Did a Tropical Storm Blow By?!
Today reminded me of a late September or early October tropical storm approach/exit on OBX! The forecast called for gale force south winds with a gradual fade by afternoon. Gusts were forecast to reach near 70mph, and I had my doubts until I awoke this morning. Heavy rain downpours and gusty gale force winds wildly shook the trees around the house. The IWS meters were pegged well into the 30 and 40 mph range. Gusts at Avon Pier topped out around 61mph! Reports from down south noted big conditions and heavy current in the surf zone as straight south wind, which is side to side-onshore down there, blanketed the area. In Nags Head though, south wind is side to side-off. When I checked conditions in Nags Head around noon, there was huge surf, but fading wind (at least on the beach). Waves were easily topping 10 to 12 ft with crumbly soft faces. If it was Sept or October, we definitely would have been on it, but given the 45 degree water temps this time of year, the last thing you would want is a long swim for your gear after a wipeout! By 3:00pm, the wind weakened further and switched SW which is near straight offshore in Nags Head. Perfect surfing conditions but I did not find any surfers on it. It looked beautiful, but the water is pretty cold! As for windsurfing, it did not happen here, though I believe Andy and Steward rigged small and hit the Hole! I was going to go after a teleconference meeting this afternoon, but by the time it ended, the wind was over. I even "Miss It" due to work commitments?! Perhaps this weekend, we may see another round as the stars are again aligned on WindGuru...though, blue instead of yellow?!!
The photos with this post were from Loggerhead Street, Nags Head around 3:30pm.
Nice spacing between the waves, for what would have been a relatively easy line out...if September?!
Breaking on the outer bars.
Some pretty big shore pound if you attempted to launch after a set rolled though...
7 Comments:
Hey Bill, sorry you missed it! It was certainly windy down in Avon, and I agree, it felt like a tropical event in the AM!! See ya this weekend!
Hey,how come I cant read charlies blog!?!how am i supposed to know where everyones drinkn beer...woops I mean,where everyones wavesailing
I heard the reason charlie made his blog private was because he uploaded nude pictures of him,emo,buttafuko and danasaur windsurfing on ocracoke.ocracoke is a nude beach you know...
I don't think that buttafucko has ever drunk has much beer as former Hatteras Island windsurfing standout Ty Luckett. Before he switched to kiting Ty's daily routine seemed to be Bud Lights and Marboro until the wind filled in, then beautiful planing front loops, back loops and arial off the lips landing in front of the wave until he was thirsty. Even his girlfriend at that time was wavesailing out there with him. His first place finish out at the Pistol River wave bash showed that his skills were not imaginary like the reported exploits of some of the submitters to this blog. We may all be going more now than in past years but we're still not at the level that some of the 'old' crew were at. Even though I got really good at kiting and could pull off some huge jumps and sick rallies, I'm still not at the level that Ty achieved and I'm sober when I sail. I can hardly find a girlfriend who speaks english much less one who could rig up and sail the same conditions as me then head out the bar and smoke and drink till after midnight. So let's stop bashing each other on this blog and try and get along. My nickname might be kookaloop but in reality we're all kooks, some more so than others.
I knew someone had to be doing tow-in somewhere on the OBX, and specifically Nags Head on Wed, given the cold water yet beautiful waves! Here are pro local surfers Noah Snyder and Craig Watson hitting Wednesday's surf off Nags Head Pier.
charlie and them are sailn naked in ocracoke? know wonder they never report the conditions when they get there...
I cant believe someone claiming they were me would post a comment,thats just wrong...oh and by the way my god given(ty luckett)nick name is "harley"(i used to wear cut off jeans to windsurf in,hey im from nu york}
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