road trip: Malorytown Landing - super hot day

Temps in the mid-thirties with south west winds...south west winds at Britannia are gusty and dirty, so I decided to run down to the St Lawrence river for an afternoon session.

my gear rides shot-gun today

 
  It's a beautiful spot and it didn't disappoint - I started out on a 5.7 and later rigged up my 5.2.  Got to use both boards.  Ran into local sailor Oliver and met Mike Fisher from Kingston.  Oliver had some bad luck and cut his big toe up BAD on his fin.  He was bleeding like crazy, but he got taped up and got out on the water!  Mike Fisher is an awesome sailor - he was pulling vulcans, spocks, grubbys, loops, and tons of other tricks!  He was sailing a 5.3 and 4.7 always on a 105 freestyle quatro board.  One time I came in to put on a weed fin, took off my harness....changed fins, and went to put my harness back on and it was gone!  vanished...looked everywhere..finally it turned up down the shore line about 40 meters.  My guess is that a kiter walking by accidentally hooked it on his lines and dragged it out with him. I was relieved to retrieve it - my gps was attached to it. 
Afterward, I thought I'd try to find a geocache or two in the vicinity - found one and got stumped by the other.

took some time out to find the lonely pioneer geocache

OBX: no wind (phew)

wind was totally light and I was actually relieved...sailed waaay too much on thurs.

so, off to the beach to try to surf some big messy waves generated from the NE winds...Jim and Mike laughed at my expense as I fought to get out past the break, constantly fight currents, and get drilled occasionally.   I managed one nice ride to redeem myself and the suckers witnessed it so i got a little satisfaction.  The day before, some locals caught a small shark off the Avon pier... but the day before that they said they got a 15 footer...   the possibility of a shark attack is incredibly small but it is still hard to not imagine your leg getting tugged when you're out in the water...eeek

shell collection

OBX: North-East wind in the sound

ok...it blew all day...I started sailing on my new 5.7 with the jp 102.  Next i tried my new freestyle fin on the jp...hmmm not bad...a little small, but it's manageable.  Wind increased so I tried the 5.7 with the quatro board for a while...then the 5.2 for the rest of the day...tons of crashes...pulled some one-handed carve 360's, heli-tacks, and getting much more comfortable practicing the vulcans...
It's supposed to blow the same again for friday...we'll see

5.2 sail + 85 Quatro

OBX: birding session

No wind today so I snuck away to Pea island   for a free guided bird walk
about 10 of us headed out at 8am - i fit in with the nerdlingers with binoculars and camera except I forgot sunscreen and bug spray.  the mosquitoes have better aim when the wind is gone i discovered.
It was super hot and although I was being attacked, dripping with sweat, and visiting during the 'off season' for birds, I still had a good time and learned about the local birds.  Two women led the walk and teed up birds for the group with their scopes.
I posted some shots here.

lots-o-birds (this shot actually has a bunch of birds in it - can you spot them?)

I spent the rest of the day at the beach surfing on the big 8'6 long board.
Tomorrow is looking good for sailing but with a 180 deg. shift in wind direction

OBX: hot and windy all day

great day on the sound today...5.2 all day, jp & quatro board
picked up a freestyle weed fin by these guys (they're canadian)
vulcans getting closer..soon maybe worthy of a photo or video.
mike actually pulled his 50th successful jibe of the trip..
tomorrow wind should be light...maybe time for a little birding

no sailing pictures so here's Liam on the beach

OBX: no wind...time to surf

light winds and waves means time to surf..getting lots of rides on the 8'6 - not even bothering with the little board.  tried Jim's SUP as a surfboard, but it's so huge and slow!  got punished hard from behind when a wave took forced my legs to do the splits..lol.  time to wax the board.

sea life!

surfed down by the lighthouse too, which is a great spot

248 steps to the top of the lighthouse

OBX: crazy weather

Bailed on the bird walk on pea island because of heavy rain and went to the roanoke aquarium instead with the whole gang.  In the afternoon,  the weather was a little nicer and I stopped at the bird refuge and did my own bird walk.  Lot's of birds - not sure what they all were yet, but I'll have to do some research.  In any case, I know I saw terns, swans, willets, herons, egrets - even a muskrat and some rabbits.  I'll have to go through all the pics. 

little blue heron

do muskrats have quills?

Later on the wind kicked back in and Mike, Jim and I sailed for a few hours.  Started on 5.2 then downsized to the 4.2 and the 85 litre quatro.  Shoulder is holding, so tried a few front loops/ er crashes - got the rotation wrong..got to work on that.  Hit my jaw on the booms pretty hard - that was a first.  I'll keep at it now until I get them right.

speed loop needs work...

OBX: burnt

ok..lots of time in the sun & going through a lot of sunscreen..but today wasn't too windy and I gave Alyson a few pointers on the water..she's doing pretty good and seems to have things figured out.  I was actually a little relieved that the wind wasn't howling and I crashed at 9pm!

Alyson expresses herself

Kyle had some fun too, check out the tiny sail

full-on grom

OBX: hot and windy...again

ok...back on the water...6.8 then 5.7
Tried some more boomerangs, vulcans...surfed a little after supper.  My body is whipped...need a break!  Hot tub helps.  The days are starting to blend together now.  Seeing interesting birds here and there but I usually don't have a camera on the water.

Mike and I

OBX: another virgin sail

after surfing a little in the morning, back to the sound for some lighter south-east winds - perfect to try out my new goya 6.8
sweet sail, but after sailing 4.2 & 5.2 it's feeling large but i felt at home on it.  Mike got his kids out on some kiddie gear and Alyson gave it a go too.
paddled out to the island with the kids and found a geocache..paddling into the wind is hard work, but the ride back was a breeze...
the water on the sound side is like soup water-it's uberwarm & the forecast looks the same for tomorrow

waiting...

OBX: hot and windy

my last minute packing resulted in the absence of all my rash guards.  Picked up a dakine at ocean air.  awesome session again on the sound..consistent south wind around 20-25knots.  Sailed  5.2 and 4.2, both jp 102 and quatro 85.  tried some boomerangs, helitacks, vulcans, and totally bashed my elbow during a failed push tack.  I thought I broke a bone it hurt so bad.  Sailed back in and almost threw up, curled up in a ball and waited it out.  Mike thought I should seek medical advice, Jim thought I was a pussy.  The nausea passed - and I went back out  - a little painful, but nothing broke.  back in business.  Mike managed to pull some jibes and got a lot of time on his new 5.3

kids pimped my board

OBX: sound side session

Spent the afternoon on the sound and got to sail my new 5.7 goya sail.  I'm in love.  Feels perfect.  Wind blew sold 15-20 knots from the south, air at 80. 

not much of a tan