Surf's Up

Last Sunday morning began with a glorious sunrise (see last post), and the wind was blowing strong and steady. But it was warm. About 10:30 I noticed kite surfers out on the bay, so I grabbed my camera and headed for the beach. Useless Bay, usually empty at low tide or calm and smooth at high tide in the summer, was gray, with white caps, and surf pounding the shoreline, rocking the boats at anchor.

Over by Double Bluff, a group of about eight kite surfers were out on the water. Two others strayed over my way, surfing just off Sunlight Beach and in the channel to Deer Lagoon. I sat and watched the show and took photos of the action.

(Click any photo to enlarge for details. Maybe you know these guys!)

It was great to watch the surfers go airborne, but hard to catch on camera.

Just off shore from where I was sitting, a small motor boat was being swamped by the surf. There didn't seem to be anybody home in the beach houses that might have owned it. But one of the surfers saw it from above and decided to mount a rescue. His friend came to help. They struggled with the boat awash in the waves and did manage to get it closer to shore. By then Tom had joined me on the beach, and we tried to help by hauling on the rope.

We were unable to get the boat on to the beach, but the surfers retrieved the floating contents of the boat and got it tied up.

Then they resumed their surfing.