Standup Zone Forum
Stand Up Paddle => Downwind and Racing => Topic started by: PonoBill on May 18, 2012, 10:53:16 AM
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Chime in folks as you do runs.
Had a bitch of a run Wednesday with Karen Wrenn, Dan Gavere, Lee Murray and Gregg Delion. Went from Stevenson to Home Valley, which is usually a nice go, but I unwisely tried my Bark 14 Dominator. As soon as I pulled into some swell I started looking for a way to abort and go get my old Glide 14, which was on the truck. The Bark rounds up when it catches a swell and every bump is a sharp whack and wobble. It was nearly uncontrollable and it was killing my bad knee. So I ducked in to the eddy line and settled down for a long semi-flatwater paddle with minimal help from the wind, against the current. Nice workout, but a lot of work.
Thursday I went from Viento to the Event Center with Gregg. Dan Gavere left his 14' Coast Runner on my truck (he wants to sell it, and he's using the "take the puppy home and see if the kids like it" technique. Bastard. It will probably work.
What a difference. Not fast, and it does a funny, slam the brakes on move when the nose touches in a big glide (I'm not talking about when the nose punches the wave in front, but rather when it simply touches down as it catches the wave), but generally smooth and fun. Conditions were good, lots of big bumps everywhere. After about 1/3 of the run my knee started acting up and I fell a few times from standing too much on my good leg. So I went to the eddy to recover. Only took a few minutes. Then back to the middle for some good bumps.
Gregg was going good on his Glide 14. I think I've made him nervous about doing Malikos but he'd be fine. This is his third serious downwinder and he's already pretty fast and gets into a lot of bumps. He has it bad. Ear-to-ear grins.
I started practicing reading the water in the Jeremy Riggs fashion, and it was marvelous. Completely screws up my stroke, I probably look like I just found out which way to hold the paddle, but I was constantly powered up, tiny, small, medium and large. I have to concentrate so hard that I can't watch where I'm going, but it will get better I'm sure.
Some really fun bumps downstream of Wells Island on the sandbar. Marvelous speed and long rides, then the usual crossed up mess when the current and wind splits and rejoins around the island, then a fairly flat hard paddle back to the truck at Nichols. I did the last mile at flat out race pace and Gregg was right behind. He's going to be a tough competitor.
Water temp is all the way up to 50F. Pretty soon it might hit Celsius.
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This is cool. Maybe smokin reports will pop up at all the great downwind runs throughout the world. I'd like to see it.
I'd like to bring up a situation where a powerful stroke isn't what's needed. You're in a wash of counter currents or back wash where you know it's a temporary part of the course and it seems the best you can do is stay on the board. For me on a Maliko run it's usually around uppers and remembering the Columbia from wndsrfng I know there can be weird areas as well. I just try to make short stabs, mostly for balance and steering and be attentive for when the set-ups return. Anyone else have this issue and how they approach it?
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Of course. I have found that increasing my reach in those situations helps some. But yeah, just dabs.
I'll tell you though, if you take a lesson from Kalama he'll have you initially doing just little light dabs at the extreme of reach as practice--and it's surprising how fast you go. I think what he gets across with that is that all the power is up front, and a hard pull doesn't do a lot more than a soft one. Completely counter-intuitive, in fact so weird that I still struggle to convince myself I should do it, but worth playing with.
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Great report Bill!
I'm having withdrawals today watching the wind blow. Wednesday was tough for me too, even on the Glide. I seemed to be in unridable, confused chop for 80% of the paddle as I watched Lee, Karen and Dan get smaller and smaller out in front of me. My stroke felt awkward and not very effective and the current was really cooking. Yesterday, however, was about as much fun as I can imagine having. That section downstream of Wells was really fast and fun. I am looking very forward to the next time. I still can't believe how hard this sup bug bit me.
Bill suggested taking really short stabs with the paddle yesterday. I tried it and it seems to work well to keep moving forward, keep the board pointed the right direction and to help stay stabilized. My wife snapped a picture on her phone as we started out - you're already 100 meters ahead of me.
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Bill and Bill--once again I think about swimming. Newer freestyle technique emphasizes pull at the front of the stroke. Hand in, drop forearm down while leaving elbow up, and pull hard straight back. Forget all the sweep in, sweep out, rotate here or there. Karlyn Pipes-Nielsen is one of the best masters swimmers in the world and lives in Hawaii--her mantra is "Put the ooomph in front". It also means (in paddling and swimming) you can get your paddle (or hand) out and recover more easily, because you do the pull up front, then let your momentum move you right into recovery. If you pull hard at the second half of the stroke, your paddle or hand is way back behind you, stopped, then you have to use energy to lift it from a dead stop and get it back up to the front of your stroke. Karlyn does a lot of surfing and said her swim stroke was influenced by prone paddling.
And I haven't done downwinders, but paddled all winter here and the currents are so weird that I spent a lot of time doing the short stabs. When the water's being weird, the resistance you get on your paddle from the water can be completely different from one stroke to the next. You can't lean on the paddle at all, because all of a sudden the resistance goes away and you fall.
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That pic looks sweet. If I went anywhere, I'd go there. When does the brown water go away? I've seen blue and green there.
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It's not really that brown, the camera emphasized it. The sky was bright blue. Still, lots of glacial till going in the water from spring runoff, the water gets clearer as it warms.
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Hmm have a trip later in the year going through LA sound like a detour may be in order!!
Bill, if the Coast Runner is anything like the Open Ocean, and I'm sure it is, that sudden brakes on thing will go away as you get it dialed. Very much about getting back soon enough to just make sure that nose touch down is more subtle, the 14 Glide with the banana nose doesn't slow. I find the 14 Starbies are far more tolerant of being ridden further back all the time. You can catch swells without having to move forward and when you are on just stay back there. The nice thing about the rounded nose shape is that you can turn it very early and not worry about the rails catching and tripping like the Glide. Once you get more experience with it you will find you can actually take off on an angle and maintain a really high speed cross crossing onto the steep faces without even thinking about tripping. They are different but super forgiving and actually very fast point to point when you get used to them, but the one thing they don't like is 'boofing' into the wave in front. Good fun!!
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JonathanC - Interesting comment about the Starboards being more tolerant staying back. I've found mind to be tolerant of staying up front. I suppose I don't get swells big enough to drop the nose in hard like Bill is saying. Today I'll try starting in the back and see if anything happens.
How much do you weigh? I'm about 245, and the coast runner seems to handle it well, but I don't have wind often enough that I feel dialed in at all yet.
Hopefully a little Beryl inspired blow this afternoon. I'm cooking pancakes this morning instead of being out on my usual Sunday morning paddle, hoping for better wind this afternoon.
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Video Bill , Video ???
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Everyone here is so camera shy, I swear it's like they're all in a witness protection program. Turn on a GoPro and they scatter like roaches.
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Over here, they're not shy but real fast and no one wants to wait to reset a cam.
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Did a Viento to Hood River run late Tuesday afternoon with 5 others from the Big Winds crew in about 15 to low 20's wind. For some reason, the swell was letting me link up the glides like crazy! Good thing too, as I was completely wrung out by the time I was at the middle of Wells Island - only a mile and a half or so from the end.
For the most part, the swell was short period thigh high, with some occasional waist high rollers coming through. The small swell was easy to catch and keep your speed up which allowed for catching some of the bigger rollers. I had several rides where I was thinking that having this much fun can't be legal or tax free - especially on a damn river!
Yesterday, I did an upwind/downwind on my Jav, but it was still a brutal shlogg into the wind and no real bumps going downwind. Not the worst but not the best either. Ross Island is coming up again Saturday and I'm continuing to try and improve my stroke but in the process of trying to go more Tahitian and decrease my upper hand movement, I just feel uncoordinated and like I have no power. Hope something changes by Saturday. Word is, there will be more fast old geezers at the start line this week.
Gotta get a GoPro for the downwinders. Then learn to use it - hope its easier than trying to perfect the paddle stroke.
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JonathanC - Interesting comment about the Starboards being more tolerant staying back. I've found mind to be tolerant of staying up front. I suppose I don't get swells big enough to drop the nose in hard like Bill is saying. Today I'll try starting in the back and see if anything happens.
How much do you weigh? I'm about 245, and the coast runner seems to handle it well, but I don't have wind often enough that I feel dialed in at all yet.
Hopefully a little Beryl inspired blow this afternoon. I'm cooking pancakes this morning instead of being out on my usual Sunday morning paddle, hoping for better wind this afternoon.
Hey Old School, well I weigh 145! That might make a difference I guess, think the rocker just allows you to get away without moving too much if you don't want too.
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We've been dealing with an extended period of unstable weather that messes with our normal warm season reliable wind pattern. It's been hit or miss, mostly miss for the last week. Got to paddle with Pono Bill, Karen Wrenn and Lee Murray for an ok downwinder a couple days ago in about 15 to 20 mph wind with mostly smaller bumps and swell. Wait, they were one zip code ahead of me but I was on the water at the same time! Putting a camera mount on the board today so I can try and shoot some video of Gorge conditions soon.
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Lee was talking about Jonathan's advice when we were getting ready to take off on the run Gregg posted about above. I said "I don't listen to anything Jonathan says" which I think shocked folks--it sounded mean. Then I said "you don't understand, he weighs as much as my leg and he's a great paddler. What works for him isn't gonna work for me."
So yeah, Old School, moving around on the Starboard is a good idea, but when Jonathan hangs out on the back nothing much happens to the trim, when I do it the tail is six inches under water. I spend 99 percent of my time at the front of the pad.
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Tomorrow's forecast is for 20+ with gusts over 30. I'm thinking 12 or 1230 rendezvous at Nichols parking lot to shuttle to Viento. Whoever is in town that's interested, it may be our best day in quite a while.
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Talk to Steve, might be an opportunity for a particularly interesting downwinder with a really great guy. I can't do it, I'm going to Gold Beach for the Rogue Race.
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Lee was talking about Jonathan's advice when we were getting ready to take off on the run Gregg posted about above. I said "I don't listen to anything Jonathan says" which I think shocked folks--it sounded mean. Then I said "you don't understand, he weighs as much as my leg and he's a great paddler. What works for him isn't gonna work for me."
So yeah, Old School, moving around on the Starboard is a good idea, but when Jonathan hangs out on the back nothing much happens to the trim, when I do it the tail is six inches under water. I spend 99 percent of my time at the front of the pad.
Ha! After reading Jonathan's comments I've tried hanging back on the board with little success. I weigh as much as you do. Of course, we haven't had jack for wind here recently. I also tried catching some boat wakes where they hit the sandbars in the lagoon with my 60 pound son on the the back of the board - I couldn't move forward enough to make up for his weight on the back.
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We had a good weekend of westerlies. I missed out on Saturday but Sunday was pretty good. Here is a link to my crude attempt at a downwinder vid. This is my very first attempt so be charitable...hopefully my video and paddling skills will both improve. No clue how to embed the vid on this page.
https://vimeo.com/43855536
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Hatchery Downwinder on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/43855536)
just paste the URL into the message box, don't surround it with link tags or anything--just the URL. the system replaces it with {url=http://vimeo.com/43855536]Hatchery Downwinder on Vimeo[/url} only they aren't curly brackets but square brackets.
You got some nice glides, especially that long one at what looks like the drainpipe wave. we need to name some of those spots so we can talk about them. They're always there.
I didn't recognize any of those folks. Noobs? Looked like a pretty exciting day for them if they were.
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Yesterday was really good. It blew best in the morning but stayed windy until dark. I did a Viento run solo at 5 in just over 2 hrs. flat and it wasn't because I was paddling that fast.
In the morning I did a paddle stroke clinic with Big Winds and at the end, we shuttled over to the Hatch for the downwinder. Fiona Wylde and Steve Gates were there and I was the only other local. The rest of the crew were from Gig Harbor and Seattle and yeah, it was pretty exciting for them.
It is interesting how the same wave patterns seem to develop in the same general locations. It would be fun to name them.
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http://youtu.be/YWi9OoqQ5_M (http://youtu.be/YWi9OoqQ5_M)
Here's one more of my late day solo paddle from Viento. It's still too long but mercifully shorter than the first vid.
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I bet you could add some mph to your downwinder with a little more upbeat music.
:)
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"pretty exciting" is a nice way to say it. If you didn't have anyone cry or decide to walk up the railroad tracks you're doing fine. I don't think Gorge downwinders are scary, but it's a big damn river. Especially when it's nukin'
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Thanks Southwesterly - I have a ways to go making video. I finally bought the camera four days ago after thinking about it for the last couple of years. Looking forward to upping the quality next time, I hope. :D
It is an awesomely powerful river. It may be less intimidating if you've kited and windsurfed out there for a long time but it always demands respect.
I actually feel more at home on a stand up board than anything else as long as I'm going with the wind. I'm not likely to have the same kind of high speed crashes that I do boardsailing. I have repeatedly tried to hurl myself through my sails, test the relative breaking strength of my knee and ankle ligaments vs. footstraps and see how much force it takes to break a boom but so far, it's always me that fails first.
At least one in our party did the bulk of the run on her knees. One good thing about that is it makes the swell seem bigger. ;D
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Don't forget the occasional barge sneaking up from behind.
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Wed. 6/13 - already blowing like stink at my house and its only 10 AM. 8)
Viento anybody???
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Give me a call. 310 422-6600
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Thanks for the video. That looks like fun! I gotta get the family out there someday.
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Jeremy - your videos of down winding in Maui are the BEST. Really enjoy them. Hope to get a couple Maliko's and maybe some south side runs in this fall - we will be in Kihei for a couple months, Nov - Jan.
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http://youtu.be/-QvPL1fUIm8 (http://youtu.be/-QvPL1fUIm8)
Another very amateur attempt. We're getting more good days this week.
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That's rugged as a viewer looking into the sun. Sometimes you were able to eclipse and that was a cool effect. Loved seeing the Gorge again.
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Good thing you had that thing pointed at Karen's butt instead of mine. No point in scaring people. Too bad you didn't get that goofy fall of mine though. I think that would have been pretty humorous. If my knee had collapsed a little more suddenly I might have done a backflip.
I did a 35 mile bicycle tricycle ride this morning, my knee feels good and loose. So naturally there's no wind.
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I need a paddling break, my upper back feels like it has a soldering iron stuck in it. So to rest, I went and cut a cord of firewood. Brilliant.
HM, sorry about that bright sun into the camera. I don't want to wear the camera on my head but maybe that's the way to go. It is definitely cool when you can actually point the thing where you want and get the action of other people gliding and sliding. I also could have gotten Bill's fall although I likely would have edited that out. ;) I may spring for a head strap and give it a try - I can always stow the camera in my Camelback when I get sick of wearing it. It supposed to nuke on Sunday if you believe the forecast.
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Don't buy it, I have every conceivable go pro mount. I just never remember to bring the stuff, and when I do, Randy sabotages my video. I have an hour and a half of staring straight down at the Sandy River for example.
Aye-Oh, River!!
Portlandia Aye Oh River (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyFm4YRaQxU#ws)
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PB - I love Portlandia - its too funny.
Those guys know what they're doing! If you hear me yell Aye-oh River! on our next run, please wait up, I might need parts or a flotation device.
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Great vid Bill.. Sooo funny and just how I imagine most Americans to be like.. :D ... Sorry.. ;D
DJ
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It's exactly what they're like around here. Portlandia is a documentary--no actors involved. They have to throw out most of what they film because life here is just too weird to be believable.
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Like the burglar hiding in the tub, calling 911... your German Shepard's frothing outside the door. Yeah that was weird. Laughed all night thinking about it.
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In the last week or two alone, I found out the County was considering condemning and tearing down my house and office for a bike trail, then when I confronted them, they wouldn't call it a condemnation, but admitted that it did include tearing down my home and office, and said "Granted, that will have an impact on your property".
Then when gorgebob confronted the same project for removing his loading dock, they told him "No, we're not removing it. We may remove the steps, and you won't be able to park in front of it, but we're not removing it".
Then the same week news came out that the project team for the new multibillion-dollar bridge over the Columbia River forgot to check on the clearance requirements so that ships on the river will fit underneath the new bridge. Actually, they did check, but they thought it wasn't important, until they got a letter from the Coast Guard telling them they have to redesign the entire bridge (again).
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Then the same week news came out that the project team for the new multibillion-dollar bridge over the Columbia River forgot to check on the clearance requirements so that ships on the river will fit underneath the new bridge. Actually, they did check, but they thought it wasn't important, until they got a letter from the Coast Guard telling them they have to redesign the entire bridge (again).
Thanks for the heads up. I'm starting to hunt for a job involving project management. Good to know who to avoid applying with.
If you have a link I would love to forward it to my instructors. I think I know one that would enjoy using it in class as an example of not following risk assessment procedures properly.
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There is a bit more nuance here than suggested by the comment about the bridge above. Lots of stuff to read on the web about how the 'Columbia Crossings' bridge design has been unfolding. I'm not trying to defend any aspect of that process but having been involved in planning roads for more than 20 years, I'd offer a couple observations.
In designing these hugely expensive public infrastructure projects, a lot of balancing of priorities has to occur. In my opinion, it's misleading to suggest utter negligence or a lack of proper risk assessment with regard to the vertical clearance issue. Read up on it for yourself and draw your own conclusions.
There are still constitutional protections for private property rights (the 5th and 14th amendments). The government cannot come along and arbitrarily take property without compensation. That does not mean that stupid decisions can't be made by road agencies or other government bureaus, just that there is a legal context and rather elaborate process that has to be followed in order to take private property. Condemnation is a last resort, not a first consideration in planning for public access for a road or other public right-of-way.
Oregon is the home of one of the more famous takings cases, where the City of Tigard lost in it's quest to require dedication of a public bike/ped path as a condition of approving a plumbing store development - the case is called Dolan v City of Tigard and it's a pretty famous case with regard to this issue.
Whatever is going on, it sucks to have city hall with its paid legal department sniffing around your land, threatening to take your property. I hope you guys are not getting steamrolled. :)
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Wednesday is looking like a Gorge day for me .
Hope to see you guy's then.
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Supposed to be rocking tomorrow. So the weather girl says.
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In.
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Considering the weather forecasts and my need for a glide. Wednesdays gorge trip has been moved to Monday.
I think Dustin's coming too.
Hope to see you then!!
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The wind shut off just before we went. It was blowing 35mph at noon. We (Rod, Cyril, Gregg and I) did a run from Swell City to the event center. Monster waves at the hatchery. I dropped into a head-high pit, got a bottom turn and then poofed the nose of my Coast Runner and shot off the board head first. Too bad, it was flying. I've got to figure out how to make it not do that. Either that or I need a backstay. Maybe a snug leash that attaches to a chest harness.
Lots of fun rides, and then some nice texture swells along Wells that were pretty easy money to railroad one after another. Then some nice little ankle to calf high bumps all the way to event center. I traded paddles with Rod so he could feel the new xTuf(S) shaft. I just can't hold a slower cadence with a Wiki, and pretty soon I was paddling like a madman, but it felt pretty good. I might have to try one again. It felt pretty fast, I was catching bumps really well, and I didn't fade like I normally do when I start paddling frantically. Maybe I've dropped into a more manageable cadence with that thing. Or maybe the xTuf shaft on Rod's Wiki calms it down a little bit. Worth experimenting with. xTuf(s) with a Wiki?
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That was a fun run even if we kind of got cheated a bit on the wind. Probably good for my back to paddle a little less today. Those waves between Swell City and the east end of the Hatch were huge! When I looked over at you, you were in the midst of a continuous train of big rollers.
I think I'd really like to see the chest harness with the extra short leash. Excellent idea for helping to stay on the board. Sounds like another run maybe tomorrow. ;D
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. I dropped into a head-high pit, got a bottom turn and then poofed the nose of my Coast Runner and shot off the board head first. Too bad, it was flying.
Hey Bill it's boofed.. Not poofed.. Poofed is something else.. ;D
DJ
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I'm pretty sure when I was flying past the nose that i heard a "poof", though maybe it was just "oof" when my testicles hit that 55 degree water.
The only thing I don't like about the Coast Runner is that sudden stop when the nose touches down.
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I think I'd really like to see the chest harness with the extra short leash. Excellent idea for helping to stay on the board.
I know you can get them, just not sure if they make them in Bill's size....
(http://averageparent.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/child-leash-2.jpg)
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Perfect!! I wonder If I can squeeze a camelback bladder into that puppy backpack.
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Perfect!! I wonder If I can squeeze a camelback bladder into that puppy backpack.
Or when no one is looking a bag of Uncle Ben's rice.
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SwellCity to Hood River (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpQzVO2WMwo#ws)
Video is from Sunday's run. The camera flattens the swell out but you can see Pono Bill disappearing into the troughs.
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Pretty cool video. I don't think anyone who hasn't tried it understands the kind of downwinders we get on this river. Overhead swells at swell city and the hatchery, big rollers right out of Viento, and then the long rides on the sandbar--30 to 40 seconds today. And we're still a month away from primetime. This is Greg's (coversurfer) first year. Wait till you get into the later July runs. Twice as fun. The hatchery turns into a roller coaster and the sandbar you just have to hold on and hope for the best.
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Honestly, every run is more fun than the last. I feel like a kid. ;D
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I may be responsible for this long lousy wind spell and if so, I'm sorry. I mounted my 11 year old huge a$$ed Thule box on my car rack so I could stow some windsurfing gear in anticipation of actually doing some sailing - what a dumb idea. I should have known this would kill the wind for days and days. :(
I have done a few paddles this week - two on glass on my race board and yesterday an upwind/downwind in 15+ mph with a few bumps on the return. All in all, pretty poor conditions if you like to glide with swells and wind. I guess I started getting spoiled with the awesome downwind conditions we had daily for what seemed like weeks.
I'm on the water tomorrow for a distance paddle (at least 6 miles) even if its flat and rainy if only to try and placate the wind gods with my sacrifice.
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Good for you. Distance paddling is good for the soul, even if 6 miles is just a warmup. I have to go to portland to move crap or I'd join you. Moving the last of my crap out of our Germantown house. Know anyone that needs a 68 Maserati Mistral or a Kiln?
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. I dropped into a head-high pit, got a bottom turn and then poofed the nose of my Coast Runner and shot off the board head first. Too bad, it was flying.
Hey Bill it's boofed.. Not poofed.. Poofed is something else.. ;D
DJ
You're both right. The "b" and "p" would get reversed depending whether you're in Hood River or Australia.
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Good for you. Distance paddling is good for the soul, even if 6 miles is just a warmup. I have to go to portland to move crap or I'd join you. Moving the last of my crap out of our Germantown house. Know anyone that needs a 68 Maserati Mistral or a Kiln?
Is that the Mistral that is in pieces?
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Conditions haven't been great but a buddy and I caught some swells on a short downwinder yesterday evening. Hoping for better luck soon.
http://youtu.be/LR2bGPQfhH0 (http://youtu.be/LR2bGPQfhH0)
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Good for you. Distance paddling is good for the soul, even if 6 miles is just a warmup. I have to go to portland to move crap or I'd join you. Moving the last of my crap out of our Germantown house. Know anyone that needs a 68 Maserati Mistral or a Kiln?
Hang on let me check to see if I am still breathing... Yep still breathing so of course I "need" the Mistral..
But I suspect there is more of a chance that the kiln is in my price range. What kind is it? Gas electric? Digital???
