Kinnakeet

Kinnakeet rocks. That's Avon, North Carolina, an island town(ish) that straddles the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Through great contacts (Johnny, you're fricken awesome) I found some amazing people, who were nice enough to let me stay the week and awesome enough to show me the real Kinnakeet, beyond what most of the tourists see.

Wonderful from the first day - the lovely Grace Souter took me out and about to see the town and to test out my surfing legs. Down at Billy Mitchell the sets were rythmic and rideable, even for a beginner. I mean, not that I actually physically 'rode' on my first day... No, no no, not at all. But I nearly stood a handful of times, and didn't do the whole 'belly to knee' thing, which people apparently tend to do. Anyway, that doesn't matter, what matters is, the very first time we paddled out, no more than 20 feet in the distance a pair of dolphins surfaced and did their beautiful dolphiny thing. Good God. It was incredible. I could not believe I was in North Carolina! After that I notice the stingrays jumping out of the water in every direction, truly amazing! If this is what surfing is (and apparently waiting IS the bulk), count me in.


The next day in the water was stormier, but with a good shove from Justin Souter, I was finally able to pop-up and ride a wave to its completion. Hell yeah. No problem. At first it seemed like I was wobbly and about to topple, but then I somehow realized how sturdy the board beneath me felt, and I was snowboarding on thawed molecules. Ridiculously fun. But hell, just being out there in the water is fun!

The storms hit, which was a great and windy time, and like a fool I follow the locals to go body surfing. Very, very glad I did. As much as it kicked my ass (very, very much). Trying to tackle the waves (but being tackled in turn), enhances your perspective on just how powerful the ocean is. I quit early, and it turns out that later on down the tide the group I was with had to pull some struggling kid out of the water. (I say 'kid,' but it was easily a 20-something). Good work guys!


More hanging out in a beach-town ensued, with some incredibly nice and crazy people. I also met Robin-Hood. Nice shot, Sammy.

Oh yeah, and we saw some Kite-Surfers. There wasn't a good time for me to try it myself, but there's always next time. Almost everyone I met was a kite-surfing instructor at one time or another in their lives. What we see below is Justin's friend Ty.

Bad. Ass.

It was sad to leave a place with faces that had grown so familiar, but I must travel on. The ferries weren't so bad, except for the 2+ hour ride - one of the ferry employees was hitting on me (but I got to ride up in the bridge for a bit and check out the navigation equipment), and I got a phone number from a couple of surfer/fisher guys who were headed to the Morehead City area. Funny thing about that number, it was printed on the back of a receipt from Lowe's, which contained such items as tape, a utility knife and a titanium blade. I know I may be reading too much into this, but needless to say I did not follow up on their offer for a free place to stay.

A huge thank you to Justin & Grace Souter, two wonderful people who opened their arms so graciously to a relative stranger. You guys rock.