Surfing, Interrupted

I suspect that "Hurricane Irene" may become shorthand for the culture of perpetual panic which is modern America. We were forced to evacuate Emerald Isle Thursday afternoon--Thursday. And by "forced" I mean that people came to our condo and took the linens and crib, giving us no option to watch and wait. 

Today, Saturday, the "historic" storm finally slammed into the Carolina coast resulting in . . . well, not much. Rain. Very few power outages (a total of 22,000 in the state). Some minor street flooding. The storm has already dropped down to Category 1 and is losing power quickly. Meanwhile, a fifth of the country is running around like chickens minus their heads.

Sigh. To think we were once a frontier people who settled a continent. Goodbye to all that.

Even so, Cody--and later Cordelia--got some good surfing in. Videos below.

The first is just Cody. It's a lot of waiting for a wave, and the wave turns out to be pretty minor. But it's worth it just for the end to watch him hop up and give the gnarly sign.

This one is much longer and features a series of minor waves. No need to sit through the full 3 minutes--you can jump to the 1:45 mark to watch him ride the Big One.

A little later, Cordelia wanted to try. So first, we let her get on the board with her big brother there to keep her safe:

Then she was ready for a solo ride. We began with her sitting on the board, but then she wanted to emulate Cody and try lying down. It's priceless.