So we decided to leave on Monday, but then it was beautiful and sunny and blowing like crazy. Averaging 34 knots with gusts to 40, it kept the kiters off the water for the most part but left the windsurfers elated. And it left us not leaving.
We broke out the camera and got some great shots of the sailors making use of the breeze. We interviewed a few folks at the Hole, encased the camera in the underwater housing and went out in the shallows to shoot an expression session with Claas, a competitive sailor from Germany who was in Hatteras on Holiday. We came across one bloke, Rick Raymond, who was out for his VERY first day of windsurfing in 35 knots. His friends had assured him that the conditions were definitely suitable for learning. Later they confessed their true intentions.
Rick Raymond, welcome to windsurfing.
"Of course we told him it was a good day to learn. You didn't think we were going to miss a day like that ourselves and hang around and entertain him. He survived, that's what counts."
Despite the crisp sunshine, the temperatures had taken a dramatic dip into winter. Decked out in four millimeters of neoprene, we were still verging on cold. Never mind the numbness that set in in the little piggies. Going to market or not. But the wind was there, so we were in the water. With the newly acquired housing, we got some incredible shots of kiteboarding, with overhead jump shots and frame-filling flips as the sun painted the clouds at dusk.
Up close and in the air.
The northerly wind kept on blowing the cold in, reminding us that time was still moving on, in spite of all our attempts to ignore the inevitability of its passage. Summer was coming to a close. On Tuesday night we had a farewell dinner with Lucy and then hit the road.
Destination: Chapel Hill, home of Zoom Culture...
