2016-06-24 Roosevelt as it should be - the last day!

Friday, June 24, 2016 - Sailing in Roosevelt - 

Warning Graphic Photos - may not be suitable...

There was some urgency to the sailing today.  Most were all packed up and planned to head home after sailing.  Kent, Ross, Karen and I had planned to delay going home, and head to the coast for the weekend.

Checking the forecast, I looked at yesterday's wind log.  No wonder we were struggling.  The lulls were less than 10mph while the gusts were over 30mph.  Not great sailing or kiting.

Yesterday's wind chart....

Today looked better, but still sailing out East.  The call was Roosevelt.  Jim, Cam, and Cynthia headed out early - hoping to get a quick sail and then a head start on the way home.  Others took their time.  Most of us were there by noon, although Andreas, Ross and Karen were a bit later.

The wind was much better than yesterday, averaging around 30mph with gust to 40mph and the lulls in the mid 20's.  Perfect sailing.

Most of the guys were on 3.7 to 4.7.  I rigged a 4.8 hucker with my small board (94L Code) and sailed it all day.  It was perfect.

Gerry said it may have been his best day ever in the Gorge.

Karen enjoyed the day sitting under the gazebo with her Ipad watching and photographing a couple of birds who had a next in the rafters.

We ran into our friend Mike Pocock, who has been living in Belize, but has returned to Hood River for the Summer.  Very good to see him.

Mike Pocock- Back from Belieze

Ross and Andreas sailed, possibly for the first time this year.  Ross tried out a 3.8, but after a short while, switched to his 5m Kite.  He says it is just more fun - and not as hard on his body.  Andreas stayed on his 4.2 all day!

Andreas on his 4.2

I think everyone had a great sail, but the day was not without its drama!

Kent - trying to smile.....

Kent came in around 3ish trailing blood.  He had cut his foot on his fin as he was adjusting his boom before his first reach.  He gritted his teeth and sailed for the next two and a half hours not realizing how badly he was cut.  When he came in walking barefoot on the sand, it really started to sting.  (I guess in the cold water the foot was numbed to some extent.)  He limped over to the picnic table where we could examine it.  Ouch!

He was quickly examined by doctors Cam and Cynthia.  Cam, the emergency room doctor, advised as follows:

1.   "I can flush it out and you can keep sailing - then I will flush it out after your sail, but it likely won't heal as fast and there will be a much higher risk of infection, or"
2.   "I can flush it out, clean it up, and stitch it shut - but then you can't get it wet for 24 yours - so no more sailing today."

At first Kent was going to go with option one -- but after some thought, looking at a photo of the cut, and remembering that he had a bike trip planned in a couple of weeks, he opted for option two.

Cam at work!

Cynthia brought Cam's suture kit, Cam dawned his blue gloves, Kent arranged himself on the picnic table, and the surgery began.  There were many gawkers from our group and other local sailors, along with much advice.  Cam kept in high spirits and joked throughout the procedure.  Karen videoed the whole procedure... some of that may make next year's video...Kent just grit his teeth.

Kent - Enjoying the attention - sort of....

Cam's surgical kit!

Kent was a good patient while Cam Flushed out the wound, applied local freezing (many needle pricks), stitched up the wound, applied a gauze pad and then wrapped the foot with tape.

Cam's Art Work - Five Stitches...

Kent - post surgery (before the freezing started to come out...)

After the procedure, Kent felt pretty good - until the freezing started coming out a bit later - then it started to hurt.

I guess field surgery makes you hot....This couple of doctors couldn't control themselves....

Kent told me to go and get my camera, so he could take some photos of me while I sailed.  As you know there are seldom photos of me sailing on the blog.  I complied and set him up sitting on the retaining wall at the waters edge looking out over the river.

Ted on his 4.8 and 94L Code

I took out my rig and took off across the water.  As I was approaching the other side - it looked like there was a sail sitting on the rocks (there is no beach any landing spot unless you go way down to Arlington.  Hoping it was not one of ours, I headed down wind to take a look.  Rene was there, climbing up the rocks to the railway tracks.  I shouted at him.  He had lost his board and was going to walk down the tracks towards Arlington to try to get it.  I said I would go down and have a look. This was a bit of a mistake,  because as I got there, I realized that I couldn't come to shore because the wind got very fluky in the small bay's that are there.  I lost track of Rene - and couldn't see his board. I decided to try to head back up wind and go back to the beach to advise the others, which is what I should have done in the first place.  On the way, I stopped Ross, who was kiting and told him what was going on.  Ross headed over but also found that he couldn't get close to shore.

Cynthia - having a great day...

