Author Topic: It's On In The Gorge  (Read 82787 times)

PonoBill

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Re: It's On In The Gorge
« Reply #90 on: May 06, 2015, 08:31:39 PM »
You should have showed up today. Admin and Chan called me this morning and said "we should do a downwinder" I thought they meant eventually, but they meant right now.  So we did. I had to take Sam to the groomer, and then wait around to bail him out (he looks lovely and almost smells OK) so we didn't meet at the event center until 11:00. Jan Boersma showed up while we were stacking boards. meaning to go kiting, but he had his board on the truck, so we tossed it on.

We had decent wind all the way. Certainly not nuking, but respectable swells, with the wind probably gusting to 25 and averaging under 20. The river level is super low. I ran aground coming off the sandbar at Wells Island, had to run to the nose to lift the rudder. My Bullet 17 was da kine today, I was able to keep Jan in sight all the way to Wells. My knee is doing great. I only fell once. My practice all winter of paddling like hell for every bump because I knew I was going to fall twenty times really paid off. I was in glides pretty much the whole way. Jan did the run in 1:15 and said I came in less than ten minutes behind him.

Admin and Chan did fine, they had a good run--they're first downwinder in a long time. It turned a lot colder while we were loading up.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

covesurfer

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Re: It's On In The Gorge
« Reply #91 on: May 06, 2015, 08:40:05 PM »
You guys don't even wanna know how windy Maliko was today. It was like last Saturday (race day). Screaming winds, gusting to 40+ at the airport and some big-assed drops. I think I got the biggest wave I've ever ridden somewhere off of Sugar Cove area. Unreal. Wind is supposed to hold into the weekend. And, to top it off, we've got a very nice little swell coming in on the southside.

OK, sorry. I'm wondering about those low water levels in May....what is it going to be like in late August?? :-[

headmount

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Re: It's On In The Gorge
« Reply #92 on: May 06, 2015, 09:47:54 PM »
Cove is telling the truth.  Best day in ages.  Best time for me on SUP.  Raced with Steve Ross the whole way.  Best time for JR 53 mins.... 

PonoBill

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Re: It's On In The Gorge
« Reply #93 on: May 07, 2015, 06:18:36 AM »
Very cool. Can't figure why you'd assume I'd think Cove was lying just to screw with me. although I did. Got to go paddle sixmacanu.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

PonoBill

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Re: It's On In The Gorge
« Reply #94 on: May 23, 2015, 09:43:13 PM »
Back in the Hood after a week in Boston to see my Mom. She's pretty sick, but she's talking about the vacation I promised her in July after the Challenge on the Charles race. Rented a house in Chatham. I think she'll make it. She survived having me around as a kid, so she's pretty strong.

Smoking in the gorge today. The sand was blowing off the sandbar so hard you couldn't see the middle of the bridge. Hundreds of kitesurfers on the beach for memorial Saturday, but only a few brave souls out in the big wind. I had a lot of stuff to do, so I didn't meet Rod and Lazlo until 4:00. When we got into the water it was on instantly. Big swells everywhere, but mitchel point was nuts. I was on my Bullet 17, and the big steep drops were pretty tricky--stuck the nose at high speed a lot, even though I was banking hard right and left. Fell twice at the point. Rod got away and Lazlo caught me. But then it cleaned up and got mid sized with more gap between waves, so I started flying.

The sandbar coming off wells is HUGE with the low water level. I tried to find the edge but wound up riding shallow water swells at an angle. By the time I got to wells I was just hooking one swell to the other constantly with no dropoff. I didn't paddle at all next to wells. Then it got a little weird off the end of wells as usual, but the wind was strong, so I stayed hooked in for the ride. The last leg was blistering, I couldn't get stopped as I approached the beach and wound up running my board two thirds out of the water on the soft sand. No damage.

My knees and thighs ached all the way home, I could hardly drive, but the steam shower eased the pain.
« Last Edit: May 23, 2015, 09:50:38 PM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

stoneaxe

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Re: It's On In The Gorge
« Reply #95 on: May 23, 2015, 10:13:36 PM »
Glad you had a good one when you got home. Was fun surfing with you last week. I bringing Mom some pea soup I made for her tomorrow.
Bob

8-4 Vec, 9-0 SouthCounty, 9-8 Starboard, 10-4 Foote Triton, 10-6 C4, 12-6 Starboard, 14-0 Vec (babysitting the 18-0 Speedboard) Ke Nalu Molokai, Ke Nalu Maliko, Ke Nalu Wiki Ke Nalu Konihi

covesurfer

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Re: It's On In The Gorge
« Reply #96 on: May 23, 2015, 11:52:29 PM »
Wow, yep, it's that time of year. You are in for some good ones. That is a great report. Where are you guys coming in with a "sandy beach"....???? I mean forgive me, but 'sandy beach' in the Gorge means the boulders are just smaller  ;D ;D ;D

The Wells express area sounds a bit hairy with the low water. I've seen plenty of big swells actually break in there and suck up off the bottom in 3 to 5 (tre to figh) feet of water. You like take one fin off your bahrd.

