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Point Huck
When I checked Tom Nevers first thing in the morning it had the feeling of a sailing day. It was sunny and the surf looked decent. Dark blue corduroy sets and the foam was bright bright white. Dead side wind and the tops were just being blown apart. The sand was blowing down the beach low and hard. My dog could barely walk into it. He was sand encrusted when we got back to the truck. The thermometer said 33. I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen or not.
Small but fun on the Inside
Around 1pm when my window was opening I was driving to the bank and then to the beach. My truck thermometer was bouncing around 39 – 40 – 38. Whatever. When I got to the beach it looked awesome and nice and sunny. The sand was blowing around as I was rigging and I was thinking that I should be putting up 7 instead of 9 but it turned out ok. I was pretty over at first but then it settled down a bit. Later I checked the airport and it said 30 G 36 for that time period so I have to say my 9 handles pretty nicely for being that much over.
I am so happy with the surf conditions and the sessions I have had since the fall. I’m really feeling comfortable on the ocean and my top and bottom turns are coming together nicely. The hardest part no doubt is flying the kite properly through your bottom turn. You are basically sailing towards the kite and it tends to slack the lines but you really need to stay powered up to stay ready for your top turn. So it really takes timing and I also think that a good kite really helps. What a great winter it has been so far. I hope it continues.
South Shore
Yo. I just updated the kiting spots map to use Google Maps. Check it here.
Obviously I didn’t list every place I could have, but If I missed any popular ones let me know.
Senario: Riding 12 and a surfboard on a nice sunny day at Watertower. Nothing really exciting but a nice day. Jeff and I are out and there are a few windsurfers out at Jetties.
Sky - Indy Grab at Bass Point - Not in any way related to the contents of this post.
A decent way out I turn back towards the shore and suddenly my spreader bar hook is just gone. I think I’ve unhooked on my gybe but when I look down there isn’t any hook. I hang on for a minute but eventually my kite is down. Its North West so it is blowing kind of side on towards the Jetty but it is so far away that that doesn’t even enter into my mind.
I think I started wrapping up my lines a bit but at some point I had the idea to leave the bar and swim over to my board. I got to the board but then returning to the kite was becoming difficult. I never did get back to it and paddled the board in. Jeff directed the kite towards the beach as much as possible. I got to the beach and ran down towards Jetties and I just got out in front of the kite before it went on the rocks. Luckily it was very low tide so I was able to run out a long way on the sand and get in front of the kite. It never came on to the beach.
Lesson Learned: Don’t leave your kite unless you absolutely have to. The kite is your most valuable piece of equipment and can be very helpful in a self rescue. Also it can move faster than you can swim back to it if you let go of it. Your friends can more easily manage your board than they can a run away kite. I’ve seen guys sail in with a kite under their arm but most people can’t manage that.
I guess the exception would be if your kite is dragging you away from safety. Riding with Mark at Tom Nevers on an East and he had to let go of his kite because it was dragging him off shore. So obviously you have to make your own decision but in this case, and many others I can think of, I would have been much better off sticking with the kite.
If you had asked me this summer how 2011 was going to stack up against other years, I would have said “most likely pretty crappy”. It seemed like the summer wasn’t as good as it could have been. But at that time I didn’t realize that the fall was going to kick in and become one of the best on record for Nantucket.
It turns out that numbers wise I ended up with 90 days in 2011, which is the best since 2006. But that doesn’t really tell the whole story. As I said, the summer was uninspired. Even though I had more days than last year there wasn’t really that much memorable sailing. But then the fall hit and turned this year into one that will be remembered for an abundance of good quality ocean conditions all through out September, October and November.
Then December was total crap. I only recorded one session the whole month. So 2011 could have been even better if it hadn’t fizzled at the end.
So 2011 was good on in the Spring and Fall and mediocre in the summer. Other than the amazing run of ocean in October and November another highlight was riding a Sunday at Ocean Beach in San Francisco, getting on a red-eye flight and then starting 4 straight days at Water Tower on Monday. That was a great run of 7 and 9 days that showed me just how good the North Shore can be when it is on. During that run it was seriously like a super fun, waist high ocean. I know it is the sound but seriously it can get super fun surf. I have always known that on a solid NE it can fire out on the sandbar. But what I am talking about is really fun shorebreak.
So all I can say is bring it on 2012 – Year of the Ocean.
Holy gosh I haven’t been to Pocomo since September 14, 2011. I just counted 23 sessions since my last time riding at Pocomo. That is amazing. Its been all ocean and quality North Shore.
And then back to the Ocean again. Another near perfect surf session at Tom Nevers to end November as it started (11/30/2011). Great surf, waist to shoulder high and pretty clean and solid 12 wind. It is true that real wave kiting doesn’t start until you are on your 9, but its still pretty fun when you are solid on a 12.
Outside Top Turn - Madequecham - October 16, 2011
Is it always this good in the fall? I don’t think so. At least I have never gotten so much quality ocean as I have in October and November. I keep having the “Best Day of My Life” over and over again. Nice.
It started with a week and a half run in October that just blew away the standards of great conditions. Solid west wind and overhead surf combined to just light up Madequecham and Tom Nevers in a way that provided a bunch of sessions for the record books. We got a few seriously scary days interspersed with a bunch of non life threatening days with just perfect wind and wave conditions. For more photos check the “Madequecham Oct. 2011 Photo Gallery“.
12 Sessions in October, 7 ocean and the rest really decent north shore. So far in November 9 Sessions, 7 quality ocean.
Quality Surf
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