Author Topic: Nuking in the gorge  (Read 36153 times)

PonoBill

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Re: Nuking in the gorge
« Reply #90 on: August 02, 2017, 09:06:35 AM »
Impeccable timing. It's been flat as a board. I'm cleaning my shop. Yuk.
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JP4

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Re: Nuking in the gorge
« Reply #91 on: August 02, 2017, 10:40:33 AM »
Impeccable timing. It's been flat as a board. I'm cleaning my shop. Yuk.

And now we're getting the extra bonus forest fire smoke. August is always a mixed bag it seems.

PonoBill

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Re: Nuking in the gorge
« Reply #92 on: August 02, 2017, 11:39:50 AM »
Historically it's the best month for wind, but not lately.
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JP4

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Re: Nuking in the gorge
« Reply #93 on: August 02, 2017, 01:02:59 PM »
Historically it's the best month for wind, but not lately.

I know it's historically true that there are more windy days in August, but I'd like to know what months have the most 30+ or 40+ days. Lots of good 20-25 kt thermal days in August, but it seems most of the epic days are late April to middle of June with the big frontal passages. Time to learn to kite or foil I guess. I wish the coast wasn't a three hour drive. Surf looks decent the next couple of days. Am I whining enough yet?  ;D
JP

PonoBill

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Puking in the gorge
« Reply #94 on: August 02, 2017, 01:14:20 PM »
In this smoke and heat there's no upper limit. I'd be heading for the coast if I wasn't going east this weekend.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

JP4

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Re: Nuking in the gorge
« Reply #95 on: August 17, 2017, 06:16:10 PM »
Not exactly nuking today, with light southerly winds at the beginning gradually filling in to nice and windy by Split Rock. The bonus was the water was super low and not much current, which apparently is a good recipe for fast runs.
 I went out determined not to work too hard as I've been dealing with a lot of personal bs and just wanted to relax, plus I'd already done a mt bike ride in the morning. So I was kind of surprised when I hit the Hatchery on PR pace for me, which is not remarkably fast for most, but I decided not to chase it and just cruised. By the time I passed Wells at just over an hour it was blowing the sand off the spit, so I decided to put in a little effort. I ended up with a PR at 1:14 and was kind of pissed I didn't work harder earlier as I think I could have busted 1:10. I ran into Jan and Jarko and they did a 1:07, so I don't feel to bad, since I'm not a Northern European alien like they are.
I heard that Kai was out on his 3'8" potato chip foil making the rest of us look like we're driving sternwheelers. I would have liked to see him flash by. Robby Naish was sitting in the parking lot in the shade with his leg all busted up. I've watched Annabelle launch in front of me two days in a row and disappear within a few minutes. Crazy fast people in the Gorge this week. Fun to see the circus come to town. I'm off to work so I  won't get to see Pono contest the surfboard class again in the course race. Good luck with that. Try not to stroke out on us :)
JP

PonoBill

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Re: Nuking in the gorge
« Reply #96 on: August 17, 2017, 08:54:23 PM »
I did my downwinder today on my surfboard. 1:3something. Most tell is my watch said I did a little over 5000 strokes. On a typical run with my Bullet 17 I do 2000 to 3000. So yeah, the surfboard is a lot of work. I'll do the course race on it because I said I would, but I'm doing the downwinder on my Bullet.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

JP4

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Re: Nuking in the gorge
« Reply #97 on: August 17, 2017, 09:21:39 PM »
I was at 2800 strokes today on my V3. That's on the low end of what I usually do. It was really easy to connect the bumps today on a dw board. The one big mistake I made in my line was being a little right of center at the Hatchery. It was so shallow there today that right in the center of the river was probably the right spot. I got into those crazy side on breaking waves which were happening right on top of the giant piles off weeds. Not a fast line. Jan said he went too far to the Washington side and had to surf back into the South wind. Also not fast. Good fun though today.

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Jacko

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Re: Nuking in the gorge
« Reply #98 on: August 18, 2017, 09:36:03 AM »
bit of Footage of Ben Tardew yesterday. We missed the best part in the morning and it had dropped of a fait bit but still super fun.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWY_Wn9unK8

PonoBill

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Re: Nuking in the gorge
« Reply #99 on: August 18, 2017, 09:43:21 AM »
You're right, JP, I was going to do the hatch but there were so many out-of-control windsurfers that I thought I'd get creamed. I stayed on top of the sandbar at Wells for a while but it sucked, headed for the middle and found some really good bumps.

I'm on the shuttle at 1:00. with the 17. Screw the surfboard nonsense--I want those long, long rides. 5000 strokes my ass.   
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

Luc Benac

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Re: Nuking in the gorge
« Reply #100 on: August 18, 2017, 01:38:24 PM »
Guys to help brings things in perspective for the downwind beginners, these numbers of stroke are for what distance? Thank you
Sunova Allwater 14'x25.5" 303L Viento 520
Sunova Torpedo 14'x27" 286L Salish 500
Naish Nalu 11'4" x 30" 180L Andaman 520
Sunova Steeze 10' x 31" 150L
Blackfish Paddles

laszlo

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Re: Nuking in the gorge
« Reply #101 on: August 18, 2017, 04:17:42 PM »
I am wondering if anyone else has noticed that the swell has gotten more consistent and better lined up lately? I believe it is because of the unusually low water level in the river. There is less reverb, that is less confusing backwash and side chop coming at the board. Because the water level is now lower than many of the rock walls on shore the waves tend to dissipate in the shorebreak, rather than bounce back. At least that is my theory.

JP4

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Re: Nuking in the gorge
« Reply #102 on: August 18, 2017, 04:40:51 PM »
I am wondering if anyone else has noticed that the swell has gotten more consistent and better lined up lately? I believe it is because of the unusually low water level in the river. There is less reverb, that is less confusing backwash and side chop coming at the board. Because the water level is now lower than many of the rock walls on shore the waves tend to dissipate in the shorebreak, rather than bounce back. At least that is my theory.
Hmm, I think there are a lot of variables at play Laszlo and certainly the lower water makes it easier to connect bumps, even if they're small like they've been the last month or so. More than anything I think steady wind is what lines up the bumps and for me it seemed like May into June when it was really blowing hard was when we really had them stacked up. The downside to that was that the current was 4X stronger and even with overhead swell and 35-40kts of wind at your back, progress was slow and the drops, while much bigger, were much harder to connect.
That being said I really miss the late spring - early summer conditions when it was crazy out there. That just doesn't seem to happen much in August. It's nice to be warm though!

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JP4

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Re: Nuking in the gorge
« Reply #103 on: August 18, 2017, 04:41:48 PM »
Guys to help brings things in perspective for the downwind beginners, these numbers of stroke are for what distance? Thank you
For the Viento run, a little less than 8 miles going upstream against the current.

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PonoBill

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Re: Nuking in the gorge
« Reply #104 on: August 18, 2017, 05:44:03 PM »
Lazlo, you theory just got kicked in the nuts. Today was the whackiest run I've ever experienced. Folks who went an hour later had flat water. We had water jumping in every direction, giant holes and swells where there usually is nothing. I caught a big drop just past Mitchell, turned left quickly to avoid punching in, and discovered a clean wave path headed straight out, as clean and obvious as I've ever seen. I went from the Oregon side to the Washington side on one wave, screaming like a lunatic.

a half mile further there were massive swells from every direction,. You could catch any of them, any way you wanted to go, but it was very easy to run straight into a swell coming the other way. Nuts. Then we got to the end of the Viento sandbar and it settled down to boring. All the guys in the group I was running with were babbling like school kids. Crazy shit. I'm exhausted from one run.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

 


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