The Chilly But Smokin Spring and Summer Gorge Report

[pdxmike]

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. 

[covesurfer]

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.

[covesurfer]

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.

[headmount]

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? 

[covesurfer]

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.

[covesurfer]

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!

[gorgebob]

Planning a Thursday morning run leaving Portland around 8. Let me know.

[PonoBill]

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.

[pdxmike]

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.

[PonoBill]

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.

[spindrift]

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?

[PonoBill]

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.

[covesurfer]

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!

[PonoBill]

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.

[PonoBill]

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.