Outside bombs and frontside grinds
// April 16th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Hatteras, Liquid Force, REAL Watersports
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Photo: Bryan Elkus
Today was another amazing Hatteras spring day. 30 to 40 knot winds blanketed the island from sun up to sun down. A strong NE wind had been blowing for a few days, sending some sizey windswell down the coast. Sam Bell, Bryan Elkus and I gathered our gear and headed for the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse late in the afternoon.
Launching 8m LF Havoc Photo: Bryan Elkus
The wind was howling and the waves were exploding at the jetty and peeling down the beach. The amount of current was much more than usuall and the outer sand bars were breaking for easily upwords of a mile and a half out to sea.
Sam Bell cruising down the line Photo: Bryan Elkus
Sam rigged his 6m Cult while I broke out a fresh 6m LF Havoc that had arrived the day before. The perfect size kites for the wind at hand. However, with the easily 6 to 10 knot current in the water the small kites were not getting the job done.
Messy wind swell slash on my LF 6'2" EVF Rawson Photo: Bryan Elkus
I tossed up my 8m Havoc and Sam his 9 hoping that the extra pull would help. Although we did have more power it was still not enough to combat the forces of Mother Nature and staying upwind proved to be a difficult task. The outside swell was large and moving fast. I’m not sure what it is about being out in the ocean that makes you feel alive! We both had a few good waves but overall the moving water won and we headed for the beach.
Trying to set the rail on a powered up top turn Photo: Bryan Elkus
Sammy headed home but Bryan, a friend on mine Ed, and I headed to the Buxton Bowl for a sunset stake session. Ed is an amazing skater and is in town building a mini ramp and was in need of some building motivation.
Taking a break in between runs Photo: Bryan Elkus
Ed quickly warmed up and started throwing down endless lip tricks and busting out airs! We had a super fun evening skate. Check out some pics from the session below. For more photos from both the Lighthouse kite session and the Buxton Bowl skate, check out photographer Bryan Elkus’s blog!