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The kiln is electric--a Stott. I'd have to look at the controller, I think it's digital. It's about ten or so years old, never been used. Never even connected. Also have an electric wheel that's been used lightly. Diane had big plans but life got in the way.
The Mistral is all in one piece, but it's in the dreaded "ran when parked" category, and the interior needs to be completely redone. It's a big project and at the end, you'd have a very sweet exotic car that nobody seems to want. If it was an Aston Martin DB2/3/4 which was the same kind of money when I bought the Maserati 30 years ago it would be worth 500K or more. I just picked the wrong horse.
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Cove and Bill is there a plan for sunday the 1st. After noon could work for me. want to try my M 14.
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I think Bill is driving his race car this weekend.
If it's windy, a dw Viento run would be great! The current is really moving the last few days, must be dumping all the dams - water level is high too. I'm thinking afternoon - there may be a decent sized group. Should be fun!
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I think Bill is driving his race car this weekend.
From my understanding isn't that always the case? Whither he is in Peyote or not?
;D
And the same will hold true for next weekend.
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Complete redo of the interior of a Mistral.... ouch... Beautiful lines though... absolutely gorgeous... maybe the Chinese will start fancying them... they you are in!
Jonesing to get back into the fun car game... but not Jonesing to schlep the car to Hans every six months... and then write a random $3,000 check each time... for nothing major... Or worse yet, to Giancarlo for $5,000 a pop... just to make sure that...
Solution (I know it is a total and complete cop out) Acura NSX. I know, no soul... but it starts... is a really well balanced vehicle that is fun at the limit... cruising for one right now... and it starts... Like the lines of the first iteration... I think they blew it with the front end redo in 2002...
That is the only car that I have come up with that is interesting... engaging... and likely won't reduce water time.
Back to the original thread theme...
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If it's windy, a dw Viento run would be great! The current is really moving the last few days, must be dumping all the dams - water level is high too. I'm thinking afternoon - there may be a decent sized group. Should be fun!
Hey Greg, if you go will you give me a heads up?
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Yes, Laszlo, I will give you a call soon.
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SL,
You should take a look at Intermeccanica, lower maintenance, fun cars that have been built up here in Vancouver, Canada for the last 30 years ...
http://www.finecars.cc/en/detail/car/16434/index.html (http://www.finecars.cc/en/detail/car/16434/index.html)
http://www.intermeccanica.org/vehicles/roadster/roadster.htm (http://www.intermeccanica.org/vehicles/roadster/roadster.htm)
Coolhead
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SL,
You should take a look at Intermeccanica, lower maintenance, fun cars that have been built up here in Vancouver, Canada for the last 30 years ...
http://www.finecars.cc/en/detail/car/16434/index.html (http://www.finecars.cc/en/detail/car/16434/index.html)
http://www.intermeccanica.org/vehicles/roadster/roadster.htm (http://www.intermeccanica.org/vehicles/roadster/roadster.htm)
Coolhead
Much classier than the Things I was looking up for him. Though the Think would haul more boards..
Though the 356 could still be set up for surfing.
(http://media-cache6.pinterest.com/upload/249879479295082303_xo7EiTbC_b.jpg)
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Yeah, they're kind of interesting, I was sorely tempted by the Carrera replicas, Park Place had a nice one at the Northwest Historic Races last weekend at Pacific Raceways. About 30K. I've noticed though that no one keeps them and when they go to resell them they have less than 1000 miles on them. Seems like it would be a lot nicer than driving around in an old beetle, so it seems like of odd.
(http://www.autobase.com/photos/01024/1123/11231398_o001.jpg)
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I'm 55 but I'm gonna say it anyway, that is a SICK picture Bill! What a beautiful car! That has always been my favorite Porsche. Even though I did my time with old air-cooled V-dubs, with an advanced degree in dual port heads, dual Webers, vacuum carb syncing, valve adjustments, points, timing using a degree wheel, and more, and earned a phd in swearing and cut up knuckles, it would be worth it to have a replica like that!
Anyway, not to hijack the thread or anything :D - Had a real eventful downwinder yesterday from Viento. Went with Aijiro from Portland and Laszlo from Underwood. It was Aij's first Gorge d/w and Laszlo's first longer one of the year. I loaned Aij my old Glide so he wouldn't have to do the run for the first time on his brand new M&M race board.
They both did great - conditions were decent but not outstanding. We had good westerlies that varied from 25 mph to almost nothing when we finally got to Hood River. The current has been really, really strong the last week and it makes the already short period swell stand up even more in places and get even shorter. Several kiters launched just after us from Viento, also to do a downwinder to HR. Got some amazing views of one guy, who was really quite amazing, pulling huge airs. It was a mixed blessing as I actually really enjoy the usual feeling of being remote and alone on the big river with no company out there except for other paddlers. After about 40 minutes, they finally pulled away from us and it was back to the usual empty big water.
At the west end of Wells Island, after paddling for over 7 miles, I noticed a kiter down in the water with no kite. It looked to be a woman and she began waving at me. She was so tired, I later realized, that at first I wasn't sure she was in trouble - I thought she might just be waving. When she continued waving, I paddled about 150 meters over to her and told her to hang onto my board and rest for as long as she needed to.
She wanted me to paddle her in, which was about a half mile or so to the nearest rocky 'beach' - I've never had two people aboard before and being more familiar with surfboards and windsurf boards, I doubted it would work. I was wrong, my sup had plenty of flotation to hold us both. She was only about 120 lbs. (I'm only 150) and we got her situated with her laying down with her tiny little kite board towards the front of the board. I was able to paddle quite well on my knees and got her all the way down to the new Waterfront Park, where you can actually get out of the water without risking a broken ankle in the slick nasty rocks that line much of the Columbia's shoreline. Turns out she was completely exhausted and was unable to self-rescue. The wind had died, the kite had crashed and she apparently couldn't re-launch it. She'd already let her kite go and was not able to use her board to help her paddle herself in. Even though she had a 5mil suit on, she was cold so she must have been in the 60 degree water for quite a while.
With the strong current, I am really glad I was able to help her out. I'm also really glad she was persistent about convincing me that we'd be able to make it with two on my board. Hopefully, she will get her kite back. I asked if anyone knew where she was or if she had friends out with her - she said they were all at the Event Site, nearly a mile from where I picked her up. I'm glad this all turned out well but it was very disturbing to me - she was really in trouble. I've had similar circumstances on the river windsurfing and have swum myself and my gear in more times than I want to remember. Seeing someone cold and exhausted and really physically unable to self rescue - well, let's just say it's really been bothering me. I mean, I'm glad this all turned out, no big deal. But it could have had a different ending. That little kite board barely floated her. Anyway....
The last half mile of the run was pretty uneventful, save for the kiter that did not see me approaching from upwind that managed an enormous aerial right in front of me. As I was loading my board on the car, we noticed a hole on the bottom, right on the rail. My brand new board. Crap. Well, that's what quick set epoxy and glass is for. Repaired the board when I got home and came in for dinner at 9:30, right about dark. A full day for sure.
OK, you guys, back to the car discussion. ;D
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Good job on the rescue. The only downside is that you're likely to see her back in the river the next day after she needed help. People venturing forth into the Columbia need to be ready to rescue themselves. there are no lifeguards.
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Fun but light day with Aij , Karen and Greg. Paddled the M Jimmy Lewis and I loved it. Stable fast and light enough to boost on the little waves. I will run again still trying to figure out the best race board for downwind gorge conditions. Its kind of silly, the work out is insane with out thinking of it being one.
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Well said Bob - when we were in those fun little bumps by the island, I forgot I was paddling I was having so much fun just getting little glides. It was fun paddling with you guys, hope we can go again soon and have some smokin' 25+ winds next time. Thanks for a great afternoon!
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Sorry I missed it, I got busy and spaced out. We should have gone early, it was knukin' in the morning. When the clouds moved in the wind machine turned off. Dead calm this morning. I'll be off at the Portland Historics racing cars all weekend. Hope you guys have some good runs. I'm bringing my boards along so I won't get bored between races.
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The first (and my first) bump and glide of 2012 tonight. Had about 10 to 15 mph and ran from the Hatchery back to the Event site. Nice turn out of people. Good, hard paddle, not many glides. Looking forward to a windier, wave-ier race next time. It wasn't run as an official race but it was definitely a race. :)
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We got some surprise thermal wind this afternoon. I got a ride down the Gorge from my wife for a nice solo downwinder in about 15 to 23 mph wind. Hoping for more the next couple days - 90 degree air makes it really nice!
7-7 SoloViento (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9hCf37utN0#ws)
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Looking windy already this morning. After four days out of the water I need a fix.
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Karen and I went yesterday (Sunday). By the time we got to Wells, it was gusting to 25, best wind on the run. We hatched up a plan to go today too - Mark, Karen, Rod, you, the usual suspects. My daughter is watching Karen's kids. Not sure the time yet but I'm guessing 1 30/2.
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Wish I could join you. Blew out my back a few days ago (don't know if it was my last downwinder or windsurfing). Need to rest it. Will watch for you guys as you go by.
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Yesterday was just SMOKIN'. The waves on the sandbar below Wells were just amazing. I think it was pretty much one continuous ride for about a mile. I sat down in the middle and let the current take me back for another shot at that big middle section. i could spend an afternoon there. I think next time I'm just going to go on my 11'6" Naish and just do loops for a few hours. SO FUN.
You can loop like that at any big swell part of the river--Wells Sandbar, the hatch, swell city. Someday these are going to be famous names.
On the way back to my truck Karen said "How come there isn't hundreds of people doing this, why aren't we seeing people here all day long".
Honestly, I don't have a clue. Right now it's about 20 people that do this. that's just nuts. It's as much fun as a Maliko--in a different way. Maliko without the Camp One terror.
This morning it was even stronger. spindrift across the whole river just before noon. That usually means 40-45 knots and probably 50+ gusts. Hang onto you hat Nelly. I lost hat and sunglasses yesterday--didn't even notice.
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PB: Wish you'd been able to go with us on our morning Viento run. It was just Rod, Art and me, trying to keep those other two in sight. I had a stupid grin on my face the entire way I think. When I got back, I pulled out the 7'6" glass board and a 3.7 and windsurfed for 2 hours. Now I can hardly lift my arms. It does not get any better as far as I'm concerned.
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I hear there is a "Super Nuke" day in the forecast soon. Would love to see pics if anyone ventures out.
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Yesterday was a 'nuker' but I wouldn't call it in the 'supah-nukah' category. It was good though. I shot some GoPro of my day on the water. Warning - it's windsurfing and paddling. But it was great conditions. Unfortunately, the camera pretty much flattens the swell down. But you can still get perspective once in a while.
http://youtu.be/JaF3Seqp7nA (http://youtu.be/JaF3Seqp7nA)
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A rare Pono Bill sighting at the Hood;
http://nwkite.com/forums/t-26636.html (http://nwkite.com/forums/t-26636.html)
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So that's what he looks like!
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Damn, that's our new secret Ke Nalu paddle.
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did a rowena to the dalles run last week always wanted to check it out. From rowena to secret spot was great. I was suprised that the bigest swell I saw was after secret spot thru the club shred area. Then made a poor choice and went thru the power line islands the current was so strong that I could barley make any headway(I should of went around on the little canal on the Oregon side). Then I took out by google I was cramping up after fighting thru the island gap I should have went a little farther and found a better take out. I am sure next time their will be less curent.
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tstansbury: thanks for the report - have been wondering about that run. Was thinking of taking out at the Dalles City Park. The river gets pretty pinched where it turns south, near the Discovery Center, so I'd guess the current would be brutal in there. Yesterday (Sunday), that section would have been amazing.
I did a Viento d/w yesterday with gusts to around 40 for the first 1/3 of the run. Head high swells. Best surfing on the river I've ever experienced. The wind really backed down toward the middle of the run but I still had my fastest time so far and many glides in the smaller swells. Really looking forward to the next big day but also to a few days rest. 12 downwinders in 15 days! The water level is way down - went through the south side of Wells Island and hit my fin in the mud a couple of times. The current is also reduced from what it's been. Looks like a day or two of flat water in the forecast.
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yeah so the pinch point is where the power lines cross after the discovery center. The river splits into 3 channels. I took the main middle Chanel a very bad choice with that much current. The Chanel on the Oregon side is a narrow (50ft) wide back water did not look to have any currant I was on the Oregon side so I could not see the current on the 3rd choice. I was going to take out at river front park but I was running late and was cramping up a bit and their is no wind from just after the islands to about half way to the park.
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Have had several decent but lighter Viento runs this week. Still fun but nothing too exciting. Sunday it is supposed to blow hard again, like last week. Hope it materializes. Lots of people wanting to paddle on the next big day, should be fun!
We also had a nice Bump and Glide race last night. Wind was probably 10 to 20 but mostly on the lower end of that range. Start was at Tunnel 4, west of Swell City. There were definitely glides and linking them up was key. Rod killed it on his F16 with Dan coming in next. There was an OC-1 that raced with us as well. Fun evening for the conditions. Less than an hour, just under 5 miles. Pretty much a full out paddle the whole way.
Today a few of us did a run from Viento. It started out nice, gusting to 25 or so and about 1/2 way, we decided to paddle across the river and catch the big swells at the Hatchery. Unfortunately, all we got was big current. The wind pretty much died and the swell just turned into mostly chop, with an occasional bump that you could ride.
The highlight of the run for me was paddling into that current, working away, concentrating on my stroke and balancing in the chop and having a sea lion surface directly in front of me. He was as freaked as I was as he immediately made a huge u-turn for the bottom with a big splash. This thing was huge! I thought I might have had an exercise induced hallucination but my buddy paddling behind me saw it as well. He later told me that it's not that unusual to have them make it up through the locks at Bonneville dam. I'd never seen one up here and I had no idea they could make it up above the dam. Where's the GoPro when you really see something interesting? Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. :o
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Several Viento's over the past 5 days. Yesterday was big for the first 1/3 or so. Shot some GoPro - there are a few shots that sort of give some perspective but the fisheye pretty much flattens everything out.
http://youtu.be/0FCzsonamCc (http://youtu.be/0FCzsonamCc)
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Gregg, I sent you a PM about yesterday. Sorry I got your message too late. As yesterday was my 64th birthday, and it was blowing like snot, my daughter who is visiting us offered to drive me to do a downwinder. A nice birthday present.
I did a solo run from Drano lake to the White Salmon bridge. That is a little shorter than a Viento run, but more convenient for those of us on the Washington side. Probably the windiest, and biggest swell, of any of my downwinders so far. I met three outrigger paddlers at Drano lake who had just finished a Home Valley to Drano run, but because the conditions were so good they decided to go again, this time from Drano to Swell City. They were in the process of re-shuttling their vehicles.
The attached graph shows the conditions. My run was between 2:30 and 4:15pm. The stretch between Swell and the Hatchery was pretty out of control.
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Good to be back in the Hood, did a downwind/upwind to Mosier and back to the event center this morning and a good viento/event center run in the afternoon. My hand and forearms are cramping, but it was good stuff. Love the F16 V2 for Columbia River downwinds. Feels like home. And it chases swell energy like a birddog. The last mile was a bit of a slog, but mid-river was big and I got some good glides.
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Dammit Bill! I just plunked down coin for a carbon glide... after I just plunked down coin for a Corran Addison Mach 1, to replace the Corran Addison Mach 1 that I broke... and now I have to get a V2... I will exact my revenge!
Thanks for the tip on the V2 stash!
SL
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Three runs in two days after a 2 week layoff. Might have been a bit much. I hurt everywhere and my knee feel like it belongs to someone else. Gonna have to switch to the Wiki with the xTuf shaft to calm my shoulders down. either that or take a day or to off.
Nah. Wiki.
Nice run today though. I missed the group run--got a text from Gregg saying "we're going at 1:00" at about 1:14, just as I sat down to lunch with Diane at Everybody's Brewpub in White Salmon. Rod called about two minutes later--"where are you?" Everyone assumes I'm going because I always do. So Diane shuttled me after lunch for a solo run.
There wasn't supposed to be much wind. someone forgot to tell the wind machine. I'd guess the gusts were 40+. On the approach to wells Island I stopped paddling and just rode the swells in full stabilized mode--paddle dragging, one foot on the rudder and one as far back as I could reach. Frickin' flying.
River right on the run out of Viento was a maelstrom, with wave peaks randomly popping waist-high everywhere. I slid out to mid river in a pure survival move and it was very good. Lined up and straight, hooked one big glide after another. Rocketing along and laughing like a fool. Monster glides. Yelling "Aye-oh, River!!" Pretty sure the kiter's that zoom up from behind can hear me yelling. Not sure whether or not they get the Portlandia reference. It's become a universal war cry for me.
I'd love to have conditions like this for Dave's upcoming Kamp to see what he makes of it. Maybe not though--he'd probably have to spend the whole run keeping the newbies pointed in the right direction. It's amazing how forgiving this river is considering how tough it can be--you can crank your level up or down just by changing your line.
Swell City looked amazing--at least head high, but there were a million windsurfers out since it's Sunday, and I didn't feel like playing tag with them, hiding down in mast-high troughs. Surprise!! It's a big goofy guy on a 16 foot board. So I cut back across the river and did the speed run at Wells.
As I got to the turn at the jetty into Nichols, my board got caught in a weird current or swell and I couldn't avoid the jetty. I jumped off to try to catch it but it ran right up on the rocks. Minimal damage since my weight wasn't on it, but it sure felt weird--like some kind of lemming charge.
People are starting to talk about Columbia runs like they do about Malikos. It's a different animal, but they both are uniquely challenging.
Oh, and Leper, I think the stash is safely gone, unless Rod wants to sell his board. I could be wrong. Rod is on the zone somewhere. If you're really interested I'll ask him if there's any left. They were a real bargain. I love mine.
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Great report Bill. I'm 3 runs in four days and I hurt too. I'm already on the Wiki and Xtuff. Maybe I should use a butter knife tomorrow. 8am if it looks windy in the morning. I'll have to get up real early to make that. Old guys don't rev up too quick. PS, the M2O results are up. Looks like Karen did great!
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Thanks PB... there is an interesting development elsewhere on the Zone about SIC ... and I think that their So Cal warehouse is going to be really close to my house. So now I don't have to wonder how I would get a 16 foot board from Hood to Dana Point.
Appreciate it!
SL
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I did the Viento to Event Site run Monday July 23 and Friday July 27 on my 12'6" Bark Competitor. Both were fairly big days. On my Monday run I immediately went mid river and was stunned that I kept missing the big drop in's, then realized I simply could not overcome the current. I went Oregon side and inside the counter current line and then immediately picked up pretty much everything that came along. I played with this a bit going inside and outside and realized that inside the counter current was just plain faster and by then I was to the Wells Island speedway. Fantastic - I started counting seconds with my paddle out of the water and got to 30, GPS showed a time period when I was over 6mph for 48 seconds. Did the Monday run in 1:59.
I windsurfed the Hatchery Tues thru Thur and surveyed the WI speedway pretty carefully. It is sometimes only knee deep and it appears that the water coming between Wells and the Oregon mainland funnels thru a very narrow gap causing these great little waves that are perfect for trapping an SUP and carrying it along. Not so great for windsurfing as they are very tightly spaced but I think that is what makes the SUP experience so good.
Friday the 27th was howling at the Viento start and I just put my head down and ran inside the counter current line for a 95 minute run. Considering that I came thru both the WI speedway and the final run to the Event Site during a 20 knot lull, my 24 minute time improvement is testament to the power of the counter current.
The experience would have been a lot better had it been done with other zoners, but not sure how to connect with folks that are down in the "Hood" for my infrequent forays into paradise.
Bruce in Issaquah
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You can PM me, or email me. It's just bill at Kenalu. I go pretty much every day.
Today Rod Parmenter and I went surfing at Swell City and the Hatchery. GREAT fun. I took Diane's 11'6" Naish Nalu, Rod had some PSH board I haven't seen before. The swells were Massive--lots of overhead waves and some very steep drops. We'd blast down through the biggest waves, with the windsurfers and the kiters going nutz hooting and hollering at us (they think it's cool now, though if more than just the two of us do it that attitude might change). Then curve in to the wind shadow along the shore and paddle back for another run. We probably did twenty loops or so. Crazy fun. I got some huge drops and very long rides. The trick with the Nalu is to run to the front as soon as you drop in. Most of the power is in the bottom of the waves, so you need weight forward. I got two honest noserides and beacoup big bottom turns. No top turns. Some day I'm gonna knock the top off of one of these waves, but it hasn't happened yet. We catch about ten or more big rides per loop so I probably caught 50 to 100 waves!!!. In a f@*king river. How cool is that.
Next time I'm wearing an impact vest. My board got blown into me when I fell and got me in the ribs pretty hard. I sat down for awhile, but Rod was having way too much fun, so I HTFU and went back out.
Big baby.
I was using a Wiki with an xTuf(S) and it was magic. My shoulders feel great. The only part of me that really hurts is my jaw muscles. I think I overdid the hooting and grinning. Seriously--I have cramps on both sides of my jaw.
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Wow! Sounds awesome! I would be more jealous but it's been fun riding my 9'8" in the surf. It has actually been fairly fun but small. You guys are getting better waves in the Gorge, 100 miles from the ocean! 8)
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I think this is Rod in the photo from yesterday;
http://www.iwindsurf.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=25031 (http://www.iwindsurf.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=25031)
We did a Viento run yesterday but did not venture to that side. So didn't see those swells. But from the rock island to about Swell City it was gusting to 40 and managed a few good glides. It was cool seeing rainbows in front of you whenever spray came off the paddle or board. Hoping to see the current drop for better swells river wide. There were sections with a lot of messy swells. Today looks like another good wind day.
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Yup, that's Rod. You can tell the difference because I'm the one that looks like surfin' Santa, or Burl Ives, or maybe a fat, tall Pat Morita.
Is that you and your wife camping at Viento? If you want to hook up for the shuttle (such as it is) drop me a PM. I'll probably go about 2:00 today, depending on what and who I can hook up with. With Karen out of town, Rod doing babysitting and work duty, and Gregg at the coast it's a little less certain. I'll for sure cut over to Swell City and the Hatchery to do a few rounds of the swells, even if I go on my F16. It's a handful in the big stuff, but it surfs.
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Started out with the intention of doing a Drano lake to Hatchery solo downwinder yesterday afternoon. When I passed the Hatch it looked so big, so intimidating, that I thought better of it, and decided to just stay there and windsurf. I sailed on a 3.7 for a while, overpowered most of the time. As I was leaving I saw Bill and Rod show up. Watched them do a couple of loops. Impressive.
Bill is right about the windsurfer's reactions. When a SUPer is down in the trough between waves, a windsurfer flying in a couple of swells away cannot possibly see him. This is even more true for the kayakers who are downwinding in increasing numbers. Sooner or later there will be collisions, and it won't be pretty.
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Is that you and your wife camping at Viento?
If so, what's your opinion about noise? We are going to have family visiting from South Dakota the weekend of the Naish Columbia Gorge Paddle Challenge. They want to go camping and I want to come to the race so I was thinking about camping at Viento so I could sneak out and attend at least part of the weekend. But when I checked it out Wednesday I was concerned about the freeway as well as the train noise. Last thing I want to do is get everyone riled up at my suggestion.
