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Blog Archive 2013 Jul

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Mon 7/1 = No kiteboarding today, with rain and thundershowers much of the day. I spent the morning in the Frisco Mitchel airstrip pilot lounge. Didn't give any airport advisories, as there were no planes flying. While there I checked the weather periodically, updated this website, backed up my computer's modified data files by adding/replacing them on my 32gB SD card, glued my helicase corners with contact cement, reinforced the new Nano landing skids with hot melt glue and set up T3chDad on my Galaxy S2 smart cell phone.
- Socializing, sort-of, checked out the waves at the Hatteras old light house site, did some grocery shopping and stopped by the Buxton Motels and visited with my friend George, kiteboard instructor, who though there was enough wind for his 9m kite on the ocean.
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 in the Koru aerobics room a couple of times and, for the first time, used the T3chDad
- Spent the night in Avon.

Tue 7/2 = No kiting today by me. Harry went north to Jockeys Ridge and rode on his 14, 12 and 10m kites. Breakfast this morning was my eleventh A-Pack Ready Meal self-heating emergency meal: Southwestern Style Chicken with Black Beans and Rice. I substituted some tuna, a slice of bread and an apple for the raisins, cookie, cheese spread, raspberry drink and crackers.
- I found a new place to fly my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
: The large gymnasium in Buxton at the Fessenden Community Center and the adjoining baseball outfield. I also did a beach sun/run by the old lighthouse site, took a shower at Koru, head up to Rodanthe to fly my Nano in their retail stores and got to bed at 10:10 in Rodanthe.

Wed 7/3 = I was going to get up early to cut my hairs. Since I set an alarm with my Sony ICD-PX312 digital recorder in the dark by counting beeps, it actually sounded at 7:54am rather than 7:04am. That, combined with the 8:00 weekly Wednesday
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
staff meeting, nixed my idea because using their rest room for about 45 minutes at that time did not seem to be a good idea. It was a good idea to fly my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 in their grass field, in spite of the wind gusting to 11 mph.
- In the afternoon I ended up down in Avon at Koru where I did a medium-heavy full-body workout, flew my Nano cut my hairs in their seldom-used upstairs restroom and took a shower. Of course I took in my little broom, matching dustpan, hair clippers, clipper guards,sewing machine oil, comb and mirror to do a good job and also to clean up after myself.
- Toward evening I laid out a tentative schedule for heading home, with four stops on the way, starting in late July, hung out at Canadian Hole, visited with windsurfer friend, Jess, secured the rear passenger-side white LED reading light that tends to fall down and updated this blog.
- Spent the night in Avon

Thu 7/4 = Happy Independence Day! Since there was no kiteboarding wind, today was mostly a
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 day after my twelfth and last A-Pack Ready Meal self-heating breakfast, Spaghetti with Italian Style Meat Sauce. In Buxton I flew the heli in the Fressenden field and almost lost it. For the first time I did a precautionary crash landing outside the fenced area. It landed in a small grass area five feet from impossible-to-penetrate 30' trees and undergrowth and two feet the other side of a paved road that could have inflicted some serious damage. Boy, am I lucky!
- I stopped by Koru and updated my website etc. and headed north to Rodanthe where I inflated all four of my kites to dry in the sun. Toward evening I tried to fly my Nano in the
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
stores but it fell out of the sky in a default signal-lost state as it ignored the controller. I could not get it to rebind with the controller until later in the evening after I had manually lowered the batteries to storage voltage using a special light bulb I adapted to a battery connector.
- Spent the night at Rodanthe.

