Birthday Presents!

Yesterday was my birthday! Big 37, and I even was carded when I went to the grocery store to buy beer for the party! It was quite a day with the weather forecast calling for warm and windy conditions on the OBX. WindGuru had 3 stars set for the entire day, and I received calls from Charlie and Caleb early on Saturday morning. I packed the 4runner and was on the road heading to Hatteras Inlet by 10:30am. Arriving at the beach access near the ferry docks around noon, I was rigged and ready to go by 12:30pm. Conditions to start the session were side-onshore waist to chest high surf with WSW winds blowing in the low 20s mph range. I rigged 5.3m and suited up. Water was cold on the inside (around 45 deg) due to the sound water spilling out though the inlet, but on the outside the water warmed to 60+ degrees! It was pretty amazing that on the inside if/when in the water, you would feel "ice cream" headaches as the white water would pass overhead, but on the outside bar, the water was much warmer, and it actually felt comfortable after a wave wipeout or back flop.
No booties, cap, or gloves necessary! Winds increased though the afternoon, and eventually I rigged down to my 4.7m. Waves also built to head high range on the outside bar. The side-on conditions made it hard for clean down the line wave riding, but backside was fun along with lots of jumps. All in all, a perfect day given that it is the end of January, and I got to windsurf on my birthday. In the nearly 20 years that I have been windsurfing, that was the first time I sailed on my birthday!

I wrapped up my windsurfing session around 3:30pm since I had to be back north to Nags Head to help Lauren with party preparations. I made it back by 5:30pm and scrambled to get the final cleaning chores completed before our friends arrived. Lauren also had a ton of food baked and ready including my cake! Everyone arrived at the party around 8:30pm and we enjoying hanging out with plenty of beverages and a table full of food. My second big present for the day, after windsurfing, was my new Pacific beach cruiser that Lauren surprised me with. Very cool ride!

All in all, a perfect birthday with windsurfing in Hatteras, party in Nags Head, and a new beach cruiser for some coming rides! Life is great, at 37!

PS: getting carded at Food Lion was cool too!

Here are some party photos:

A clean house ready to party!


Lauren and I posing for a shot


Cool birthday cake!


I'm blowing out all the candles


Party shot with food in the foreground


Michelle and Chris mid-party


Lauren and Gwen enjoying some beverages


No flash party shot


My new beach cruising ride!