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Nice run today, I had to make it to the UPS office, so I kind of jumped the gun on everyone. Good bumps, not huge, but fun. Cut over to Swell City and the hatchery, Some nice big drops. My F16 worked OK, not great. Got down into the bottom of one of the "slot" swells and couldn't get back out. I decided there but there were too many people, so I bailed back and caught the Wells Express.
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This is disturbing, I miss a bunch of great windy days in a row and get back to town just in time for the wind to die out. Maybe the forecast is wrong.....
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Just a word of caution to anyone paddling in or out of Drano lake. Since the water level has dropped, there is a concrete structure that is part of one of the bridge supports, that comes out diagonally from the support, just a few inches under water. It makes the passage under the bridge and into the Columbia very narrow. I didn't see it, and paid the price yesterday.
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As I drove out to The Dalles I saw three people on boards just West of Moser then two East of Moser. It isn't often it's as calm as it was today. Hopefully they weren't looking for wind.
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<<You can PM me, or email me. It's just bill at Kenalu. I go pretty much every day.>>
PB - thanks for the offer. My next trip to the Hood is the weekend of the 18th for the Naish race and will be staying down the following week. Just this week after getting back to Issaquah I have managed to get my Coast Runner on top of my RV, much better DW tool than my 12'6" Bark Comp.
Will look forward to hooking up the week of the 20th.
Bruce in Issaquah
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[/quote]
If so, what's your opinion about noise? We are going to have family visiting from South Dakota the weekend of the Naish Columbia Gorge Paddle Challenge. They want to go camping and I want to come to the race so I was thinking about camping at Viento so I could sneak out and attend at least part of the weekend. But when I checked it out Wednesday I was concerned about the freeway as well as the train noise. Last thing I want to do is get everyone riled up at my suggestion.
[/quote]
I've camped at Viento but it's been many years. Personally, I don't think the freeway noise is too terrible at Viento but the trains can rattle your cage pretty well. What counterbalances that is the river access. There really isn't any other camping in the Gorge that I'm aware of that has the proximity and open river access of Viento.
Every campground in the central Gorge, on both sides of the river, have the train noise. If you value quiet/sylvan ambience over river access, the Tollbridge Campground south of Hood River off Hwy 35, just past the little community of Mt. Hood, has some really nice developed and less developed rv and tent sites. It's on the Hood River and has lots of big Fir and Ponderosa Pines.
Tucker Park, also south of Hood River by about 10 minutes off of Dee Hwy is another option for tent camping or maybe a small rv but space is pretty limited.
You may be able to make a reservation at Tollbridge, not sure but keep in mind it's a good 20 minute drive down 35 to Hood River. Pretty sure Tucker does not take reservations. I think they are both operated by HR County and you can google them to get more info.
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When I was a young and stupid windsurfer I slept in my car or the back of my truck a lot of nights in Hood River. People still do it, in fact there's a camper with its curtains drawn out in front of my house right now. I've even seen RV's of all types and even some that put down their jacks to level. It's not really legal of course, and if you overstay your welcome in one spot the cops might ticket you or even tow, but it's certainly the right price. The neighborhoods in HR get very quiet after ten. I'm certainly not encouraging that, but it happens.
The viento campground looks very tight to me--like a refugee camp, but that's organized "camping" for you.
I don't know what there is on the Washington side, but it's even more sparsely populated. Back in the day the parking lot at Swell City was a great place to crash out, but the trains came through late at night, you were sure to get a wakeup call about 2:00. There's train tracks on that side of the river too, so the quiet spots will be away from the river. I doubt you can get away with camping there these days, they collect for parking, but you never know.
The river looks like a lake today. Sure hope things pick up for the Calumbia River races next week.
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I got use to the trains blowing their horns passing Viento long ago. The freeway noise never goes away hence I will only camp by the tracks. You don't know if the trains will be a deal breaker unless you give it a couple of nights.
We managed to do a Viento run Thursday about 45min after Bill the "Mayor of Hood River" and his fleet of F-16's left the beach. Was almost a paddle free run as the swells and wind must of gotten better leaving later. Two of us tacked over to the Swell City side to see what all the fuss was about and it was "as advertised". Being later in the afternoon the traffic was not bad but still not a place to practice your SUP skills. The bigger bumps are hard to catch but when you do it as good as it gets on a river. But they are a bit weird as they go from steep and deep to whimpy in short order. So you need to make the most of it while you can. Anyway stoked to get a great run in before this heat wave set in. There may not be another good run in the forecast until mid to late next week.
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Sheesh.
I was actually the only F-16 and I jumped in early because "the mayor" had to get to the UPS office. Actually I'm a newb here. If anyone is the "Mayor" it's Rod. Everyone knows Rod.
That was a nice run, the swells over at the Hatch were disappointingly small and disorganized, but some good glides to be had. The Wells Express was good though.
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Interesting to hear about the wind or lack of it up there. Here in Portland yesterday, it was the windiest I've ever seen in summer. I was going 1 mph into it at times.
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Some shots of surfing the Hatchery the other day. I'm doing a several part series on downwinding the Gorge, I'll do one segment on surfing Swell City and the Hatchery. That's a 11'6" Naish Nalu I'm on and a Ke Nalu Wiki with an xTuf(S) shaft with the xtended handle pushed in to 80 inches. Works great in that mess where you need your paddle to be quick.
(http://www.kenalu.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/surfswell.jpg)
(http://www.kenalu.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/surfswell2.jpg)
(http://www.kenalu.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/surfswell3.jpg)
And here's why I got jaw cramps that night--too much grinning and hooting
(http://www.kenalu.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/surfswell4.jpg)
A really cool one of Rod. I know these look photoshopped, but they aren't. I think Rod is using the same paddle recipe--shortened Wiki with an xTuf(S) shaft, and that's a big PSH board he's riding:
(http://www.kenalu.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/surfswell5.jpg)
(http://www.kenalu.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/surfswell6.jpg)
Eric Sanford decided these needed captions:
(http://www.kenalu.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/surfswell7.jpg)
(http://www.kenalu.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/surfswell8.jpg)
The big trick to riding these things is to get to the bottom fast and turn as quickly as you can. they don't run in a straight line for very far, the energy goes to one side or the other. Long rides if you get it right, or as Starman says, they turn whimpy quick--though there's always another one coming along.
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You've lost weight
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That would be nice, but I don't think so. Nice camera angle? Shirt color? Perhaps lime green is the new black.
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In any case, those are some deep troughs. Nice pics. Is Rod falling or doing a long board cut-back on that one pic?
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As usual, they're a lot deeper than they look in the pictures. Some of the troughs a windsurfer can hide in and all you see is the top third of the sail. The kiters are invisible except for string.
I'm not sure, I'd give a 50-50 chance he's falling, but that's the kind of turn you have to make to get long rides. The steep swells run off at a 45 degree angle in both directions, though one direction is usually a lot bigger. With the F16 you can rudder into a deep swell and get caught in the trough. The water is running up the face like it does on a critical wave, so the board gets kind of parked, like a standing wave. Hard to exit without falling.
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It was 5min into today's Viento run that I wanted to kick myself for not bringing a camera. I did see Mayor Bill take off with 2 other SUP's and a OC-1 (who launched 10 min later) but was unable to join them. Had to roll up the sails, have lunch and talk to wife into joining me. I don't know what conditions were like for Bill and company but by the time I returned to the beach it was smoking on the water. The gusts were making those patches of water spray like the start of a water spout. Spent the next 10 minutes convincing my wife that she would not wind up in Kansas and we took off. She stood up on her Bark, stuck the paddle in the air and was catching glides before I could put my paddle in the water.. It was pretty much that way all the way to the Hook. Great swells, long glides and just a few strokes to get into just about any swell that you wanted. We took a path that favored the Oregon side which I'm starting to think is better then any other when it's blowing. The swells great and I think the current is not as strong. Then you hit the section approaching Wells Island which I'm not calling "Bark Land". Catch a glide and crack open a beer because they just go on and on and on. So what's up with this place? It's an epic downwind day and just 5 of us were out enjoying it. I'm guessing that because there is no wind meter at Viento it's hard to get a complete picture of the run unless you see the water. Anyway, will try to hit it again tomorrow as the forecast seems favorable but I will NOT forget the camera! Oh and by the way the windier it gets on this river the EASIER it is to do this run.
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Starman: We are going again at 130 tomorrow (Wed), leaving from Nichols parking area, just east of the Event Site. That will likely put us at Viento around 2. You should join us!
I've probably done 40 or more Viento runs since my first one in May, which was with Bill, of course, and today was the best day I've had yet. I got more glides and longer surfing than on any other run and it was just continuous all the way. Some of the strongest wind was right around Wells Island. It was as you described, the glides were extremely cooperative today! I'm bringing a GoPro for sure tomorrow.
I've had other great runs with sections that were really nice with strong wind but nothing as steady and continuous as today. If downwinding wasn't so much fun, I might have even considered windsurfing today as it looked great. Funny, I did not wish I was out there on a sailboard or kite at all though, I was having waaay too much fun paddling into and sliding down all the waves!
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Yeah, yesterday was pretty good, and today should be even better.
Karen Wrenn was the first person I heard question why we're the only folks doing this. It is odd. Other than a few serious addicts that make the drive from Seattle its a pretty tiny group. Certainly easier to get to than Maui, and it's a relatively safe run--I don't mind taking relative newbies on a good Viento run, if nothing else they can Pocahontas all the way and there's no concern about them winding up in Tahiti.
I think when the river is boiling with swells it look intimidating, and it's certainly not easy, but it's crazy fun. I've been trying to windsurf all summer and haven't made it out once. I've probably missed at most ten days of downwinding (other than when I was on the east coast) all spring and summer.
Dave Kalama's downwind class should be pretty interesting. If they get these kind of conditions folks will learn a lot in a short time. If nothing else they'll learn how much fun this is, and what a great place Hood River is for downwinding.
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I went there to race wndsrfrs in the 80s and saw a guy surfing a standing wave way back then. That was reasonably close to shore. I never could have imagined going out in trough land back then without a sail.
Relatively safe... except for barges.
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Darn it! 1:07pm. Wind is blowing. Gotta go again. ;D
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How early in the day does it start blowing enough to do the Viento run? If we end up camping at Viento during the races I was wondering about coming up on my board so the family can have the truck during the day.
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Man it was smokin' today. No idea what kind of time we did, maybe Greg has an idea. I'd guess under 1:30. Basically one continuous glide. I jumped the start and was out in the middle, playing on the swells and picking daisies when I realized Rod and Art had slipped by me on the inside closer to the Oregon shore. I don't know if they were pushing it, but I gave it everything I had and finished close to them. Rod is just plain fast, but Art is pretty quick on his 14' Bullet too. I kind of think I should have stayed outside, I was getting some screaming rides, but their line looked faster. Damn that competitive instinct, damn it to hell.
Anyway, fun run. Big ass bumps and some nosebleed drops. the Wells express was a little weak, but still fast.
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Yeah, you were cooking Bill, and not just on the inside line - I was almost even with you on the west side of Wells but by the time we were past the island, you were 1/4 mile or so ahead of me and pulling away. My time was 1:37 and you guys finished a couple of minutes in front of me at least. I'm guessing you were 1:32-1:33. Lots of fun - I stayed out in the middle and had a little race going with Karen until the Wells Island expressway. She pulled away from me there. But I felt good to have stayed close to her as long as I did, even if she was on a 12'6'. :D
Tomorrow is still forecast to be windy - gusts to 30 on NWS. Guess we'll have to do it again!
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I was losing ground to Rod and Art just before Wells and my board wasn't steering well, so I jumped off and found about an eight foot streamer of weed. It didn't look like much, just a single strand, I thought I had a whole salad bar back there, but once I got rid of it my board started working again.
Kind of overcast this morning. If it doesn't burn off and get hot the wind might be further east. Might be a good day to go walkabout and see what the desert has to offer.
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Well that was an interesting run. I must have struck a nerve asking why there were not more SUP's doing the run when the conditions have been so good. Well the locals all came out and are a pretty serious group. They don't seem to want to wait for everyone to launch together. Instead it's as if someone had been trapping raccoons and wild cats in their backyard all week and was letting them out one the beach one cage at a time. Then they all paddle like this river owes them money because they are just beating it all 8 miles. Are you kidding me? Doesn't anyone catch a glide, pull the paddle out and enjoy the view. I don't think Karen who passed me far to the right ever skipped a beat. If we were on milk she was making butter. Meanwhile Bill who was well down wind in short order was doing his impression of the Quassimoto going right on some of the better swells. Didn't take long before they were all just specks on the river. Still a fun run but after three of these runs in four days plus the windsurfing I was just a kook doing a river run trying to keep pace with my buddy Wayne who was on an 11-6 Amundson and rips on that board out here. I did take a peek at the Hatch as it was pretty empty but for good reason as the swell and wind was on the sad side. Made my way back to Wells, met up with Jim (? I'm can be bad remembering names) who was doing the run on a vintage "Big Red". Woke up Wayne who was napping on Wells waiting for me and crawled out at the park to a cold Session. Great run, not as nearly as good as Tuesday but it's all relative on this river when the conditions are ripe. It's been a great 2 weeks in the Hood and got very lucky with the weather for sailing and SUP. Hope to be back next summer for more of the same. I'm also hoping the contest next weekend gets a dose of just how good this place can get on the right day. Attached is the only photo was was able to snap early in the run.
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Star - good report! Thanks for the photo, although in my opinion, you'd have better subject material if you'd shot Karen instead of me! Our group was pretty charged up yesterday, my wife says we are all type A's so it's to be expected. Anyway, that was pretty much an undeclared race or at least a 'challenge paddle' we had going on. I know that was one of my fastest Viento paddles, and I'm one of the slower guys.
One thing I've noticed when its sort of a medium day like yesterday is that if you paddle hard, you can really string the glides together on the first 2/3 of the run. If I ease up, I end up working even harder to catch fewer rides that are short with real slow periods in between. That is my theory anyhow.
I'm using a new (for me) combination Ke Nalu paddle with a softer and shorter xtuff shaft and smaller Wiki blade and the thing is MAGIC on those downwinders. No pain and you can develop a really quick cadence that helps get you into the swells. The softer shaft feels lively and springy, almost like it's helping snap you forward. Pretty cool.
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Well that was an interesting run. I must have struck a nerve asking why there were not more SUP's doing the run when the conditions have been so good. Well the locals all came out and are a pretty serious group. They don't seem to want to wait for everyone to launch together. Instead it's as if someone had been trapping raccoons and wild cats in their backyard all week and was letting them out one the beach one cage at a time. Then they all paddle like this river owes them money because they are just beating it all 8 miles.
Yeah, we're all a little nuts. I'm not one to point fingers. But. It's Karen's fault. We used to stop half way and have a cookout and break out the guitars, but then she started training for M20 and we couldn't let her just walk away from us. So no Kumbaya.
That was marginally locals--I'm a dilettante that never stays for winter, Greg and Rod are local, Art is from Seattle and Karen from PDX. Lazlo (also known as JIM -- where you got that I have no clue, though it sounds similar) is from White Salmon--I guess that counts.
Anyway, good talking to you, I'd say good paddling with you but we already covered that. The bumps in the middle were pretty cool, but I covered that too.
I'll tell you, all the folks on Maui seem really laid back until the boards hit the water--Maliko runs are pretty much like Viento runs. No one's racing, but it's very cool to be dressed and have your board on the car when other guys come in. The ultimate is to have already left for another run. But no one is racing...
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Yep, on my first Viento run, Bill had a small barbecue with him on the back of his board. He stopped and waited for me part way down and we had grilled salmon that he caught on a long trolling line. Nice. Those were the days. I still remember Bill paddling slow, like 3.5 to 4 mph because he hooked the best fish at that pace.
I don't know when everything went to hell. But it was probably on the second run we did. I think that's when I met Karen for the first time. Bill's right, it's Karen's fault. Mostly. But Rod could also be used as a scapegoat. Then there's Art, who likes to race Rod. Supposed to blow tomorrow, maybe we could get out there for a nice friendly paddle. ;D
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Yesterday's run. I was a bit slow after Wells because I ran into a log. Though I'd broken my board, paddle and leg all in one fell swoop. But everything was OK.
(http://www.kenalu.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Columbia%20run.jpg)
5.7 MPH average into a 2 knot current. Fricken' crazy it was.
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For those at home wondering what's all the fuss considering those numbers Bill posted. You have to understand it's ALL into a sometimes stiff current.
Here is the other side of the coin, I was on a 5 year old Laird and managed 3.86mph avg that day not working very hard.
My max speed (not avg) for my run on the 2nd was 12.5 mph on another surfboard.
The overall times are not always impressive because the current works you pretty good through the sections when the wind backs off. So I pretty much just started focusing what my max speed was for any run to see how much fun I was having. The better the number meant I was catching good swells and connecting them.
This place is one of the top SUP downwind destinations in the US. It also spoils you pretty good.
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Is that what the current is? Only 2? From when I was there it seemed alot stronger than that. At any rate it looked like a great day... except for the logs. What board were you using Bill?
Starmn... You talk about spoiled. It's cranking today over in Kihei and I can't get it up to drive across the island. Still kinda trashed from 6 days in a row over here earlier in the week.
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Usually the current is three to four, sometimes five. right now they're holding back a lot of water, not sure why, but the level is changing all over the place. I'm not really sure what it was, just a guess. If you fall in you go backwards pretty quickly.
This place spoils you the same way. I came back from Portland this afternoon, it was hot and I was wearing levis because I went to a cooking class. I thought about going home and putting on boardies and going for a paddle, but with no wind, and a hundred people on standups everywhere I just couldn't do it. If it had been blowing 40+ I'd would have been shedding clothes on the way to my back door, but with 10 kts I couldn't bother.
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My wife and I went for a paddle for a couple hours late today. The wind was actually blowing by the time we went but only about 12 to 15. Lots of kites, one annoying guy on a jet ski and a lost dog rescue (he was out swimming in the river and we escorted him back in where his owner was). Kind of a circus.
Really makes me appreciate those downwinders we have. I always try and enjoy the hot still days but I'm sure glad there aren't many of 'em. Kind of cool to see so many people out on stand ups today - but I don't think we will be seeing them on any of our downwinders any time soon. They really don't know what they are missing.
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Does anyone ever do downwinders out in the eastern Gorge? Looks like The Wall had some big bumps on August 23.
(http://www.iwindsurf.com/forums/files/wall_ramp_908.jpg)
(https://www.iwindsurf.com/forums/files/wall_swell_418.jpg)
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Yup. They can be pretty crazy.
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Man that place looks like a dream spot.
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Been a while since anyone posted on this thread....lots of people came for the GPC and experienced some really good downwind conditions on the Viento run. Some probably are telling their paddling and non-paddling friends about how incredibly good it can be now that they've experienced it. But summer doesn't last forever and the nights have a chill in the air. The long stretches of west wind days have begun to dwindle, but as Indian Summer gradually gives way to Fall, the east wind returns to the Gorge.
As the seasons change, there are more and more days where the wind reverses - Hood River will be light easterly or glass but as one travels down the Gorge to the west, the east wind builds, usually peaking in the western Gorge between Wind Mountain and Troutdale. In the Fall, Winter and Spring, gusts of over 50 mph are routine at the west end of the Gorge.
In September, before the reverse pattern really sets up firmly, it is typical to begin to see some nice, less violent, easterlies develop in the 15 to 30 mph range. These winds are great for windsurfing from Home Valley all the way down to Rooster Rock and also provide lots of opportunities to do downwinders with a kite, windsurfer or, best of all (as far as I'm concerned) on a standup. Today was one of those days. Unlike west wind Gorge conditions, easterlies are blowing with the river current. With fetches of more than five miles, a nice rolling swell can develop and when you paddle it, you never are fighting current to stay with the waves.
With afternoon air temps around 80 and water about 70, I set off with two paddling buds to try my first Viento to Cascade Locks downwinder. Josh was in an OC-1 and Mark on his ski. With the necessary car shuttling, I got the chance to set out before them and get a nice lead that they would begin to erode as soon as they hit the water.
I set off from Viento going west for the very first time in about 10 to 12 knots of wind with small waves that were just starting to white cap. For the first half hour, it was just a nice pleasant paddle. Gradually, I began to notice that I was starting to get some really nice little glides. These just got better and better and better the further west I paddled. By the time I was down to Home Valley, there were some 2 to three foot waves that offered a nice push. A few more miles to the west and the river opens up to well over a mile across and the swell increased to the point that I was getting some really good surfs. The river is so wide at this point, it feels like you are paddling in a coastal setting.
As I neared Stevenson WA and Cascade Locks on the Oregon side, I made my way through 4 or 5 windsurfers out on 4.5's or 5.0's. The sit down guys were beginning to reel me in and Mark passed me in his ski - surfing all the way with a big grin. About 2 miles from the end of the run, the wind was up to a steady 20 knots with gusts probably hitting the mid-20's. The swell was 4 feet and oh-so-surf-able and you can link up glides like crazy when you don't have to fight the current! Josh came in just after me so I guess my head start timing was about perfect. Usually, these guys are so far out in front that I lose sight of them.
At just shy of 12 miles, according to my Garmin, it was a perfect distance. I was out of the water in 2 hours and did not really feel like I paddled hard at all. Pulled out at the swim beach just east of the boat marina entrance. The scenery everywhere in the Gorge is absolutely incredible but this paddle is particularly beautiful. I'm not thrilled about the end of summer but this was a reminder that with the change in seasons, there are new things to experience and enjoy. Tomorrow morning, I'll meet up with the usual suspects for some OC 6 paddling and a bonus coaching session from somebody that actually knows what they're doing. Late summer in the Gorge is pretty darn nice.
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Photos from the end of today's downwinder to Cascade Locks.
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Pissed that I missed that to go spend hours doing a financial review, and then tomorrow missing the OC6 for three hours of lawyer meetings. Oh well, there's next week. this weekend is the second to last car race for the year. It will be a blast, but I have to admit that I have more fun on a downwinder than I do in a race car.
Can't believe I said that.
I think racing at Sear Point after the BOP is going to be an interesting test of my passion for racing. I might just be bored with local tracks. We'll see.
Great post btw Gregg. the east wind runs were always my favorite downwinders on windsurfers. We might need to go even further west and try the lower Columbia runs. Beautiful there too, though there's no real lower Gorge.
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Good for you Gregg. I thought about doing a Home Valley to Stevenson downwinder, but my wife was not available to drive me. Yesterday I windsurfed at Stevenson, and the swell looked very surfable. By the way I think the wind today was stronger than you indicated. Here is the graph from Stevenson today, showing a remarkably steady 30-31mph average from 10am till 2pm.
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Yah Bill, we missed you out there! Laszlo, I'll call you next time - this being the first easterly d/w, we did not get well organized until the last minute. Not surprised it was that windy, it is harder to judge when the wind and current are going the same direction. Good luck at the track Bill, we'll miss you in the OC!
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Today was nuts. Several times I was going so fast I was scared to fall, and I got a couple of drops that I thought were going to give me a nosebleed. Hard to believe we're doing this on a river. I think Karen did the 8.5 miles in about 1:05. I stopped to tie my camelback and slippers onto the nose (they wee driving me crazy), and still probably got in under 1:20 even though I was screwing around chasing big rides.
Greg. Mark and Art went back for seconds, I had to go sand my busted board.
