It's On In The Gorge

[Southbay]

Glad you're back on the water Pono!  have a safe trip and get back to Maui soon.

Cove, that really sucks about the storm.  My fault....I said it looked good.  Stupid stupid.....

[covesurfer]

Yes, it's positioning itself to hit on the weekend. But, you never know, maybe we'll dodge it!

[cnski]

Ya the wind was rocking early then really dropped and turned way southerly. Didn't seem like it was coming back up so I didn't do the run today. Not enough gas for a repeat of yesterday. Went kiting and saw folks coming downwind mid-afternoon up above Wells. Looked like a lot of fun as the wind was good. Saw a lady on a NSP getting some nice glides as I was s-turning in front of her. That section above Wells looks like a hoot.

[PonoBill]

If you hit it just right it's a very peaky wave. Of course the nutball way to do it is to cross over the the washington side and do the Hatchery and swell city.

[ValleyGirl]

I love that Big Winds Shuttle at 1:30.  Thank you Bill for moving my fin for me.  I only fell 3 x and got some encouraging glides.  Going again today.

 During the week when it's not crowed I want to try putting in at Drano and taking out at the Hatchery cove. From there  I can bum a ride back to my car and repeat.   The swells are bigger on the WA side.   Different set of obstacles over there but I want to learn how to navigate that section.

[JP4]

Wow, really honking on the Viento run today, with filled in conditions the whole way and some really great glides, and the occasional big drop.  Set some new PR's for continuous planing I think, the connections were coming really easy.
 
Since Cove suckered me into this sport late last summer, I've talked three other suckers into it to, so now I'm the ring leader of a gaggle of middle age kooks.  Lied to them about how easy it is just to get more shuttle drivers on speed dial.

Been a solid week for wind here, I think the best since early June. 

[covesurfer]

Good, you're hooked. I go in peace, my work there is finished.

[JP4]

Maybe not.  Still eyeballing those Maui condo's

[PonoBill]

ValleyGirl, If you do the drano run, take out at the White Salmon or cross to the event center. We do that for a change up. YOu can also just cross over at Mitchell Point to hit the big swells at the Hatch and swell city. I like the middle of the river for mostof the run, and then cross over and surf the hatchery. Or just take a SUP surfboard and go in at the hatchery. Surf the swells, then sit down and put your feet down and the current takes you right back to the beginning. Lather, rinse, repeat. No shuttle required.

[PonoBill]

Huli practice this morning in the OC6. It's pretty cool to have two boats now. My shoulder is still not up to strength, so I fitted my paddle with a choke grip so I can keep my upper hand rotated vertically when I paddle on the right side. Helps a lot. I change it up with occasional full top handle grips but it takes me a couple of strokes to get there. My shoulder is tired after, but feels warm and loose.

Getting back in the boat after the huli was the biggest challenge. I could get a leg wrapped on the gunwale and make the reach across, but couldn't pull with my left arm. Had to have John Davies boost my ass in.

The downwinders have been great. Yesterday was light all day and finally kicked in around three. I did a bunch of paddling and drills with my 12'2" instead of a downwinder. By the time it came up I was committed to a picnic with Diane. So I was drinking champagne and snacking on amazing fuit and goodies from the Farmer's Market when I watched a small group cruise by the EC followed by Josh Sceva in his OC1. Pretty pleasant. Hood River is such a great place.

I'm going to start doing downwinders on the 12'2", which will piss off everyone that has to wait for me, but it's what I want to use for the BOP and the Gorge Challenge Races, so I need to get my sea legs on it.

[PonoBill]

Smoking today. My daughter and two grandsons arrived at PDX about 11, so I picked them up and shagged back to HR. Got Diane and had lunch at Solistice, which got my downwinder ya-ya's up pretty seriously--it was howling at the event center and there were so many kiters and windurfers that they filled the HUGE even center lot and overflowed to fill most of the dirt lot. I was pawing the ground and snorting. Parmenter was in Bend, Josh Sceva wasn't answering, I couldn't find Lazlo's number and the big winds shuttle was long gone. So I got Diane to shuttle me.

The first leg was kind of light, but when I got to Mitchel point the current, water depth and wind conspired to kick out overhead waves. More like head deep holes in the river. Honestly. I dropped into one and got hit from behind on the head and shoulders. fall number one.

Things smoothed out into one of those classic gorge runs where you can link and link, and link and link. I went halfway across the river on one swell set. Crazy long glides as long as you went where they wanted you to go. I wound up on the Washington side but the Hatch and Swell City looked like an upset beehive with all the windsurfers and kiters. So I skirted the big swells and just picked off a couple while I scooted through. Big though.

Slid back across the river and picked up the tail of the well express, smoked it thought the event center and hooked into the mouth at Nichols like I knew what I was doing. Not a record run by any means, but fast, smooth, and satisfying.

Sometimes it's really good to go by yourself.

[covesurfer]

Love the gorge reports! Looking forward to paddling there in a few weeks. I'm a little nervous that I won't remember how to move a 14 fixed fin around in the water after so much time with the rudder boards. Maliko was smokin' today. Ralf, Devin, the King, Shep and I all had really good runs. Best wind in a long time with gusts in the mid 30's and pretty nice windswell. Fresh trades all week courtesy of the tropical storm low tracking past the Big Island down to our south and west. This is my gorge training. Wrestling with the idea of trying the Jav on a Maliko....really don't want to do that though.

[laszlo]

Hey Bill, I'm in the book. I went today with Lance from Seattle. It was his second run of the day, my only. What I did is, I tried going on my F16 using that goofy weed rudder that you warned me against. Well you and Rod were right, it wasn't even remotely doable. The board had a mind of its own, it basically went where it wanted to. But because you guys had warned me, I took the standard rudder in my camelback, so I paddled ashore (it wasn't easy to find a landing spot west of Mitchell Point) and swapped out the rudder. What a difference! Of course now I had to worry about collecting weeds, which I proceeded to do. So basically, there is no really good solution to weeds with the ruddered boards, as far as I know.

By the way Gregg, do you have a place to stay?

[headmount]

JC and I launched at 2:30 and it was very good.  Been fun paddling with him.  Got a new camelback (the Rogue).  Shirley put an extra lower strap and it works perfect.  Concise and fits in center of my back with no wobble... plus 70 oz bladder.

Some of my pals that did M2O are still tapped out.  Think I'd rather do more Malikos than long hauls, especially when it's like today.  More family arriving tomorrow so my runs are limited.

[covesurfer]

More family arriving tomorrow so my runs are limited.

HM, I figured you probably had more family in town. Glad to hear you made it out though. I sent you an email earlier and SB also was going to get in touch to see if you could go today. It's smokin already at 10am.

Laszlo, yes, I am all set with a place to stay! My daughter is going to pick me up at pdx and I may even work for Big Winds while I'm there, helping with the shuttle and doing some guiding if there's any business. I don't know what board I'm going to ride but I guess it's gotta be a 14' for the races. Look forward to getting to see you and paddle with you while I'm there!