Author Topic: Going nuts with no wind  (Read 5823 times)

PonoBill

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #15 on: August 17, 2018, 08:10:42 PM »
Weasel, I suspect you know that's TJ, who probably sold that guy his gear, and a long lens that brings the two protagonists close, but still, it's a funny shot.

It was pretty good yesterday, and good today. Yesterday I had a smoking run (no pun intended) on my 17V2. Not a fast board, but I sure like it. It's a confidence builder. I run all over it. I cross-stepped to the tail in a big drop and got some hoots from the party of three in the next bump over.

Today I was gonna go, but I went over to the hatchery to do some drone shots of the foilers who were supposed to come through--a bunch of pros who won't be racing foils tomorrow since there's no payday. I got the timing wrong, didn't see anyone foiling except two losers who were out in the swells flailing around. If I wanted video of that kind of pathetic effort I'd just point the camera at myself. Wound up going to everybody's in White salmon for a terrific lunch, and never got around to a downwinder. Good plan though, race tomorrow. I was carbo-loading when I ate that insane four cheese Mac and cheese with bacon, yeah, that's what I was doing.
« Last Edit: August 17, 2018, 08:18:33 PM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

Weasels wake

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #16 on: August 17, 2018, 10:49:51 PM »
It used to be just windsurfers and fishermen, then came kites, then came SUPs, and then came foils, then foils on everything except the fishermen.
I think I'll stay in the wide open ocean where we just have the occasional shark, it seems more peaceful.
Another shot from yesterday I believe.
It takes a quiver to do that.

stoneaxe

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #17 on: August 18, 2018, 07:26:06 AM »
Pono: I find a bit of humor in the the backdrop to your photos and your posts... the random diversity of projects and subject matter strewn about. Dare I say a testament to severe ADHD (rampant curiosity) with the time and means to indulge it? Lol a life well lived. Good onya.
I wish I had pictures of Bill's workshop/lab in the attic of our parents house where all this started. It looked much the same just smaller....15 projects at once going on, 1/2 hooked up to an oscilloscope, the occasional live (or zombie) animal, unknown electronics parts strewn around mixed with an assortment of tools, a big honking electromagnet, flashing lights...being 4 or 5 I was threatened with death upon entry.
Bob

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

PonoBill

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #18 on: August 19, 2018, 07:29:02 AM »
That wasn't a death threat, there were a lot of things in my lab that could kill you.  I wish I had a picture of that too, but I don't know who would have taken it. Mom wouldn't even come up the stairs after she got shocked once when I left a Tesla coil running, and Dad only came up once in a blue moon to make sure I wasn't going to burn the house down.

I tried to build an ionic speaker for my bedroom (also in the attic). The only sound it made was kind of gurgling to the music but it pumped out so much ozone that the casters on my desk chair got soft and all my underwear elastic turned to glue. The whole wall was at more than 20,000 volts. Touching that would put a little skip in your step.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

covesurfer

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #19 on: August 19, 2018, 04:42:22 PM »
It used to be just windsurfers and fishermen, then came kites, then came SUPs, and then came foils, then foils on everything except the fishermen.
I think I'll stay in the wide open ocean where we just have the occasional shark, it seems more peaceful.
Another shot from yesterday I believe.

Amen to that.

PonoBill

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #20 on: August 19, 2018, 05:47:47 PM »
Actually, it used to be just fishermen.

Folks always want the door to close behind them. Sometimes they make it happen and the result is usually pretty rotten.

When I first came to the Gorge to windsurf there were usually five or six people doing it for the whole stretch of river from swell city to Dougs and Rowena. Windsurfing had been around for quite a while, but it was the low wind, big board, uphauling, slow tack with a centerboard kind of windsurfing. I came to the Gorge with a 10'4" rotomolded Aitken and two triradial sails. Whole new world bouncing that pathetic rig across the bumps. There were only a few people doing it, but they were crazy for it. I loved it like that, but I didn't figure it would stay like that.