Kim Reuter took out two first timers (she's nuts) and they came in thrilled with the ride. In retrospect, it would have been a pretty easy day for a newbie in some ways. Just manage to stay on the board and you'd make good time. Still, talk about tossing someone into the Fjord to see if they could swim--it was CRAZY out in the middle.
I surfed the length of the sandbar off Wells (probably a quarter mile or more) with hardly a stroke, standing behind the rudder on my F16. Tomorrow is probably going to be just as good. If you're within 500 miles of the Gorge you should hat up. It's going to be epic.
We've been all trading tips on how to stay on the board when you're standing on the tail. the guys on Naishes are all the way off the pad--that's about six inches from the end of the board, and they're all planning to wax that last six inches. That's how nutty it's getting.
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After the second run, Matt Parker said 'that was ridiculous!' with a huge grin. Art, Rod and I all agreed with him. The wind did not back down at all for the second session and the waves had gotten bigger and more organized with the wind blowing so long. Probably my best day of downwinding ever. No, it was my best day of downwinding ever.
I took GoPro of the first run but it just doesn't capture the awesomeness of the day. One thing that happens is that a trough opens up beneath you as you are catching a bump. I got several of those troughs where the swell was over my head behind me. It was quite literally, 8+ miles of near continuous surfing today.
The area code 206 crew have to be some of the most stoked downwind riders anywhere. They drove 3+ hours each way and paddled over 16 miles of downwind and they paddled and rode with skill and style and of course, lots of speed. Great to have them down here. Everybody else did a pretty amazing job too, including those first timers who all finished with big grins and are promising to come back for more.
As I sit here typing, I am still going up and down with the swells - the aftereffects of a day well spent.
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I got my first taste of the Gorge last month. I was fortunate enough to attend the Kalama Kamp in HR and completed a Viento run dead tired but with a big grin on my face, just as you described. These last few comments have got me stoked all over again! So, I'm heading up tomorrow for the weekend after my daughter's soccer game. Hope the recent epic conditions hold for another couple of days. I've been in touch with Bill but would love to meet up with others as well!
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It's 10:30 and the waves are washing over the sandbar. Going to be nuts today. I'm going at least twice. I had the Speedboard out at Nichols for a fin test. Wow, Larry Allison's fins are amazing. The wind, even in Nichols, was overpowering and I had to baby the board off and onto the truck.
The board was great. Amazingly fast. Demands a high cadence though.
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Did a double. First run was amazing, a cast of thousands. Awesome conditions, the wind was medium, but the swells were lined up and big. Basically 8.5 miles of surfing. Second run was just Greg and I--awesome again, thought the wind came down, the swells were even bigger in places. Got into a few that allowed three or even four big banking turns chasing the energy. Fast and fun. Wind died after wells, but the swells were still there if you went at then hard enough, which oddly enough, after 17 miles of bump riding I still did.
Greg wins the prize for coolest rack. It took his glide and my f16 in stride. If it was any more trick it would have take the boards out of our hands and loaded them.
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Any body in for Monday or Tuesday???
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Wind might last that long. I'm headed for the BOP on Monday. Going to cruise down and surf a couple of days, and make sure the Speedboard is melee-capable. Maybe it's a good thing it got busted--if it were virgin I'd probably go berserk if someone banged into it.
Tomorrow might be good, forecast is iffy for later--might be good out east.
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Going to try to catch some easterlies Wednesday Oct 3rd. Home Valley to Stevenson at noon. Might do it twice if its nice. Supposed to be blowin 40.
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I'll meet you there.
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March 3, 2013 water temp 42 degrees, air forecast to be about 50 and 15 to 20mph westerly. We are going to give it a go, first downwinder of the season. I'm wearing a 3/4/5 surf suit and hoping for good footwork! Will try and get some video.
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You're my freaking hero Cove. Even without a wetsuit I tripped over my own legs yesterday trying to do some fast footwork. One leg just knocked the other off the board. Hilarious but I was racing so didn't think so in that moment. When I fall like that I try to not get emotionally attached (pissed off) and get back on the board quick as I can.
You, on the other hand, have probably developed a very fast jump back onto the board after a fall... from the freeze ass water.
Is the river already doing the spring thing? I can imagine huge standing waves when that happens. I've only seen July August.
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HM, desperation to ride some swell will drive people to do all kind of crazy things.
We had a great run, Josh in his OC-1, Mark on his ski and TJ riding a really fast flat water board in the waves. ??? Nice 20 to 25mph breeze with a higher gust every once in a while. Three to four foot rollers provided sweet glides, kind of like a Kihei run.
Not the typical raging spring current yet. Water was cold but it was sunny, the waves were so fun and even though I had two quick get offs, I was back up real fast. Cold water is a big motivator to not fall in - but then, so are sharks and whales! I got some good video I hope, will post some later. Overall, a great first downwinder of the season in the Gorge!
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Good for you guys. I won't whine about the Maliko conditions today.
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Swells are flattened by the lens and this is a little long. No sound either. Got sick of trying to upload music I didn't really want. I jumped back on the board pretty quick when I went in, water temp is still in the 40's, so was the air temp.
Late Winter Downwinder! on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/60986762)
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Wow, kiters, river skippers, canoes, prolly a few barges and gill nets to really make it interesting. Looks like fun Mr!
Maybe I can get the GoPro mount on my board to somehow attach to the survey stake implanted in my leg to hold me upright. Not jealous or anything though :P
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Covesurfer,
Thanks for sharing your video, looks like you got in some nice glides! What board are you using?
I can't imagine paddling in that cold conditions. I was complaining this weekend because the impact vest I wear causes me to sweat more. I paddled once in a wetsuit, but that's only because right before that I was spearfishing and was lazy to change. Aloha!
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Takeo, no problem, wish I was a better videographer!
I'm riding my Glide 14 - it's a 2012 shape, a little flatter nose rocker than the older version. I have an old windsurfing wave fin on it which loosens the board up a little over the stock fin.
Not a fan of cold water but we sure have plenty of it up here. At least the wetsuits are pretty good these days. Even with air temp in the 40's, I got pretty hot paddling yesterday and all that rubber seems to make it harder to paddle as well - still, it was worth it!
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The gill nets go in a little later. There's nothing quite like hitting one in a full on glide. Your board just disappears from under you.
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Takeo, no problem, wish I was a better videographer!
I'm riding my Glide 14 - it's a 2012 shape, a little flatter nose rocker than the older version. I have an old windsurfing wave fin on it which loosens the board up a little over the stock fin.
Not a fan of cold water but we sure have plenty of it up here. At least the wetsuits are pretty good these days. Even with air temp in the 40's, I got pretty hot paddling yesterday and all that rubber seems to make it harder to paddle as well - still, it was worth it!
I had a 2012 14' Glide and miss it a lot, it's a great board. When we did our downwind this past weekend, one of the guys was on a 2012 Glide and he was flying. Luckily wind was to our back the whole way. When we get sidewinds, it's hell paddling without a rudder. I'm spoiled with my SIC.
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I was lucky enough to get over to Maui for a few months Nov - Jan and Pono Bill and Headmount took me on some amazing downwinders and PB loaned my his F-16. He even let me race on it in the Season Opener. That is a great board and no doubt the rudder is pretty important. He let me use it enough that I got a little attached to it! ;D
Here in the Gorge, it's usually pretty dead downwind and the Glides work great. But I don't think it would be much fun to paddle a fixed fin Glide across the Harbor at the end of a windy Maliko run.
Oh, and Bill, there are already nets all over the place, some not very well marked. I've come close, but haven't snagged one so far.
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cove,man I'm jonesing for a DW session ,See you in a couple weeks for Chocolate milk Mondays .
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It was marginal today - 15 knots, with some nice 30 second bursts of up to 25 that came through pretty often. It was me on my Glide, Josh in his OC and Mark on his Huki ski. I was glad I went, but finished feeling like a wrung out sponge.
The nights have been in the 20's the past week and so even though the daytime air is a little warmer, almost 60 today, the river is still really really cold - in the low 40's. Unpleasant to be sure. When considering the run today, I thought about a swim of any length in my 3 mil farmer john and 1.5 mil top and decided if that happened, I'd likely die. So, I went for my surf steamer 5/4/3. Problem is, you boil in the thing from paddling. And, it's really restrictive. Next time, I'll risk a lighter suit!
After a few miles, I was really uncomfortable, even though the conditions were actually pretty nice. Lots of smaller 3' faces with a four footer once in a great while. Still, it was a lot of fun when the glides linked up. 5 miles into the almost 8 mile run, I just wished I could be out of the suit and off the river. I felt like something in a crock pot might feel like, marinating in my own juices. I finished pretty dehydrated (won't leave my camelback at home next time) and feeling like I could barely paddle. :P Even so, our time was pretty decent at an hour and a half. Being uncomfortable just shifts the focus so that you lose some of the exhilaration of a typical downwinder.
Tried a different camera angle and shot 5 minutes of vid for an hour and a half run.
http://youtu.be/_nKC5XlxH1Q (http://youtu.be/_nKC5XlxH1Q)
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If you really want to cook in your own juices try a Patagonia with the wool lining. I wish they're do about a 1 mil that way, it would slide on like a t-shirt and keep you warm as toast. Great tech, but overdone unless you're diving under the ice.
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That looked like a lot of fun CS! Wish I could have gone out flailing around with you.
That one time I paddled around Wells Island last month in my 6/5 was enough to convince me to never paddle in that thick of a suit again! You must have been miserable.
Looks like there was some decent little swell despite the dams being pretty much shut down right now.
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Yesterday, a group of us went east into the desert for some big westerlies and big swell. We drove about an hour east of Hood River to Blalock, no more than an exit off of I84 out in the desert. A short hop down an unimproved but entirely passable dirt trail/road and there is a little spot to park and a slough that runs parallel to the Columbia. You launch right into this little slough, which is very protected from the wind, paddle a short distance, take a 90 degree left and go out a tunnel into the main river. Very cool. When you hit the river, you are initially protected by a jetty that is just upwind of the tunnel opening. You have to paddle out quite a ways into the river to get around Blalock Point, about a mile downwind of the launch. The river is wide here and the swell is large and beautifully lined up.
The winds were 25 to 45 mph with sustained, large gusts. Swell was about four to seven feet with occasional sets of perfectly lined up rollers that were very clean. This was almost better than open ocean downwinding as the swell was so large and rolled so nicely with little surface cross chop.
The run is about 8 miles and I tracked it with my Garmin. My fastest glide was 16 mph. I don't think that was a spike either. I had other glides that were all around 12 mph, this riding a Glide 14. The last several miles saw the wind really start to build with a lot of sustained gusts in the 35 to 40 mph range. This made getting into the big rollers a lot easier.
The take out at the small town of Arlington is a bit like coming into Kahului Harbor entrance. You are getting a lot of push from the swell and the wind as you approach the rock jetty from upwind. Instead of going hard left like you do in the harbor, you have to come in close to the end of the jetty and turn hard right, using the surge to your advantage to help get out of the current. Once you're in, you have the protection of the jetty which is probably 15 or 20 feet high. Spray from breaking waves hitting the upwind side of the rocks was flying over to the lee side, very cool!
Arlington is right across from Roosevelt Park in Washington, a popular windsurfing site. Yesterday's conditions looked epic - there were many sailors out, mostly on 3.0's to 3.7's from what I could tell. Anyway, it looked fantastic.
The last part of the paddle is on the inlet into the town park in Arlington. There's not much current and the wind pushes you the right direction. It was so strong that at times I just used my paddle to steer. You land at a large sandy beach that leads to a grassy lawn - almost completely sheltered from the strong winds. This is where we left the shuttle vehicles. Nice big parking area and great place to take out. All in all, this is so far beyond any other run I've ever done in the Gorge. Just amazing. Highly recommend this when the conditions are going off. Shot a little video to showcase the conditions. As usual, the camera does not begin to do the swell justice.
Blalock to Arlington April Downwinder on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/63577166)
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Wow, that's da Kine. Rod and I have talked about runs near Arlington incessantly, but we've only done little head fakes up at Biggs. I thought that long, straight, wide stretch around Arlington would be the best, there's big swell there every time I drive by. Looking forward to rocking that. We'll be back about the first week in May.
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Fantastic write up and video. Could easily extrapolate how good it was even with the distortion. I want to go! What was the miles for the run?
Dig it that you went exploring. Love the feeling.
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PB, looking forward to your return. You were missed yesterday! We will definitely have to do this run. It's a time commitment but worth it. I could even see doing a double or taking windsurf gear for a post paddle session, although you'd have to launch from Arlington which is no picnic as far as a windsurf launch goes.
HM, thanks! Glad you liked it. The run is just short of 9 miles. We had a great group of paddlers yesterday to do this. First time for all of us but not the last. You should visit!
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Looked great - wondering if these river and non-open ocean swell downwinders are in fact more fun on a SUP than the fabled open swell ones?
The only open ocean run we have is the Millers run and I've done one way up our coast where we were up to 9km off-shore - and both of those don't measure up in fun factor to our in-shore, wind-swell only, Milnerton run. Just looks and feels like glides are steeper, easier to get into and allows you to jump swells more easily than in the big ocean swells where it looks (and in my limited experience) feels like you have these big lumps running under you and maybe giving a small push from time to time. I find it hard to link anything meaningful in the bigger ocean swells.
DJ's local run in Australia also looks like non-stop steep little pearlers and thats also in-shore if I'm not mistaken?
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Plus when you finish, you can check out the Doc Severinsen memorial plaque outside the restrooms in the park.
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Nice video covesurfer. Those were some fantastic glides. And as you said, the cams make everything look smaller.
I would advise more people to experiment with video. Once you see how YOU appear, the vids on the internet have new meaning . Trust me, those conditions he had were amazing. You can see the texture and speed of the following swell. The following swells meant he didn't need to struggle to mantain a glide for fear of losing it.
This promotes easy experimenting across faces. If you fall off the glide, a few strokes an you are back on again. It just doesn't get any better when downwinding. That's the fun factor that peterp is talking about- Miller's vs Milnerton runs.
We have the same relationship with our Maliko vs south shore runs. The south shore is has no fetch, is more groomed than Maliko. Maliko is bigger, but my average speeds are faster (and I have more fun) on the south shore. The big maliko swells are rarely caught, even in our big boats. And we don't really 'catch' them, it's better described as 'reducing your losses.' As in "try to maintain hull speed, surf down the back of the swell as it blasts past me" It's an entirely different skill set, not well suited for standups.
Only the elite paddlers (in any craft) are strong enough to truly exploit open ocean, longer period swells. Sure, us average guys can shoot the reef and get a thrilling big drop, but your speed quickly drops to zero. Then its back to building speed for the next one - if there is a next one. One big glide per hour? No thanks, I'll take 100 smaller ones, with a side of links, thank you.
If you have wind on a lake or a river, get out there and try it. The videos don't do it justice. Small tight swells are a stone gas on standups. You will see. Waist high is heaven. Head high? hold on to your hat. And use a good leash. Be safe.
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Having the vast majority of my paddling time in the Columbia, when I was in Maui I was naturally much more comfortable and had an absolute blast on the S side runs that I got to do. The N side was as LPB describes but addictive too. Those big swells are seductive and I think your paddling improves in the quest to catch the odd one here and there. I felt pretty comfortable on the S side but felt challenged and like I really had to reach on the N side. Even with a lot more experience, I don't see that changing much.
Once you develop a perspective on what you are actually seeing on video, given the camera distortion, you can begin to appreciate what really good paddlers can do. What is truly amazing is to watch video of elite paddlers in the open ocean, guys like Conner, Dave K, Livio, Scott Trudon, etc. and they make it look so easy. The video of last year's Maui-Molokai race that HM took is my favorite. I could watch Conner catching ocean swells for a long time and not get bored. Whenever I want to inspire myself to paddle better, I watch Conner on the Kamalo Speedway....www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bnSGxBnP38 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bnSGxBnP38#ws)
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Wow, that looks really epic Gregg. I think those are some of the longest glides I've seen, ocean or river. Though you guys had obvious epic conditions, as you know from your river skipping days, the REALLY big wind and swell is even further upriver around Three Mile Canyon. The river really straightens out there with a long fetch. I know back in the day windsurfing, I've been in troughs so deep there that I couldn't see the highway on occasion. I don't know what the logistics would be of launching and taking out, but I think that has the potential to be even bigger. You're not making me jealous or anything sitting at home nursing my broken leg:)
Jeff
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Wow. Just checked the map and it's about 1k elevation on the bluffs over the river which they have listed at 265'.... combined with the desert heat... can you say blast furnace? Man, what a set up.
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Yeah, there's a reason the gorge is The Gorge. It's a completely unique wind tunnel. Hot dry air at one end, cold, wet air at the other, and walls 500 feet deep for a few hundred miles. Up in the hills a mile from the gorge the wind might be blowing 5MPH while it's fifty on the river. No one is really prepared for how unusual a place this is. Skinny people show up with a 10 meter kite or a sail quiver that starts at 4.0 and they just blow away, landing somewhere in Idyho.
For downwinding, a big element of the long, long rides is how steep the face of the swell is. Forty knot wind pushing in the opposite direction of a 4-5 knot current. Stacks the faces. You railroad over some of the swells and the backside looks like someone took a scoop out some jello--like a deep fold in the water. Drop in and hang on. It's the natural element for the original Glide. That huge rocker fits right into the swells. the new glides are faster, but the old ones you hardly have to paddle. Just stand there and they'll catch a glide.
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Five of us braved temp's in the low 40's this morning to 'harvest' a little action from the 15 to 30+ mph gusty frontal wind that showed up in the Gorge last night. With it being so cold, there is snow down pretty low on the surrounding mountains and it felt like a full on winter day. Still, we were all stoked for some gliding, especially after last week's incredible run out in the eastern Gorge.
I guess our timing was pretty fair as we launched around 10AM from Viento, in the sun, right on the edge of the cloud line. In the Gorge, the edge of the cloud line is usually a good place to be, and if there's solid blue sky that you're downwinding into, so much the better.
When we showed up at Viento to meet up with our paddling buddy Rob, he was just coming off the water having grabbed a quick windsurfing session before his paddle. Pretty cool! We were on the water in just a few minutes and instantly into good strong gusty wind with a three to four foot swell. The current was strong and it was very noticeable. Getting into glides when the wind backed off was like paddling in concrete and I noticed that my speed was really slow. I'd guess we had current around 2 to 2.5 mph which doesn't sound like much but it is.
Even with the strong current and gusty conditions, there were some nice glides to be had. Not as good as last week's but decent. The big gusts made things a lot more fun but the swell was sticky and maybe because of the strong current, the short wave period and steep swell was really noticeable. It was paddle hard from the front, catch the glide, run to the tail to keep the nose from burying and just as you'd start to really get into it, it was over. Back to the front seat, and do it again.
When we got to the last couple miles, the wind picked up really strong in the spot where it often dies out, right around Wells Island. I was getting glides on short period steep swell without much effort at all. Lots of fun!
Shot a little video which I'll try and clean up and post later. Overall, a nice if cold run. It's not going to warm up any tomorrow and we were all talking about going again anyway and everybody was smiling even when they were commenting on how hard a paddle it was. Good stuff.
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Could be 3 to 3.5 this time of year. Depends on where you are of course, but mid river, for sure.
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Getting into glides when the wind backed off was like paddling in concrete and I noticed that my speed was really slow. I'd guess we had current around 2 to 2.5 mph which doesn't sound like much but it is.
CR - my wife has vid of me paddling past photo point at the Hatchery and it looks like I am on a bungee cord. Drop down the wave face and make forward motion, paddling like a banshee on the reverse side and I still start getting getting dragged back to Swell City. Almost like what I would imagine a good standing wave to be like.
We are having the occasional decent day up here in Seattle, wish I could get down to the Hood more often.
Bruce in Issaquah
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Hey BB! Looking forward to seeing you down here soon! That is exactly how it felt yesterday, a nice glide followed by what felt like paddling as hard as you could just to get forward progress.
PB is right, that current is variable depending on where you're paddling in the river. Over by the Hatchery, I would not be surprised if it was more than 4 knots.
Between the heavy 5 mil suit and paddling as hard as I had to yesterday, I have become aware of some new muscles in my neck. There's a little breeze already so I'm thinking a downwinder will help work out the kinks.
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Went for two weekend downwind runs from Viento. Saturday, Mark and I messed around with roof racks for half an hour so we could fit my Glide and his Huki ski on his aging truck for the shuttle. It was a marginal downwind day, especially with the current running stronger and stronger. It was just the two of us in 25 mph to 5 mph winds. I ended up getting great glides for the first 15 minutes, then fought my way through the current for the next half an hour in the hopes that the wind would fill back in.
It was another exercise in feeling like my wonderful KeNalu was stirring a big batch of concrete. I finally gave in and ran for the Oregon shore, caught the back eddy and increased my speed back up to 5.5 to 6 mph. My 1.5 mil top felt like a straight jacket. At the end, we both agreed it was a 'good workout' but we weren't raving about the downwind conditions. Time was 1:41 which is not terrible, especially with so much current. On the ride back up to get the truck, the wind came up and it was easily gusting 30 to 35. We both joked about a second run but it was already 430 and neither of us really wanted to pick up our paddles again. One of those days.
Sunday looked pretty weak in the morning. Lots of storm clouds in the west and some showers. Wind was a steady 10 to 15. Karen was up for a run, no matter what, and we agreed that we'd go even if it was just a paddle with a little tailwind rather than a real downwinder. I decided I'd probably ride my Jav instead of the Glide and make it a workout paddle. After the straightjacket feel of my 1.5 mil top on Saturday, I took a loose fitting kayaking top that my wife got me for my birthday and my farmer john.
1:30 and the wind was getting really gusty and I chickened out of taking the Jav. Good thing. When I got to Viento to meet Karen, it was blowing 25 to 30 with some higher gusts. Because it had just come up, the swell was really short period and not real organized. In the parking lot, Jan, wearing only a shirt and board shorts had showed up with his F16 and was going to join us.
Got going and had really great wind and ok swell for the first half of the run. Loved the loose fitting top, much less fatiguing than tight fitting neoprene. Jan is an excellent paddler and he was flying on the F 16. Karen was riding a Javelin team board that weighed around 14 lbs and she is one of the best paddlers anywhere. It was her first downwinder of the season and she spent the first few minutes warming up. For a short while, I thought maybe I'd gotten faster over the winter. Ha ha.
I spent the remainder of the run chasing Karen and Jan. All was as it should be! A few times, they stopped and waited politely for me and, fortunately, I wasn't very far back. Each time they waited, I was thinking, ok, I can do this, they won't get a gap this time! Then we'd take off and I would get gapped again! I love chasing faster paddlers, it is how you improve. All in all, it was a great run and we finished with a time of around 1:36. Shot a short vid which shows the fun but short glides that could be linked up. Plenty of current now and for the foreseeable future for Viento runs.
Stormy Viento in April on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/64534414)
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Nice Covesurfer!
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Distance?
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7.79 miles
Garmin data - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/301484537 (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/301484537)
If you click 'previous' or 'next' up at the top right, it takes you to the next activity by that user. I think the 19+ mph spike for 'maximum speed' is an error.
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Wow, love that garmin connect. It's improved a lot over the years.
I like the 'player' feature.
And the map is easy to zoom in or out, very nice.
So the river is running against you, with the wind pushing you? Nice.
I'll mention it to my grumpy friends when they moan about 'sticky' water. Personally, I like the effect of current on swell riding.
