Kite surfers

As usual, we were up bright and early this morning. Well, not so bright... it was a truly snotty weather day; cold, dark, raining, and very windy. We would not be moving any where today. But we knew that when we got here. The forecast is for the wind not to abate until Tuesday morning.

Considering the terrible conditions we thought we would not see anyone today. Imagine our surprise when, around 1000, several people showed up carrying small surfboards and bags of equipment. All were wearing wet suits so obviously planned on getting in the water. But, the 1' waves here certainly weren't large enough to surf. Then they started getting material out of the bags and inflating them.. kite sails!

It was not long before the first guy was in the water, and blew past us. He was quite skilled, and was doing air jumps and flips all around us. It was great fun to watch. I got some good video and pictures and will upload them once we get good internet access.

Finally got good enough internet to get a couple of pics uploaded.

They can really get some air!!

 

The next guy hit the water, and buzzed by our stern less than 10' away. Much to my surprise, he was in his 50's. I expected this to be a bunch of 20-somethings. He made several more close passes, and even asked "When's lunch?" as he zoomed by.

Late in the day we heard a loud thump on the back of the boat. My first thought was that one of the surfers had hit us; they had been coming ever closer. But when I looked I found that our brand new American flag, and flagstaff, had  fallen off, bounced off the swim platform, and was drifting away. I was quite upset as I had just replaced our inexpensive nylon flag with a quite pricey, heavy duty, embroidered stars, Tough-tex version. As I watched it float away I considered jumping in after it. But the water was cold, with a strong current. Just not worth it. Then I noticed it was no longer drifting away, but was holding about 30' from the boat. I grabbed a fishing pole and cast past the flag. I reeled back in and snagged the flag in the first try. In 11 years we have never had the flag blow out of the flag holder. That's what I get for mounting an expensive flag!

In the end, there were about a dozen kite surfers all around us. Even though the conditions were miserable, they remained here most of the day. The last stragglers did not leave until it was getting dark. They were all cold and tired, but were babbling excitedly about how great the day had been.

It sure looks like something I would like to try sometime!