When I got back to Rossevelt, I told Kent and the guy's what was happening. Cynthia said that she had just talked to Rene and that he was back by his sail, so I went across again to talk to him.  He said that he had found his board, and that all he needed was the nut that attaches his mast base to his board, and that if he had the nut, he could sail back.  Simple.  I crossed the river again and Brad gave me his mast foot plate which had two of the nuts on it.  I stuffed this in my life jacket and headed back to Rene.  With the help of another fellow who had stopped, we got him his nut, and got his rig back in the water and reconnected.  I followed Rene back across the river without any more difficulty.

The Rescue.....

On shore, Rene explained that when his mast separated from his board, he had first tried to swim after the board, but couldn't catch it.  He though he had lost his whole rig, but swam back and found his sail still floating, so he was able to swim it to shore and climbed out.  Miraculously, his board, which had washed up on the rocks was not damaged.  Unfortunately, he did crack the crystal on his new GPS watch when he was climbing up the rocks and slipped. (they are very slimy and slippery).

Rene - the Returning Hero!

What a day!

After all that excitement, it was around 5:00pm. Everyone was packing up and saying their goodbyes.

Ross, Karen, Kent and I headed back to the condo's.  Our trip to the coast was off, but all our stuff was still in Hood River.  We went to 6th Street Bistro for supper and had some of the best ribs I can ever remember eating.  Ross, Kent and I all ordered the full rack, and when it came, the ribs were extending beyond the edges of the plate on both sides.  We were all hungry and finished them off with little difficulty.  The owner Chris Creasy, came over and visited with us for a while.  He is alway interested in our adventures and appreciative that we frequent his Bistro.  He wished us well and told us he is looking forward to seeing us again in the fall.

I left the condo before 7:00am the next morning heading for home.  Kent was an hour ahead of me.  I doubt that he slept well with his foot, and as he told me when I called him on the way back, he was anxious put it up and put some ice on it.

I understand that Blaine and Brad stopped at Old Man Dam in the morning and it was windy, but the parking lot was empty.  After such a great day in Roosevelt the day before, they chickened out and decided to head home.

I must have been the last of our group crossing the border that day, so when the border office heard I was windsurfing, he just rolled his eyes and told me to have a nice day....

I drove as far as Nobleford where I stayed the night with my friends Kirk and Barb.  We had a very nice evening catching up.  Kirk hasn't been to the Gorge for a few years, so was very interested in what has changed.   In the morning I delivered a Kiteboard to a fellow in Innisfail for Kirk and also met my friend Bob Klat, who lives in Innisfail, for lunch.  It was very nice to catch up with Bob.  I was home just before 4:00pm.

Another great trip.  The wind was a bit more spotty than usual, but there was sailing and/or kiting every day.  I am already looking forward to our fall trip.

Doctors Cam and Cynthia!

A rare photo of Ted

Another Ted photo...

Done for the day.  Best day of the trip!

A final thought.....

2016-06-23 The Gorge is a fickle place!

Thursday, June 23, 2016 The Wall and Roosevelt Park.

Kent says that he as never seen a day with so much potential, which turned out with so little sailing.

The day started off like any other down here.  Dog River for Coffee/Tea, where I do most of my blogging.  Then across the street to Bette's for breakfast, where we had our favorite waitress Sherie. It is always fun to check out our bill to see how she describes each of us so that she does not get our orders confused.  Today, I was Red and Black (the colour of my shirt.)

Temira's forecast was for Gusty West Wind in the afternoon from Maryhill East.  Perfect!  We would check out the Wall, and if it didn't look good there, we would head to Roosevelt.  Ross and Andreas decided to wait it out and decide where they were going after the day settled in, but the rest of us decided to head out.

I did stop at Sailworks as I left town.  Phil Soltysiak was there, so I had a nice chat with him.  He asked about Spencer and Laura and gave me a hard time because I wasn't entering any of the contests this weekend.... as if......

With this delay, I was about an hour behind the others.  As I turned off the highway and was driving past all the fruit stands on my way to The Wall, I got a call from Harold saying that the gang had decided that the Wall was not the place to be, and that they were all heading to Roosevelt.  I turned around and headed back down the highway arriving at Roosevelt around 1:00pm.

Of course, the folks there had been out in the morning, but the wind had backed off so there were only a couple of kiters and windsurfers still on the water.  No worries - we were sure that the wind would come back up.

Gerry headed out on his 5.6, and the rest started to rig. Gerry had a bit of a ride, but then the wind dropped again - then it was up - then it was down - then it was up.....

We kept thinking it would fill in.  Kent brought down all three of his boards, but didn't rig a sail until the end of the day, and then he rigged a 6/6 Hucker.