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Agree, LPB, Garmin is pretty cool these days.
Typically, we do our runs from west to east, going against the current. Spring and early Summer it's running pretty good. We've also done some runs with the current when the wind switches direction. The Gorge is either west wind, east wind or glass it seems.
I'm noticing more people taking flatwater race boards on downwinders here. They pay a price when it's windy and the waves are good but they get a nice advantage if the wind backs off. I'm wanting to use my Javelin for downwinding but I keep chickening out.
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I remember when they were developing the Javelin years back. Jeremy had a prototype. He was doing big, stormy, windy malikos on it.
You can do it, just go for it. :o
Let me know if you find a way to remove the elevation from the garmin connect chart. Mine is way off with or without the adjustment. I'd like to eliminate it.
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The graph shows a spike of 9.5 so the max speed was probably just an error where they added a one in front.
What do you reckon the current speed is? And how much does it change throughout the year? I would guess it's strongest now.
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PB says 3.5 mph and I think that's pretty close in what they call the Bonneville Pool - the lake behind Bonneville Dam that extends all the way to the Dalles dam. Of course the current varies depending on where you're paddling in relation to the bottom contour. Right now, it's got to be running 2.5 to 3.5 mph.
Interestingly, in Lake Celilo which is upstream above the Dalles Dam, the current seems to be much stronger. There is great windsurfing between Maryhill WA and Rufus OR but in the Spring, the current up there probably runs over 5 mph. I haven't paddled any of that water yet but a couple of friends (Mark and Josh) paddled it in an OC1 and on a ski and said it was just ripping, and that was in late July.
The current is strongest in Spring through the end of June. When the snowmelt is in full force, it is generally the strongest but how much water they let out of the dams can make a big impact not only on current but on water level as well.
I would guess there is always at least a 2mph current. I had a sailboat on the Columbia for more than 20 years and we'd anchor and swim from July through October and there was always enough current that you had to be careful not to get swept too far from the boat.
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After a few days of flat glass, the westerlies returned yesterday. Made a run in light 5 mph to 25 mph wind yesterday and another today. Water temp is up! Must be in the high 40's or even 50 degrees.
Since today looked like 10 to 20, with a bias toward the 10 mph end of the scale, I finally broke out the Jav. What a blast! In the windiest sections, the swell was about 3+ feet and the Javelin actually gets glides and handles pretty well. You can't really turn it with the rail like you can on the Glide but using the paddle on the side you want to turn towards works. Plus it gives you some added stability. The round, tall rails are something to get used to but the speed is addictive. It was easier to keep the board speed up sufficiently to catch and link glides better than on the Glide. When you do stuff the nose, it seems to cut through the water instead of stalling the board. Stepping back pops it up pretty well. I only fell twice, which is pretty typical (at a minimum) no matter what I'm on.
Yesterday's run had less current than we've had lately. The people at the dam seem to randomly change flow and water level although I'm sure there is a logic to it. Maybe.
Shot a short vid of yesterday's run on my Glide. Can't wait to try the Javelin again, it was sure fun to have that additional speed and reduced strain to paddle it hard.
Light Viento on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/64862326)
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CS, you torment me with your four functioning limbs!
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So Cove, I ate dinner last night with a Canadian who told me about all the heavy metals, pollutants and radiation that go into the Columbia, from BC and the nuke plant at Hanford, Wa. Sounded grim.
So my question Cove, is since you spend a fair amount of time in that river, are you growing any third eyes?
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Historically grim, when they were making plutonium for bombs at Hanford they dumped about 50,000 curies per day into the river. They had retention ponds for the cooling water, but it was a flow-through system with about a week of holdup, so only the really nasty short half life stuff decayed away. All the longer lived stuff went right to the river. The bottom mud near Hanford is still pretty toasty but you need some pretty sensitive gear to measure anything more than ten miles from the tri-cities. There is a wave of contaminated groundwater moving to the river that will get there about 2020. It's supposed to get stopped by the big cleanup efforts, but senators have found they can use superfund dollars as pork, so a lot of the money slated for that cleanup has been diverted to more politically important things--like getting senators or presidents elected.
Realistically though, groundwater doesn't move the kind of transuranic nuclides that would be of greatest concern very far, and it's probably bullshit. There's a delightful tome I enjoyed once by the EAEC called Transuranium Elements In The Environment that you might consult for more information. Or you could stick icepicks in your eyes and spare yourself real agony.
PCBs, dioxin, pesticides and bacteria from waste overflows are all present at fairly high levels--not as much as in the Willamette, but high for a river this size. Quite a bit of metal contamination comes from clearcuts and farming activity. Not a big deal for the Anadromous fish (Salmon, steelhead, etc.)--they aren't there long enough for it to accumulate, or anyone swimming in the water, but if you like to eat carp or suckers, then you might have a problem.
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Ha! There you have it.
Two bacterial infections in 56 years: one from the river and one from Maui. I don't worry too much about the river, if I didn't spend so much time in it, I'd die from mental illness.
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Small group of us did a quick d/w from Viento today. Most awesome was that PB is back. I'll bet that cold water was a real shock to his system after months in Maui though.
I think Rod and Jan were checking out the maximum hull speed capabilities of their boards. I managed to keep them in sight the entire run but they were getting a little bit hard to see at times. ;)
I tried a Bullet 14, fixed fin. The conditions were not what you'd call big - maybe 3 to 4 foot swell, pretty solid 15 to low 20's wind. Plenty of current. Really like this board. Very stable and plenty of acceleration to catch glides, seems to hold the speed really well which helps you link glides. Need more time on it! Probably going to ride it again tomorrow.
Sounds like the usual suspects will materialize if the wind is blowing. Good times.
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Cove... You stole my partner... now I'm the lonely guy.
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My nuts are slowly descending from my chest cavity after three falls. I think they're somewhere around my liver right now.
Cool that Big Winds is setting up a shuttle service. we all get to do the first test run as a freebie tomorrow. Game changer.
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I am planning to connect with you all at Nicholas. Are you wearing full 4/3s still?
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Nope, trunks, tights, and a jacket. Too hot for wetsuits, at least it is if you're shaped like an Orca.
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Bob, I used a 3 mil farmer john. I was good, even with a few quick dips. Probably could get by with a shorty farmer john. Just don't lose your board or they'll have to fish you out, frozen, likely with retracted nuts.
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I was feeling left out until this talk about retracted nuts.... guess it's not so bad here.
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Sorry HM, Bill's earlier post was even more descriptive.
The water is still freakin cold.
If you visit in August, it's still cold by Maui standards but more tolerable for sure.
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Headmount--come on over to Oregon! Better yet, find someone here with a birthday, and have him fly you over with 28 other Hawaiians.
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What's the water temp there now?...and more importantly August...looking like we'll be visiting then... ;D
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Boy, today sure was fun. The wind was howling, I bet we had some 45 MPH gusts--ripping spray off the water. Steve Gates from Big Wind did a test of his shuttle idea. Big success. He's talking about starting Memorial day, but I bet folks are going to bug him to start sooner, like tomorrow. Very handy not to have to pick up shuttle cars.
I took advantage of not having to race back to Nichols for shuttle duty to take my 12'2" X 26" Starboard Surfboard. It was slow, but I had a blast. I think that's going to be my standard ride. I'll probably take the F16 sometimes, but the 12'2" is such a hoot, it will be hard to leave it home. Constant surfing.
It's hard to get back up when you fall, and I fell three times (not counting the ten times I fell off trying to get back up), but it's worth it, and once you're up it's challenging, but sufficiently stable to play. I cut across the river just after the split rock to pick up the waves at the Hatchery and Swell City. Even just cutting across the river was great. I was dropping down to the bottom of swells angling North, doing one of my patented weak-ass backside bottom turns and then just staying low and slicing across the river. I think it was no more than ten waves to slice all the way across. Crazy fun.
Swell and the hatchery were big, but not monster overhead like they sometimes get. I think the wind angle wasn't quite right. But chest to shoulder high, and I got some big drops and lots of hoots from the windsurfers. Fun enough to drop down and let the current take me back for one more run. World's biggest escalator. I got a couple of good bottom turns the second run, and a noseride--well, a logo ride. Then I sat down, went halfway back, then cut across to Wells and rode the express all the way to Nichols. In a major league glide the whole way.
Everyone was dressed and dry by the time I got to Nichols, but I couldn't stop grinning and laughing. What a crazy great little board that is. It looks like a windsurfer next to all the big iron, but it's fun.
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Speaking of surfing at the Hatchery, I expect this bad boy is going to see a lot of river action. It looks perfect for the overhead fatties. It should be here in a week. Going to be a fun summer.
(http://www.ponostyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/swellrider.jpg)
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Apparently, PB brought the wind with him. Today was the best day I've had so far this year and I've done fourteen downwinders since I started in March. It was like the best summer days today, sunny, warm, and blowing like stink. It never backed off, just felt like it built and built over the course of the run. If anyone else had said, 'let's go again', I would have.
The Big Winds shuttle was great. No rushing at the end of the run - time to hang out and talk about the run with everybody. We had a pretty good sized group, two OC-1's, a ski and six of us on standups.
My wife and I took a walk around 7pm and it was still honking on the river and I was comfortable in a tee shirt. In May! Around here, that's unusual - at least the past few 'springs'.
Demo'd the Bullet 14 again. Very impressed with this board. Had a fast run, under an hour and a half and caught more glides than I think I ever have on a Viento run. Part of that was the due to the excellent conditions. I'm afraid I like the Bullet better than my Glide. Ever since I tried this board on Saturday, it's all I've wanted to ride. Hope the summer in spring continues....
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Yeah PBill brought the wind there and took it from here when he left. We have none. Hot here, like really hot.
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It's Thursday and the wind was blowing so someone had to go. Small group of us, Karen, Jan, Josh in his OC and me. Pono was out today but he really got the best day of the year yesterday.
Rode my Glide today and had a surprisingly good and fast run. Wind was in the low to mid 20's with swell around 3 to 4 feet. For some reason, I was linking my glides a lot more than usual. Instead of my usual strategy, which is to go like hell from the start until I blow and start falling in, I held back a little and tried to stay more focused on being efficient and letting the waves be my accelerator more than the paddle.
Kind of weird riding the Glide after a few days on the Bullet. They sure are different boards but I really like both a lot. I have so much time on the Glide, it just feels really good to me. This after I was sure I liked the Bullet better. I think they're just both really good boards and you're gonna have fun in good downwind conditions on either one.
Jan is an extremely fast paddler. He was on an F-16 and had to have put at least 5 minutes into Karen and I. He basically paddles with the ski or the OC's. Looks like the good conditions will last through the weekend so I'm ;D
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Let's not show him any technique. He's fast enough without it. Looks like he's mixing concrete.
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Wednesday was so fun. Great to catch the Big Wind shuttle with the whos who of the NW.
First downwinder for me this year and besides trying to cramp up it was sweet. C photo . Fiona on her 24"wide Javelin.
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Whose who is on first?
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Fiona became a little speck out in front on that board. She is quite an amazing paddler!
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Wednesday was so fun. Great to catch the Big Wind shuttle with the whos who of the NW.
First downwinder for me this year and besides trying to cramp up it was sweet. C photo . Fiona on her 24"wide Javelin.
Thanks, Bob. FIrst I feel bad because I saw all you guys walking back through the park with your boards Wednesday night after your river paddle that I couldn't do, so I comforted myself with the knowledge you'd probably been hard at work all day earlier at the shop. Now this. :'(
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Whose who is on first?
I was trying to figure that one out myself. The only Who I can think of in the Van was Dan Gavere. Though I have to admit you get a little jaded when you jump into Kelly's rig with Dave Kalama, Scott Trudon, Slater Trout, Connor Baxter, etc. etc.. And of course the world famous Bill Boyum.
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To me your are all rock stars! ;D
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Did a viento run today with Greg (covesurfer). Looked like a low wind deal, but I decided to use my 12'2" again. It's a handful, but it fun and good conditioning. Sure is a bitch getting back up when I fall though. There's so little rocker that the nose sometimes disappears when I stand, and then there's no forward stability. Lots of wobbling until I can get it moving, then it's fun. Lot of work though.
The wind was better than it looked, and we got some nice glides right from the start. The waves off the drainpipe at Mitchell Point were amazing. I caught one riding towards Greg, but when I went to turn there was a cross swell that shoved the nose back and I ran right over him. No damage, except I fell again and it took a while to get back up in the big waves, so I missed some fun.
The Well Express was ripping though small, and there was good shove all the way to the end. Fun run, but as soon as I cooked dinner for Diane I crashed out on the couch. I never do that. Made some nice wild sockeye salmon on the grill, fresh asparagus saute'ed with paper0thin mushrooms, and pasta alfredo. Good grits. Sure was hungry.
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I've got to search my go pro footage for evidence that PB is trying to kill me. I was shooting him in the drainpipe swell section when he nailed me. The waves were really nice and we had a good if somewhat gusty wind. Pretty nice run. It was so good by the drainpipe, I sat down on my board and put my paddle blade in the water and watched as the current magically took me back upwind so I could paddle through it again. Amazing. The waves were really nice in there and the wind was strong enough to help you get into them.
At the end of the paddle, Pono let me try out his Starby in the lagoon. At my weight, it is a hoot but it's only 26" wide and it is a lot of work to get it going. That board is a whole different animal for someone over 200#. PB's endurance is pretty remarkable.
Not surprised you crashed out after dinner after paddling that board over 8 miles into a stiff current. When you break out the F16, you're going to smoke me.
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Ran you over huh? I know the name of that tune. sounds like you guys are having a blast. Southside today over here and the first good run I've had since when PBill was here. How's that SB surf the river? Miss you guys.
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I wouldn't worry too much about getting smoked, I'm not much faster on the F16. Endurance is all I've got. Boyum calls it my diesel motor. I think he's right. Lots of torque, plenty of noxious fumes, runs forever, but fast it ain't.
I'm having fun with that board, it surfs the swells better than anything else I've got, but I need to come up with a reliable way to get back up in the bumps. Probably have to pop up like a prone board instead of tottering to my feet. I used to be able to do that. Maybe I need to resurrect that skill.
And sheesh, you run over a couple of guys a few times and they won't let you forget it.
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I did a little shakedown paddling on my repaired F16 (works good) and my Speedboard 19 today. Gregg showed up with his Garmin, so we paddled together some to get some benchmarks. I did 6.7 MPH on the speedboard and could hold 6.0 pretty well. I'm using the wrong paddle, this thing demands a wiki--got to keep the cadence up to make it work. Gregg got on it and did 6.9 MPH.
I think that's a good demo of what I've been talking about elsewhere. I suspect Greg would agree that I'm quite a bit stronger than he is, and my stroke is as good or better, but he weighs about as much as my legs so his power to weight ratio blows mine away, he's carrying no fat, and he's in better all around shape. But on the speedboard we're pretty close in performance, though he's still faster. On a 14' he'd just eat my lunch and take my dessert.
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A new Covesurfer diet?
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HM, you make me laugh. ;D
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Pretty sure I'm coming in August. Which 14 works that I can get my hands on? Don't like Glides so X that one off. Seen anyone use Gerry's 14 up there? Is there a shop that rents 14s?
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I got boards. You can use any one of them--probably the Bark Dominator 14 is the best choice, but I have a Starboard Open Ocean Carbon (ex-Dan Gavere) and a glide as well. . If they have a surfboard class I'm probably gonna do that on my 12'2". Pure masochism, but it's fun.
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Thanks
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HM in the Gorge, you'll love it.
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Does this mean headmount and stoneaxe will be here at the same time?
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Challenging run today. Lots of wind, and the swells were big, but the current was HUGE. We had a big group, and there were a couple of guys that launched just before us. People were gabbing and catching up so John Wrenn and I got a head start and just jumped in. I expected to pull away from John, he doesn't go very often, but he was staying right with me and passed me a few times. I was impressed with both his speed and his control. Then suddenly he was gone and I was pretty much alone, with someone way out ahead. John said he fell and once he got up he decided to take it easier.
I put my head down and started chasing the big drops, but the river was just whacky. When I got to Mitchell point I wanted a breather, so I slid over to the eddy line next to shore, but it was actually worse than the main current!! Seems like a violation of hydrodynamics, but the water on the edges was kind of pushed up and running like a millrace. I fell in rounding the point as was swept back around the point in seconds. I angled back out into the river and started catching big bumps again, and it was fine, but slow.
Jan came by looking like he had a motor. I've never seen anyone paddle so poorly and go so fast. we're all sworn to not show him anything. He's fast enough. then Josh came by in his OC-1, but he passed me pretty slowly. the Rod Parmenter came by, but I could stay with him pretty well. this much current is a good equalizer.
When we hit the Wells Express I was laughing and whooping. the swells were SO easy to catch, and I could stay in them for 30 seconds or more at a time--but it was like slow motion surfing. I could PLACE the nose in a specific spot and then SLIDE down into the trough, and the CUT across the face of the wave and then slowly reverse direction and cut the other way. ballet in slow motion. way fun. Chased rod all the way to Nichols. He was doing something weird when he got near the kiddy park, I couldn't see what he was doing. Turns out he was trying to get over the swim marker rope to see if his wife and kid were in the park, but he got his fin stuck.
that was certainly one of the slowest runs I've done in a long time, but everyone else was just as slow. I'm pretty beat. I did a twenty mile bike ride before the run. Would have been fine if it was a normal run, but battling all the current took me right out to the edge. got a massive ab cramp trying to get my booties off.
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Between the current and the race hangover, it was a slow run. I had about an hour and 50 minutes of paddling time. That's 20 minutes slower than fast times I was turning in a couple weeks ago.
The current really was remarkable. PB, you must have had a much faster run than I did because you were completely out of sight. I took it super easy and had a social paddle with Cyril and Bob for the last 1/3. Working on using the rudder and just trying to figure the Bullet out. Had to go waaaay back on the tail at least half a dozen times to keep the nose up. A few times I thought the board had actual malice in it's EPS and carbon heart. I went in at least 3 or 4 times. Glad I wasn't the only one to notice that screaming current.
OC 6 tomorrow morning. Ahy-ohh-river!
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I punched the nose on my F16 a million times. that's usually impossible, but the current had the swells so steep faced that even medium-sized stuff was burying the nose. I fell three times with my nose down so far my shins were wet. I finally developed a simple cure of letting the nose bury and stepping to the back and waiting.
I went hard the whole way--I had Rod in front of me, and I wanted to stay with him. that f#@er is going to kill me. Race the day before, 20 mile ride when I got back to Hood River in the afternoon, 20 mile bike ride in the morning, 9 mile race against current in the PM. You'd think I'd be thinner. I might have to schedule lipo.
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I went hard the whole way--I had Rod in front of me, and I wanted to stay with him. that f#@er is going to kill me. Race the day before, 20 mile ride when I got back to Hood River in the afternoon, 20 mile bike ride in the morning, 9 mile race against current in the PM. You'd think I'd be thinner. I might have to schedule lipo.
If you'd show up for OC-6 practice, you'd be as skinny as Conner. ;D
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Cove has been on Maui for a week or two now and got to warm up on PBill's V2 Bullet. Conditions have been cranking up and Cove has really hit a great stretch.
Yesterday I grabbed a F16 for Covesurfer to try since it was for sale. It's a hollow Chinese model with the Aladdin nose, laid up with the autoclave high pressure high heat that makes a super strong board. The board used to belong to me before I got a Bullet. Now it's passed on to Cove.
On PBill's heavy V2 I had a pretty easy time keeping ahead of Cove. Yesterday he did much better on his first try of the Chi-com F16 but I still was ahead of him. But today we lined up outside and took off. While I led for about a mile, Cove blazed by me and I never caught him. His bump riding skills have made a quantum jump.
Remarkable how a lighter board better suited for a lighter paddler made such a difference. I knew he catch me one day but he sure did it quick. Kinda stoked that I can have a push from him since he has moved here. Paddling with fast paddlers is the key to improvement.
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HM has been awesome with lots of aloha. Hooked me up with the perfect dw board. The Aladdin shoe nose on the F16 is super forgiving and the board is so stable at my light weight that I can get away with all kinds of less than precision shananagins. Today was screaming with big drops and long glides. Not in any rush to go back to cold water but it will be fun to paddle in the Gorge too. In the meantime, HM and I are likely going to continue wearing each other out. Conditions are too good to miss it.
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First Gorge d/w in a while. Went with PB and Josh on his oc1. Good day, a little on the lighter side with the wind maybe 15 to 25 but smaller, groomed swells. Lots of glides and lots of connected bumps. Was bummed my Garmin died after only a mile and a half - I forgot to charge it up apparently. Was loads of fun to be back on a 14 and all the rudder work in the ocean seems to be helping take me from completely clueless to maybe I'll someday get a clue about how this thing makes linking glides up easier.
It was a really fast run, probably right around an hour and a half. I thought I'd gapped PB pretty good, and I had at one point, but he was right there at the finish. It ruined my plan to be casually hanging out with the board on the rack when he came in. Yeah, that didn't work out at all. ;D
Really excited about Jeremy's upcoming clinic here. Hope the wind cranks!
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That was a fast run, I was catching you pretty quickly after Mitchell point, not sure why. I got a big bunch of connected glides in a row--three to five, or should I say Chree to fi' connected swells at a time. It was just working. Then you went way outside at Wells and I picked up the express. I got into one very long, good size swell that landed me so far on the inside that I did the inside edge of Wells instead of trying to beat back out. That was a mistake, there wasn't any wind back there, and current was brutal, but it got me into humping mode, so I did that all the way to Nichols.
Fun run, one of the first in a while that I did completely dry. My shoulders are toast this evening though. OC6 in the morning and Downwinder in the afternoon with a bunch of painting and moving crap at the warehouse in between.
Advil.
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Old age and treachery
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Jeremy's clinic sold out weeks ago. Perhaps not as fast as the Apple developers conference (6000 people in 70 seconds) but pretty fast. I guess word is getting around. We'll probably have a fresh bunch of downwind addicts afterwards, and you'll be able to tell the Jeremy students by the intense way they look at the water and slide round like waterbugs.
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Sure, sure, JR's clinic will crank out more d/w addicts. But what about shuttle drivers? ;)
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What about the divorce rate?
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Sure, sure, JR's clinic will crank out more d/w addicts. But what about shuttle drivers? ;)
DW addicts ARE shuttle drivers. Takes two to tango.
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Fun fathers day, I tried to kind of hook up with Jeremy's thing, at least to snag a shuttle ride, but they were doing class stuff and it was nukin', so Rod and I wnet early, had a little lunch, and di a second run. Said hi to Jeremy and the crew after run 2. Good to see him, great guy. He's sticking around for a couple of days, so I might get in a run or two with him, but if the wind holds it won't matter who I go with, great fun.
Swell city was big today, we cut over and surfed some big drops the second run. Some of them were real nosebleeds--like a fold in the river. The hatchery was crossed up and just flat mean, but swell was fun. Thought about run #3, but I'm feeling cold which is the first sign of fatigue for me, and I'd hate to boink halfway.
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Today would have been great for us to do two runs over here but we all were lazy. Stoked that you're pushing the bar old man. Guess we better step it up. I like the lunch break idea and with these longer days (not as long as yours) there isn't so much time pressure. It's 6;30 and it's still cranking here.
