Hatteras wrap up: Great windsurfing & surprise kite session

Sunday Nov 5, 2017
On day two of our Hatteras week we woke up to low wind. So the plan quickly became a surfing session at the Frisco Pier. Brett and I rented some soft top boards and everyone got some surf and SUP sessions. The weather was so warm most of the crew were just in boardshorts.

Frisco pier afternoon surfing - sunny and warm

After the surfing we headed to Pop's restaurant for lunch. Since one of us was fasting, the dinner for two was enough for the other 4, but we added two dozen fresh oysters to top off a delicious meal.

Monday Tuesday
Both days were light wind. I wound up doing office work remotely both days. The kite foil was the only ticket to ride and Steve did it well. Note the lack of wetsuit on Nov 7!

Steve looking comfy kiting  in the warm light winds

After finally finishing my powerpoint for work I did make a nice banana smore dessert that added to the great dinners we were having each night.

Wednesday

This was the start of two very busy days. The wind was blowing already at 8am and I was the first out on the water at 8:06. I had a great 1.5 hour session in the morning. 6.2 Duke and the Skate 108, then I tried the Freewave 116. Both were pretty comfy. Between the 3 rental houses full of kiters and windsurfers there were often 20 people out on the water. My freestyle was a bit off though.

Blasting in on the Freewave 116

A reminder to keep your head up if you want to actually complete a carving 360!

Here's the track from that session, not much freestyle, just blasting.

8:06 am - 1.5 hour session, 36 km, 41 km/h top speed, 23 km/h average speed

The boys had some good kiting - using the kite foil as well.

Steve foiling in the higher winds

Chuck looking good kite foiling for the first time?

Kite Bromance

After that first session, I returned our surf boards to the Ocean Air surf shop. I bumped into Bob Rowland from the 2009 HiHo. We had a nice lunch together at Pangea restaurant and caught up on our windsurfing adventures from the last few years.

HiHo race partners Carl and Bob having a nice lunch in Avon

The waves at the Avon pier were impressive and almost tempted me to head over to the Ocean side for a session. But the shorebreak and rip current made me reconsider.

Nice waves at the Avon Pier

Fishermen

Tempting surf but I didn't dare

Back at the house the team was planning a downwinder. We headed out with a plan for 4 kites and one windsurfer (me) to head downwind to the Canadian hole. Brett wound up taking Chuck's deflated kite off the water at the half way point. After the last 4 super downwind tacks we collected Brett in the van at the Canadian Hole parking lot. The lot was mostly empty but we met a few more windsurfers from Canada there. My new Santa neoprene hat kept me comfy and warm througout the afternoon.

Heading out for a downwinder with my new hat!

Santa surfer!

Wednesday afternoon downwinder

For dinner we headed down past Buxton to the Pamlico Cafe restaurant. It was an outstanding meal and ended with some shared desserts.

After a great group dinner at the Pamlico Cafe!

Thursday

I woke up to news that the crew was doing another downwinder. We launched from Steve's van at the end of a dirt road upwind from the house. I had a fun 1&1/4 session that ended with a few freestyle attempts in front of the house.

Thursday morning downwind session

After a quick hot tub I put on my warmest 4/3 wetsuit and went out on Steve's kite. I had a couple of good runs, mostly staying upwind. The housemates seemed surprised that I can kite a bit, and snapped some nice photos of my first few runs. Thanks guys!

Thanks Steve for the kite refresher course

I'm holding the kite steady....

I'm getting going

And going....

Heading upwind on my first run

I even body dragged successfully upwind to collect the board after an unintentional boost air. But then the wind really died and I couldn't get going back in.

Working on getting back in after a few good kite runs

I finally remembered how to turn the power up on the kit (using the nice twist feature on the North kite bar) and got enough power for a good run back in. But at that point in the wind shadow I couldn't get going at all and started walking back upwind in the chest deep water. Lo and behold kind Steve had sailed my board down and took the kit. I walked the 350m back and hit the hot tub again while watching Steve kite back upwind.

After that the wind kept dying so Brett and I slowly started packing up our gear. We got out on the road as the sun was setting and had a memorable? meal at a roadside Sonic. A quick stay in a Comfort Inn in Washington DC and we caught our early AM flight home. Thankfully our gear will follow us home in the mega party van.

All in all a great week. 3 solid days of sailing plus 1 day of surfing in a 6 day visit to Hatteras. Hope to do it again many times in the coming years.