It rained about 3" last night at our place. Sun never came out today. I shoulda gone over to the west side for surf - went yesterday and perfect shoulder high fun waves. Tried to go for a bike ride and did but had to cut it short because of all the gnats. Seriously. Friggin millions of them. So nasty, there were places you did not want to even breath. Like riding through a storm of them. When I hit the shower at home, the bathtub was covered with their carci. Kind of took the fun out of the bike ride. Tomorrow, I'll just hit the west side again. The hell with real exercise.

Keep the Gorge reports coming.

JP4

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Re: It's On In The Gorge
« Reply #97 on: May 24, 2015, 12:47:20 AM »



The Wells express area sounds a bit hairy with the low water. I've seen plenty of big swells actually break in there and suck up off the bottom in 3 to 5 (tre to figh) feet of water. You like take one fin off your bahrd.


Yeah Cove, we had the shore pound going there between the pilings and Wells the other day, sucking right off the sand.  Water is already crazy low.  Gotta stay extra far away from the pilings, which wasn't easy yesterday with the wind hard out of the north.  Ended up doing the Pocahontas for a minute to extract myself from the mine field.  Need a rudah!
Been some good runs lately.

PonoBill

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Re: It's On In The Gorge
« Reply #98 on: May 24, 2015, 07:05:12 AM »
You wouldn't recognize the event center cove. Sandy beach and breaking waves. I'm going to take my L41 out and surf it if the wind's good today. It's ten inches of water for a few hundred yards with a sandbar that runs perpendicular to the jetty. When I realized I couldn't stop I ran to the nose to lift the rudder and it slid right up on the beach, not a scratch, though my dismount was a little froggy. Didn't fall face first on the sand though, so I go that going for me.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

JP4

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Re: It's On In The Gorge
« Reply #99 on: May 24, 2015, 10:21:27 AM »
I've given up on landing on the east end of the beach now.  We've been parking and taking out at the far west end of the event site to stay out of the shallows.  Gotta make a hard buoy turn around the little jetty, but once you make it you're out of the wind and away from the kiters.
It will be interesting to see if the Event Site is even usable for water sports without dredging in a few years.  Remember windsurfing at the Marina beach in the old days?

laszlo

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Re: It's On In The Gorge
« Reply #100 on: May 24, 2015, 11:32:41 AM »
Now that they are charging for parking at the Event Site it seems that taking out at Waterfront Park is the better option. Plenty of parking at the Luhr Jensen lot and less kite traffic.

Yes I remember sailing at the Marina, long before they built the Event Site. With the new landscaping at Nichols underway, and the improvements at the Hook, the whole Hood River waterfront is really getting developed. But they will have to do some dredging sooner or later, the sandbar is getting out of control.

PonoBill

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Re: It's On In The Gorge
« Reply #101 on: May 24, 2015, 12:07:27 PM »
Going today at 1:00. Meet at the event site. I'm going to buy a yearly pass. You'd think you could by a "rest of life" pass with a substantial discount for geezers.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

starman

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Re: It's On In The Gorge
« Reply #102 on: May 24, 2015, 12:15:28 PM »
laszlo, it's not the first time that sandbar got out of hand. I'm sure you remember this from '09;

 http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/07/barge_hauling_1_million_gallon.html

PonoBill

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Re: It's On In The Gorge
« Reply #103 on: May 24, 2015, 12:39:51 PM »
I remember when there was no sandbar at all. Just a shallow spot downstream of the Hood River. At least I think I remember that.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

headmount

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Re: It's On In The Gorge
« Reply #104 on: May 24, 2015, 01:31:29 PM »
I remember when there was no sandbar at all. Just a shallow spot downstream of the Hood River. At least I think I remember that.

Glad you're getting runs in.  Spent the whole day at kaiser clinic yesterday, blood, pee, and cat scan.  They said I was OK, maybe an ulcer or some kind of stomach irritation.  No coffee or alcohol.  Maybe I'll go for a run today. 

 


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