Fri 7/5 = Today I KITEBOARDED here up north. Did a 3.01 mile downwinder from the Harvey Sound Access (just south of the old Windmill Point in Nags Head) to Jockeys Ridge with my 12m Epic Screamer on my Naish Custom Fish 5’2” x 17.5” surfboard with only the front footstrap. Fairly new kiteboarders, Lee and Ross listened to my kite wisdom while I rigged the kite and then launched it for me. Thanks, guys! The 12 and surfboard were a pretty good call, with lots of opportunity to practice getting up on the board without using my hands and carving jibes. I made most of the jibes, although few were good looking. For an additional half hour I rode locally at Jockeys ridge until someone was on shore to land my kite. Bill landed it, drove me the 3.5 miles back to my van and may be interested in a downwinder tomorrow. Thanks, Bill! Generally on a south wind it is better up here, as per Harry who rode up here the last couple of days.
- This morning, down in Rodanthe, I hung around
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
. Harry showed off his hydrofoil kiteboarding prowess with his Lift Foilboard and a 14m kite. Showing off is sort of an overstatement, because he had to walk about a half mile out for water deep enough for his contraption.
- I tried to fly my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 and got it to bind with the controller, but only briefly. I did get the torn-out canopy grommet repaired and sat around being hot quite a bit. It is sort of a downer to have a broken helicopter, be hot ands not kiteboarding. I also siphoned the condensate from the bottom of my refrigerator and got my ceiling fan working after finding the cord in a little box to the right of my front seat instead of under the front seat where I used to keep the cord. The good news is: it is completely clean under my front seat now.
- Up here in Nags Head I joined the
OBSC
Outer Banks Sports Club
as a silver sneaker. I had fun visiting with Jacob, evidently son of the owner, about stuff including, surprise, surprise... my website. He thought it was pretty cool. If not, he put on a good act.
- Spent the night in Kill Devil Hills.

Sat 7/6 = One of the best local KITEBOARDING sessions of the trip so far, and it almost didn't happen. At 5:00pm after the wind picked up, I went out for 1:35 and 14.4 miles with my 12m Epic Screamer on my 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board at Harvey Point in Nags Head. It was a good call. For the FIRST TIME, 100% of my transitions were kite-loop jump jibes! Also I attempted about six back rolls (I used to call them spins), for the first time, concentrating on keeping my eyes open. I guess it paid off because I made the full 360° rotation almost every time. I never did get the kite back down but, rather, plopped down in the water, not having enough froward power to ride away. Something to work on next time.
- Earlier today I concluded that something is wrong with my micro helicopter, and it's not the main rotor motor. Also I reread my Van Life web page, after creating it about four years ago, and found found six corrections that I will implement over the next week or so.
- Spent the night in Kill Devil Hills.

Sun 7/7 = KITEBOARDING! today was a 2-hour 7.1-mile evening Planet of the Apes downwinder to Radical Kiteboarding with Tim and Ryan. I practiced jumps with my 12m Epic Screamer and my 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board, covered 20.4 miles and had a top speed of 20.2 mph.
- Spent the night in Rodanthe.

Mon 7/8 = Two KITEBOARDING sessions today. Good friends are not too hard to find in the kiteboarding community. A case in point is my idol, 55 year-old Harry. He stood in the water near shore at
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
and gave me tips using my radio helmet, on improving my jumps. Meanwhile Sandy, his wife, took pictures and video. The things I remember most was start with the kite lower and fully powered.
- The second session I traveled 18.0 miles on the 6.8-mile Planet of the Apes downwinder to KHK. For the FIRST TIME I took the serpentine canal to the north of No Ache bay. I knew I would have to tack out of an upwind segment. It took me 16 tacks. Also for the FIRST TIMEI crashed my kite in a canal - the canal with a little grass island. I had gotten turned around and upside down. Fortunately, the wind angle was such that I was able to accomplish both the crash and the relaunch in the water instead of the grass on the shore.
- Spent the night in Rodanthe.

Tue 7/9 = Two KITEBOARDING downwinders today, both from
SDA
Salvo Day Use Area
to
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.

- The first, about 12:30, was with Tim (with his 12 and strapless surfboard) and young, relatively new, kiteboarder, Jan (pronounced,"YAWN") (with his 10 and a rented twin-tip). I took, successfully, the canal where I crashed my kite yesterday and jumped a small grass island about six times. Jan was working on transitions but had trouble keeping his kite in the sky, so I put on lots of miles (14.7) kiting nearby. Since a storm was approaching, I told him to land at Real Kiteboarding as a precaution, took his car keys and hi-tailed it straight to KHK at 20 mph - took four minutes, a record for me. Tim landed my kite in a light rain.
- The second, from 6:15pm with David on a 9m kite and twin-tip board and me on my 8m kite and surfboard, took only 56 minutes and covered 7.01miles. I jibed further in on some of the inlets than ever before and did one jump-up-on-the-board startup, having attempted lots of 'em.
- Spent the night in Avon

