What Does a Windsurfer on Hatteras Island Do When the Wind Stops Blowing?

What can windsurfers on the Outer Banks/Hatteras Island do when the wind goes away and the swell is flat? Go on a recon to find where some fun small waves are breaking so you do some stand up paddle surfing.

This is a short video of 4 inland and lake bound windsurfers still learning how to surf their stand up paddle boards in some fun small waves on a beautiful sunny and early fall day. It includes some footage of the local wildlife as well. This took place between 2 windy bookends to our week's adventure that included the Hatteras Wave Jam. See the "Hatteras Island Windsurfing Fall 2009" video for the rest of the week, which includes some footage of us doing some light wind wavesailing on our SUP boards.

Laird Hamilton said in Endless Summer 2, (paraphrasing) "I'd rather surf in 2 foot waves with my friends than surf in 20 foot waves with a bunch of jerks". And Dave Kalama said something similar in Step Into Liquid about surfing small waves. Cheers to that. And cheers to the big waves too of course. It's all good.

Oh, and by the way...if you don't like The Clash, there is something seriously wrong with you.

Life Without Wind from WaterTurtle Productions on Vimeo.

Lake Images

Sailed in light winds on Saturday in what was supposed to be stronger wind. But it turned out to be a beautiful day after all the evening and morning rain. Probably the last combined warm air and water temps day on the lake this year. Very thankful.




Resting between runs - couple of shots at one of the lake's islands




Rob and his purty new sail...

Hatteras Island Windsurfing Video

Hatteras Island Windsurfing Fall 2009 from WaterTurtle Productions on Vimeo.

This is a video compilation of our Hatteras Island adventure in late Sept/early Oct before it got cold and wetsuits were required.

Comments:
- Some of the video is from the new Sanyo Xacti HD waterproof camera. HD is a whole new ball of wax when it comes to editing. If you don't have the proper PC specs (like a $6,000 machine) which I don't, it can be a nightmare editing a final cut. Combining HD footage with regular digital avi footage (GoPro) can also be an editing nightmare when rendering. I spent way too many late nights troubleshooting these problems, lots of format conversions, error messages, restarts, etc...and I'm not completely happy with the outcome...you can see how the video is "boxed" in...I didn't have much of a choice. Click to the actual Vimeo link for the video and it shows up better for viewing. I have to rethink this whole HD thing and the editing hw/sw I have.

- Some of you aren't in the video. Sorry about that George, Ken, and Bill. Either we were on the beach at the same time and you weren't on the water when filming or the camera didn't get focused on you for various odd reasons....we just didn't have any good footage of you...sorry about that. This video comes from footage taken by Rob, Mark, and myself...and from Go Pro, Sanyo Xacti HD, and regular DV footage.

- It was a great week...period. Andy already commented on how we wrapped it up....tearing it up out in the sound under the moonlight after the sun had already gone down. That was a great experience. But what a week....it was still mostly sunny, 70s, mostly in boardshorts, wavesailing, bump & jump windsurfing, speed sailing, SUP wavesailing, along with SUP surfing in fun small waves and crystal clear water. And we participated in the Hatteras Wave Jam, which was a lot of fun...thanks again Bill!

Always looking forward to the next Hatteras trip...

Sean Aiken video

Thanks to Alan for alerting to this one...great GoPro video of Sean Aiken sailing the Gorge (Stevenson)...includes footage of sailing away on a plane after looping. Enjoy...

Sean wants to take you for a ride on his windsurfer from Sean Aiken on Vimeo.

Great Quote

Found this one on Glen's site:

"The man who has not given himself completely to the sun, wind and cold sting of the
waves will never know all the meanings of life" - Annette Kellerman

...That's deep.

Sanyo Xacti waterproof digital camcorder/camera for sale

I have two Sanyo Xacti digital camcorders for sale on Ebay:

one is waterproof up to 5 ft deep....

and the other is weather-proof (not submersible)....

both are used but in very good working condition....both also take 6 megapixel stills.

SUP days on Hatteras Island

From l to r: Rob Cornwell, Mac Barnhardt, Mark Pace, Ralph Moore (photo from Rob's camera)

Wednesday and Thursday were our stand up paddle surfing days of the week here on Hatteras Island. Both days Rob, Mark, Ralph, and I paddled and surfed for hours and caught tons of waves. Its been beautiful blue sky sunny 70s days with knee to waist high waves at The Old Lighthouse Beach. The water was crystal clear. We saw several bluefish schools feeding on baitfish, dolphin jumping around, and a ray that was as wide as my paddle is long. Here is a quick 20 sec GoPro clip of me on one of the waves in front of the lighthouse....

Stand Up Paddle Surfing at The Old Lighthouse Beach from WaterTurtle Productions on Vimeo.

Rob has some great photos here and video here.

...and George just posted some great pics from Day 2 of the Hatteras Island Wave Jam here that really depict the fun day we had.

Looks like back to windsurfing this afternoon....