Unprecented sessions were had this weekend Jan 19 & 20. Solid 7 and 9 conditions with quality surf both days. Not that common for the end of January. Saturday morning was solid 7 with building surf. Sunday was 100% good 9 conditions and the surf was a bit bigger. The ocean conditions were really perfect both days.
Just posted a photo gallery: Tom Nevers 1/19/2013
We aren’t Wikipedia but here at NantucketKiteboarding.com we like a good data dump like any other media outlet. So needless to say I was pretty happy to get a disk of photos from Sasha Arashonkau recently. They go back to August 2011 but the best of the bunch are from SuperStorm Sandy and the awesome weekend after Thanksgiving.
So check out the home page photo gallery and the Photos Page where I posted 4 new galleries. Pretty good ocean I’d say.
Sasha Arashonkau - Top Turn
Speaking of good ocean and Thanksgiving, holy gosh I am still buzzing from that weekend. Solid 9 both days and really decent waist to chest high surf at Madaket. That place is becoming my favorite beach. When it is on, it is really on. The beach is big and a good setup for self landing and launching. The surf fires when it is on and the shore break right in front of the launch is just the best. Yeah those were some really good sessions.
October is the best month for kiting on Nantucket, especially if you enjoy a little surf. And this year was no different. So many good ocean days and really quality surf. We even got a few SE days that panned out.
November has been a bit different. Starting with the Super Storm we have really only gotten one good ocean day. That was two days after Sandy and it was really awesome. But since then its just been a run of North and NE, day after day. There haven’t really been that many light wind days, but how many sessions can you take at Jetties? I’m not complaining. I love the north shore. But there has been a lot of great swell that has gone un-sailed in the past month.
The Noreaster after Sandy actually brought more wind to Nantucket than the Super Storm. The first day was a complete blow out but the next morning was the best day of recent memory. Juraj and I hit it first thing at Watertower and it was just firing on the outside. Sweet shoulder high surf and a really great shore break as well. I just wish I had rigged my 7. I was getting pulled around a bit on the 9 but no worries, I made it work.
So starting with the Hurricane I’ve gotten 9 sessions and 8 of those have been at the North Shore. And it doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. Thanksgiving looks to rip and we will probably get out a day or two before that. Daylight savings really sucks but at least it hasn’t really gotten cold yet.
87 days and counting for 2012. Bring it!!
Up to this point we have gotten West and SW as is pretty usual but we have also had a couple of really nice SE days with surf and recently scored a couple of really awesome NW days at Madaket in quality surf. So all in all it has really ripped this October.
There is a new gallery called “October Ocean 2012” in the photo gallery and I used a couple of the best on the home page. In the future we could avoid these low quality photos by someone else shooting and sending me the good stuff, instead of me snapping pictures with my waterproof point and shoot.
The South East breeze can be a bit of a disappointment Often the forecast doesn’t pan out or it is pouring rain or a squall. A lot of times it just doesn’t fill in to its full potential. But there are those days where the rain holds off, the wind blows and when you throw in a bit of swell you can end up with some pretty excellent conditions.
Ric Cavillo - Backside at Tom Nevers
We get a lot more West and South West days than South East. So for regular stance kitesurfers that means a lot more frontside days than backside. There isn’t anything wrong with that but more and more I am learning that there is something incredibly cool about backside surfing as well. I used to think it was much harder surfing back side than front. But when you break it down it is only really harder in one key area. That’s the bottom turn.
I’ve realized recently that backside top turns are actually just as easy or easier even than their frontside counterparts. In fact the backside turn at the top is a pretty natural motion and because you are compacting your body as opposed to opening it up it tends to make it a much tighter pivot at the top of the wave. Much more of a snap than a hack. Once you get in the groove it is pretty easy.
But it is the bottom turn that makes backside riding so much more challenging. Turning blind into the wave is part of it and I think steering the kite is the other part that is really more difficult on the backside. On my frontside bottom turn I can pretty much fly the kite around with one hand and stretch the other arm towards the wave as a pivot point to turn around. But on the backside its more of a two hand on the bar situation. Its just not as natural or comfortable.
Still, satisfaction comes from achieving the challenging tasks and every backside day recently has been the best backside session of my life. Plus the sent jumps on the way out off perfect kickers just can’t be beat. So bring on more 130 with plenty of surf and I’ll see you out at Tom Nevers to enjoy it.
