3.7m in the Lulls at Jockey's Ridge!

Today, a strong low pressure system crossed the northern OBX producing gale force conditions. The day began with strong westerly winds gusting into the mid 40 mph range. Lots of sound side flooding and liquid smoke on the water! The ocean in Nags Head looked awesome with clean waist to overhead high set waves; however, the westerly direction was near straight offshore. Given the strong offshore wind, and no one else to venture into the ocean with, I decided to hit it at Jockey's Ridge. I actually had two sessions at JRidge. The first was extremely windy and mostly overpowered on the 3.7m. I had the sail rigged with heavy downhaul, flat and tight, but it was still like walking on egg shells on the water! This is the session where I recorded the video with the mast top mount, and I look like I am "crawling" around on the jibes due to the excessive wind! The second session was during the late afternoon when the wind switched to the NW and dropped a few mph. Again, the ocean looked awesome with building head to overhead high feathering peaks, but conditions were deteriorating rapidly as the the low moved offshore and the wind clocked more northerly. Again, I was solo, so I hit JRidge. The afternoon session was ugly with extremely dark skies, heavy rain and wind ranging from 20 mph to 45mph! I had fun though with more control since the average was in the low 30mph range. Lots of big jumps, more loops that earlier, and better overall control. The only drawback was the foreboding skies and intermittent heavy blinding rain. I kept a keen eye for any funnel clouds, but saw none.

Overall, a crazy day and though I had a good time, there have been better days. Some of the Avon crew caught it on the south side at Izzy's. Andy detailed insane airtime during a huge backloop off a big bomber down there! I saved the gas for either a run south tomorrow, or perhaps when the SW is forecast to return later this week?!

Here is the video of the mast top mounted GoPro. This is the first time with this angle, and I think I can get some really cool footage, especially during an upcoming ocean sesh!