Wed 7/10 = KITEBOARDING today only involved one session around noon at the first turnout north of Avon, MP 54 (my GPS waypoint HANOR1) with my 12m Epic Screamer on my 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board. I worked on my jumps over the boat channel and got a few pretty good ones. The wind had been gradually increasing to about 18 mph and a gust of 24. I did a self launch and rode a half-hour while Tim was getting some things done and driving down for a possible ocean downwinder down south at the museum (my GPS waypoint HAOMUS) for which there was never enough wind.
- Earlier in the day I did some shopping, sunned and swam in the Pamlico Sound across the boat channel and back. I spent this evening in the Billy Mitchell Pilots' lounge paying my two credit card bills, making appointments for when I get back to Phoenix for my optometrist, dermatologist and dentist, catching up on some emails and researching the Jawbone UP activity/sleep bracelet. Neat, but not compatible with my Android Galaxy S2 cell phone.
- Spent the night in Frisco.

20-year-old cancer survivor: Brianna Hirsch's compelling story and how she is raising money to help other survivors to get their lives back through kiteboarding after cancer!

Thu 7/11 = KITEBOARDING, finally, and a good run at that - Planet of the Apes for two hours and 19.1 miles with Slayton. I was fully powered on my 12m Epic Screamer12m Epic Screamer and did some good jumps with my 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board and at 33.6mph came within .5 mph of breaking my maximum speed record. Also I took both canals and most of the other good stuff. It was Slayton's first long downwinder, so he mostly played around in the sound. We met David, kiteboarder, who was kind enough to take us back to our vehicles.
- The first part of the day I hung around the Frisco Mitchell Air Strip with Dwight and Jim, giving traffic advisories as needed and catching up on some web stuff. Then, around noon, I met Tim at the Bath House. He drove all the way down from Waves - really hurting for an ocean run for which there was never enough wind.
- On the way back north for the Planet run I did some grocery shopping and did some Ride Hatteras visiting in Avon.
- I got acquainted with Brianna, cancer survivor, her mother, Marcy, also a cancer survivor and her dad, Fred. Click the link above for her story. Spent the night in Rodanthe

Fri 7/12 = A few people kited today between the storms, but not me. I did some major troubleshooting trying to get my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 to bind with the controller. After a couple phone calls to Phoenix and one to Champaign,IL, I decided it was time to replace the birdl after 332 flights totaling 22 hours with another one - my third Nano, which I ordered through Scott from Horizon Hobby.
- I lubricated my ceiling fan cigarette lighter plug with WD-40 and spent the night in Rodanthe

Sat 7/13 = Waiting for wind today that never came. The direction was perfect for kitboarding the ocean at Avon. Beach comers found it a very pleasant 85 degrees and sunny with a 12 mph southeast breeze. After I left
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
this morning I hung out at Avon Pier for most of the rest of morning until my wind alarm went off at 13 mph. Then at 1pm I went to Ramp 38 for a beach sun n run (pulse after the 4-minute run was 151) and hung out in my van for about an hour, monitoring the wind and doing my monthly Blog roll-over in 23 minutes. Then down to Canadian Hole until sunset, flying my PhoenixRC's
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 simulator, trying to figure out Cox Cable's billing, regluing a Velcro disk on my table and catching up on website stuff.
- This evening I enjoyed visiting with the young people at Ride Hatteras. Spent the night in Avon.

Sun 7/14 = Less wind today than yesterday. I did drive down to the Bath House south of Frisco this morning where it would have been good for the east wind had there been more than the 8mph I measured. While there I fixed and ate lunch and washed the white letters on my van's tires.
- Then down to the Hatteras Village area to do a small load of laundry, a four-minute beach run (pulse was 143), a shower and then up to the Billy Mitchell Airstrip Pilots lounge to give airport advisories, fly my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 simulator, work on this blog and sort the photos that Sandy took Monday.
- Spent the night in Hatteras Village.

