The river kicked my butt today...

[mwilson]

What a difference a day makes.

Yesterday it was all grins and giggles paddling on the Deschutes in the Old Mill district of Bend. As a beginner I'm really trying to focus on learning technique and yesterday felt like a bit of a breakthrough: felt better reach, feathered the paddle on the recovery, etc.

Today was the opposite: felt like the board was glued to the water, stroke was all over the place, going upstream was tough! No relaxing today, everything was a struggle.

Think I'll take tomorrow off since we're supposed to get 20+ MPH winds which, coupled with the current, could make going uphill downright painful!

Even so, the worst day SUPing is still a great experience and I can't wait to get back out on the water. Need to read up on technique some more and maybe do some dry land tomorrow for the catch...

Thanks for listening!

[creepyskier]

kudos to ya for battlin' out there - makes ya strong...

[PonoBill]

Ten minutes of good technique, ten minutes of mindless paddling. Lather rinse repeat...

[mwilson]

Rinse, hmmm? I did take a pretty excellent dunking at the downriver turnaround on the good day.
Maybe that helped me focus on the upriver leg. One thing's for sure, you don't stay in the river long when you're turning around a sign that reads "Caution - spillway ahead". 

I like the idea of working on technique in intervals...thanks for the tip! There's a lot to learn but so far it's fun every step of the way.

[PonoBill]

Or you could come to the Columbia and get some downwinding in. We had a good 'un today. First half was probably a record, though I was screwing off too much to be fast. Gusting past 40. For some reason we had swells that look like swells today--in lines instead of peaks. First time I've really been able to get down inside a swell and ride the face. I was dry until our midway stop, and fell in making the turn into the slot.

About the time we got to wells island Mark was way ahead of me and I saw him go shooting off at an angle at unbelievable speed. The sandbar was kicking off some swells with faces. What a hoot. Hard to stay in, but when you did they were super fast.

[mwilson]

Wow! I saw the web cams and most of the sailors had given up on the day. Sounds like a righteous downwinder though...love to join you sometime -- maybe next year. The daughter is getting in to windsurfing and will definitely be up for a trip to da 'Hood...and I still have several brew pubs to take in.

In the meantime, we're living the dream just a bit south...