Week 2 ended with warm SW wind and the house full. Today, Sunday the wind is already blowing. Marcel is out on the water in the early AM helping Mel with his demo 130 liter light air lake board. Mel lives on the shore of the largest lake in NJ and wants a new light air board. So far it's been too windy to demo the board, so he's out early before it picks up.
Conditions have been exceptional with a warm side-onshore wind picking up to the mid 20's every afternoon for the past week. Today is forecast to peak in the upper 20's.
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Barrett
Yesterday blew all day from the SW, but we were all sore from sailing in the morning, then rallied for an afternoon of exceptional sailing. Brian, owner of Ocean Air, joined us for a sailing session and then shared sailing tips and stories of life on the Outer Banks.
Marcel - mastered his new 84 liter board with a series of planing jibes.
Ron - bought Albert's 6.5 sail and found it was a good match for his 130 liter board.
Mel - is thrilled to be back on the water after a hiatus of several years due to shoulder repair and other surgery. He's now relearning jibes with new sails mated to his 85 liter custom glass board.
Jim - is now hooked in and in both straps with wind in the 20s.
Kathryn, Ron's niece - drove from D.C. to join us for a long weekend and was thrilled to learn beach starts with three days of warm steady wind.
Peggy - was missing out on the fun, so she jumped on Barrett's board for a session of tandem sailing.
Barrett - was impressed by Brian's clew-first planing jibe and practiced to master the move.
This morning I got up early to catch the wind, but the first rain in two weeks began to fall while carrying my board to the beach. Maybe the rain is a good thing since we all need a break.
Barrett
Week 3 we sailed 5 out of 7 days. Marcel stayed an extra day to sail Saturday, which turned out to have epic conditions with warm SW wind. In the morning I sailed my 77 liter JP freestyle-wave Pro board with a 4.2 meter sail and in the afternoon an 84 liter board & 5.2m sail.
Brian brought out his new JP freestyle board and put on a show. I tried it out and had a blast turning the board around 360 degrees while sailing in one direction. The board has a tiny fin and side-slips easily, like skidding on ice. If I lived here where the wind is steady, I'd get one.
On the two low-wind days Peggy & I rode on the bike path, walked the beach, and had lunch at the Nags Head Pier. We haven't used the car all week. I love being able to get around on my bike.
Eric, Lu, Kate and Adam's family have arrived for Week 4. This morning the temp. dropped and we sailed till Noon with a North wind.
Barrett