Xander Raith
Part affable high school student, part multi-sport freak of nature, Xander Raith can be found on most windy days ripping the flats at Bass Point, throwing down freestyle in boots or skate tricks on the skimboard. Already an accomplished freestyle snowboard competitor Xander started kiting last year, during the summer of 2011. “I’ve gotten a lot of kids going” says local instructor and fellow freestyle ripper Andrew Pearl. But Xander was the only one who I taught to fly the kite and then just got out of his way. He pretty much just dove the kite the first time, sailed off and started throwing tricks.”
Backflip - Bass Point
“Kiteboarding is the perfect sport for me on Nantucket”, Xander commented the other day on the beach while taking a breather from a session on his 3.5 during a gust to 35 day. “The flatwater conditions are just insane and I’m looking forward to ripping the ocean as well.”
But no 14 year old kid gets very far in Kiteboarding without strong family support behind him. When not sailing himself Xander’s dad Greg can often be found performing “chase boat” duties in and around the waters of Bass Point. And Xander’s younger brother Benjamin has recently been paying his dues at Jetties and Bass Point. With 3 kites in the air at a time this crew is going to need a serious quiver.
Greg Raith
Who knows, today Nantucket pond parties, tomorrow the Triple S. We’ll be watching as Xander and the rest of the kids of Bass Point develop as kiters into the future.
Photos: Pond Party – Oct 5. 2012 – Bass Pt.
**Note: All quotations in the above article were 100% fabricated.
This was a good week for kiteboarders on Nantucket.
Monday was a sick day. Meaning you better call in sick from work because these conditions are not to be missed. Solid WSW wind with pumping surf. It doesn’t get much better. Jeff Morash and I sailed a morning session at Madequecham on 9s in waist to chest high, somewhat choppy surf. I felt like I could have easily been on my 7. When we finished Jeff said to me his kite wasn’t working that well. “You could have been overpowered.” I suggested.
“No I don’t think so”
Later I checked the airport weather page for the time of our session. SW 27 G 38. Yeah, we might have been a bit over.
In the afternoon it backed off a bit. Still on a 9 at Tom Nevers the surf was much cleaner than earlier in the day. Super fun top turns.
Saturday offered up another south west day and it turned into an awesome pond party at Bass Point. Pretty standard solid 12-10 wind and quality butter but there was something a little different. The crowd was all families. Dads riding with daughters and dads riding with sons. Throw in a few locals, one or two visitors and a couple of random idiots and you’ve got yourself a super fun throw down. Great vibe on the beach and great action in the water. A few people getting it down and everyone else just getting better.
Greg Raith is leading the charge to Family Style Kiting
Now we just have to work on getting a few Moms sailing. A project for next summer, or a winter trip.
Another awesome summer on Nantucket. Really good in all ways. Super busy, great weather generally and pretty decent for kiting as well. I’m sure that there have been summers where I had more days out but I know that I also missed a bunch of decent Pocomo sessions because of work.
I’d say that there are a growing number of people out on the nice days and I noticed a bunch of new people learning, including a bunch of kids. Nantucket’s own Xander Raith is charging Bass Point pretty hard either in his boots or his skimboard and there were a few 13 or 14 year old girls who were progressing very well in August. So it is really nice to see the kids out there killing it.
June: While it was happening I thought June was kind of a let down. Probably because we had such a good Spring season in the ocean. But looking back there were a bunch of good days and great variety to be had in June. I ended up with 7 days total and 3 in the ocean. I know I missed a couple as well. There was a solid 7 (N 36 G 41) day at Watertower which is always exciting. Some decent East wind, which is pretty rare and makes for some fun backside riding at Tom Nevers, and it finished off on the 30th with a super fun pond party at Pocomo. So all in all a really good start to the summer.
July: I’d say that July was pretty typical, mostly South West and a lot of Pocomo/Bass Point Sessions. I think it may have been a little lighter than usual. I only got 5 sessions for the month and only one was in the ocean. But the others were in quality butter and I bet that work got in the way a bunch of times for me. So others probably hit it much better in the ponds.
August: Super fun month in all ways. Great beach weather and we got some wind as well. I personally had a few top 10 sessions. I got a double downwinder in Ocean City, NJ on borrowed equipment. A miracle occurred and we got great wind for the race and we finished off the summer with a all day throwdown starting with decent surf at Cisco and going until dark on Solid 9 and perfect low tide butter at Pocomo. Add all that to just the general awesomeness of summer on Nantucket and August looks pretty good from any angle. I ended up with 8 days for the month, 4 on the ocean one of those was the killer race day which was super fun and another was the last day of the summer which was one of the best butter sessions I have ever had.
