Mt. Isabel de Torres

NORSA members Alan and Adam, while taking a short leave of absence from regular scheduled NORSA events, took the opportunity to re-invigorate themselves in the NORSA lifestyle in the most proper way possible: by climbing a mountain.



Currently based in Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, Alan and Adam began the day with their sights set on the nearby 2700 ft summit of Isabel de Torres. The mountain features a tram to the top, botanical gardens, and a Rio-esque statue of Jesus Christ. Armed with only their rudimentary spanish, stereotypical tourist costumes, and NORSA wilderness sense, the duo set off in the morning for the base of the mountain.

Knowing only that a trailhead existed somewhere near the base of the tram, and that the tram was located somewhere near downtown, Adam and Alan hopped onto a local 'wah-wah' taxi/shuttle/jitney for a ride into the city. Taking bearings off the mountain, they hopped off their ride at the nearest spot to the tram. Taking a trip up a side road, they made it up to the base of the tram, only to be bombarded (swarm-style) by a flurry of locals seeking to serve as guides. Various allegations were made about the hike (it was dangerous; the locals living in the woods will ambush you; hiking up alone is strongly discouraged), however, NORSA-wits prevailed (along with prior information that none of this was true). Eventually negotiating a contract with a different local, this individual provided what the team was seeking: instructions on how to get to the trailhead along a map drawn out in sticks on the ground about which turns to take on the way up.

The two confusing turns on the trail occurred in the first half mile, while the rest of the climb was extraordinarily pleasant. No knife-welding tree people were sitting in waiting. The trail itself, although not marked, was very well built and easy to follow.

The top of the mountain provided an epic view of the city and the northern Caribbean sea. The team enjoyed the view along with a hearty lunch of sardines on crackers. Accosted once more by a local trying to scalp tickets for the tram ride down, the duo parted with the summit and re-traced their steps back to the base. A successful outing, and a reassuring test of the blood-borne, NORSA spirit that lives within all NORSA members.

North Carolina Challenge!

Fellow NORSA member Alan Stewart is in the midst of racing the North Carolina Challenge - a 100 mile unsupported expedition race through the waters of coastal North Carolina.

Follow Alan's Spot Tracker here: http://watertribe.com/Events/ChallengeMapper.aspx. He is listed as "DancesWithSandyBottom."


Alan is racing with his father Paul in a Core Sound 20 they built themselves in their basement. They previously raced the boat to a 4th place finish in the 2008 Watertribe Everglades Challenge.

Tybee 500 Recap!

This past week, NORSA members Alan and Adam traveled up Florida's east coast with the Tybee 500 sailboat race. The race is a multi-day beach catamaran race from Islamorada, Florida to Tybee Island, Georgia. The distance is ~540 miles as the crow flies, but many teams reported sailing near 600 miles on their GPS tracks.

Alan, a three time sailor with the race, was crewing aboard Team Velocity 1/Anarchy Challenge with NORSA friend Trey Brown. Sailing in the Nacra 20 class, they finised in second place with a total elapsed time of two days, 54 minutes, and 27 seconds - only 15 minutes behind the first place finisher.


Adam was working as pusher/ground crew for a team out of Annapolis Maryland, Team Pirates of the Chesapeake consisting of skipper Keith Chapman and Alec Dauhmeier. The Pirates began planning for this race in 2005, attempted it in 2007 (but wrecked their boat in the surf during a start on the third day), and were finally able to complete the race in a respectable 11th place in the Nacra 20s.

After rigging the boats and a daily 9 AM skippers meeting, the crews would perform last minute preparations and shove off the beach at 10 AM (with an 8 AM start on the last day). The boats would race up the coast to their next waypoint and, depending on the conditions and distance, would arrive anywhere between 4:00 PM and 3:00 AM, all to do it again the next day.





Congrats to Trey and Alan and the Pirates for their excellent finishes, as well as to the entire six boat Team Velocity squadron and all competitors and ground crew. Photos, results, and discussion are available at the Tybee 500 page, the Team Velocity page, Sailing Anarchy, the Team Pirates of the Chesapeake page, and Wendy's flickr photostream.

Impromptu Hatteras!

A forecast of great weather and good wind was enough of a tease to entice a convergence of Raleigh NORSA members Alan Stewart, Adam D, and Taylor Hinson with Norfolk member Travis Dozier on Sunday.



Phone calls were made Friday evening and plans were quickly put in place for a Sunday day trip to Canadian Hole on Hatteras Island. Travis, an experienced kitesurfer, had acquired a new quiver of kites and Alan's Hobie 18 was in need of a good workout. Despite getting a later than anticipated start Sunday morning, the Raleigh crew still made it down in short time to view warm water, a beautiful sun, and winds a little greater than anticipated. Local anemometers measured steady 25 mph winds with gusts in the 30s. Windsurfers were cruising in their smallest 4.8 and 4.2 meter sails and kitesurfers were seen with their smallest gear likewise.

Travis' smallest kite is an 8 meter kite, and unfortunately his smallest working kite is a 12 meter. Being unprepared for such gnarly conditions, the entire crew focused on making the hobie 18 rip.



Unable to reef the sail, the crew decided to forgo use of the jib and use all four people to hold the overpowered boat down. The boat shot off the beach into the sound amongst a pack of windsurfers swirling about. Unfortunately, the benefits of Canadian Hole for windsurfing (waist-deep water for extremely long distances) proved to be too much for the sailboat. Upon hitting a shoal at high speed, one of the rudders failed to kick up and instead, placed a solid hole in the rear of one transom. The true nature of the damage was revealed after the limp back to shore with a sinking hull.



Despite only getting half a run in, a day in Hatteras is pleasure enough. The NORSA crew used the remaining time to tour lighthouses,



swim in the ocean near the point,


and even hold a photo-shoot for the newly inked EYE of the World apparel line (available at the newly re-designed www.eyeotw.org).

Shakori Hills!

From Friday April 17th to Sunday the 19th, NORSA members Alan, Adam, Taylor, and Jana, along with friends Matt, Brian, Cindi, Britt, and Andrew, were joined by fellow hashers Sponge, Gypsy, Slippery, Rover, Scrub, and Elickser for the Spring 2009 Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance in central Chatham County, North Carolina. The event takes place on a farm designed specifically for the purpose of hosting the festival where participants camp out all weekend long. This was the second and third Shakori Hills for much of the NORSA crowd.

Featuring multiple stages, activity tents, a dance tent, local vendors, artisans, and thousands of North Carolina's finest hippies, the festival is a weekend-long celebration of bluegrass, zydeco, country-western, folk, and reggae music. Over fifty bands participate, including past staples Donna the Buffalo, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Del Mccoury, Scythian, Boulder Acoustic Society, Eileen Jewel, The Horse Flies, the Red Hots, Old Crow Medicine Show, and many more. This year's headliner was Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, who won a Grammy award in 2002 for their work on the soundtrack for the motion picture "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

Three days of the festival can get somewhat expensive, but fortunately there are opportunities to volunteer for free passes. A three hour shift gets you one free day pass. The NORSA crew (along with many others) worked parking shifts. Alan, Adam, Taylor also showed their appreciation for nature by working compost shifts both Saturday and Sunday. The festival seeks to minimize their impact on the environment by composting and recycling as much refuse as possible. All vendors use bio-degradable utensils, plates and cups. Compost volunteers get to drive a sweet Datsun truck around the festival and, besides collecting compost, educate festival goers about the benefits of composting.

The spring festival was a success. Special thanks to Jana for organizing and picking out a sweet and central campsite.