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Blog Archive 2011 Jun

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Thu 6/1 - The main thing that happened today was not wind. I hung out mostly at
Canadian Hole
renamed to Haul-over Day Use Area because the Canadians kept stealing the signs
Ride Hatteras. My
GPS
Garmin 885-T
was giving bad file formats to my
computer
EeePC 900HA netbook
so I could not download its waypoints as a backup in preparation to reinstalling its operating system. It frequently does a spontaneous restart and locks up.
- I drove to Rodanthe for the night in anticipation of good winds tomorrow morning.

Thu 6/2 - Good winds early today... and I mean early. It was windy (22-24mph) most of the night. When I got up to take a pee at 4:00am I repositioned the van in the
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
parking lot so it would face into the wind to be quieter and so I could get a better wind sample for my weather station, which I put up. The lawn sprinklers had already activated for the night so I did not need to worry about getting water spots all over my van from them. It was still dark outside when the wind alarm woke me up at 5:03 am as the wind maxed out at 26.2 mph. I rolled over and decided to go back to sleep, get up at my normal 7am and eat breakfast before kiteboarding. By the time I got out on the water about 8:30, with my 12m Cabrinha Switchblade-4 and my Naish Custom Fish 5’2” x 17.5” surfboard with the footstraps, there was not enough wind to even stay upwind. I made one starboard tack followed by a port-side tack, walked in a little way and called it quits.
- The rest of the day I socialized some, did my monthly blog roll-over, did quite a few pages of the online Boating Safety class, sunned, jogged, reinstalled the latest firmware in my
GPS
Garmin 885-T
receiver and drove to Avon for the night in anticipation of fairly good Northeasterly winds tomorrow morning. If the wind materializes, that would indicate an Atlantic ocean run - maybe with Kevin. We met in Rodanthe this evening.

Fri 6/3 - First ocean ride this season and first time out with my new Epic Infinity and Naish Custom Fish 5’2” x 17.5” surfboard with the footstraps. The downwinder occurred on an Atlantic ocean from the Avon Pier to the old Cape Hatteras lighthouse site with Kevin, whome I met yesterday at
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
. It took us a while to get out on the water as Kevin had to drive down to the pier from Rodanthe, we had to get bolts and washers for his fins at Ace Hardware and then drive his car to our destination, 6.5 miles from the pier. I surely am slow on the ocean, at least compared to Kevin. I couldn't keep up, but I made it with my kite never touching the water.
- In the evening I re-aimed my van's windshield washer nozles, wasted about a gallon of washer fluid in the process and spent the night in north Avon.

Sun 6/5 - At
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
I can usually park my van where I get a good wind sample for my mobile weather station. That's what I did last night and this morning started checking the wind at 5:00. The weather station was showing the upper teens from the southwest. I was the first of about six kiteboarders out on Pamlico Sound this morning at 6:40. I traveled 13.7 miles in 1:34 with my Epic Infinity and 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board, doing some puny jumps, surface down-loop carves from toeside to healside, pop switches, jump jibes and chop hops.
- No wind for the rest of the day; buffed van headlights; scrubbed the van tires' white letters; stopped by Real Kiteboarding/Watersports where I visited with Bob & Andre from Florida and Eva whom I first met at SPI and Marcel, who was patching the main bladder of one of his kites; drove down south to Avon to get online and update my website and work on the Boating Safety course at the Atlantic Coast Cafe and to spend the night in north Avon. Actually I finished the online boating class and took the practice final exam and got 88% on it. North Carolina requires 80%. However, before I pay the $24 to take the real final exam, I plan to review my notes and some of the questions of which I was unsure.

Mon 6/6 - Having no wind today, I spent much of the morning, in the tent-dining area at the Atlantic Coast Cafe in Avon where I could make phone calls and be on the Internet at the same time without bothering anyone, preparing for and phoning HTC regarding the lack of voice command on my
phone
HTC Touch Diamond smart cell phone
since they returned the repaired phone to me. Their tech support was polite, tried to be helpful but essentially knew nothing about the problem and were of little help.
- This afternoon I spent at Canadian Hole; did a little sun n' run; added battery terminal cutouts for the Lexan cover I had made for my
LiFeMnPO
Lithium/Iron/Manganese/Phosphate/Oxygen
battery, dug out a narrow roll of paper towels from my front long-term storage bin, added a
LiFeMnPO
Lithium/Iron/Manganese/Phosphate/Oxygen
link to my Van Life web page, wrote most of today's blog, read some more of Tom Clancy's Clear and Present Danger, read the first act of the play that
George
my younger brother who lives in Mesa, AZ
is writing for his church's Christmas play, fixed supper, measured the individual
LiFeMnPO
Lithium/Iron/Manganese/Phosphate/Oxygen battery
cell voltages and headed for north Avon for the night.