Killer summer and the best thing is that the real season starts now. Bring on September, October and November!!
High quality session yesterday, better than I expected. Solid 12 (if a bit gusty) from the NNW and I went out at Water Tower. Beautiful day and there was a clear line of white water on the outside, which is always a good sign on the North shore. It was pretty onshore but not totally so. I was able to sail my first tack from the beach straight out to the mouth of the Jetties.
I hadn’t really planned to sail there but the closer I got the better it looked and when I arrived out front it turned out to be just awesome. Solid, head high, waves rolling in and jacking up right along the East Jetty, starting right next to the big rock pile at the end. It was super cool and made for some great turning. It took me a couple of runs to get dialed on it and it was really more about bottom turns than top because they weren’t completely breaking but it was super good once I figured it out. And of course the jumping was just sick.
Unfortunately the really primo conditions only lasted about a half hour or so. It was pretty sudden that I noticed that the waves backed down to about half the size. It was still good but it wasn’t nearly as good especially right out front. It actually was a bit better a ways down the jetty and also along the West jetty as well but still the size was half of what it was when I first arrived. Kind of strange I thought because the wind really hadn’t changed. If anything it had picked up a little.
I checked my watch and could see that we were at dead low tide. It must have been the outgoing tide, opposing the wind swell that made it so awesome. It is a weird coincidence to be out there at the exact time to see it change so dramatically but I think that is what happened. Still it was an outstanding session, really satisfying. I don’t think it would be that likely to plan to hit it like that based on the tide times but you never know.
Two weekends ago I had a wedding to attend in Ocean City, NJ. It wasn’t a great time to leave the island for me and knew I wasn’t even going to be able to bring my equipment. But when I checked the forecast the long range vaguely showed the possibility of a windy weekend so I threw my harness in the back of the mini-van with no expectations but just a chance in the back of my mind.
Ocean City, NJ is super fun in the summer if a little hot and the wedding went off in fine style. It was clear that Sunday was my only window for sailing and yet miraculously the forecast held steady, 15-20 from the South on Sunday. As soon as I arrived I dropped a few texts on my friends there giving them the heads up and putting out a request for gear to borrow. I used to live there in a past life and I have kept up some good connections. These are guys I used to windsurf with in the old days.
Sunday dawned hot, sunny and windy and I got on the phone right away. The family plan was a big beach party in the afternoon and I knew I couldn’t totally blow that off. But still a good opening was there for kiting. I started to get some calls back, got a board, got a kite last I got a ride to the launch spot for the first downwinder of the day. Everything was lining up. How lucky could I get?
Ocean City is a barrior island on the New Jersey coast and there are many opportunities for ocean downwinders. A friend picked me up and I tossed my harness and a beach cruiser bike into the back of his truck and we headed for the South end of the island. Along the way we picked up another sailor and by the time we got to the launch in Strathmere the group was about 7 guys. I was pretty well frothing and my friends had already rigged my kite. All I had to do was pull on my rash guard and launch. Pretty nice service I have to say.
Sailing OC is a bit different than Nantucket. First there are so many people. My kite was laid out next to a big group of beach goers. It turns out that the kite was there first and they just set up camp next to it. My kite was a 14 Slingshot. A lot of guys were on 10s but I didn’t care. I don’t mind riding over a bit. My board was some Cabrinia surfboard that Marke had put straps on that morning. Sweet setup.
The surf was decent and I’d guess that the downwinder was about 5 miles or so. It was a fun run. Alot of the way is unguarded beach so you can sail right in the surf. I got some great turns as we took our time getting back to 59th st in OC.
We arrived at our destination and immediatly went back for round 2. The wind was building nicely and by this time it was mid afternoon. The second run was basically the same with a bit more wind. It was way more crowded. There were 38 kites visible at the launch spot. Plus all the rest of the crazyness of a busy NJ Sunday on the beach. We sailed through a few surf spots, and a really popular jetski spot right at the inlet. It was a bit chaotic but just awesome. The water temp was 78 and the wind was really solid by this point.
At the end of the run I just came in because there were so many kiters right along the beach. It was pretty crowded and I was pretty cooked. It was 2pm or so and I felt so good. My bros took off to grab lunch and go for round 3. I had to peel off and get back to my family. I biked back up to 29th st and made it to the beach just as the beach party was getting rolling. The group dynamics of a really large party are so sluggish that no one had really missed me yet. It was still ripping. I couldn’t believe how well I had hit it.
Serious thanks to Mark, Marke, Charlie and Dr. John for the hookup! Sometimes things just work out for you.