Mon 7/15 = No wind: This morning before breakfast I did a four-minute beach run by the museum with a pulse rate of 153, then spent most of the day at the Frisco Billy Mitchell Air Strip working on resolving my checking account, giving airport advisories to incoming pilots, flying my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 simulator, working on this blog and sort the photos that Sandy took a week ago. Also I've set up two new helicopters on my phone's RC Flight Log: one for the simulator and one for my first Nano (Bland Nano nCPX 1). I also got acquainted with Bryan, one of the air strip maintenance guys and had a brief visit with park ranger Christian about stuff like flight plans and horses.
- Spent the night in Frisco.

Tue 7/16 = No wind: About 6 this morning my
LiFeMnPO
our van's Lithium/Iron/Manganese/Phosphate/Oxygen house battery
 system did a
LVD
Low-Voltage Disconnect. To avoid battery damage, it shuts off the load at 11.5 Volts.
so when I got up I checked the voltage of the battery and its individual cells and found the spread to be .12 volts - probably a little high.
- I spent most of the day hanging 'round the Hatteras Mitchel Air Strip pilots lounge where I updated the maps on my
GPS
Van's Garmin 885T GPS receiver
(took four hours), flew my Nano simulator, checked out kiteboarding on Paros, Greece, tracked the delivery of my new Nano (which is scheduled for tomorrow), caught up on some emails and rental house concerns, used hot glue to tame the cords on my black hat and finalized my schedule for leaving Hatteras Island the first part of August. In the morning I took time to check the wind down at the washout and tried to get a key duplicated.
- Drove up to Avon for some needed grocery shopping and for the night. The night-time digital recorder I sometimes activate in my van picked up a lot of window banging, body pounding and rocking the van by the sheriff between 10 and 11. From the sound of the recording there were probably at least three deputies making all the noise. Heat advisories are in effect for the next few days.

Wed 7/17 = Long day of driving, over 100 miles, with no kiteboarding. I drove up to Rodanthe to make a short announcement to the
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
staff and, later on to Food Lyon in Nags Head, then Health-A-Rama in Kill Devil Hills for raw psyllium husks, then the Older Adult Center in Kill Devil Hills to cool off (heat warnings), update my website and work on
Dahlia
my Phoenix rental house located on Dahlia Drive
interior repainting and recarpeting (it is empty since the tenants moved out and we want to get it fixed up and rerented ASAP), then to Nags Head to get my card at the Outer Banks Gym, Duck Thru for fuel and to Dollar Tree for new sunglasses, then down to Ride Hatteras to pick up my newly arrived
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
, then to the field north of Hatteras Realty for its first session, then to Wings to meet the new manager, young, Brad and, finally to Ride Hatteras to socialize and eat supper.

- Spent the night in Frisco.

Fri 7/19 = Good KITEBOARDING today, including Pamlico Sound and the Atlantic Ocean, all with my 12m Epic Screamer and on my Naish Custom Fish 5’2” x 17.5” surfboard with no footstraps. The first run was the famous 6.8-mile Planet of the Apes downwinder to
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
with Craig, his son Austin and Lali. With the surfboard I did none of the inlets or canals, but did some foot switches by jumping up with both feet at the same time. I made most of my jibes and attempted a few jump-up starts. I traveled 15.2 miles in 1:49 with a maximum speed of 24.2 mph.
- I had the privilege of giving Craig and Austin their first ocean experience in the second, sunset, session with the .8-mile downwinder from the Hurricane Isabelle Wash-Out to the Bath House. I thought I'd never get out. The surf was not high, but the waves were close together, breaking about every five seconds. Once I got out I did quite well. This was my FIRST successful ocean ride without footstraps!
- Spent the night in Frisco.

