Plan C - Lake Downwinder

Last weekend, I had mountain biking plans with some friends that fell through.  Which wasn't so bad since the wind was supposed to be blowing, so Plan B went into effect.  I planned to go windsurf for a couple hours instead.  Only, I found out at the last minute that my usual NE wind launch was taken up that day by heavy equipment doing some work and wouldn't allow me to park/launch.  What to do?  Plan C - SUP downwinder.

SUP downwinders on Lake Norman are for real.  It was blowing 20mph+ and the lake was blanketed in whitecaps.  My lovely bride dropped me off and 1/2 mile later I'm in the open channel with some fetch behind me catching shin to knee high chop/swell and getting some good rides.  I was walking all over my 14' race board and standing way back on some nice swells to keep it from pearling....also using the paddle to steer and keep the board from rounding up on the swell face.  A very fun outing and definitely a good work-out.  It was a good test run for 5 miles and now I've figured out a good 9-10 mile open channel SUP downwinder route for any good NE and SW wind events.  It's no Maliko or Hood River run, but just about the same distance and a ton of fun here on the lake.

Geared up!

The next day, I took one of my sons for a father son mountain bike outing with our friend Pete and his son.  Trying to raise a little ripper...hopefully it takes....so far so good.  Thanks to Pete for these pics.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!