A crazed 'downwinder' and a rescue

      It was time for Old Guys' Kite Camp, Spring Edition 2023 and a good-sized group of us gathered on the Outer Banks to take advantage of the usual good winds and not-too-cold water, as well as the good house rental rates before they skyrocket for the summer season.   We rented a big, beautiful house on the edge of the Pamlico Sound with a good launch, a good kitchen and a good hot tub.  

     The gang this time included family (my brother Mark and his wife, as well as our son Mike, his wife Adrienne and their four-year-old Krazed Kate, and our nephews from Seattle) and friends, to include Uncle Winston and Tom from Richmond, and the official Designated Sacrificial Newbie of the trip, invited to have someone else that most of us could feel better than, kiting-wise.  

      To round out the group, a former missionary that served with us in Peru and his brother and wife came, and that turned out to be lucky, as you'll see later.  Our good friend Kalie came, an early convert to kiting as introduced by Mark.  

     Obviously, to kiteboard, you've got to have wind, and Mother Nature came through nicely.  Only Friday, the last day, was non-windy, and that was actually pleasant for cleaning equipment, packing it up, sitting on the ocean-side beach while the granddaughter played at the edge of the water, and laughing about the week.

      What was there to laugh about?  Last year, Mark contacted a well-known professional kitesurfer from Holland who works for one of the major kite companies, who said, yes, I happen to be planning to be at Hatteras during your kite camp, and I'd be happy to do an instructional camp.  To our amazement, he said that our group had actually been kind of fun, and he agreed to do the same this year, as his girlfriend's family would once again be renting nearby.  Four of our group and four others made up the instructional group, and Steven, the pro, spent oodles of time with them on the water, and hours going over videos of them as they sat in our living room.  

     OK, I know that kiteboarding is a niche, "extreme" sport, but this was literally like having Tiger Woods come and work on your golf swing with you.  Talking later, Steven admitted with a grin that it was a valid comparison, although a) our sport is a LOT smaller, and b) his net worth was not quite the $1.1 billion of Mr. Woods.  If you'd like to see a short clip of him getting some major air, try here.  His instructional videos are some of the best in the world.  He was most impressive, but I think most importantly for the long run, he was impressively kind and patient, a truly nice person.

      So the laughter arose from the usual badinage between old friends catching up on good stories from the past six months as well as critiquing each others' efforts in Steven's videos of the lessons.   

      In kiting and other wind-driven sports, a "downwinder" is a run from Point A to Point B going (duh) downwind.  There is a stretch of the Pamlico Sound, the huge relatively shallow water behind the skinny island of the Outer Banks that has been nicknamed "The Planet of the Apes," or "Planet" for short.  It is so named because you literally cannot get through the tangled, impenetrable marine forest between the water and the road; if you break down, you will be wading for miles before you can escape Planet and be rescued.  Sounds stupid, but a Planet downwinder is a popular pastime when the wind is right.  If you are quite bored and want to see what it looks like, here's a 3-minute of someone else's downwinder.

      So, what could possibly go wrong?  As it happened, everything did.  People showed up late and chose the wrong sized kites for the wind, lines broke, a kite went into the trees and was ruined, other equipment broke and all in all, it was described by Steven as "like herding cats," and I didn't even know that was an expression in Holland.   

      Our son Mike and his wife Adrienne came also, and brought their four-year-old daughter Kate.  She is a funny kid, and had a great time with all the adults paying her attention.  Mike had bought her an inexpensive wetsuit, and she was dying to try it in the (unheated!) pool.

     This was a an auspicious week, date wise.  Not only was Thursday May The Fourth (as in "may the fourth be with you..."), but Friday was Cinco de Mayo.  One of the couples went all out on the theme, allowing Kate to race Uncle Winston on inflated llamas.

     She won, but he protested, claiming that she cheated.  No decision yet from the judges.

      OK, so why was it lucky that Nate came to Kite Camp this spring?  Well, NC 64 runs from Raleigh straight east to the ocean.  A lonely 30-mile two-lane stretch runs through a nearly-uninhabited region of piney woods and swamps on the way, with bears and red wolves occasionally spotted crossing the road.  In order to build the roadbed, the constructors had to raise its level above the soggy surroundings, and they did so by dredging dirt alongside its course.  This left a major ditch which filled with water.  Before adding a guard rail through much of this part of the highway, cars would occasionally run off the road and literally disappear with their occupants into the green-brown water.

     The last car of our friends coming from Kite Camp held three people, including our former missionary who speaks good Peruvian Spanish.  They were following a white van when it suddenly veered and crashed into the ditch.  They screeched to a stop and two of them jumped in as the van sank.  

     The driver was the only occupant, and happened to be a Peruvian, speaking almost no English.  They pulled him from the sinking vehicle, made sure no one else was inside and swam him to shore, as he didn't know how to swim, which is not unusual in Peru.  Our friends looked inside the van as it sank, just to make sure he had been alone. 

 The vehicle sank until only the roof was visible through the murky water.  

     Police and ambulances soon arrived, and though the loss of the driver's brother's van and the tools inside was a shame, he was not harmed, either by the crash or the swim.  

     On the other hand, our friends were now wet and not smelling too good, and they were on a tight schedule to make the flight from Raleigh to Salt Lake.  They texted us their plight on the road, and took us up on the offer to take quick showers at our place, making their flight with only a little to spare.

     In summary, a great, interesting week with good friends and family and a great kiting pro.  With a heroic ending. 

     We hope that your downwinders go better and that you're not trapped in The Planet of the Apes!  Also, be really careful driving that stretch of NC 64!

Dave & Paula