Sat 7/20 = Two KITEBOARDING ocean downwinders today, both sessions on my Naish Custom Fish 5’2” x 17.5” surfboard with no footstraps and with my 12m Epic Screamer. The first was .8 miles from the washout (my GPS waypoint HAWASH) to the Bath House (my GPS waypoint haoBath House) with Lali. I thought I'd never get out over the breaking surf, but once I did I did pretty well. I spent 55% of the distance getting out past the surf on two occasions. The downwinder took less than a half hour and I traveled 1.57 miles and had a top speed of 16.0 mph. The kite never touched the water!
- The second session was about 3.5 miles from the Museum by the ferry docks (my GPS waypoint HAOMUS) to the Bath House with Lali and Tim. I rode in only my Speedo swim trunks, as I had left my riding shorts up at the Bath House on the previous run. Again, I spent a lot of time and energy getting out, but once I did neither could catch up with me. I even rode in the surf along the shore some. I spent only 28% of the distance getting out past the surf on five occasions. Distance traveled was 5.34 miles in 1:14 with a maximum speed of 17.1 mph. Tim never showed up at the Bath House, so I finally started driving southwest with his car. About half way to the museum I met my van with Tim at the wheel. This is the only time we used our contingency plan this trip, and it worked.
- Spent the night in Avon

Sun 7/21 = Tim and I had a good Planet KITEBOARDING downwinder (from my GPS waypoint HAPLAN to my GPS waypoint HAKHKW). He had fun on his strapless surfboard and I had fun on my twin-tip and 12m Epic Screamer kite. Tim suggested kiting to Gull Island, two miles out in the sound to the SSW. We both tried. He did not have enough power to effectively go upwind with his 10m kite and me, after doing a couple of tacks out two miles, decided more tacks to get upwind to the island were not worth the trouble when I could be catching up with Tim. Due to the Gull Island fiasco the run took two hours and I traveled 20.4 miles. My top speed was 32.8 mph on a starboard tack.
- Later Tim, Lali and I met up way down at the museum for a possible ocean run. There were a few kiteboarders riding but by the time we got our 8m kites pumped up and realized that the wind was decreasing, it was too late to put them away, pump up our 12s and do the 3.5 miles in the surf with adequate safety margin before sunset.
- Spent the night in Frisco.

Mon 7/22 = Only one KITEBOARDING session today - a sunset cruise, a good call with my 8m Best Nemesis and 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board at the
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
resort. I attempted lots of back rolls, the most ever in a single before-sunset session, but did not exit any of them riding. Sort of plopped down in the water after the rotation. I made the full 360° rotation most of the time to starboard, but had a lot of trouble to portside. The 6.65 mile 1:12 session ended when I crashed my kite about a fourth mile out attempting a kite loop jump jibe to port when a lull hit and the lines got tangled. I walked in. Instead of taking a shower my evening project was spending 1.5 hours untangling the lines to be ready for tomorrow.
- Earlier in the day I had a good
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 session in Buxton's Fressenden Center's gym and downloaded the track logs for the New Inlet downwinder and from my Garmin Foretrex 201 for my latest two strapless ocean downwinders on my Naish Custom Fish 5’2” x 17.5” surfboard.
- Spent the night in Rodanthe

Tue 7/23 = Excellent Planet KITEBOARDING around noon, followed by a challenging late afternoon ocean session from the museum to the bath house. Tim and I took Bryan on his first Planet downwinder. We were all on 8m kites, Bryan and I were on our twintips boards and, of course Tim was on his strapless surfboard. I was a little underpowered, but had one of the best trips through both the Dogleg and Cross Canals, pumping the kite all the time. Not so good through the serpentine canal just north of No Ache Island. I knew I would have to tack out through the up-wind part of the canal, but I did not have enough power to make it out since that part of the canal is pretty narrow. There was some sharp stuff on the bottom and I scratched my left foot in a couple of places in the process of walking out.
- Bryan and I talked Tim into joining us down south for a 3.7-mile ocean downwinder from the Museum to the Bath House. Bryan said he saw waves 10 feet high and Tim said he was in survival mode. I didn't get out in the swells too much, spending much of my time trying to get out past the breaking surf. I had to keep reminding myself, This is FUN! We three did make it to the Bath House with no broken bodies, boards, kites or bars - and no tangled lines.
- Rich Habits - The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals by Tom Corley is a book I heard of from Dave Ramsey. Through interviews, Tom observed the activities of rich people and also those of poor people and found some interesting patterns.
- Spent the night in Frisco

Wed 7/24 = What good KITEBOARDING late today, especially considering the NWS forecast was for only 5-10k winds. Starting about 6pm, it was just plan fun riding locally at
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
for two hours and 17 minutes with my 12m Epic Screamer on my 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board. I had my surfboard set out in case I got bored with the twin-tip but never did. I got some pretty good jumps and did a few kite-loop jump jibes - my highest yet! I also tried a few back rolls - portside is still not working out. About four other kiteboarders and I gave five as we passed. I covered 20.8 miles!
- This morning I hung around the air strip, flew my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 in the Fessenden Center activity room, picked up and installed my Nuvi GPS mounting suction cup (replacement for the broken one arrived by USPS).
- Spent the night in Rodanthe, with rain from 5:28 to 10:30 in the morning.