There was lots and lots of gear rigged on the beach, but there was also a big line of sailors sitting in chairs reading and/or watching the water.

A gust would go through and the river would fill with white caps, and then literally a minute or less, any sailors who were out would be struggling to get a water start.

Most of us got out on the were on the water at one point.

Blaine had a total of 8 reaches.  Rene had a similar experience.

Brad rigged and walked out, then looked at the river and then walked back.  Later he did the same thing - and never did get sailing.

Brad de-rigging after a day of no sailing.

Andreas and Ross had a similar day in different spots.  They finally went out at Lyle, but had only a 15 minute sail before the wind quite.

I think those that got out all had some runs and some claimed excellent sessions (Harold and Cynthia).  I think that on days like today the lighter sailors have a real advantage.....

I enjoyed my book "Mornings with Bernie".

We got back late.  I went to China Gorge with Kent, Rene, Harold, Gerry, Brad and Blaine, while the rest went to Double Mountain Pizza.

It was an interesting day.  There sure is no nicer place in the world to sit and wait for wind than Roosevelt Beach Park on a sunny warm day1  As Kent said we have rarely seen a day with so much potential, that just never worked......

Roosevelt Beach Park

2016-06-22 Mixed Bag

Wednesday, June 22, 2016 - Sailing the Hatchery - and Elsewhere.

The forecast today was for the wind to come in waves - with the best wind in the Corridor.  Our day started out as usual with Dog River for coffee and then Bette's for breakfast.

Most of us went to the Hatchery and started the day with a nice sail on 4.8 to 5.6 sails.  After an hour or so, the wind started to drop, so everyone except Cynthia and Harold came off the water for lunch.

Cam headed to the Event site for his afternoon Kiting Lesson.  His instructor gives him a radio headset, so he can follow Cam on a jetski giving him verbal instructions as Cam practices his jibes and sailing.  Cam is making great progress.

Karen also took a lesson today.  She tells us she is making most of her transitions and progressing well!

Andreas and Ross had said they would be at the Kiting site by the Bridge by 2:00ish, but by the time I got there they were already out, and the wind was coming off.  There were almost no kiters on the launch site.  I am pretty sure I could have gone out on my 13.5 kite, but with no one there to watch me (and find track down my board if I lost it), I decided to give it a pass.

I drove over to the Event Site to see if Cam had finished his lesson, and then saw Bruce Peterson and Phil Soltysiak heading out on their Formula gear.  I got my camera and took a few photos.  It is amazing to watch how fast they go in almost no wind.  I met Phil many years ago at Nitinat Lake on Vancouver Island, and have followed his career ever since.  He has been a top 10 (in the world) freestyle windsurfer for years and recently is doing very well in slalom as well.  Check out his website here.  Bruce is a local friend here in Hood River who I have known for years.  He is a local and US Slalom champion and runs his own company, Sailworks.

Bruce Peterson and Phil Soltysiak

Phil

The wind picked up late in the afternoon, so the guys at the Hatchery were able to get back out.  Kent had a great time on his 6.6 Hucker blasting back and forth at twice the speed of everyone else on the water (most limping along on 4.8's or 5.3's).  As it picked up, he switched down to his 4.8.  Most of the guys were on 4.2 to 5.3 for about an hour.

Blaine spent the afternoon "Demo-ing" everyone else's equipment.  He says "Why re-rig your own stuff if you can use everyone else's.

Jim, Cynthia, Cam, Andreas, Ross and I met at the Sandbar Pub (on the waterfront at the Event Site), for a beer at the end of the day.  It was a beautiful warm day.

Half the guy's went to 6th Street for supper, while the others went to Three River's Grill.

Three River's Grill

Another great day!  More photos of Bruce and Phil are on my Flickr site HERE ...

Phil - going downwind on Bruce's rig!

Bruce still in front!

Phil

Bruce laying down a jibe - makes it look easy!

Phil and Bruce

2016-06-21 - Are you a bug or a windshield?

Tuesday, June 21, 2016 - Double Dipping (Tripple for Kent).

We started off in a panic!  Temira's Forecast said it would be windy out east in the morning dropping off by noon.  We skipped Dog River and Bettes, made a quick stop at Safeway and McDonalds, then headed East.

The view from the Wall

We all arrived at the Wall by 9:30.  Gerry was first to arrive and went out on his 4.8.  A rigging frenzy followed.

