see what works best.

See you on the water.

Went down to Windfest yesterday and it was blowing hard out of the NE.  A handfull of sailors were out on 3.5s and braving the 50 degree temps.  They gave it a good showing and packed up early.  I brought a bunch of big stuff because that’s my niche but it wasn’t worth trying to rig up.  I’ll be back today to give it a go.  Feel free to stop by and say hi.  Free demos!

John

After a 16 day
Christmas break with the kids, then a full two weeks of school what’s the most logical thing to do?  Have a five day holiday, of course.  What was the school board thinking with that one?  If they were trying to save money on heat they nailed it.

Because of our proximity to the ocean we don’t get very much snow.  The thing about getting snow here is that it requires quite the weather system to kick something off.  This means it usually blows like stink when it snows.  I actually found a snowdrift 6 inches deep!  And since there was no school and an inauguration to watch on TV not many people were on the road.  I stopped by the post office and it was so empty I wondered if they were closed.

After playing outside with the kids yesterday I went to the business to pick up some things and make sure nothing had blown away.  While I was there I took a couple of pics.  Besides the oddity I figured we could look at them in the middle of August to try and cool off.

Now it’s a day later, the snow is still on the ground, and my bride is at work.  Unfortunately, my truck won’t start and I’m stuck inside with two of my three kids.  That’s okay, we have a work truck I can use.  Wait, that one won’t start either.  No problem, there’s always the Bronco.  Crap!  That one’s not budging either.  I’m afraid my vehicles are a little like me, they creak a lot and they don’t like cold weather.

Stay warm.

Had a great day today (12/28) at MP 16 in Nags Head.  Air temp. was 70 and the water seemed to be heating up by the minute.  I was out there on an Ezzy Freeride 6.5.  When I hit the water around 1:00 the wind didn’t have much punch and I sank my RRD 133L z-ride so I switched to my Longrider.  After 3 tacks the wind picked up and I switched back to the z-ride.  Wind was a little squirrely but I got in a few good runs.  Wore nothing but a 3/2 wetsuit.  No booties, no gloves.  And when I got off the water I was walking around shirtless it was so nice.

There were a few others out there.  I counted 6 kiteboarders and another windsurfer.  There were two other kiteboarders up north behind Nags Head Village. 

A great day to be on the water.  I would have stayed until sundown but my bride wanted to get on the water too.  She wound up paddling a kayak in Southern Shores.

I used the opportunity to use my helmet cam to catch some video.  Not very exciting because the view doesn’t change much and to film other subjects you need to be right on top of them.  Back to the drawing board.

Hope to see you out there next time.

John

BTW- From my house in Southern Shores I could see birds dive-bombing the ocean for fish.  It was just before sundown so I grabbed my fishing rod and sprinted to the beach.  As usual, the fish were well beyond casting distance and they were travelling north.  As I stood there casting my lure with desperate futility I noticed the spray of a whale.  He was heading south and was only 200 yds. off shore.  Didn’t appear too big.  We commonly see Northern Right Whales in these parts.  Not that we see them that often, I’ve had about five or six sightings in the last 11 years and I don’t go to the beach on a weekly basis in the winter when they’re most common.  All in all, a great experience despite the lack of catching a striper.

This is a little dated but still fun to think about windsurfing in December.  In the attached video is Alexis, my former windsurfing instructor at Kitty Hawk Water Sports in Nags Head.  A man was out there with her but I forgot his name.  It was blowing mostly west 18-20.  I think Alexis was on a 4.5 and a little overpowered.  Air temp was in the 60’s.  Unfortunately, I had work to do and didn’t have time to get out there.  That’s the nature of the business. 

Enjoy.
John
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nz_tDlhbVE

This blog site is for those people who seek a little adventure on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  Maybe you live here and want access to the local outdoor events and conditions.  Or maybe you live elsewhere and just have an affection for the Outer Banks and need to get your fix.

You’ll find a little bit of everything here.  Due to the nature of my business we’re fairly active in several different pursuits.  We’ll have some windsurfing, sailing, surfing, kayaking, and fishing.  You also might see some local news and editorials.

Our business is located at milepost 16 in Nags Head (www.KittyHawkWaterSports.com) so most of the news will be around there but we’ll occassionally wander north to Duck and south to Hatteras.  Since we try to get out and about when something’s going on we’ll keep you updated with our adventures.

Most of our outdoor activities are between April 1 and October 1 so this is when you’ll see the most posts.  But during the winter we’ll still try to keep a bi-weekly schedule for you. 

Sometimes we’ll post our personal adventures, othertimes we’ll report on other people’s adventures.  Either way, we want you to see all the great things happening here.

My hope is that you’ll come here to get a little info, a little entertainment, and maybe a little inspiration to get outside and do something.

Hope to see you out there.
John