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JR's clinic was full up and really, really good. We had a forecast for moderate wind and it came up strong and was full rock n roll. Maybe a little more than some of the clients were counting on but everybody seemed to learn something and everybody finished feeling good, based on the conversations and expressions on people's faces that I saw afterword.
JR's tips were so solid and practical. He has a really nice delivery and was it was really amazing to watch him with clients, his coaching brings on immediate results. Everyone I saw him working with would improve when Jeremy would work with them. It was remarkable.
After the finish, Art from Seattle walked up and asked if I was ready for a second run. Hells yah! I could not wait to get back up there. Saw PB and Rod's rigs in the lot so we knew they were getting the goods too.
Even well into the evening, the wind was still filled in nicely for 95% of the run and we had an excellent swell set up, especially around Mitchell Point. JR's tips came in very handy and I think I had the fastest Viento run with the least amount of extraneous paddling ever. The best tip for me was to wait until I see the nose dropping before taking two, three or four quick strokes. That advice alone rewarded me with more glides and less wasted energy than ever. I am tired and happy right now. Hoping for more good conditions this week. Happy fathers day!
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Man, did I hurt last night. Glad I didn't do number #3 like I planned. Would have been fine, but we really cranked it up for the second half of #2, cutting across the river and getting into the big swells at Swell City takes a lot of heat.
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Hood River Locals,
Looking to come up from Vancouver BC this weekend and do some runs. Wondering if anyone has an idea if the weather is going to work out, ie wind etc.. Looks like the temps are on the way up if that is an indication of good things. If you think this weekend will not produce, may change the dates for the trip. Any heads up would be great!
Thanks,
Corey
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Looks pretty good for the weekend, but it's very hard to predict. Bring a mountain bike.
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Thanks Bill! You read my mind. Love the riding in the area! The funny part of this trip, my local beach (Whiterock, just over the border) is producing great wind swell almost daily. Not the norm for this time of year. I have been skunked on a previous trip to the Gorge so fingers crossed.
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Well, I hope you checked other sources before you listened to me. It's like a lake out in the river today.
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Saw a couple of very paddle fit looking guys with a new carbon Starboard and an SIC Bullet down at the boat basin around 5 when I was getting my daughter out for a short paddle. Had to be Zoners. I'll bet one of them was Corlot. Good flat water day anyhow. I paddled up to the island and back around 430, it was light enough to easily get up there into the wind but there was enough wind that you knew you were getting a push coming back. We've had a good run with, I think, 6 out of the last 7 days being at least 20 mph winds. Too bad it ended. I'm always liking it when it's blowing!
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Cove.... You're on some kind of roll from what you had here and now there. You better get over here and race in July.
Sorry to say I have to scrap my plans to go to HR in August. My Grandson is returning here and I want him to paddle with Buzzy's kid as much as possible. He might end up staying for awhile... because
Apocalyptic fires in Sumatra and with weird super dry SW winds, the smoke is blowing right over Singapore and Batam where my son lives. Yesterday they had pollution index of over 400 and 300 is where it's hazardous... like Beijing. Power and airport has shut down periodically and living has become a nightmare. Singapore is blaming Indonesia but the palm oil plantations that are ablaze are Singaporean owned.
So suck in the crisp clean air up there in HR and appreciate it. Clean air is the highest commodity in my book. Sucking in clean air is probably why we dig this sport so much. Best food on the planet... better than spam.
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HM, that is a mixed bag eh? It will be great that your grandson gets an extended stay and gets to paddle with great paddlers. But the fires don't sound good.
I'd guess the air on the Maliko is probably as pure as you can get anywhere on the planet when the trades are blowing.
I'm bummed that I won't be able to make the July race. Too many things going on here and high airfares. But, the good part is, we have our one-way tickets to Maui already booked for late August. Hopefully, I'll be back in time for some more summer conditions. Sorry you won't be making it up to the Gorge this summer - keep it on your list, this is an incredible place, especially in the summer when it's downwind season.
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Haha.. That was us Covesurfer. We went out in the day for a couple hours then decided to try and see if the wind was working. Close but not quite. Still had a great time! Hood river is a beautiful town. I almost forgot how much I like it there. Hopefully race weekend will produce some wind! Looking forward to my trip in August.
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How was your run today?
Victor and I went South. Was much better than we thought and we pushed hard. Looking at super doldrums this weekend so we figured we had to go.
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OK, here is a report from this corner of the world:
Last week we entered into a warm, humid pattern with little pressure difference between the coast and the interior, shutting down the wind. With a big weekend of wind-centered events on schedule, including the resurrected Gorge Blowout Race, it was looking kind of grim. However, even with super hot weather (for the PNW), we ended up with 15 to 25 on Saturday and they were able to run the windsurfing and SUP downwinder races. The wind was pretty unexpected and seemed to show up from just the basic thermal situation with a very hot interior and cooler air on the other side of the mountains. It wasn't the classic 'marine push' that causes 30+ conditions - that's due any time now (happy 4th of July!)
The Blowout SUP race was just a Viento run, and almost all the racers were regular Viento runners with a few out of town folks lining up as well. The group was at least 20 or 25 people and it was a good solid paddle, with some decent wind push and some bumps. Thank you wind gods! I ran it on my Javelin, had a good race placing 3rd in the 14's and winning the almost-on-medicare division. But, I was in the drink at least five or six times, coming off the Javelin with surprising frequency.
It does not help your speed to water cool every 10 to 20 minutes! Still, I'd run the Jav again, even in bigger conditions as it's just flat out fast. The problem is not on the big surfs, it's in the little crossed up, disorganized chop. The tall, boxy rails, rounded bottom profile and outline shape make it one tippy board. Still, it's fun as hell and the conditions were decent enough that a couple of us did a second run after the race. The fact that it was nearly 100 degrees and no picnic to be off the water helped with our decision to go again.
Sunday dawned windless and glassy. It heated up into the high 90's as well. By 1pm, it was over 100 degrees. The thing about the hot weather pattern up here is that you know that when it breaks, it typically NUKES. That can mentally help someone, say a person with a little downwinding 'problem', cope with the windless conditions, knowing the promise of big days awaits. I did not even leave my camp on Sunday - I was thrashed from the previous day and it was stinkin' HOT.
Monday was another unexpected surprise with wind in the high 20's. PB was back from car racing but had damage he had to repair on his F16. We paddled OC 6 in the morning and had talked about going but I couldn't seem to round up anybody to paddle a downwinder on the standup. I ended up digging up my windsurf gear and going out for nearly two hours, ending up solidly powered on a 4.2 meter sail. I demo'd a new 85 litre Quattro board and had a blast. Did not even get shaky when I considered that I'd missed a paddle day.
Tuesday surprisingly dawned windy as well. The temps are still in the low 90's so it's a real pleasant thing to have enough wind to spend as much of the day as possible on the water! PB was back to his old tricks, helping other addicts find their fix! We hooked up for a mid day Viento and had a great run. We ran into some other paddlers at the start that were not happy with the conditions - too too light they said - but PB and I weren't listening to the complaints and we got out and had a good push and lots of glides.
We paddled the whole run pretty much together and I watched Pono get some really nice glides. I can't lose sight of how well he makes his board work especially when I consider that I'm about 100# lighter than him. It's a whole lot easier to get going when your lighter. But that did not seem to affect Bill yesterday at all. He was getting lots of good stuff, and tying them together too. Shortly after we finished our run, the wind just died and the river looked like a lake with ripples. I'm pretty sure we congratulated ourselves 10 or 20 times for getting the best conditions of the day. ;D
Today, the weather pattern began to make it's usual shift back to cooler temps (like lower 80's). That means WIND. After practicing with the kids' paddle team from 6:15 to 7:45 am, I had a text from my Road Warrior friend Art, who regularly makes the drive down from Seattle to downwind. He's got a little downwind problem too, see?
So the text tells me to be at Viento by 8:30 am, and that he'll get me back to my truck post-paddle. What am I gonna do? I showed and we had a really smoking run - some lighter stuff at the beginning and end but most of it was solid 25+. I rode my Bullet 14 with the steering and it seemed like I surfed for about 45 minutes (of a 1:35 run) straight. My board felt like a surf board and I was getting numerous, multiple glides. The morning light was beautiful and not so harsh as mid-day/afternoons. It was just a fantastic time to be out on the water.
When it was over, I had multiple messages from PB, turns out he was wanting to hit it pretty bad on the early shift too. He called me some pretty low names for not getting him on that early run, but he also bought me a beer after we paddled in the afternoon so it balanced out ok.
Oh, yeah, the afternoon run: Big Winds ran their shuttle for a bunch of hard core Viento fiends. We had a guest crew in town from Bend that included GL. Conditions were looking pretty solid at 130 and there were at least 12 or 14 paddlers that all set out from Viento within 10 minutes of one another.
It was solid for the first full half of the run with a lot of nice, linkable 4+ footers and wind gusting in the low 20's. The swell was better than the wind. Everybody looked like they were having a blast and a couple of the Bend guys had not done a downwinder before. The conditions were not off the chart but they were good and you could get a lot of glides for the first half of the run. Unfortunately, it died off pretty big near the end and it was a bit of a schlogg the last couple miles.
When we got in, PB was in a drankin' mood and he bought us a beer up at the Sandbar Cafe, right on the water. We watched the action down on the water - lots of sails and kites - and enjoyed a cool one. When the Bend crew came in, we were in an ideal heckling spot as well. It was a beautiful afternoon.
The next couple of days are looking windy, but you never know until it gets here. PB is off car racing again which sometimes pleases the wind gods so we shall see. Well, that's it. Probably my most comprehensive (rhymes with long-winded) report, ever! :D
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Lots of current. I beat some girls.
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Work and some errands here.
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30+ this AM. Can't DW.
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Had an hour and a half this AM and it is going off! Not enough time to do a d/winder so tried to get in an hour windsurf. Went to the OR side. Big mistake.
Wind is coming out of the SSW, so OR side is totally shadowed while WA has 35+ mph. No way to get out to the wind line. A big reminder of why l love standup downwinding. You don't need a perfect setup. Close works just fine.
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Awesome Cove. That was a fun read. Yeah PBill blows my mind as well. A perfect example of mind over matter.
Good to hear you're taking care of my pal. He needs all the practice he can get as his paddling ambitions for later in this month are significant. His brother is KGB, he'll know what that means.
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Today is 4th of July and as if on cue, all the regulars have disappeared and have been replaced by LOTS of tourists; there are the water people, kiting, sailing, paddling around on flatwater boards in 40 mph wind, and there are the people that you wonder how they found their way to the beach, milling around on the water's edge looking pretty much out of place. It's kind of nuts and kind of cool at the same time.
Ran into PB at the 4th of July parade this morning, but he was in his civies, i.e., not his boardshorts and paddling top, and he was on his way out of town. More vintage racing I think. I put my time in watching the parade while scheming in my head about how I'd get out on the water as soon as I could.
The wind was gusting easily between 35 and 40 at times and I couldn't find anybody to go paddle. The people that run the dams are letting a huge amount of water go through, resulting in big current, huge swells and very high water levels. All of that combines for the best downwinding conditions in the Gorge yet this year.
Fortunately, the Big Winds shuttle was running about 1 or 130 and I jumped on with two other paddlers and rode down to Viento. The parking lot where you unload is always calm but you can usually hear the breeze through the trees. Today, it was a deep roar. The wind was howling. The normally small waves that are off Viento were instead a rolling sea of whitecaps and windswell that was 3 to 4 feet.
Putting in, I angled across the river to get out into the biggest current and swell, out in the middle. I had to consciously weight the upwind rail to keep the wind from picking up my board. This was going to be epic! Unfortunately, I did not bring a GoPro because today would have been amazing to film.
The wind was so strong that any swell was catchable, I was blowing downwind and into a 3+mph current at about 5 mph, without even paddling. As I got downwind further, near Mitchell Point, which is the where you typically find the largest swells on the Viento run, the faces were easily 8 feet and it was possible to angle right or left, do a cutback and with minimal strokes, continue to ride the waves. I am pretty sure some of my rides were in the area of 20 seconds or even a little longer. Quite amazing. Best day so far this year for me. The wind backed down to about 10 to 15 by the finish of the run or I would have hit it a second time. Hope we can wring one more day out of this pattern but it's not likely to be as strong as today. Happy 4th you zoners!
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We're now to the 7th of the month and so far July has been pretty much all time. The last three days were screaming, lots of wind - around 30 mph with some slightly higher gusts, lots of current, with warm sunshine.
The strong current resulted in steeper waves than usual. Very rideable and with the strong wind, easy to catch. Lots of people from out of town are visiting and getting amazing conditions. I've gotten 5 runs in over the last three days but with as much wind as there has been, the paddle is easier. Plus, you get to surf so much, the fun factor is beyond measure so you just forget how much output you have to generate. Hope the streak keeps up!
https://vimeo.com/69834069
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Here's how it looked from the Hatchery on Sat.
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Yup, vintage racing in Seattle--well, Auburn really I guess, Pacific Raceways. Rode my motorcycle to the track since Diane wanted to stay home, about a 4.5 hour ride. My butt isn't used to that, but it was nice going up through central Washington and over Snoqualmie Pass. When I got back into the Gorge at at Goldendale it was flat out nuking--just about blew me off the road. I stopped to see if there was something wrong with my back tire, but it was just wind pressure shoving me around.
Good racing, I got some good video, but I'm ready to get back in the water. Even with five races and a qualifier in three days there's a lot of sitting around.
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Man, that barge has some tough going. I bet some folks can't see the scale in that picture--the barges are huge. The front end is probably 6-8 feet off the water.
Nuking already this morning. Spindrift on the water and the wind sculpture in my garden looks like a buzzsaw.
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Going with road warrior Art at 9:45. Likely do a second this afternoon! Should be back at 12. The barge picture is great! It has been just smoking for days. July. The Gorge.
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Gotta love the Gorge in July.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0IRaqUN-Yu8#at=70 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0IRaqUN-Yu8#at=70)
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They kept showing that one guy's same jump over and over again. Wild when he would land in the trough. Cool they showed a few high speed wipe-outs. Looks more exciting than SUP in the video and I'd almost believe that if I didn't have a few decades of wndsrfing under my belt. I'd love to paddle that.
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For years now I've heard about how good the downwinding is there...
Seen lots of windsurfing vids and it looks awesome..
Still waiting to see a sup DW vid... ;D
Has anyone ever seen one.
DJ
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I took two Gopro blacks with me on today's run. What a PIA. I wound up finishing so late that Greg was rehearsing what he was going to say to my widow, and scheming to inherit my boards. My leash got tangled in the rear cam and pulled it off twice, and the paddle cam made the paddle feel horrible so I had to stop, take it off, and secure it. I might have some decent footage--we'll see. But I probably won't be making any new video for a while. You'll just have to come and see for yourself.
Greg and Gerry did a second run when Greg took me back to my truck. My board was back at Nichols, so I couldn't have gone if I wanted to, but my back was killing me. Probably that 4.5 hour motorcycle ride back from Pacific Raceway yesterday.
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Sorry Bill, but you have nice boards and it would be a damn shame for them to go unclaimed. ;D ;D The second run looked light from the road but had really nice conditions.
I posted 3 minutes of vimeo vid on the previous page on this thread. I know it's not very good, but I agree that shooting with the gopro can be a PITA. I took some more today on the first run but I left my camera in the truck so it won't get downloaded and edited for a while. I'm too lazy to do anything but set the camera on the nose and push the button. Then I just forget it. I've tried the paddle mount and the headmount and the chesty but they each have their pluses and minuses.
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Ha.. No excuses Bill.. Just wear your bicycle helmet with the GoPro vented helmet mount.. You won't even know its there.. ;D
DJ
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COve, Doubles! Yeah. Keep up the good work and work the old guy as hard as you can. Is he keeping up with you?
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Almost always, he's pretty close. Yesterday he was screwing with his cameras and I actually got a little worried. Razzed the sh*t outta him when he came in.
He didn't do a second run with Gerry and I because he rode his moto all the way to Seattle, the long way, for the car races and it bugged his back. 200 miles on a motorcycle ride at high speeds would make anybody's back sore. He's tough and ornery as ever.
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Still waiting to see a sup DW vid... ;D
Has anyone ever seen one.
DJ
There is actually no excuse here in the Gorge. In Maui all the action is 1 mile offshore and it always looks microscopic on video because of POV cams, wide angle etc. In the Gorge great swell happens 40 feet away from lounge chair, tripod mounted, normal/tele lenses shot from shore at a killer above angle. Plus, the current keeps paddlers right in front of the camera. There is an opportunity here to make a video that could actually make downwinding look exciting. "Look" in italics because the reality so heavily exceeds the videos.
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Geez, you guys make me sound like a decrepit old fart... ...oh, wait a minute.
Randy's right, and he's just the guy to sit in that lounge chair. We need to set something up. Of course he'll want us to run through swell city and the hatchery, which means lots of mayhem opportunities. I was going to cut over to that side yesterday, but with all the high-speed windsurfing in the nuke wind it looked like the traffic scene from Fifth Element.
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Almost always, he's pretty close. Yesterday he was screwing with his cameras and I actually got a little worried. Razzed the sh*t outta him when he came in.
He didn't do a second run with Gerry and I because he rode his moto all the way to Seattle, the long way, for the car races and it bugged his back. 200 miles on a motorcycle ride at high speeds would make anybody's back sore. He's tough and ornery as ever.
No I meant the other old guy that you did doubles with. Is he keeping up with you. Blew all night here and at 6:30 am it was already full on. I'm going to do an early one and go for my first double in awhile.
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Haha HM! Oh yeah, I have to be right on my game to stay close to him. Best part is seeing how stoked he is to get these conditions. Doesn't get much better.
Hope you get a good double in today. I looked at the forecast for Maalaea Bay - 25knots and 7' wind waves, woo hoo! Hope you get good direction, whichever side you go on.
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Are any of you regulars heading out tomorrow? I'm gonna rent a board and would love some company. Otherwise, I'll look for the big winds shuttle. So far, just me though. They have a 4 person minimum. Let me know!
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Sure, if there's wind. Art Aquino and two other guys are down from Seattle, and are staying to do the Bump n' Glide race tomorrow evening, so there should be plenty of people around, either for a big winds shuttle or just something Ad Hoc. I think Gerry Lopez is still around with some Bendians, so they might go too.
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Here's some vid from Monday's first of two runs. Today was decent but not epic.
https://vimeo.com/69988249
Note that PB was able to make me fall in without even touching me.
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That's one for the outakes roll. What do you want to bet that Boyum has to say something about my hazardous driving. You knock a guy off his board a few times and he just won't let it go. I was trying to take a picture of Gregg--I had a GoPro on my paddle. It really screwed up my stroke, I don't see how guys do that.
Today was kind of light but a fun run. I used a Wiki, and it was fabulous for getting into the mid-sized bumps: So quick. This paddle thing is driving me nuts.
I bet Art and the Seattle guys had a really good second run. I bailed on it even though I was feeling fine--lots of energy, but when I was driving to The Dalles later the wind was howling up the east end. I shoulda gone.
I'm paddling tomorrow no matter what. If it's flat or small I'm gonna take the 18' speedboard.
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At the time, I had no idea why you were so close, then when I looked at the GoPro footage, I realized you were just getting some shots. Then I felt bad, thinking you were trying to knock me in when you really were going to make me a movie star! My career is ruined before it even got started ;D
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Hope to see you at the first bump and glide. I am heading out of Portland around 2 to get some business done in White Salmon. Anyone need a ride?
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Great video Gregg. Tho the fall was all you. He wasn't even close tho I gotta admit having his blade hanging towards you like the grim reaper ... might be distracting
My only deep breath with PBill is pulling out with a left hand turn into Kaahumau ave. His jeep has my fingerprints seared onto the dash board.
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I win!
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We did two this morning. I started calling people at 07:30 because the wind was spinning my garden windmill like a blender. We were in the water at 9:00. Greg, Gerry, Art, Mat, Brendon (or is it Bradley) and Rod. They all smoked me, in part because I had a salad bar on my rudder and didn't know it, but mostly because they've all gotten way too fast. Wind was spanking at 35+. I was getting every bump I paddled for, connecting endless glides, and paddling like a lunatic, but they just kept pulling away.
Second run, all the Seattle guys, rod and me. No Gregg, no Gerry. Once again--dusted. But this time I decided to just take my time and work on technique and enjoying the swells That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Lee showed up as I was passing wells, so we paddled in together. Good to see him. His biz in gig Harbor is rocking, so he doesn't get away as much. We all miss him, and especially we miss his cooler full of chocolate milk--the ultimate recovery drink.
I was tempted to do #3, but the Bump 'n Glide race is tonight so in theory I'm saving some for that. In practice it won't really matter, but it looks to be a little down now anyhoo.
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PB---have you had any trouble with paparazzi getting in your way? I heard somewhere that Covesurfer got knocked off his board by one coming too close the other day.
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So bummed we had to pull the plug on coming out this summer.
Bill doesn't need a camera to do some rubbin.... ;D
http://www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=16889.msg156398#msg156398 (http://www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=16889.msg156398#msg156398)
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Here's some vid from Monday's first of two runs. Today was decent but not epic.
https://vimeo.com/69988249
Note that PB was able to make me fall in without even touching me.
At last.. :) .. thanks for the vid.
DJ
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Here's some vid from Monday's first of two runs. Today was decent but not epic.
https://vimeo.com/69988249
Note that PB was able to make me fall in without even touching me.
That looks like a fun run. What's "decent" over there would sure be an epic day around here. We rarely get conditions that good - especially in summer.
Hope to see some more downwind Gorge vids.
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Glad you guys liked the video. Argosi,the day the vid was shot WAS epic conditions. Even for here. We've had quite an amazing week. PB jumped on the second run like a merry go round today. I took my wife to lunch,rested a bit and then hooked up with Gerry and his nephew Sean for a 2 o'clock run. We had fantastic steady wind for 90% of the run. Sean is from Maui and had never paddled the gorge. I think he loved it. PB and I both missed the bump n glide but after two screaming runs, I'm completely OK with that.
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Rock N Friggin Roll!
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Gregg did this one too: https://vimeo.com/63577166
It's kind of hard to remember that we're in a river, and we're traveling against a three knot current.
Today was fricken' awesome. I'm kicking myself for not doing a third run. I was saving myself for the Bump 'n Glide but I got the time wrong. I showed up 15 minutes after everyone left.
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Bill, you would of caught up. The first half was great and without the current flow of the past week the smaller swell was so do-able. Fun time. Hope to paddle Stevenson to Home Valley soon. I think the swell could set up better on that open stretch.
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I've paddled that Stevenson/Home Valley run a few times and I know Bill has too. There is a surprising amount of current over there, especially the second half of the run going to Home Valley.
I talked to Don this morning about last night's race, sorry to miss it. I was wrung out after two fast paddles from Viento and a third just wasn't in the cards. Hope to do it next week though!
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The Stevenson to Home Valley run is popular with the surfski guys. There are some videos of them on that run floating around youtube if you look. The swell does look good there, and it is closer to Portland. Maybe its better for the skis than SUP due to the current?
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Glad you guys liked the video. Argosi,the day the vid was shot WAS epic conditions. Even for here. We've had quite an amazing week. PB jumped on the second run like a merry go round today. I took my wife to lunch,rested a bit and then hooked up with Gerry and his nephew Sean for a 2 o'clock run. We had fantastic steady wind for 90% of the run. Sean is from Maui and had never paddled the gorge. I think he loved it. PB and I both missed the bump n glide but after two screaming runs, I'm completely OK with that.