Jim made the correct call and went out on his 5.2.  Yesterday he had suffered from making the wrong call and going out on his 7.0 during the peak wind.  Yesterday he was the Bug.  Today it was my turn to be the bug, and Jim was the windshield.  I followed the rest and went out on my 4.8 and 115L board.  It did not work.  I got going on the way out, and then slogged across the river three more times.  I re-rigged to my 5.6 as the wind dropped and slogged across a few more times.  Jim meanwhile was fully powered.  He kept screaming by me (3 or four times per reach) with a big grin on his face, while I struggled with my board half sunk and not able to get on a plane.

Gerry 4.8 Hucker!

The wind backed off around noon as predicted.  Most of the guy's had a good, but short, sail.  Cynthia and Cam did really well.

Kent had a good session!

As we were coming off the water, Andreas and Ross kited up from Ruffus, showing off how much range their kites have.  Andreas stopped on the far side and let Cam take his kite for a while.  Cam is trying to learn how to do jibes on a directional board so he was entertaining us with some spectacular crashes.

Andreas came up to play!

An update of the forecasts indicated that it was windier towards Hood River, so we decided to meet at Rowena.  By the time I got there, Kent was out on his 7.5m sail and big board.  He was the only person on the water, and was enjoying himself doing long powered reaches and jibing into almost no wind at the edges of the river!  The rest of us just watched for a while.

Kent on his 7.5m sail at Rowena

I left and went to the Event Site to see what was going on.  It was much windier there than at Rowena so I texted the guys to let them know.  Most of the guys headed to swell, where they had a great afternoon on 5ish sized sails.

Kent won the rigging contest with three sailing sites, and a total of four sails, three hulls, four fins, and two wetsuits......

Gerry said he went faster than ever before, but when he went to look at his GPS watch, it was gone.  He said his average speed in now getting slower and slower, unless some fish picked it up and took it down-river.  Anyway, we will never know how fast he was actually going.....

I ran into Ross and Andreas who suggested I go kiting with them.  We drove across the river and launched at the kite spot under the bridge.  It was my first time kiting in the Gorge and my fourth time out in the last 12 years.  I surprised myself and was able to keep control of the kite for the most part, and was able to kite back and forth across the river with only a few crashes and issues.   Keeping up wind was easy, because every time I lost my board and had to body drag back to it, the current sent me up wind.  By the end of the afternoon, I was starting to get almost comfortable and was able to sail upwind and downwind.  I am still not doing any "transitions".  I just drop in the water at the end of each reach and just re-start in the other direction.  Cam had a great session, making more and more of his jibes.

Ted's first day Kiting in the Gorge!

We all came to shore around 5:00, and then headed up to "Everybody Brewing", in White Salmon.
After a few call's, we convinced everyone else to come there for supper, although apparently, Cynthia had made reservations at Three Rivers which she then had to cancel, so she made it clear that Cam owes her a supper at a location which is NOT a brewery tomorrow.

The gang at Everybody Brewing in White Salmon

Most of us were early to bed after a long day on the water, although I heard that Jim stayed up late to watch a movie.  We are looking forward to more wind tomorrow.

2016-06-20 - Swell City

Monday, June 20, 2016 - Swell City

The forecast for today was not great.  No wind at all in the morning, but the possibility of a "push" in the corridor in the afternoon.

Brad

We had coffee at Dog River and Breakfast at Bette's as usual.  We then split up, with some shopping, some washing their vehicles, and others just sitting around.

Gerry was hitting his Port Jumps

The wind started to pick up as predicted in the mid afternoon, so Cam, Ross and Andreas went kiting at the bridge, while the rest of us went to Swell City.  It started off very light, with a couple of guys on very big (8m) sails.  The wind gradually started to build.  Most of the guys went out on 5.6m kites,  Harold was on a 5.3 and I was on my 6.6m Hucker.  The 6.6 worked well for the first while, but then I got totally over powered.

Gerry - Gybing

I made it back to the beach in time to watch Big Air Jim take out his 7.5m sail and big board.  I tried to convince him to take Cynthia's rig (a 5.6m sail and Fish board), but he was set on doing his own thing.  It didn't turn out well.  He got caught on the wrong side of the river when a barge came past, and then was finally able to get back to our side, but had to walk back.  (This is the second day I have seen him walking.)  His comment was that sometimes you are the windshield and sometimes you are the bug.....

Blaine - swimming back after the wind died.

Karen and Ross ended the day with a kite session at the event site.  It turned out to be the windiest time of the day.  Karen says she is getting more comfortable, but she is looking forward to more (expensive) lessons tomorrow.
For a no wind day, we had a great sail.  We ate supper at 6th Street, and Brad insisted that we all go to Dairy Queen for ice cream.  (We had some leftover money from our visit to China Gorge a few days before.)

Kent enjoying his ice cream at DQ

Rene, Kent and I ended the evening with an intense few games of cribbage before bed!