Tue 6/7 - No wind today so did some shopping for groceries, at the Hot Line Thrift Store in Buxton, bought some 15A spade fuses for the
LVD
automatic Low Voltage Disconnect
on my
LiFeMnPO
Lithium/Iron/Manganese/Phosphate/Oxygen battery
at the Buxton NAPA store, researched
ETFs
Vanguard exchange-traded funds
and bought gasoline at the Avon BP at 20 cents off because I also bought a car wash. The car wash was important because it also included the necessary undercarriage fresh-water rinse.
- Drove up to Rodanthe for the night

Wed 6/8 - Boy am I tired after a delightfully windy day and two long kitboarding sessions. Nothing big, but southwest winds 20-22mph, which meant my 12m Cabrinha Switchblade-4 and, since it was on the
sound
Pamlico Sound
, my 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board. The morning session, I rode for 1.5 hours from
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
, working almost exclusively on starboard spins. Never completed one, but did accomplish some 360 degree rotations toward the last. The afternoon session I organized the famous Planet Downwinder with Garath and Tim (Tim's first time for the Planet). I spent about 2 1/2 hours and traveled 23.0 miles to cover the seven miles and had a top speed of 32.4 mph (on the No-Ache Island slick) and a top speed of 22.2mph in the canals. Fun! The Cabrinha hybrid bar's bottom chicken-loop line fairing came off (rusted screws) so I'l l probably retire the bar.
- This evening I took a shower and put two canopy parches on little holes on my 12m Cabrinha Switchblade-4. Spent the night in Rodanthe.

Thu 6/9 - My first big ride was out about 200 feet and back, underpowered with my 8m kite and 130 twin-tip at about 9:00 am.
- Then this afternoon I did the famous 7-mile Planet of the Apes to
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
with Gareth, Tim (both from the UK), Dr. Mike, and maybe Steve Hudson and Paul, covering 16.5 miles in the process.
- This evening, just before sunset I rode my 8m and then demoed Demitri's 7m Epic Screamer with Peter's Rental CrazyFly 132 x 41 cm board. 17-year-old Peter was going on and on about how good Demitri's kite was, however, to me, it was just another 7m kite. Maybe I don't have a fine touch.
- After the evening ride, I wrapped up my equipment, took a shower and ate supper about 10:00 pm. Not getting to bed early tonight! (in North Rodanthe).

Fri 6/10 - Two sessions today. The first was at 11am for about 45 minutes with Demitri's 11m Epic Renegade and my 130 twin-tip board. For the second session I organized a Planet-to-
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
downwinder. Spent the night in Avon to be handy for Food Lion grocery shopping in the morning.

Sat 6/11 - Advanced kite lesson with red-head Brian at
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
. I had engineered a FRS communication system whereby he could talk to me from his jet ski while I was riding. I could hear his every word, it worked better than I had expected and really enhanced my learning. In fact, it worked better than Air Padre's troublesome helmet radios that are made for the purpose. Water-proofed the radios with condoms, using the obvious part of the condoms for the antenna sleeves.
- I rode with my 8m Best Nemesis and 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board for about 1.5 hours before sunset. I was a little underpowered but practiced lots of jump jibes with kite loops, did some jumps and carves with kite loops.
- After all this I took a shower, which put me to bed in Rodanthe rather late, but happy.