OK, so then I'm just slightly less jealous of the conditions you get.
We had 15mph of wind in the right direction on Wednesday- the best day this week and probably for 2 weeks. We did get 4 inches of rain in 2 hours on Tuesday though- a record daily rainfall for Toronto. Cars were stranded in the streets with engines flooded. I did a U-turn at a few intersections that day trying to get home.
Here's a $200K Ferrari that was abandoned when it got flooded while trying to drive though a "puddle".
(http://mit.zenfs.com/99/2013/07/ferrari-tweetsbyhilda.jpg)
She's trying to re-enter her car that stalled:
(http://postmediacanadadotcom.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/legs1.jpg?w=660&h=330&crop=1)
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Gregg did this one too: https://vimeo.com/63577166
It's kind of hard to remember that we're in a river, and we're traveling against a three knot current.
Today was fricken' awesome. I'm kicking myself for not doing a third run. I was saving myself for the Bump 'n Glide but I got the time wrong. I showed up 15 minutes after everyone left.
Great vid.. Tell me Bill.. Is Jerry using his stock Surftech 14' DW boards.. or something different? .. Just wondering.
DJ
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Not stock. I loaded his onto Rod's van and it weighed nothing. Didn't look like carbon, but if it was glass there wasn't much of it. I commented on the lightness but forget to really ask. there was three conversations at once going on, as usual when you get a truckload of DW fanatics gabbing.
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Not stock. I loaded his onto Rod's van and it weighed nothing. Didn't look like carbon, but if it was glass there wasn't much of it. I commented on the lightness but forget to really ask. there was three conversations at once going on, as usual when you get a truckload of DW fanatics gabbing.
Thanks... pics please if you get the opportunity.. :)
DJ
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I asked what it weighed - he said around 27#. His personal board looks like a one-off.
The production models are similar to the shape and template but construction looks totally different. That's just based on casual observation. I never looked really close, didn't closely compare outlines and did not ride any of the GL boards.
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I asked what it weighed - he said around 27#. His personal board looks like a one-off.
The production models are similar to the shape and template but construction looks totally different. That's just based on casual observation. I never looked really close, didn't closely compare outlines and did not ride any of the GL boards.
Thanks.. I wondered if his were so pointy.. and as wide as the production boards.
DJ
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After 6 incredible days out of the last 7, it looks like our wind streak may have taken a pause. Of course, now that I've said this, it will probably blow.
Hope all the M2M guys (and gals) are getting a good one today!
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Not nuking but an average good day. They're starting at 10 which is later than last year so that should help times in the first part across the channel. It's 9am right now and it's just under 20mph, so I'd say they'll be in good shape by the start.
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It's a lake here. there are so many SUPs out at the event center that they're going to have to install some traffic control signs.
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Yesterday, it seems that we entered yet another July wind cycle. We had solid 25+ mid day through late afternoon, when it pretty much shut down. At 6:30 am today, it was cranking again, which makes our kid's racing practices somewhat challenging. Still, we got some good upwind/crosswind/downwind drills in. Looking at the NWS long-term, it looks to be windy for the coming 7 days! Summer in the Gorge rocks!
First Viento Run Story:
My 17 year old daughter got hooked on stand up over on Maui last winter. We had lots of uncrowded sunset sessions off of Kalama Park that allowed her to begin riding waves. That's pretty much all it took, she didn't just want to surf, she wanted to learn to paddle!
When she came to Hood River for the summer, she was keen on getting signed up for the kid's racing development program - this is mostly flatwater training and skill building but the goal is to race the Gorge Paddle Challenge, which includes a Viento downwinder. I was so stoked that she was into it and of course got her signed up right away. I've been helping coach the program and watching these kids give it their everything is just a blast.
I have been awaiting the day when I could ask her if she wanted to try her first Viento run. That day was yesterday. I put her on a 14' Glide from Big Winds and my wife shuttled us up to Viento about 1:30. It was solid 25 mph+ as I mentioned above. I was a bit nervous about it being her first run. I've taken lots of newbies this year when guiding downwinders and I know that most people struggle. I expected her to have some difficulty, as most first timers do, with the confused water, big swells, current and random chop.
I was surprised yet not really surprised when she balanced perfectly and headed out towards the better swells, away from the Oregon side. I have to admit, I was kind of waiting for the series of falls that would tire her out and put her on her knees, and then in close to the Oregon shore to avoid the swell and current. Happily, that just didn't happen. I don't think she stepped off for at least 20 minutes into the run. She spent about 10 seconds on her knees then it was back to her feet and paddling. That was repeated several times over but whenever I sat down on my board and waited, she'd paddle by with a big grin telling me, dad, this is SO much fun, no wonder you do this all the time. She managed to get a lot of glides, some of them pretty fast. Moving her feet around on the board is next but I'm sure that will come. I'm really proud of her. She worked really hard at developing her paddling skills and it's paying off. Now she's ready for more!
We finished in a little over two hours, which is a very decent time for a first time Viento run. So cool when you can share something you love with your kids and they end up stoked. I'm looking forward to the next one.
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Very cool, happy for you guys. See you on Monday.
I've been paddling a Speedboard on Sebago Lake and eating too much. The full on east coast fat cat lodge life. Mom loved it, diane did too, but I'm ready to be back in the hood
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Bill, hurry back and be ready, it's been building with the next 5 to 7 days still forecast for WINDY. Today was my best day all year. It had to be steady 30 with gusts to 35, filled in SOLID from Viento all the way to the Event Site. It was 11 out of 10. Did two solid runs today, the first in 1:23 and that was without ever going hard. Just riding swell and gliding the entire run. I'm tired from have to drag my paddle so much. ;D
The next 4 days are supposed to be even windier. At least that's the forecast. Even Art showed up. See you soon.
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I have to second what Gregg wrote. Our run yesterday was great, and today was even better. Filled in, from Viento to Hood River, smoke on the water. I rode a prototype custom carbon board from North Pacific Surfboards, their first downwind board. I got more glides then I have ever gotten in one run; I got many glides I didn't even paddle for.
The picture is from the Hatchery, later in the afternoon. To put some perspective on it, the tops of these swells are easily 6 to 8 feet above the troughs. The chart shows the wind at that location today, about midway in a Viento run.
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Haha! Laszlo, I saw the NP 13' prototype on the 'beach' at Nichols, late yesterday.
It was the best day I have yet to see here. I did three runs which is my new record. Like you were saying, you did not even have to paddle to get and stay on glides at times. I also posted my fastest times ever.
Today is looking even windier. We are going at 9 for run number 1 and you're welcome to join us. I'm sure I'll do two, but don't know if I have three in me for today. Shot some GoPro and it's good but still does not do the conditions justice. I'll shoot more today and see if I can compile something. I'm driving my wife nuts between texts about shuttle, talking about how good it is, disappearing for 12 hours at a stretch and in general being completely obsessed with downwinding.
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That pic looks like da kine. Race day here. Heading up to drop my board soon
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It has been a big couple of days here. Yesterday and this morning both were in the 30's with gusts to 40+. Fastest times and most runs I've ever paddled. Everybody that paddles here is grinning.
Big Weekend in the Corridor on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/70759374)
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That's what we needed here today. It lightened up, youth was served and age was fried.
Thanks for da vid Cove.
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HM, just saw the results, looks like a podium for you! Congrats! Tough field and appears that wind was on the lighter side. Must have been pretty cool paddling out there. It's nuking here again.
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If it was blowing any harder here this morning the river would come out of the banks. The kites are all off the water or landing somewhere in Idyho. I'm on my way to meet greg for a dw. Whoopee.
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It has been a big couple of days here. Yesterday and this morning both were in the 30's with gusts to 40+. Fastest times and most runs I've ever paddled. Everybody that paddles here is grinning.
Big Weekend in the Corridor on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/70759374)
Great vid.. That place looks awesome.
DJ
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Good music too!
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Today was pretty nutty. A big-assed barge seemed to take a liking to me and tried to chase me down. Pretty much cut all the way across the river to run through the place I was previously occupying. No time for falling, I went and hid behind Greg.
When the wind gets big like this in the morning the swells aren't really tall--they're like slots in the water. The tops get blown off so all the energy is in making depressions instead of humps. Today they were really wide--some of the slots stretched nearly across the river--about half a mile--and the back side was curling up and breaking into he slot wile the front side was just whitewater. It looked like death on a stick, but they were actually very rideable since they were going straight. I went over the top of one as it was narrowing down, literally bridged it with my board. For a few seconds I was looking down at air under my feet--very weird.
The big swells at Swell City and the Hatchery were chock full of windsurfers and four big cabin cruisers that for some strange reason decided to drive right through the middle of the biggest waves in that section of the river. Pack of idjets. The last boat in the line nearly ran me down. I was close enough to look through the window when it went by and I couldn't see anyone on the inside!! WTF, either ghost boats or maybe running on Google Maps.
Cut across to Wells and the wind was blowing so hard that the only paddling was leaning back and dragging it to keep the nose up. I was bouncing along, standing on the rudder wheel, and my hat blew off.
Nutty run. There were even some dead spots. And then 40+.
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Agree Bill. The wind was bizzaro and between the flotilla of yachts and the barge, I felt like I looked over my shoulder a lot.
I tried to go windsurf after our run, I rigged a 3.7 sail and took a tiny 7'6" glass board out. It was so psycho, I only made a single reach out and one back. Zero to 40. When it gusted, I could barely hang on. A second later I couldn't get a water start. Nutso. Glad we didn't try for a second run.
If it's going off in the morning, I'm done with the kids' practice by 8:15. Let's try and hit it if it's good.
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Ow, ouch, ow, ow.
Ow.
Not a lot of wind, but we went anyway. Last three miles was a slog, but I hit it hard. Felt fine at Nichols and loading up the board. Good workout. Good one this morning too in the OC6. Good effort at the warehouse today, working on installing a 10,000 pound two post lift, built a big worktable, and did some organizing and cleanup.
Then I sat down for a few minutes and tried to get back up. Ow, ow, ouch.
Ow.
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Nuking today, winds 34-38, not gusty, steady push. I went on an early run (9:30) with Rod, Greg, Brian, and (damn, I knew I'd forget a name--the guy with the Bullet 17'). Anyway, I got smoked. I was catching every bump, hooking everything together, and just flying, and these guys just steadily pulled away from me. they were probably 15 minutes ahead at the end. WTF??? These guys are getting too damned fast. I AVERAGED 5.8 MPH for eight miles, fell once and got SMOKED??
Geezus. That's ridiculous.
(http://www.ponostyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Viento827.jpg)
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5.8mph?
Geezus H. Murphy!
Standup is a sloooowww...sport...;-)
Don't forget windsurfing...I was going over 30 at our local windsurf lake yesterday...;-)
Here's a vid clip...
http://youtu.be/vjUjv_o4IgU (http://youtu.be/vjUjv_o4IgU)
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Yes it is. But fun. Of course we're going against a 2 kt current, so 5.8 probably equates to 6.2--6.5 anywhere else, depending on your board and your swellriding.
I've been trying to kite and windsurf all summer, and can't get myself to do it. this downwinding stuff is addictive.
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Did a Viento run today. I recommend it.
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reading this thread for quite a while... watching videos....
I was in the Gorge for a week couple weeks ago, doing this
Columbia River Gorge 2013 on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/70608215)
I can understand that windsurfing is loosing it's share to kiting... the jump is a king (although there is no concept of jibe in kiting), but to glide at 6 or 8 or even 10 mph, mainly in a straight line, no turns... instead of spending this time windsurfing... I can't understand this...
the intimacy of just riding in windsurfing is unbeatable... and the swell is so fun, its small, but you can really ride it... as if it is a wave, and going in the S pattern... if you want...
and the speed... three times faster.... and you can go almost any direction (not just straight downwind)
I understand that windsurfing is so wind dependent and needs so much bulky equipment for different conditions, but the return is simply superb... and you start and end at the same point....
no need for a team, and several cars, and rides back and forth to retrieve the damn car...
I dont want to sound critical or anything, just trying to understand... in the Gorge, which is so special, and IMHO is just the best place on this planet, when it is windy... to not windsurf???
I mean if the god haven't provided us with windsurfing, sup downwinding would be fun, ...
can you guys explain?
I would understand that if the guy never wdsurfs, has the long flatwater board like 17' and here comes the wind, ok why not to do downwinding... on the same equipment... the simplicity of one board and one paddle... but if you already windsurf..... thats difficult to understand....
like stand up surfing... (in the waves) best to do it in the glassy conditions (when wdsrfng is impossible), but becomes difficult when the wind builds up. So at any moment you can do just one or another. No competition.
hence sup surfing and wsrfng complement each other nicely....
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One of those things you have to experience to understand. Why surf in Maui? You paddle out, sit around, wait for a wave and get a thirty second ride. Why not windsurf? For that matter, why windsurf, why not get a jetski and really blast around.
I've windsurfed since the 80's, done a little kiting too, I'm trying to get back into both, but it's not as much fun for me as downwinding is. I'm not alone, pretty much everyone I go with is a windsurfer and/or kiter, and they give up most of their water time to downwinding. Yeah, it's weird, but it's never just all about one thing.
Contrasting speed is pointless. I have three motorcycles at my shop capable of going more than 150, and my race car does 140. Trust me, that doesn't make hitting 15mph on a downwinder any less of a thrill.
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Contrasting speed is pointless. I have three motorcycles at my shop capable of going more than 150, and my race car does 140. Trust me, that doesn't make hitting 15mph on a downwinder any less of a thrill.
Does that mean my 14.9 mph max on my gps yesterday afternoon in the Gorge wasn't just the result of it getting dunked 100 times?
I know my average speed WAS the result of ME getting dunked 100 times.
I don't windsurf, and the downwinder logistics can be a pain, but on the other hand there's something very positive about going one way, vs. starting and ending in the same place. More of a sense of purpose and adventure--more like going on a trip than going for a jog. I was blown away (literally actually) by the procession eastward through the Gorge--the scenery unfolds as you go. Coming into Hood River in the evening, with the setting sun, people on the grass, sandy beach, kites everywhere, etc. was memorable, esp. after being out in the middle of such a vast space.
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I think it's all about the moment of acceleration, no matter how slow you're going.
When it comes to speed, everything pales in comparison to military jets.
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headmount: I agree, acceleration, g-force, and proximity to other objects (at that speed).
how fast things are changing, how close they are, how can I control the things... thats gives us the ultimate adrenailine and satisfaction...
and thats exactly my point, btw. - can't see it more intense than wsrfng (or even kiting)
pono: why take my comparison to speed out of the context? speed 700 seating in the plane is even more than 150 in the car... none gives me thrills though.... I was talking about the speed only as one component, and in a very similar surroundings, i.e. standing on a board, on the water (not an asphalt!), being propelled by natural forces and your skills (not by burning fuel!) in the wetsuit or shorts, breathing fresh air, being just between wind and water surface.... plus swells, bumps, chop... Car or jetski or bike have nothing to do with this comparison...
i.e. I was comparing wsrfng at the Gorge with downwinding at the Gorge...
mike: I agree 100% - if you dont windsurf and it is blowing, absolutely! you have all you need - the board, the paddle, the skills... I am just talking about the choice if you addicted to wsrfng why even try something else, similar, being powered by wind, without turns and slower?....
also, few years ago I was riding behind the wake board on my SUP... endless wave, perfect, speed at 10 mph, gave me so much in terms of improving my surfing skills.... it definitely was fun, especially if you 500 miles away from the coast/waves and there is no wind for three weeks, but I got bored pretty soon...
BTW - I dont want to start a debate, I just trying to understand what is the advantage and perhaps I should try it someday... Just want to rationalize it, and so far I don't see the basis.... the argument, that others who tried wndsrfng like downwinding doesn't cut it, for me at least. there are so many people that quit wsrfng all together for varios reasons....
also, out of the subject... I been in the Gorge 8 years ago, last time.... it has transformed... just 3 shops (windance, bigwinds and Gorge surf shop), instead of 20.... so little cars with boards on top (of course kiteboards can be stashed inside)... thanks god the wind is still blowing against this mighty river...
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Lewis and Clark found that out in 1805
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Windsurfing vs downwind paddleboarding?
I do both sports. Windsurfing is an absolute blast, takes considerable skills and has many dimensions. It's very fun to work at and get good at. I still sail, but I tend to get frustrated by the narrow range of conditions that must be matched up with equipment. It is commonplace for me, especially in the Gorge, to rig three sails in order to get in a two hour session. I have lived here a long time and that frustration has built up over the years. When I have a good base of sailing behind me, I can go out on a 3.2 m day and be really solid. But if I don't have the base days, I feel like I'm going semi-out of control and that an injury is always one nasty piece of chop away.
Downwinding on a paddle board in the Gorge is just an amazing sport as well. I'd call it, more accurately, downwind, open water paddle surfing. It makes me feel real good. Physically and mentally. I love the challenge of riding and trying to link swells. I love the physical and mental effort required to be a good paddler, to read the water and pick the best and fastest line through the waves.
I think my favorite thing about downwind paddling is that when you go, you just go. You don't change sails, you don't re-rig on the beach. You don't need at least two boards and four sails and maybe two masts and two booms. You need a board, a paddle and a leash. If the wind shuts down, you change your technique and deal with the conditions. When it's cranking and good, it's the thrill of surfing. Only it's wave after wave after wave, for miles. And when you're in the groove, you're linking all of those waves up.
Enjoying your time on the water is a good thing, however you do it. ;D
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cove, with this argument I can't argue - one board, one paddle, thats it...
I think about it every time I go SUPing.... I dont check the weather forecast either! I just go to the beach and take from there...
Thats huge advantage. Especially if one is starting the sport...
The only thing I disagree is how can you go away with just two wsrf boards... I have six boards and 8 sails, with dedicated mast and boom... and honestly I hate it...
but... will I do anything else if it is blowing? I doubt it....
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Actually I was responding more to Wardog's comment than yours about speed, but speed did seem to be a component of your puzzlement about the attraction. There really isn't all that much to say about the sport, it is something you'll have to try in order to understand the attraction.
Like Greg, I find windsurfing to be frustrating as generally practiced. I tend to windsurf on my SUP for that reason--two sails, one board. Windsurfing is difficult, but for some reason I don't find it as challenging as downwinding. You really have to be connected to the water and the conditions to do downwinding well. Windsurfing you just blast through.
You aren't the only one who is puzzled, I've heard the same comments from other windsurfers and kitesurfers. What I can tell you is that most people who get into it stay hooked, with a few exceptions. Perhaps for the same kind of reason that a lot of ex-windsurfers become surfers.
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Honestly, when I look at the conditions and it's cranking wind, I get the exact same excitement that I did when I sailed all the time. Only now, it's to go downwinding on my paddleboard. I look at the swells and it's like they're calling me out there. I love the feeling.
I KNOW the conditions are awesome for sailing. But, I can't possibly sail rather than paddle. And on days like today, I finish one run, eat a snack, regroup and head up for a second, sometimes even a third eight-mile downwind paddle.
As Pono put it, 'it's like crack cocaine' - it's so addictive. Funny though, I remember finishing a run on an excellent day last year and Karen Wrenn asking, why are we the only ones out here doing this?? We probably had 4 or 5 people in our group. It is getting more popular in the Gorge and elsewhere though. More people are trying it all the time and more and more are wanting to give it a go.
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The Oregon side of Swell has been a constant flow of SUP's this (epic) July. The Skis have been flying through the main swell lines. Awesome how much paddle activity there is on the river between SUP (mostly) Skis and OC's.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNNxmHncqVI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNNxmHncqVI#ws)
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That looks like the section I call the Wells Express. No talent required--just jump into a swell and hang on. If you cozy up to the sandbar where the water is about a foot deep with a steep ramp to 50 feet it's like being on a 1.5 mile point break. Bob Reuter and I paddled it side-by-side at the bump-n-glide race last week. We were both out of race mode (and way out of contention for a meaningful finish) and just shooting the breeze while we rode swells. Bob got into one slightly on the inside of me and didn't paddle for at least 100 yards.
I just got back from getting a massage--screwed my back up installing a lift in my shop. Of course the purpose of the lift is so I can work on cars and motorcycles without screwing my back up. Julies magic fingers (and elbows) worked miracles. A great masseuse. If you're in Hood River you need to know Julie Thames. She's the manager of Brian's Pourhouse by night, new Mom and Massage Therapist by day. I've tried probably 50+ massage therapists in my life, given my propensity for injury and all my screwed up joints. I've found three really good ones, and Julie is one of them. The other two are inconveniently in Calistoga and Portland.
I feel almost good enough to go for a downwinder this afternoon, though if I do Diane will have zero sympathy for any further back problems for the rest of my life.
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When I went Saturday, one thing that entered my mind was if I die, I need to stay with the board. Otherwise, since I got it from Covesurfer, and his name and phone number are still on it, people will find the empty board and assume he'd drowned.
The next thing that entered my mind was that once everyone figured out he was still alive, he could sell the board again to someone else.
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Mike, I'm glad that you survived!
A little acetone will take the marker off. You don't need much, just a little on a paper towel. It will flash off fast.
Hope you're loving that board. It is a great gorge downwind board.
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Killer day. Art and Matt from Seattle came down so, of course, it was a two run day. We had strong winds on the first run, with gusts up around 40. 1:15 for the entire run, put in to Nichols dock.
We had our Thursday night Bump and Glide race, a handful of paddlers showed. Art, Jan, Derrick and Matt hammered out of the gate and it was incredibly strong with a big rolling swell. About half way, it went from a steady 30+ with 40 mph gusts down to about 15, gusting to 25, but the swell stayed up.
It was difficult to get the glides for the second half and my time was 10 minutes slower than the first run. The fast boys were at least 10 minutes ahead of myself and Alison, who killed it on her 12'6". She was on it tonight! Laszlo, who is not in it to race, was enjoying the long glides on his F16, he's learned to get that board surfing downwind all the time. Our newest downwind addict, Karen from Home Valley, did very well on her new SIC and finished with big smiles. Great night.
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Cove ... had my first run on an SIC Bullet 14 yesterday, no rudder. Missed the rudder but loved, absolutely loved the board. So easy to get in and more nimble with smaller glides (the majority) PB to the harbor which blew my mind. Wind was just an average day maybe even lighter than average. That board with a rudder would be the bomb. Is that what you have?
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Yes, that's the board I've got in the Gorge. I'm going to put it in the container so it will be there by mid September, I'll be there before the end of this month. It's ruddered and it's amazing, especially when it really gets big. If it's lighter conditions, it can be a bit of chore to paddle as it does not accel quickly unless the wind is cranking. I love the board and I can't wait to take it on a 30+ Maliko day!
Rides, trims and steers like a large surfboard with enough length to catch larger swells. Not surprised you love it. You'll have to try mine with the rudder and see how you like it. Randy is getting a 14' as well but I'll bet his is a little narrower and even faster than my Bullet. See you in a few more weeks.
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Started today with a good, solid upwind/downwind paddle with the kids' team that was just under 4 miles. It looked like the wind was going to fill in but things never seemed to get going.
