Sunday, May 11, 2008

On the Waterfront

OK so here we are again, somewhat delayed as usual by too much fun being had!

This time it been a week in Cape Hatteras playing with Kites and boards.
Safe to say there was enough wind every day to get out on the water although on two occasions it was decided to do a downwind run rather than the Walk Of Shame.
Myself and a group of good friends rent a large enough place on the Pamlico sound side of the Outer Banks or OBX at is referred to by those who go there.
This is the place :-))
And this is the upstairs lounge
So now a bit more, well the first thing one does on Holiday is to dip your toes in the ocean, right?
Or even take a dip
But I prefer to use a bit more energy and play a little harder, so here is my friend Jeff cruising on his 19Meter Arc by Peter Lynn Kites and I think on his Underground Board.


Now it just so happened that I had two new Synergy Arcs with me and off course Jeff could not keep his hands off the new 19 when I got it out of the bag so here is a video (from my aptly named ("Go Pro HERO Cam") with him on my D Kay Board and the new Synergy 19M


When I finally got the kite and board back I found out very quickly how much I liked the better performance over the older model I had been using and I am sure the more I get to use it and figure out the tuning the more I will get from this new toy, as long as I don't injure myself having too much FUN in the process!
Speaking of the down wind runs mentioned at the beginning of this scribing, on the Thursday the wind was supposed to only pick up by 4 ish in the afternoon so I took the opportunity to go to Ocracoke with my peaceful and long suffering wife. After a nice drive an AppleUgly (that's a whole other story) and a cup of tea we arrived at the ferry terminal and boarded the next ferry for a 40 minute ride plus another shorter drive on hwy 12 we spent a pleasant couple of hours in the town where Blackbeard once enjoyed a beverage or two before being caught as the Pirate he was and executed.
Returning to the house later that day and after a look on the ocean side it was decide to do a late afternoon run down wind , so with the gear loaded up we drive back upwind about 8 miles to Salvo beach on the sound side and after a bit of hard work due to the beach being sheltered from the wind we got the kites in the air and worked our way out into the sound.
All was well for a while, then the wind increased and I realized my 19M was getting me overpowered and I could have done with a bit more depower on my bar setup. Well it was getting dark due to the late start and so I dug in my heels as it were and worked my way trying to keep up with Jeff who had more down wind experience than I had, Matthew was being careful and keeping an eye on his son Trevor who was very new to kite surfing at this time, they were still back upwind of us and in the end did the sensible thing and went ashore to walk the last bit home.
I off course I thought I could manage OK at that time so continued, well to cut the story short I did manage to elude a wreck and a point of land just before the house in the dark but on ditching my kite at the house the safety line broke and Jeff with some inspiration from Josh on the beach was the hero of the hour and saved the kite from disappearing over the horizon.
So all is well that ends well especially in the hot tub with a beer or two followed by supper and bed to dream of it all over again till the morning।
My thanks to all at the house and especially our visitor Dave S from Arcusers who all made my time in OBX a VERY fun affair. There is way too much more I could mention but this is a blog not a diary or even a biography of the week away so for the unmentioned folks I hope you are not offended :-))
Oh yes and the food was great too !

Now I am home again and back at my workbench trying earn a crust for the next fun trip in July.
Although today I had some fun with another group of friends on two wheels but that will have to wait till next time.
So I hope this will satisfy one or two who have been chiding me about my lack of agility on the keyboard of late.
Till the next time then, your host of fun in the grey zone The Recycled Teenager.