Sun 6/12 - Cut my hairs this morning, since there was little wind. That means giving myself a haircut and, since I prefer the smooth look, also using the hair clippers on the rest of my body. The wind picked up later in the day.
- Two 3.5-mile downwinders today from
SDA
Salvo Day Use Area, south of Salvo, NC
to
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
. For both downwinders I took my 12m Cabrinha Switchblade-4 and, so I could practice the new skills I learned in yesterday morning's lesson, my 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board. The first downwinder, 1:00-3:00 pm, was with Eric, who drove 7 hours to kite and really was motivated; I believe on a 17m kite. The second downwinder was 5:00-6:00pm with Gareth and Tim. In spite of the fact that I was marginally overpowered the whole time, I still did, mostly successfully, lots of jump jibes with kite down-loops. What a session! Even my instructor said he didn't know if he'd try them with that big of a kite in those conditions. I also did a few carves toe-side to heal-side with kite loops.
- While wrapping my things up back at SDA near sunset, I was bitten by several insects - mostly big green-eyed flys, which are pretty bad there. Spent the night in north Avon with an achy right leg.

Mon 6/13 - I headed north toward Nags Head to an Urgent Care Center but did not make it. I decided to see if my body could fight off a possible infection from one if yesterday evening's insect bites. Spent the night in Rodanthe.

Tue 6/14 - Early this morning my fever broke and the swelling in my right leg started going down. Yesterday I was headed the 52 miles from Avon to a Nags Head urgent care office, stopped by
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
, consulted with kiteboarder, Dr Bob who recommended doing nothing unless my leg started turning read. I decided to give it one more day. If the leg had not started to mend, I would have headed to Nags Head. They probably would have put me on antibiotics, which my bowels hate. The worst period was bedtime last night. My right leg and ankle were so painful I could hardly put weight on it and my ankle circumference was swollen to 32% above normal - never saw it that way before. It all started, evidently, at Salvo Day Use Area Sunday evening when I must have been bitten by an insect on the outside of my right leg half way between the ankle and the knee. You could not see anything at the site, but the site was very tender. By Monday morning I was experiencing chills. Hopefully my body will be able to heal on its own in the next three days, as that is when the next good wind is forecast.
- The rest of the day I'll be working paying some bills online, finishing up the online Boating Safety Course for my
PASA
Professional Air Sports Association
kitesurf instructor certification, catching up with some emails, trying to phone mechanics to repair my van's blower motor controller, sewing a leaky squishy pillow, downloading my checking and credit card statements while I elevate and ice my right leg. Spending the night in Rodanthe.

Wed 6/15 - Spent most of the day in the van letting my right leg heal. I used the need to find my lost wireless USB mouse fob and to retrieve a spare Nasonex prescription from the buried red box to straighten up and sweep out the area between my van seats. I found the fob in the passenger seat under some magazines. Just to think I have been computing for days with the awkward touch pad unnecessarily.
- Back to the right leg, I heated it once, iced it thrice, walked then ran up the Waves Village 6 flights of stairs for exercise and, in the evening walked around for the first time since Monday without a compression bandage.
- I got on Beach Radio 104 FM with Jody from their morning show - talking about kiteboarding, of course. Drove down to Avon for the night and had a nice visit with Charlie at Ride Hatteras.

Thu 6/16 - Went to Avon Peer for ice for the bug bit on my right leg, Food Lion for groceries, Dollar Tree, Ace Hardware, Dollar tree (again) for an electrical cube socket and then to Canadian Hole for most of the rest of the day to work on no-wind projects. Night in Rodanthe.

Fri 6/17 - Today was sort of a technology-not-working day. I dissembled my electric kite pump to assure the switch-over cam was operating (it was) then removed the pump's 7Ah SLA battery and charged it externally with my Granite charger, after which the pump seemed to switch from turbo to piston mode properly. Evidently the pump will NOT recharge when plugged into a cigarette lighter socket unless the engine is running, to put out 13.8 v.
- The make-shift charger (12v light bulb etc.) I made did not work for my DeWalt drill battery A (using my
LiFeMnPO
Lithium/Iron/Manganese/Phosphate/Oxygen
battery as the power source).
- My refrigerator quit working, maybe related to my siphoning out the water from the bottom. The problem was the refrigerator's iffy 12v plug. I carried the refrigerator to a rock area to be within reach of a 120v outlet with my extension cord. The refrigerator worked and I left it on 120v to cool back down. I could have saved some time if I had checked the 12v cord more carefully first.
- Ian, a fresh high school graduate, has been visiting OBX with his parents every year. He found me and told me that he had taken kiteboard lessons today, primarily due to talking to me previous years. What a thrill for me. Night in Rodanthe.

