Coastal Urge Kite Crew Rides Irene

BALD HEAD ISLAND, NC  Hurricane Irene came screaming, but our Coastal Urge Crew yelled right back at her. As Bald Head Island went into full lock-down on Friday, we hit South Beach and geared up for one of the most epic Coastal Urge kiteboarding smack-downs.

The Crew rode straight into a gauntlet of massive overhead waves and monstrous winds gusting up to 50mph. Dale was boosting over 60 feet on his Ozone 9m, while Hunter rallied on a North 7m with some of the biggest airs any of us have ever seen. When I asked the guys what they thought of Irene, they agreed that “…holy [cow], she’s hairy!” Regardless, we gave Mother Nature a show that was nothing less than outright ridiculous.

Despite countless warnings, the three of us ventured out later in the evening to endure the elements and capture the intensity of Irene’s wrath. By 6pm, the swell on South Beach had almost tripled in size, the wind and rain were reaching unbearable, and fallen debris was making our safari-style golf cart ride nearly impossible. Just to stand upright on East Beach was a knarly battle against the ill-tempered Irene, but we can proudly say that we claimed our ground and won the fight.

BHI took a substantial beating from lady Irene throughout the night, but the island held it’s own. We lost power for a few hours in the early morning, and managed without water until late afternoon when the the Village was given the ‘okay’ to turn it back on. Roads are covered with limbs and scattered debris, a few large trees are down, beaches are completely blown out; but, thankfully no major devastation or significant structural damage occurred.

Irene certainly threw a tantrum that we won’t forget. But, hey— you can guarantee that even until the next storm, we’ll continue to push boundaries, boost BIG air, and share our active adventurous lifestyle with Bald Head Island and beyond!

What can I say?… we’ve got the ‘coastal urge.’

8/27/11
SaraJane Marshall