Day 33 of the 2015 season: Last OBX session - Windsurfing sunrise session and Kiteboard mid-morning session

Last day of our fabulous 2.5 week OBX vacation . Got 11 for 16 days of TOW, not bad at all. Mostly warm weather with a few days of drysuit wearing weather. A good mix of southerly winds and northerly winds. Temperatures ranged from 45-75 degrees.  Even got a marginally kiteboarding session on the ocean down by Buxton. As a bonus I also got several good SUP sessions in on the calmer days sound side.

Up early his morning at sunrise to catch the early morning wind forecast. Rigged the 5.7 with the 101 liter board.
On the water by 7:30 just after sunrise, joined by Larry on his 5.5. We sailed in above marginally conditions that lasted for an hour before winds lightened up.
Came in and cooked breakfast blueberry buckwheat pancakes for the boys. Wanted to make sure they have enough for energy for the day ahead. After breakfast rigged the 11M kite and headed back out just as the wind picked up. Buttery smoothness with shallow water right in front of our house - didn't have to go far for this session. Kited in gusty conditions probably the most gustiness I every kited in.
An excellent closing day of another excellent OBX 2015 trip.



Dawn patrol gear - a great sunrise session

TOW:  1.0 hours Windsurfing 7:30- 830. 2.0 hours Kiteboarding 9:30-11:30
Gear:  5.7 Ezzy sail with 100 liter RRD board and 11M kite with140 Mako board
Water Conditions:   Classic OBX north wind sound side conditions
Weather:    Upper 50s, sunny
Wind:  12-25 from the North - gusty, punchy wind speeds
Highlight:   Sunrise windsurf session and mid-morning kite session
Schooled:  Got  a good one in - Toeside to heelside 180 ollie. Need to fly the kite high and unstick the board in some chop.




Real wind data 4-24-15

Day 32 of the 2015 season: North winds produced a flat water paradise for kiteboarding

Found out why some kiters head 1.3 miles NW of  Liquid Rush. The north winds produce a flat water paradise in 4-12 inches of water. Can't beat that if you' re a flat water fan.


TOW:  1.5 hours 10:00-11:30 Kiteboarding
Gear:  11M kite with140 Mako board
Water Conditions:   Classic OBX north wind sound side conditions
Weather:    Upper 50s, sunny
Wind:  12-25 from the North
Highlight:   Flat water paradise
Schooled:  Downwind carvings

Butter smoothness

Day 31 0f the 2015 season: Excellent Birthday Gifts of SUPing, Kiteboarding and WIndsurfing in near Epic sound side conditions

Calm wind/water this morning made for SUPing, got an hour at a good 3 mile an hour pace. As soon as I got in from SUPing the wind switch turned on. Rigged the kite and from 1:00-4:00 kited until it was to windy for the 11M kite. Decided to rig the 5.0 with the 100 liter board and ripped it up on that from 4:30-6:00. Eventually the wind ramped up and told me it's Miller time in the hot tube.

TOW:  11:30-12:30 SUP 3 miles, 1:00-4:00 Kiteboarding, 4:30-6:00 Windsurfing
Gear:  11M kite with140 Mako board, 5.0 sail with 100 liter board
Water Conditions:   Classic OBX sound side conditions
Weather:    70s, sunny
Wind:  12-25 SW
Highlight:  3 watersport day: 3 miles of SUPing, Kiting 3 hours, Windsurfing 1.5 hours
Schooled:  Kiting in overpowered conditions - yikes!

                                                                                          Carving by Liquid Rush    


Flat water carving

Day 30 of the 2015 season: Sunrise and sunset kiteboarding sessions

Going with the forecast for early morning wind then dropping to 10 or less by noon.
Add an evening anomaly and we had a sunrise and sunset session
Sunrise session beginning at 7AM lasting to 8:30AM. Sunset session beginning at 7PM and lasting to 8:30PM. I can't recall that happening before.

Onshore west winds clocking to NW by 8:30 just as the WA forecast predicted.
Then at 6:30 a calm evening suddenly changed to a breezy kitable sunset cruise - totally unexpected.
Kited way beyond sunset, with a sliver of a moon and millions of stars lighting up the darken sky.
Harry, Ron and myself had to cancel dinner plans and hit the water.

TOW: 7:00-8:30 and 19:00-20:30
Gear:  11M kite with140 Mako board
Water Conditions:   Classic OBX sound side conditions
Weather:   Early morning sun, and mid-60s, sunset and mid-60s
Wind:  12-25 W sunrise and SW 12-20 sunset
Highlight:  Great conditions - some of my biggest jumps to date  -combo of lofting and chop hopping.
Schooled:  Lofting, chop hops, toeside to heelside ollies

Westerly winds  - different angle of attack this morning

Day 29 of the 2015: Another near epic kiteboarding and windsurfing day

                                           



All day near epic sound side conditions kiting and windsurfing.
Everyone enjoyed this classic OBX day


TOW: 9:00-12:00 with 11M kite, 1:00- 2:30 11M kite, 3:00-5:00 WS 5.7, 101 liter
Gear:  11M kite with140 Mako board and 5.7 Ezzy with 101 RRD FSW
Water Conditions:   Classic OBX sound side conditions
Weather:   90% sun, mid-70s
Wind:  Marginal 12-25 SSW
Highlight:  Near epic sound side conditions - extraordinary carving conditions
Schooled:  Lofting, chop hops, toeside to heelside ollies,ducks, heil-tacks,

Day 28 of the 2015 season: Kiteboarding Road Trip to Hatteras Landing ocean side

Hatteras Landing Kiteboarding ocean side.
With the easterly winds we had to find a place to kite. The entire northern sound side had offshore and lite winds forecasted. South of us in the Buxton area the forecast was for better kitable winds with side shore wind direction on the ocean.
A quickie session due to marginally wind conditions. Mainly stayed on the outside trying to stay upwind as much as possible. Choppy conditions with the occasion KP size swell.  I was able to ollie to toeside and then carve down the swell on heelside and then toeside carve on the next swell. I could do this once because I got to far downwind and had to struggle to work my way back up. Dan did it right by doing a couple of short down winders. Overall most of the crew had a good experience for first time ocean kiting.


