Friday, April 29, 2011

OBX SUP Surfing

Thanks to my beautiful bride Kris for taking all these pictures. We had a great afternoon SUP surfing at Old Lifeguard Beach, Hatteras Island. Mid to high 70s, sunny, warm water...we wore shorties but could have been in boardshorts.




I see his new Fanatic Fly 10', but where's Sam?



There he is - Sam


Waterturtle on his new Starboard Element 9'8"




Rob not Robert


Ken




Sam




Ken





The Energizer Bunny (Ralph)




Ralph




Sam





Ralph






Rob not Robert






Waterturtle




Waterturtle




Energizer Bunny (Ralph), Rob not Robert (Rob), Waterturtle (Mac)


Rob not Robert


It's A Party!




Rob not Robert, Ken, Waterturtle




Rob not Robert




Ken




Yeah....it was that much fun! Ralph loving it!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

White Knuckle

** 9pm Update **
From Andy McKinney/Wind-NC: "Nukin' at (Ramp) 30 - Way overpowered 3.7 in the gusts but the majority of the time it was fine. Lots of people out, chest to well overhead occasional sets. Tyson Poor was throwing 30 foot backloops with ankle dry landings!! I had a blast, and took a really long swim after I lost my gear once... It's been a while since I had to do that! Stoked!"

We finished the day at our soundfront house comfortably overpowered on our 4m sails past sunset. Waist high rolling swells made it extra interesting and fun. Watching the thunderstorm roll past in the sound now. What a day. Hopefully SUP surf next couple of days.

** 3:30pm Update **
Overpowered on 3.8. Ken, Ralph, and Rob stayed out longer on 4.4, 3.7, 3.8. Ken is the man for holding down a 4m sail out there for as long as he did. Sam showed up and got out there on a 4.0 on only his 14th day of windsurfing ever. Leah was working on her high wind windsurfing too. Awesome.

Did I mention we're only in boardshorts out there?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Wednesday and Thursday is all you want. We're overpowered on our 4+m sails. It's currently blowing 35mph as I type this. Lots of folks at Canadian Hole and some folks wavesailing in overhead waves at Ramp 30 as well. Here's a few pics from yesterday and this morning at our rental house.

WaterTurtle - black helmet, grey shirt/blue trim sail
Rob - white helmet, Ezzy red/yellow
Ken - red trim sail, black cap
Ralph - Ezzy sails (blue/red & orange), blue board
Leah - in wetsuit/helmet on orange Ezzy sail















Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Spring Break Fun

Just having fun in Hatteras this week. So far, we've had great bump and jump in the sound on 5.5s, light wind SUP wavesailing in the ocean, and some slalom blasting in the sound on 8.0 & 6.5. The girls have been getting some flat water paddling in and the kids are having a blast on the beach. The really good conditions are yet to come. Looking forward to some more wavesailing/bump and jump and then some stand up paddle surfing later in the week when the winds get light offshore.

Rob posted something here.



Kids on a sandbar on Cedar Island waiting for the ferry to Ocracoke last weekend



Ocracoke lighthouse on the way to Hatteras last weekend. We always love the ferry rides.



Family & friends goofin' off

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Sunset Session



Arrived on Hatteras Island this afternoon, got in an awesome late afternoon and early evening session on 5.5s. Nice ramps way out in the sound.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

This Is How We Roll

Adventure...family truckster style! Only thing we couldn't fit was the dog. OBX here we come!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Banff Mountain Film Festival

Grab your favorite brew and sit back for this one.

Rob and I went to the Banff Mountain Film Festival a few weeks ago at the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte. This was the 2nd year the festival made a stop there. Our favorite film last year was Take a Seat, which has become a cult hit and now a book.

This year's film choices had a couple of real gems as well. Our favorite - a film about fly fishing called Eastern Rises. You read that right...fly fishing. I'm not a fisherman. I'm terrible at it and I can't sit or stand still long enough to really do it. However, I'm still fascinated by it. But I thought this would be a boring film. On the contrary, it was facinating and funny. Really funny. It follows a group of die-hard (think major wind addicts) fly fishermen on a trip to a remote country in Russia that is the size of California, only has 300 miles of roads, and thousands of miles of rivers teaming with big fish. Go see this film (you can buy the DVD too).

The Longest Way was really good. Its about a guy who walked the entire length of China in one year. You have to watch it a few times (only 5 minutes long...see below). The guy who made the movie doesn't want you to look at him in the film...he wants you to look at everything behind him in the background. That's hard to do the first time watching this. You'll see what I mean.

Life Cycles is a cool mountain bike film. The Dream Result and Wildwater are two crazy whitewater kayaking films. The Swiss Machine is about that crazy Swiss climber Ueli Steck...what an athlete! Alex Honnold makes an appearance in this film wtih Steck. Honnold is the one that solo free climbed El Capitan and then went on to break solo speed records last year on El Capitan and Half Dome (in Yosemite Park, CA)...and was featured last year as a selection in the film festival that blew everyone's minds.

Hopefully one of these days, windsurfing will make its way into the Banff Mountain Film Festival. The Windsurfing Movie 2 would have been a great opportunity...I wonder why it wasn't entered into it.

Enjoy.


Eastern Rises




EASTERN RISES TRAILER from felt soul media on Vimeo.



Life Cycles






Life Cycles OFFICIAL Trailer from Life Cycles on Vimeo.




The Longest Way







The Longest Way 1.0 - one year walk/beard grow time lapse from Christoph Rehage on Vimeo.



Dream Result







Dream Result Trailer from Rush Sturges on Vimeo.



The Swiss Machine







WildWater





Sunday, April 17, 2011

...And Then I'll Have Some More Wind With That Wind Please

Big Saturday on Lake Norman! 30mph+ most of the day and sunny 70s. Some of the guys said it was like sailing at Hood River. You can't really tell in these pictures, but out in the main channel there were some waist high rolling swells. Go here to see some great pics of the local crew lighting it up. Photos were taken by Alan White and Rob Cornwell with Alan's camera.

Cast of Characters:
Dmitri Pourlos - Northwave sail
Chuck Anderson - Hot Sails Spiderweb sail
Raceboard Dude - Gaastra sail
Waterturtle - Ezzy sail
Tony - Mistral board
Rob Not Robert - Sailworks sail
Alan White - Hot Sails Superfreak sail

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

From Hatteras With Love

Had some fun with this one...hope you like this dual personality film. Turn It Up!

From Hatteras With Love from WaterTurtle Productions on Vimeo.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Go Exploring In Your Own Backyard

Matt, Fred, Mike, and I went exploring in our backyard today. We live in the Lake Norman area and Lake Norman is one of many lakes in the Catawba River system. The Catawba River system starts in the western NC mountains and flows down through the NC Piedmont past Charlotte and well into SC. The main Lake Norman channel is used widely by many boaters, fishermen, etc. But most people around here, including myself, have never explored the Catawba River outside the main lake channels.

Matt and Mike had already paddled the river south of Lake Norman down to Mountain Island Lake and told others about it. I was intrigued and wanted to go. They planned another outing and it fortunately worked out for today. So we "Huck Finn'd" it with some fog starting out and overcast skies stayed with us the entire paddle with glass the whole way. Unless the upriver dam is releasing water, there isn't much of a current. Twelve miles and 3 hours later, we had seen lots of Osprey, Blue Herons, shallow sandbars, all kinds of fish, and turtles. It was beautiful and quiet. Big thanks to Matt's wife Jen for picking us up at the end of the run. I'm inspired to do more exploring around here and check out some more of the Catawba River system by SUP.