Thu 7/25 = KITEBOARDING today was supposed to be a 7.2 mile downwinder on a north wind from the first turnout north of Avon (my GPS waypoint HANOR1), around Avon, past Canadian Hole, past Kite Point (my GPS waypoint HAKITE), through the Buxton slick and to the road at the crouch of Hatteras Island (my GPS waypoint HASOU2) where we had left Brian's van. We departed Nor1 on our 12 meter kites and twin-tip boards - a good call initially. By the time we got south of Avon we were way overpowered. I elected to land my kite at Kite Point where there was someone catch my kite. The Frenchman who landed my kite for me knew enough English to say, when he saw my 12m kite, You're crazy.. I got to watch a young, talented kiteboarder doing stratospheric jumps and neat tricks on a 9m kite while I waited for Brian to land his kite and pick me up. After over a half hour, he did not show up and I became mildly concerned. We finally found each other with the help of a windsurfer. Being somewhat unfamiliar with the area, Brian had landed his kite at the next turn-out south of Kite Point (my GPS waypoint HASOU1), walked down to his van and headed north to look for me. We did get our stuff sorted out, except for Bryan's black duct tape, which he has a habit of leaving in my van after he does his blister wrap on his feet.
- Earlier in the day I did a beach sun/run with an ending pulse of 153.

Fri 7/26 = I spent most of this morning planning for low-wind kiting with my big 15.7m Epic Renegade Infinity kite. After some grocery shopping I drove down to Canadian Hole, checked the wind and packed up everything for one trip out to Kite Point, including hand-held wind meeter, Garmin Foretrex 201 GPS, riding shorts, hat, glasses, harness, pump kite and board, then drove down to Kite Point. I walked out to the water, measured the wind and then walked back to my van and put everything away. At least the stuff is in my big kite bag, ready to go, next time the wind speed is in the teens.
- Two
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 sessions today. The first in the large activity room at the Fessenden Center in Buxton and the second on the Hatteras High School athletic field. Three kids that came along enjoyed keeping track of the heli and letting me launch it from their hands.
- Ride Hatteras' bonfire was awesome tonight. There were about 30 of us there including most of the store staff and lots of cousins. Music was provided by two guitars, toy bongo drums and a cell phone.
- I excused my self at 11pm and then did something stupid instead of going to bed. You see, my
date stamp
Dymo electronic date stamp
 had quit working and it suddenly occurred to me that resetting it might fix the problem. I became impulsive, not wanting to wait until tomorrow to find out, I ended up, after working with it for a while, removing the button clock battery, the four AA printer batteries, reinstalling everything, resetting the printer, setting the calendar, clock and printout parameters and... it works now!
- Spent the night in Avon

ssSat 7/27 = The most significant thing I did today was sewing the button back on my cargo shorts. I did have a complicated
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 session on the H.S. athletic field (complicated because some battery voltages were way lower than expected after some flights), did a beach run at the old lighthouse site in Buxton (pulse of 158) and hung around the air strip, catching up on things.
- Spent the night in Avon