I bought a beach house in Manzanita in the late eighties to windsurf at the coast. Back then Manzanita was empty. Sand Dune Tavern, Blue Sky Cafe and the Little Apple grocery store were about the only thing on Laneda. Sold the bach house about ten years ago for five times what I paid for it. Manzanita looks like Cannon Beach now. Crowds of tourists, lots of shops, and precious restaurants. Nothing near as good as the Blue Sky, and I never expect to find anything that good again. Julie was a genius of a self-taught cook. Easily the equal of any famous chef.

Things change. Peace is where you find it--just like surf.
« Last Edit: August 19, 2018, 05:56:21 PM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

covesurfer

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #21 on: August 19, 2018, 07:30:15 PM »


Folks always want the door to close behind them. Sometimes they make it happen and the result is usually pretty rotten.


Things change. Peace is where you find it--just like surf.

Speaking of finding peace, when I first started sailing the Gorge, I had a sail I made from tanned deer hide, and my board was Doug Fir, about two heads high. Heavy as hell but man would it stay planted in big conditions. This was before any of the dams were in. Anyway, I'm ripping across the river, somewhere near where Rooster Rock State Park is now (it was an easterly day in the Fall), and I nail this high speed jibe. Well, it wasn't really that high speed, my board was around 50 stones heavy so it didn't plane that well. Next thing I know, there's Lewis and Clark, lumbering down river in a big, ungainly canoe. I was pretty sure I had r.o.w. so I yelled at them to get out of there and head for the coast. They ended up spending the whole winter down there, and the rest.......is history.

You can't close the door but the corridor can get pretty nutz these days. I know it discouraged my continued participation in windsurfing. But, it was still pretty reasonable to do standup there, although a few times coming into the Event Site or trying to catch a couple of drops going through Swell and the Hatch, even that was crazy. When I saw the number of people signed up for the Gorge Downwind Champs in July this year, it was official, mind blown. Couldn't even imagine over 500 people on the river at once, and all in the same area. But at least they were all going the same direction.

Peace out.

PonoBill

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #22 on: August 19, 2018, 08:39:16 PM »
Deer hide! What a sissy. Mine was bearskin, and I chewed it myself to soften it. Incidentally, fifty stones is 700 pounds, so I'm calling bullshit.

And REALLY? Back in the early 90's when windsurfing was peaking the traffic was insane. Many times more people in the water every weekend than today. Paddle champs is one week. It used to be all summer.
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.

808sup

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #23 on: August 19, 2018, 09:16:54 PM »
Thanks Greg for pointing Lewis & Clark in the right direction.  😉

covesurfer

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #24 on: August 19, 2018, 09:38:35 PM »
Brah, I no want beef with you. Early 90's, choke people. Jus like you say. Oh, and in those early days, I often used rib bones from deer for battens, so, yeah, I guess I DID invent an RAF sail before it was even cool.

808, no problem with telling L&C where to go, they did arright that winter.

Back in the early 90's, we used to go out to Rufus and the Wall. If we knew it was going off, we'd head to 3 Mile or Roosevelt. When you come back to the rock, I'll have to tell you my story about the m/c gang at Roosevelt on a screaming wind day. The boardheads and the bikers all sharing that little park, now that was a sight. 

I almost never sailed in the corridor back then. Rufus was my go-to spot, had many a tiny sail/tiny board day out there in big swell, big current and ripping wind. After Abbey was born in 96, I didn't sail nearly as much. I think that was the beginning of the end of windsurfing for me, sadly. The last time I went out to Rufus for an evening session was with Bernie D, probably 2010 or thereabouts. It was awesome and smooth, and most of the kiters had headed back to Double Mountain by the time we got out there. I was surprised to learn that it's almost exclusively a kiting spot nowadays.

I got pretty lazy when it came to windsurfing as I got older but if you tire of the crowds and it's going, you can always head east. Especially when it comes to downwind paddling, the Gorge's potential is barely scratched. But I find the area between Swell and the Spit to be a little too busy for my tastes. But no one is accusing me of being a nice patient guy either.
« Last Edit: August 19, 2018, 09:44:15 PM by covesurfer »

 


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