Sat 6/18 - Epic kiteboarding day here on OBX with a southwest wind. Boy am I tired, but happy - well, I would be happy if I were not so tired. Did two 1-mile downwinders north of Avon (from my GPS waypoint HANOR1) to my GPS waypoint HANOR2) with Ian and Oto, a friend from Chapel Hill, NC that comes out to OBX several times every year. Ian improved and actually got up and rode for a few seconds several times. Oto worked on his stuff and I worked mostly on my kite loop jump jibes. Although I was tireder and overpowered the second run, I seemed to do the maneuvers better! Both runs, all three of us were on 12m kites. I was on my 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board. This was my first day riding since the insect bite Sunday evening. Night in Rodanthe.

Sun 6/19 - It was windy all day up until evening. I spent most of the day organizing twin tip board demos with a chart, getting recommendations, previewing boards and coveting my voice recorder to a waterproof floating board evaluation tool. Jim, of Kitty Hawk Kites, lined up my selected demo boards on the dock (along with the voice recorder) so I could try each board out and take notes. It was an interesting experiment. The conclusion: I prefer my old 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board board. I WILL have to fix or replace the footstraps because the right one abrades my foot where I stitched the lining. Night in Rodanthe.

Mon 6/20 - Spent the first part of the day finding and arranging a machanic to fix my van's blower motor and cut the loose knit fabric liner off the right foot strap of my 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board, at Helmut's suggestion. That saved me the expense and trouble of replacing the foot straps, which are cool looking anyway.
- About 4pm the wind picked up and I went out on my 6m Best Nemesis kite (my 8m Best Nemes was too big) at the first sound-side turnout south of Canadian Hole (. I did the full progression of kite loops except the carve healside to toeside one. The wind was probabloy gusting into the upper 30's(mph).

Tue 6/21 - The most significant thing I did today, a no-wind day, was to fire up my glue gun and reinforce the attachment of the label in my black FIESTA hat. It would not be a big deal to anyone else, but this is the most expensive hat I have ever bought, at $60, so I want to be sure and show off the label to myself when I put the hat on. Night in Rodanthe.

Wed 6/22 - The biggest thing today was the smiles on the faces of the kiteboarders. Since Wednesdays are demo days at
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
, I took out an Ocean Rodeo 12m kite for about 40 minutes this afternoon. I liked the bar pressure, but did NOT like the below-the-bar cleat depower system. Toward evening I had a good session with my 12m Cabrinha Switchblade-4 and 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board. I did the:
- This morning I drove down to the Food Lion in Avon and bought four days worth of foot in anticipation of good winds through Saturday, in case I am too busy kiteboarding to go shopping.

Thu 6/23 - Two sessions today: For the first, had a good two-hour downwinder from Planet of the Apes (my GPS waypoint HAPLAN) to
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
with physician, Sergeo just after noon, with my 12m Cabrinha Switchblade-4 and 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board, which was a good call. Practiced kite loop maneuvers.
- The second session was local from
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
in pretty stiff winds with my 8m Best Nemesis kite and my 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board. My kite loop tricks did not work out very well. No severe crashes, but in one of them I landed just right and knocked off my hockey helmet. The snap came undone - sort of worrisome.

Fri 6/24 - Pamlico Sound and the Atlantic sessions today. Just before noon I briefly took my 12m Cabrinha Switchblade-4 and my 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board out from
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
in about 21 mph winds to redeem myself from last nights session. I was successful and accomplished the entire kite loop progression in about 20 minutes.
- Later, way down at the southwest end of Hatteras Island, I took kiteboarder, Jay, to the museum on my way to do a one hour ocean downwinder. At about 5:30pm, I did a self-launch at the museum and rode the 4 miles to the bath house with my 8m Best Nemesis and Naish Custom Fish 5’2” x 17.5” surfboard with the footstraps. The waves were not well organized so things were mostly like a washing machine with the surf hight forecast to be three to five feet. That is about as much as I want to tackle at my current proficiency level. It had been about 10 months since I rode my surf board and this experience taught me that I needed to brush up my skills. The kite got down in the waves once or twice and I was able to relaunch it OK. One time when my surfboard came off my feet, the waves were too choppy to get back to it so I let the kite pull me to shore and waited for the board to wash up, which it eventually did. A couple of times, being confronted with a big (to me) crashing wave, I powered up the kite toward the wave and dived under the wave to avoid being tumbled. Good plan! Thanks to Seth for taking me back to my van at the museum opposite the ferry docks.