Sun 7/28 = I moped around today putting up with hot, humid heat as the result of rain showers followed by sunlight - and little wind, mostly in the 5-8mph range. I flew my Phoenix
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 simulator and then drove up to Rodanthe after a little shopping, planning my Hatteras exit strategy and a beach run which gave me a pulse of 151.
- Putting my money where my mouth is, I funded an experiment by
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
to find out if bottom paint, for boats will prevent the slipperiness of boards under the water in the sound. While at KHK, I had a Nano session in their store to help develop my hovering accuracy, show off and maybe stir up some interest their RC helicopters.
- Helmut, kiteboarder older than me is quick with a good sense of humor. On the way to the KHK showers this afternoon, I mentioned that I had been threatening to take a shower. He said, "Arizona Lou - I didn't recognize you with a shirt on and I thought it was the algae that was smelling!"
- I almost went out with my 12m Epic Screamer along with a few others. At first my excursion was nixed by an southerly off-shore, gusty wind; then as the wind increased a little, there was some distant thunder.
- I flew my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 only 1:40 minutes in the
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
store when the heli flew into a wall at low speed. It turns out that the rear servo became inop and was stuck in the full up position, keeping me from backing away from the wall. Later I did some testing and found the servo to be OK but the servo's socket/controler bad.
- To bed early in Rodanthe

Mon 7/29 = KITEBOARDING today was an unexpected sunset session at KHK. I was hanging out and doing supper at Radical Kiteboarding when Bryan phoned me about wind at KHK. I had 50 minutes with my 12m Epic Screamer and 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board, being pretty well powered. I worked on jumps, some kite-loop jump jibes and even four back rolls. I didn't think I did all that well, but Tuesday a couple ladies who were watching from their Waves Village balcony were going to complement me on how good I was. After dark Susan and Jim and I visited. I mentioned wanting to improve my jump jibes and they suggested during the jump, send the kite back up to 12:00 before bringing it down smartly in the new direction. We'll probably have to wait until Thursday for enough wind for me to try it.
- Did I pig-out earlier today! It was my treat night - sort of, and I did it up big at Forbes in Rodanthe this morning, giving them some business and money. I got one of their delicious straight-from-the-oven Cinnamon rolls. Then Corbin fixed me up with a custom-made chocolate and mint Cappuccino. Kyle, the manager and I visited about Cabarete in the Dominican Republic as my next possible tropical kiteboarding destination.
- I had gotten up early this morning, measured the wind at
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
along with Mike and Galen, determined that there was not enough wind to have fun with our big kites and then cut my hairs, as part of my Hatteras Exit Countdown, and took a shower.
- On the Internet today I added Windalert, which gives the past, current and forecast conditions on the same graph, to the Hatteras section of my Weather web page and researched some shops in the Washington, DC area and borrowed a printer to print out out a warranty repair order for my
Nano3
third of my fourth type of RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
. Thanks, Galen! As a result of my phone call Jeff F, of Horizon Hobby, is sending a replacement main circuit board to the Avon Post Office for me so I will not be using the printouts from Galen. Thanks, Jeff!

Tue 7/30 = Not much happened today except hanging around
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
updating my website and finishing my research of kite shops in the Washington D.C. area with the conclusion that there are none and flying my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 simulator.
- Tim went
SUP
Stand-Up Paddleboarding
in the ocean this afternoon. He used his articulate sense of humor to expound on how many ways the ocean surf tossed him out and humbled him - sort of like I feel when I try to kite out past the surf on my surfboard without foot straps
- This evening I drove down to Avon for some grocery shopping, an ice cream sandwich from Dollar Tree and for the night.

Wed 7/31 = This morning I hung around Ride Hatteras to update my website and to contribute smart alec remarks to customers' shopping experiences. Since there was no wind forecast, I got a
SUP
Stand-Up Paddleboarding
outfit from Ride and met Tim up at
SDA
Salvo Day Use Area
at 12:30 for what turned out to be a 3.3-hour, 6-mile riding session. We went all the way south to No Ache Island, took the three canals that we typically take kiteboarding, plus other canals that we never see when kiteboarding. We saw lots of sting rays, fish and, scurrying around, 2-inch yellow and black land creatures along the banks of one canal. The weather was perfect for SUP - about 5mph winds and partly cloudy.
- I hung around Ride Hatteras for a while after I returned the SUP board and said, "Good by" to Jeff, Pedro and Sam, Ride employees, who are heading off to college tomorrow morning.
- I topped of the day by driving up to
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
in Rodanthe where Christian interviewed me as part of his live remote broadcast on the Beach 104 Radio station.
- I charged up my electric shaver, replenished my running water supply and spent the night in Rodanthe

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