About 4, Laszlo started texting and soon followed that with a call. It was starting to look good from his house, which overlooks one of the best spots for swells on the Viento run. OK, I've been kind of in the doldrums all day, no tours, not enough wind to windsurf or justify shuttling for a downwinder. I had enough paddling into the current the last couple of days. If it looks good, let's do it. 430 meet up. Call Pono. Get my truck and go. 440, the three of us are on our way to Viento.
Big surprise, a little low pressure cell apparently moved inland dragging a few high clouds along with it. The wind was cranking! It had to have been a solid 30 to 35mph for most of the run. I was on my Javelin and had a fantastic run and a fast time - right around 1:25. I wondered if I was ever going to get past Laszlo though!
He is making the F16 work these days and I have to use every trick to get maximum glides if I want to get ahead of him. I think he goes faster every time we paddle. Bill noticed too. I think we all had a great run!
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Planning a Thursday morning run leaving Portland around 8. Let me know.
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Might work out. Yesterday was something of an anomaly. Parts of the run were brutal, with swell coming from every direction and microburst-style gusts that were surely well over 40. Challenging, but very fun. There's wind on the water this morning, whitecaps across the whole river.
I still have grandson duty, but there's a chance I can slip away. Or just take them along. They need to learn sometime, eh? Well... ...maybe not.
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Planning a Thursday morning run leaving Portland around 8. Let me know.
Have fun. I hope you allowed time to choose from among your roomful of downwind boards.
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My ten days with the grandkids was a blast, but it's nice to have a bit of silence and have my man cave back. We turned it into a swamp for the guys--sleeping bags under the pool table. toys everywhere.
also nice to be able to downwinders on demand. We had a nice one today, the wind and swell was inconsistent, but adequate, and I did it on my old starboard 12'2" for fun, and it was a LOT of fun. It really carves up a swell, and makes even little bumps feel big. Not all that slow either. Still, it's kind of disconcerting to see so little board in front of you, and it's tough to get back up when you fall. So don't fall.
I got a bit of a head start by marching straight to the water while everyone was screwing around, and they all passed me between the half and three quarter mark, but some of the folks were still in sight when I hit the home stretch, It's a great board. Turned out I lost the fin screw, so the fin was hanging down--fortunately it was a back pivot wingnut fin, so it didn't fall out. I think it happened about Wells, the tail started feeling loose and I couldn't accelerate quite as fast, but it still caught swells and did fine.
Surprising how many people are going these days. I don't have to think back all that far to when either Nikki Gregg or Karen Wrenn said "Why aren't there more people doing this?" Used to be maybe five or six of us doing regular downwinders. Today there were probably fifteen people in the parking lot at Viento, getting ready as we pulled up, and more folks on the river, both before us and after us. It doesn't look like a lift line yet, but it's pretty fast growing for something that's fairly hard to learn.
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PB it sounds like the 12'2" you have been using may be the pre-Cruiser Starboard. Is that right? I guess the performance trade-off of a more narrow board vs. a wider Cruiser is a poor one?
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Yes, it's the first production Starboard SUP, based on the SIC Ku Nalu. 12'2" X 26". Great board once you learn how to stand on it, but it was a poor choice for beginners, and even a little rough at the intermediate stage since it has so little rocker. But it's fast for it's size and VERY versatile. Surfing, sailing, racing, downwinding, cruising. Great board.
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The last few days have been really light. There is a small swell, maybe 1 to 2', but wind has been less than 20, today it was probably 10 to 18 of so. However, with the Gorge Paddle Challenge coming up, I think everybody is pumped and the Viento is a constant parade of intermittent groups doing downwinders, even with the marginal conditions.
Lots of icons of SUP are here in the Gorge and that just adds to the cool energy that draws us out there. The glides were small but there were glides today, but I have about pulled my arms out of their sockets chasing the small bumps with little help from the wind over the last several days. I may even take a day off tomorrow so that I'm ready when the wind comes back Thursday. Fingers crossed.
I have to add that Pono took his old Starby surfboard out there today and did the Viento. So, I really shouldn't be griping about being sore. That board had to have been some work!
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Yeah, I'm not much completion for you, Chuck Patterson and Karen Wrenn on the thing, but it's a lot of fun and it was fun going with you guys. I needed a bigger head start. you all came smoking by pretty damned quick.
Chuck is pretty funny in the shuttle, his pidgin imitation is a lot better than mine.
I do the little starboard for the workout, which is just a little heavier when there's wind and swell, but the second half today was a bit much. When there's good bumps to ride it's pretty fast, fun and easy, but when it all goes flat it's a four mph surfboard that you need to drag every foot. I'm pretty pooped.
Then I went up to my shop and moved toolboxes around. I pretty much hurt everywhere, and I'm paddling oc6 in the morning. And of course we need to do a Downwinder tomorrow if there's any wind. I've got a board meeting on Thursday. I can rest then.
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Smoking run today. Sheesh. we thought it was going to be light (went with Rod and Lazlo) but it picked up and there was some BIG crossed up swells in the middle of the river. I had a salad bar on the rudder but was in denial until Mitchell Point when Rod paddled back and said WTF? how come so slow. You must have grass. I finally crawled to the back and found a nice vegan lunch on my fin.
After that--rockets. For some reason the swells were really easy to hook together. I got one train of probably fifteen. Every time I thought it was done another lip would come that I could curve into. Wild. Rod said he got into a wave at Swell and connected for at least a mile--through the hatchery and almost to the White Salmon Bridge in one swell foop.
Lazlo and I got into the Wells Express and just flew. The wind was blowing the tops off the swells, but they were deep--like ditches in the water. My only fall was at VERY high speed, so high that I blew my camelback off, even popped the waist buckle. It felt like I fell on a parking lot. Coming in to Nichols there was a girl surfing at the sandbar and really styling. What a crazy-assed river.
Just got a text message from Lopez, the newest Hood Riverite. He went today by himself but wants to go tomorrow. He got in the water about half an hour after we did and said it ramped up even from the crazy run we had. Unfortunately I'm on a plane to Chicago to race at Road America in Elkheart Lake Wisconsin. I'll probably come home all bloated from bratwurst and cheese.
I remember when Lazlo was telling us that he didn't think downwinding was all that much fun, but he'd try it a couple more times. Now he's just another junkie. He was hauling today though. No more paddling tips for Lazlo--he's on his own.
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I like that, 'swell foop'!
I gave GL your phone number. Figured you all would be good together. Maybe you should hook him up with Laszlo and Rod. Pretty awesome that he's in the Hood now.
Good luck at the races. It was pretty flat here the last 2 days. I'm getting antsy already. Going to Kihei in the morning to ride ankle slappers just to paddle and get in the water.
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I did hook him up with Rod. It'll be fun to have Gerry around more, his enthusiasm is contagious, plus the little bugger is fast.
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I had a GoPro mounted in the standard, front of board, rear facing direction during yesterday’s run. I am putting up an unedited, uncut, eight minute segment of yesterday’s video. There are a couple of reasons for that; one is that the afternoon sun totally blew out the picture through most of the run, only the first 20 minutes or so is even watchable. Gregg must have done all his great videos of Viento runs in the morning. But the other reason is that, although I love watching the edited, music accompanied downwind videos, especially the amazing work DJ does in OZ, they usually show only the best glides in a run, leaving out all the tedious paddling in between. Showing an uncut segment I think gives a better idea of what a run really feels like.
I think the video illustrates most of what Bill said in his post above. It shows Rod paddling circles around the rest of us, literally. The issue of weeds is serious, especially with ruddered boards, like the F16’s we all were riding.
I know watching some guys paddling on a river for eight minutes would be very boring for most people who are not downwind addicts, but if you are reading this post you know who you are.
Sep4Viento (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3qLfvnjMvA&feature=youtube_gdata#)
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Great runs late last night and today. We hit the water at 5:30 last night, and it was getting dark as we pulled into nichols. Had some GREAT swell in Swell City and the Hatchery. Crossed up and weird, but easy to hook together. I was riding the ridgetops of the crossing waves and dropping int othe hollows. Crazy fun, and very fast.
Today it was blowing like stink, so we hit the water at about 1:45. . Jumped right over to the Washington side and found lots of big swells. As we came into Swell City the waves got huge. They aren't waves above the plane of the river, they're deep pits, and some of them were at least ten feet. Dropping into them was just nuts, and there was beaucoup power at the bottom since it has the whole river behind it. there wasn't much crossing stuff except at the wall of the hatchery. Coming out the the hatchery it got HUGE again. Those of you that know this place know where I mean. I dropped into a bottomless pit, punched in at the bottom and had the whole river drop on me. My leash came undone from my calf and the board was 50 yards away by the time I stopped gasping. I hooked my paddle to my camelback, stuck my hat on my head and started swimming for the board. After ten minutes of getting nowhere, a windsurfer pulled up at my board and dropped in to hold it for me. I kept swimming, but by then I was pretty pooped, and swimming against a strong current with too much crap on me (paddle, camelback, etc.) Another windsurfer came up, dropped her sail, said "hold my board" and swam to my F16 and proned it back to me.
So now I owe a whole bunch of windsurfer rescues. And I need to work on my swimming skills. I'm just too slow. I can slog forever, but I'd rather catch the friggin' board.
Back at it, I sliced halfway across the river on a single swell, then caught another and got within 50 yards of wells island--with two rides, from the very edge of the Washington side. Wells to Nichols was blazing fast, though everyone was in by the time I got there. Crazy fun day. There was hardly a moment when I wasn't in a swell, and some of them were just ridiculous.
Supposed to go flat tomorrow, so I'm headed to the coast to surf. Ciao.
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Great runs late last night and today. We hit the water at 5:30 last night, and it was getting dark as we pulled into nichols. Had some GREAT swell in Swell City and the Hatchery. Crossed up and weird, but easy to hook together. I was riding the ridgetops of the crossing waves and dropping int othe hollows. Crazy fun, and very fast.
Today it was blowing like stink, so we hit the water at about 1:45. . Jumped right over to the Washington side and found lots of big swells. As we came into Swell City the waves got huge. They aren't waves above the plane of the river, they're deep pits, and some of them were at least ten feet. Dropping into them was just nuts, and there was beaucoup power at the bottom since it has the whole river behind it. there wasn't much crossing stuff except at the wall of the hatchery. Coming out the the hatchery it got HUGE again. Those of you that know this place know where I mean. I dropped into a bottomless pit, punched in at the bottom and had the whole river drop on me. My leash came undone from my calf and the board was 50 yards away by the time I stopped gasping. I hooked my paddle to my camelback, stuck my hat on my head and started swimming for the board. After ten minutes of getting nowhere, a windsurfer pulled up at my board and dropped in to hold it for me. I kept swimming, but by then I was pretty pooped, and swimming against a strong current with too much crap on me (paddle, camelback, etc.) Another windsurfer came up, dropped her sail, said "hold my board" and swam to my F16 and proned it back to me.
So now I owe a whole bunch of windsurfer rescues. And I need to work on my swimming skills. I'm just too slow. I can slog forever, but I'd rather catch the friggin' board.
Back at it, I sliced halfway across the river on a single swell, then caught another and got within 50 yards of wells island--with two rides, from the very edge of the Washington side. Wells to Nichols was blazing fast, though everyone was in by the time I got there. Crazy fun day. There was hardly a moment when I wasn't in a swell, and some of them were just ridiculous.
Supposed to go flat tomorrow, so I'm headed to the coast to surf. Ciao.
Sakamoto pool is open now and it's heated now. I've been hitting it when not paddling. Also we'll get Shirley to sew a loop on your shorts so you can drag your paddle easy while swimming. Our goal is to get you at least a reasonably fast 50 meters. If you can poor it on for just that, you should be able to get your board. I'll also tell you untold shark tales to get you motivated.
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Marcia sews too, I need her to put a loop on for me as well. I'm going to start going to Baldwin Pool near Wailuku a couple days to do some laps. I like to do at least 1000 meters but I start getting board after that. Nevertheless, having a solid base and some confidence in your swimming is probably a really good thing on these downwinders.
Sounds like you had some fun in the best swells Bill! I actually got some of the biggest and cleanest lined up swells just west of Swell City. Unlike the ones near the Hatch, they were relatively easy to catch consistently too, an no wind johnnies and jills to worry about. :D
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Yeah, I've got to pick up the swimming. I always think of myself as a swimmer, and I've done some very long self rescues, but I'm slow, and probably can't go as long as I used to. Time to crank that up and it will give me one more workout. It's stupid that I'm not already doing it. a lot of my friends here in HR do competitive swimming. I just need to get my ass up to the pool and hire a coach.
I'm down to 232 this morning. Paleo plus intermittent fasting--mostly just skipping dinner. It's peeling off steady but slowly. You'd think eating less than a teenage girl and constant exercise would go a bit faster, but it ain't.
The swells yesterday were really astonishing. Some of the biggest I've seen. I watched Lazlo get slammed by a huge one and kicked in my afterburner. I didn't want to have that happen to me and speed is my friend--usually. I never felt the board come loose when I got nailed, just one big almighty tug.
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HR pool is pretty nice. Afternoons around 2-3:15 are really quiet for laps. High school swim team practice is at 3:30
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Phono house has a solar heated lap pool. I just have to do it.
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Too bad none of you guys live anywhere near the ocean or a river that you could swim in. ;D
I don't think anyone can go wrong with spending some time in the pool, esp. if combined with some technique advice from a good coach, so you're not just cementing in bad habits, but swimming in a pool doesn't necessarily translate directly to being better in open water for a short burst.
Headmount is right about focusing on being able to go fast for 50 meters. I'd say one of the best ways you could spend limited time would be some Tarzan swimming (head-up crawl stroke) in open water, for short, fast bursts. It's way harder than heads-down, so good training in that regard. Plus, it gets you away from worrying about this or that amount of rotation, this or that hand angle, etc. and gets you right into the get-your-hand-in-quickly-and-grab-some-water-and-pull-straight-back-and-do-it-again mode. Sometimes I think smart people are at a disadvantage with swimming fast because they overthink the stroke and are overly diligent in trying to perfect it.
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Main thing is, either drag the paddle in a loop on your shorts or freaking leave it. They float and you can paddle back to it once you grab your board, though I do recommend putting some bright colored tape on the shaft for spotting it. All this needs to be hard wired in your head so you don't waste any valuable seconds wondering what to do. When we paddle in the winter it feels like Pac-man.
My ratio is about ten strokes head down before I take a quick look for the board and then head down again with no regard for stroke technique. If I don't spot it on a look, I keep plowing along in same general direction. You won't always see the board in rough water on every look. Just don't stop.
Can't imagine swimming in that cold ass river for very long though today it would've seemed like heaven. So hot here now. Cove, Victor and I did the SS. All we could think about was the cold shower at the end.
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Greetings PonoBill and Covesurfer! This is my first post on this forum and I must say it has been super helpful to read the detailed reports of your downwinding experiences here in the Gorge. I have learned so much terminology, technique and river wisdom. You may remember me trailing in on a few of the bump and glide and Big Winds shuttles in August. I just started SUP in July and got my SIC Bullet 14' TWCC the last week in July. I have been DW'ing almost every day and getting a little better each time. I'm headed to Big Winds to replace the ROXY pfd I already lost and looks like there is a group forming to do a Viento run at 12:30ish. :)
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Hi ValleyGirl, hope you had a good run today. It was incredible.
So I spent Saturday and Sunday morning surfing at the Oregon Coast, reminding myself once again why I like Maui. Wiggling into a damp wetsuit is exhausting. I finally got my 8'8" L41 into salt water waves, and it was a handful. I don't think they like chop very much. Of course I remember thinking my Gecko board was horrible, and now it's slated for bronzing or some other form of permanent preservation. Once in a wave it was awesome, and I did the most powerful, fully engaged turns I've probably ever done. But getting into position and waiting was a bit of a nightmare in the choppy Oregon surf.
Surfing in Oregon is a study in patience and a certain kind of grim fortitude that leads you to jump into cold, choppy water under grey skies with fog hanging in the trees and 58 degree air temperature when the sane part of your mind is thinking: Fireplace, book, scotch. This morning I was in the water at first light (6:30) and done just before eleven. A late breakfast and I was back on the road to hood river.
Gery skies and light rain all the way back to PDX, continuing up the gorge until Cascade Locks, then 20 miles from Hood River the sun came out and whitecaps started forming on a river that previously looked like a very uninviting lake. Just past Viento the water was moving in heaves, and the tops were blowing off the swells. Hmmm. There were SUP downwinders everywhere I looked. I think we've reached some kind of tipping point. About half were on their needs, apparently praying.
Since I hadn't seen my wife in two days I did the only rational thing--called Rod Parmenter to see if he wanted to go. "We're going at 3:00, meet us at Nichols. I'm going to take a surfboard".
Perfect. I could spend 15 minutes with Diane acting like a decent, caring human being and then beat feet to Nichols. I can fake sincerity for that long.
I took my 12'2" X 26 starboard (which I'm sure is secretly narrower) and met Rod and Alex at Nichols. Alex's wife shuttled my truck so I didn't have to worry about being slow on the surfboard. I really didn't need to worry, I did the run in 1:28, which is respectable on an F16 with good conditions. It was crazy. The middle of the river was HUGE, with constant glides and nosebleed drops. Mitchell Point was off the charts. The MotionX bitch (YOU listen to her telling you your speed every five minutes for an hour and a half with that little sneer and see what YOU call her) told me I was holding about 5.5 MPH and hitting 8MPH average speed pretty often. The little board is so surfy, I was having a blast zig-zagging around and linking up swells, four to five at a time.
Rod cut over to swell city. My left shoulder was aching--feels like it might fall off right now--so I did the Wells Express instead, which was awesome. I was out too far initially to get into the shallow water swells off the sandbar, but I hooked into a big set, turned right, and drove down the line for at least 100 yards. Presto, right where I wanted to be.
The wind dies as we cleared wells, but there were lots of residual swells, so I put my head down and chased Alex all the way to Nichols. Arrived just behind him. He was on a 14' Glide.
Rod came in a few minutes later with tales of eight foot swells at the hatchery. He had a MePro on, so I hope the footage is good. we were banging rails in some of the swells too--I hope that came out. Should be funny. If nothing else I'm pretty sure I look like one of those big clowns that rides a little tiny bike in the circus. That 12'2" feels very small on days like this, and I have to run all over it to make it work, but it's SO much fun.
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It was! Big Winds ran a full shuttle. Al Paterson and Steve Gates were along and afterwards gave me the high 5 and said I did great - sincerely. That was encouraging. I had not experienced my 30lb board flopping around like a piece of paper in the wind after falling before. I can't wait to do it again.
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Wow Bill that was quite a write up. Might have got excited but too worn out after trying to keep up with Cove the last four days. He's improved to a new level and is pushing me hard.
A 12'2" does sound fun in those conditions. My friend over there told me you called him with the 40mph report but he, being a good husband, went on a MTB ride with his wife. Don't worry, Cove and I are probably headed for our wives leaving us for the gardener.
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Bill, great write up. You nail down Oregon surfing perfectly and it sounds like just an epic Gorge session after you got back from the coast!
I was watching FB this morning and seeing all the posts about the wind in the gorge by the other addicts. Especially the one's from Seattle. Crazy! Sounds like one of the best days all year, the tail end of the westerly season.
ValleyGirl, (covesurfer = gregg). Glad to hear you had an awesome day! You are so stoked and have just charged this summer. It was fun watching you, you are on a quick learning curve and have the stoke going on big time. You are an awesome paddler already and will just continue to get better and better. You have really come a long way with your down winding in a really short time! Al and Steve are so fun to paddle with - glad you are having such a good time with paddling and downwinding.
HM is going strong, I can keep up with him better but he can still slide out away from me. We had a pretty nice run today, it was gusting over 30 and about when we got to uppers, it got pretty interesting but still an absolute blast. At one point, we took a little break, both submerged to cool down and then got back into it. HM slid into this enormous drop, right after he got back on his board. So fun to paddle together. I think we're pushing each other and as a result, we're both getting some great glides.
Tomorrow, road warrior (Art) arrives. I'm picking him up and we're going to get him out on the water. Supposed to have good trades the next few days.
As for the gardener, that is a bit of a worry. Dianne, Shirley and Marcia might need to form a support group but if they band together, we could be in for some trouble.
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Knees--they were on their knees! Fricken' spell checker.
Yeah, the wind was blowing boards around a bit today. I punched into a face and dove off the nose, came up with my arm in front of my face and my board slammed right into it. I felt the fin scrape the edge of my elbow. Another 1/2 inch and there would have been some blood in the water. I sanded my fin to a sharp edge for the Gorge race and forgot to make it smooth and dull afterwards. Got to remember to do that.
I watched Alex fall once off the back of his board and when the nose came up the wind caught it and pulled the whole thing out of the water and it's fluttered like a kite on the end of the leash.
I have no idea what the wind speed was, but certainly over 40.
Bill, your buddy would be kicking himself if he knew what he missed. It was pretty wonderful.
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Just found this shot while downloading my wife's camera. I think it is the day Rod and Bill went on their surfboards. I had gone earlier and had already gotten home, when they went by my house, so I grabbed this shot from the back deck. It is taken with the equivalent of a 1000mm lens, on a camera with a pretty small sensor.
As I write this I'm looking at the river through the rain; the pic reminds me what a great summer it has been.
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Yes, at least we have pictures to remind us of the summer of '13. It was awesome in the Gorge. I can only pray that weather patterns deliver the same conditions next year. I plan to paddle over the winter here. Is there any lore about fall/winter downwinders? This is my first year of SUP.
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Just found this shot while downloading my wife's camera. I think it is the day Rod and Bill went on their surfboards. I had gone earlier and had already gotten home, when they went by my house, so I grabbed this shot from the back deck. It is taken with the equivalent of a 1000mm lens, on a camera with a pretty small sensor.
As I write this I'm looking at the river through the rain; the pic reminds me what a great summer it has been.
Great pic! Liked seeing the two paddlers in such a broad expanse....Taken from high above on the cliff? Even though it's a pocket camera you can still see the swell trains. Thanks.
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Great shot Laszlo!
Yeah, that was quite the summer. July was unbelievable and it sounds like you've all had a few epic days this September too.
Valley Girl, Rod and I along with Pono Bill and Josh in his OC1 and Mark in his ski, did a bunch of east wind runs last year. Rod and I paddled from just below Bonneville Dam all the way to Rooster Rock - that was pretty epic. Wind was 15 to 30 from the east and we were obviously going with wind and current.
Bill, Josh, Mark and I did a bunch of Viento's to Cascade Locks runs on easterlies as well. That's a nice long paddle, around 11 miles if I remember. It starts out barely beyond flat but by the time you're to Cascade Locks, it's full on swell and surfing downwinding. You should try some of those runs. You can always send PB a message, he's usually game for adventure paddling. If you want Josh's number, you can message me and I can send it to you.
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"Adventure Paddling" is that a euphemism for "anything stupid".
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Valley Girl, you live in Home Valley. On east wind days (sure to be coming in the next few weeks) Home Valley to Stevenson is a perfect downwinder. For those of us on the Washington side, it's a no brainer. I will be going, we can shuttle.
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"Adventure Paddling" is that a euphemism for "anything stupid".
Is this a question? ;D
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Interesting blog, usually more focussed on BC but discusses the high winds in the gorge here:
http://50shadesofvan.com/blog/2014/1/24/water-140-kmhr-wind-gust-endless-enterainment (http://50shadesofvan.com/blog/2014/1/24/water-140-kmhr-wind-gust-endless-enterainment)