Sat 6/25 - Mellow session followed by the hardest crash so far this trip: Both sessions were downwinders from
SDA
Salvo Day Use Area, south of Salvo, NC
to
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
to practice on my skills. The first and mellow one, in 20 mph winds with my 12m Cabrinha Switchblade-4 and Naish Custom Fish 5’2” x 17.5” surfboard with the footstraps, was to practice surfboard skills. I did quite well, making all my jibes and most of my carves, some with kite downloops. The second session was with, probably 25 mph winds. I missed a jump-jibe-kite-downloop and landed on my back, giving myself mild whiplash. What I had done wrong was to depower the kite during the loop, sending it lower, through the power zone, and unexpectedly jerking me horizontally. Later in the session I successfully did several of the same maneuver, being sure I kept the kite loops tight and overhead. I iced my neck several times during the evening and night. By Sunday, my neck was doing pretty well.

Sun 6/26 - Hung around
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
today with no wind. I did a little financial stuff, refilled the van's running water supply, sunned, ran the Waves Village four-story steps twice and made and installed a 14cm longer chicken line for my Epic Infinity kite bar to increase the kite bar's depower range from 34cm to 48cm. Night at
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
.

Mon 6/27 - before breakfast and with someone else's kite this morning. Adam,
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
instructor and team rider for RRD Kites, was out on the sound before work on his 10.5m Obsession. When he came in we transfered the kite, still in the air, to me with my 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board. I stayed out almost two hours accomplishing my entire kite loop progression in addition to
pops
small jumps by edging the board, but not sending the kite
and pop spins. My most successful spins were starboard with semi-intentional kite back loops.
- Harry is phenonominal!... and my idol. He's 63, jumps into the stratosphere, does board-offs, kite loops, hand drags while up in the air, and other tricks that I can only dream about.
- I took my 8m Nemesis to Best Kites home office, conveniently located down the street from
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
here in Rodanthe, regarding leading edge stitching. Brian the head of Customer Service and Warranty took one look at it and said they would replace the kite. Best is great, in my book. The good news is that I'll be getting a new updated kite where the problem has been corrected. The bad news is I'll be without the kite for a week or so until they receive their new shipment.
- I drove down to Food Lion in Avon for groceries and then back up to Rodanthe for the night. To keep my brain agile, I am no longer carrying shopping lists into stores, but memorize the lists before going in.

Tue 6/28 - Two kite sessions and a long walk in Pamlico Sound, all with my 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board: The two-hour session started at 10:30 and I was well powered and did quite well with my 12m Cabrinha Switchblade-4, acomplishing my full kite loop progression.
- The second session started about 3:45 and was a different story. The wind had increased, indicating my 8m Best Nemesis, but Best has it for warranty replacement, so I took out my 6m Best Nemesis and worked on the same progression. At one point I crashed the kite HARD. It immediatly gave up trying to fly and, instead, writhed down in the water. Of course I was over a half mile off shore at the time. What a beautiful afternoon for a walk in the sound! I ended up at Rodanthe Water Sports and Camping, wrapped up my kite and appreciated that kiteboarder, Scott, who was staying at the camp ground, offered to take me back to
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
. Fortunately the kite was not damaged and blew a couple of valves and a strut connector hose.
- Spent the night in Rodanthe.

Wed 6/29 - Just enough wind today to take my Epic Infinity (low-wind kite) out with my Naish Custom Fish 5’2” x 17.5” surfboard with the footstraps and find there was barely enough wind to stay upwind, but not much else. At one point later in the day the air was so still that Kitty Hawk's narrow flags were not moving and neither the anemometer on top of my van nor the one on top of the
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
building were turning.
- I met Matt who was thinking about adapting his foil stunt kite for a bar for practice related to kiteboarding. For $5, I sold him my Cabrinha hybrid bar because the bottom chicken-loop line fairing had come off. He will not be using that feature. It took just a few minutes to remove the lines etc. from the bar.

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