MAX SPEED: 23.44 mph
AVERAGE SPEED: 12.10 mph
DISTANCE: 7.95 miles

TOW: 1 hour
Gear:   11M, 140 board
Water Conditions:   Ocean breakers with head high waves, voodoo chop on the outside.
Weather:   Some sun, mid-60s
Wind:  Marginal 15-20 ESE
Schooled:   Experience in ocean waves
Highlight:  First time in ocean for most of the crew






Hatteras Landing wind data

Frisco Pier in the background

Day 27 of of the 2015 season: Nearly Epic 4 star sound side Kiteboarding and Windsurfing

TOW: WS 11:00-1:00, Kite  230 - 4:45                         
Gear:  4.5/100 liter board and 9M/140 Mako board
Water Conditions:   Flat water paradise
Weather:  60, cloudy with sprinkles
Wind:  NNE to 30 MPH
Schooled:  Hard carving flat water jibes, a few heli-tacks and fast tacks.
Highlight:  Speed runs in 6 inches of butter smooth water.
Personal kite water speed record of 32 MPH.






KITE TRACK  4-15-15
MAX SPEED: 31.85 mph
AVERAGE SPEED: 16.99 mph
DISTANCE: 26.64 miles

 

Day 26 of the 2015 season: Kiteboarding at Liquid Rush - A 4 star day

A 4 star day, launching at Liquid Rush with south winds to 25. Pretty near perfect 11M conditions.
Non-stop action from 1:00 - 5:00. Some hard driving carves on the inside slicks with some decent chop hops on the ride out.
All the Michigan crew got out and enjoyed what we all came for.

Real Slick Wind Data

TOW:  1:00 - 5:00 non-stop
Gear: 11 M
Water Conditions:  Typical OBX sound side
Weather: Warm, mostly cloudy - lower 70s
Wind: Mostly south
Schooled: Lofting, heavy duty carving, chop hopping
Highlight: Everyone had a fantastic day

Day 25 of the 2015 season: Kiteboarding Buxton style

Needed a venue for the NNE wind direction - so we took a road trip down to the Buxton Area.
Roadside launching south of Buxton offered an excellent venue for kiting.
A crowded rigging area but everything else was good for kiting. Ripping thru 3 inches of flat water to nice chop for hopping upwind.
The entire Michigan kiting crew made the trip and were all smiles by 6:00.

TOW:  2 sessions: Kite 11:00 - 1:00 and  2:30 - 5:00
Gear: Kite 11 M
Water Conditions:  Classic OBX different venue roadside venue near  Buxton
Weather: Sunny, 60ish
Wind: NNE to 20
Schooled: Working on the lofts and air 180s
Highlight: Entire Michigan crew getting on the water

Day 24 of the 2015 season: Classic OBX - this is why we come to OBX - Epic Kiteboarding and Windsurfing Day

Classic OBX - this is why we come to OBX.
Epic Kiteboarding and Windsurfing sound side conditions.


TOW:  2 sessions: Kite 10:30 - 12:30, Windsurf 2:00 - 3:30
Gear: Kite 11 M, WS 5.0/100 liter
Water Conditions:  Classic OBX
Weather: Sunny, mid -70s
Wind: SSW building to 30
Schooled: Working on the lofts
Highlight: Still had the windsurfing moves, ducking, upwind 180s, fast tacks, some perfect carve jibes in the windy point slick


Day 23 of the 2015 season: OBX opening Day Marginal Kiting and Windsurfing

Although marginally conditions I managed a session of both Kiting and Windsurfing.
With north winds ramping up around 12:30 to kitable conditions I rigged the 11 and headed out. Typical OBX sound side conditions had good fun until wind started clocking to the NE. At that point decided to head in and try windsurfing. Rigged the new 5.7 Ezzy with to 100 liter board and had a marginal 1 hour session.

TOW: 2.5 hours  1+ kiting and 1 WSing
Gear:   11M and 5.7
Water Conditions: Typical OBX sound side
Weather: Cloudy 50's
Wind: Best winds were from the North to 20 mph
Schooled:  Lil' jumps - kiting
Highlight: Enjoying both water sports on this OBX opening day

Day 22 of the 2015 season: Home Kiteboarding opener for the 2015 water season



 

Thought I would try my luck at Metro Beach this afternoon. Once the rain stopped and the radar showed fewer storms in the area I headed out. Reports from the beach indicated up/down conditions.
Forecast still had some storms with possible lightning in the area.
Rigged up during a dry period, launched and I headed out at 3:30. Kited conservatively for about 45 minutes and then thicker clouds with mist and then rain came in killing the winds.

Not bad, got an hour on the water for the first time since the Keys in late January. I was glad it was only an hour with the coldness. I'm feeling it today with stiffness. A little different then snow kiting for sure.
3 other guys out on 12-15 M kites.


Ugly day - hard to get motivated on days like this

TOW: 1 hour from 3:30 - 4:30
Gear:    11 Meter Kite
Water Conditions: Typical Metro Beach LSC conditions
Weather:  49 degrees, thin overcast to thicker overcast with rain at the end.
Wind: 15-25 from the SSW
Schooled:   Just getting out and getting the sea legs back


MB wind data 4-2-15