Hurricane Florence Day II

The OBX was blasted yesterday by gale force NE winds from Hurricane Florence. I loaded the 4runner the night before with my usual quiver 5.3m down to 4.2m, but also included my 3.7m. Fortunately, I did not need my 3.7 and settled for the 4.7m once it was time to rig.

Reports during the morning hours from Ocracoke noted messy conditions and a fluky cross chop wave in the head high range. The morning wave crew, that was on the 9:00am ferry, included Charlie, Rodanthe Dan, Emo (pulling an all nighter drive from DC), Dana M, Caleb, Keith M, and Bob from VA Beach. These guys caught it early on Ocracoke; however, as high tide passed at around 11:30am, vehicles were trapped by rising water and flooding of the beach access road on the northern point of Ocracoke. I called Dan in the morning for the report and he mentioned that he was towing vehicles out of rising ocean water! I do not have the photos yet, but will post when they arrive. All in all, it sounded like the morning session was not the best, so I did not feel like I missed too much since I could not take off from work until after 12:00pm.

By 1:00pm, I was on the road heading south from Nags Head to Hatteras. Reports coming in noted that conditions were improving on Ocracoke as the tide continued to drop; however, I decided to pass on the 45min ferry ride and set up camp at Hatteras Inlet (same spot as day before - previous post). I caught up with Charles L, and Keith M, along with the Real kiteboarding crew, and we all sailed the waves just north of Hatteras Inlet. Conditions were excellent with overhead to logo high set waves and strong NE winds in the 25-30 mph range. I rigged a tight 4.7m Simmer Wave Comp. The inside was tough with strong current and a heavy inside break, but if you made it to the outside, clean, big waves were to be found. The swell sets were quite easy to pick as the monster lines rolled in from the outside. Big jumps, back loops, and top to bottom wave rides made for a classic OBX Fall wavesailing setup. The conditions rivaled those of our other wave bros around the world!

Here are some pics from the day:
(Note, will be posting more shots once I get some of the close-ups from other photographers shooting over the past two days)

Keith M. on a nice sized set wave


Kiteboarder ahead of the soup!


Keith sharing the waves with the kiteboarding crew


Another shot of the Keith coming in on a set swell


Keith's trailer


Doing the walk up the beach.


Charles L. hitching a ride after washing away down the beach in the strong inside current


One of the Real kiteboarders sharing a similar experience as Charles


Another sunset and end to an awesome windsurfing day on Hatteras Island...