Author Topic: Super good day  (Read 6045 times)

Thatspec

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Re: Super good day
« Reply #15 on: May 28, 2020, 09:00:46 AM »
PS:

Stevenson right now:



Might check out Viento on the way...

PonoBill

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Re: Super good day
« Reply #16 on: May 28, 2020, 04:37:03 PM »
Damn, that was a torture session. I knew I needed my 6m, especially since I still have the 1010/340 combo for foil, but I did the 5M for some stupid reason. Got up right away though, and drifted across the river like thistledown. Blew the jibe, as usual--didn't fall though, just came off the foil--and headed back. I got up after a bit of pumping and jumping, but the wind was suddenly lighter. I made it 3/4 of the way across, came down, and couldn't get back up. With all the screwing around and the heavy current I was downriver from the preferred landing, so I went back out to gain some upwind distance. I couldn't get up, and with the heavy current that meant I was even further downriver when I slogged back. So I waded back upriver, left my board on the beach, and went for the 6M.

The wind looked even lighter when I got back to the water, but I popped up right away and was able to make way upwind nicely against the brutal current as long as I stayed high on the foil. Blew the jibe (of course) and couldn't get back up. Fortunately, I was far enough upriver so that even slogging I came back to the launch. Unfortunately, I saw some whitecaps coming, popped up on the foil, and jibed to go back. Almost made the jibe on the foil, which was cool, but I came off the foil and couldn't get back up. I went to mid-river, jibed, slogged back, and got to do the wade of shame again.

Oh well, I got wet, had a couple on nice reaches, and got some excercise--mostly wading. Had a good salad and crappy burger at Lewis and Clark, sucked down some suds, and went home.
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.

PonoBill

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Re: Super good day
« Reply #17 on: May 28, 2020, 05:41:14 PM »
It was a very good day!  I know that I'm progressing when I start to get techie.  I was on a 4.2 wing with a 400 stabilizer.  Randy was on a 5.0 and a 440.  He was perfect and I had too much.  It was still a great day, but for the first time in this sport, I found myself thinking I should go in and tweak my rig.  That usually means two things, I'm hooked and I'm learning.

Or Randy has been slipping some THC in your Malt-o-meal.
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.

Thatspec

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Re: Super good day
« Reply #18 on: May 28, 2020, 08:24:41 PM »


Oh well, I got wet, had a couple on nice reaches, and got some excercise--mostly wading. Had a good salad and crappy burger at Lewis and Clark, sucked down some suds, and went home.


Definitely not one of the better East wind days but at least it was warm. Hot by the time I got home, what an odd feeling.

I had pumped the 5 back up after you went out but one of the paddlers came by and after several minutes discussion I deflated it again... momentum towards the water is important.

Pumped the 5 twice and the 3.6 once so got my share of exercise.

Maybe wind again Saturday.

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Re: Super good day
« Reply #19 on: May 29, 2020, 03:31:53 AM »
Definitely not one of the better East wind days but at least it was warm.

Hah!  We said the same thing.  Why was that?  There was plenty of wind from 11:00 to 12:30 (4.2 and 2.8 for us) and some screaming reaches but I felt like I was flying upwind over chop the entire session.  Flow was at 400 while we were out.  I'm blaming that.  The upside is that this should be about the peak for current. 

We may get light wingable westerlies this afternoon right at home.  They are calling 10-13 for Event site and Swell.   :)
« Last Edit: May 29, 2020, 04:54:04 AM by Admin »

PonoBill

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Re: Super good day
« Reply #20 on: May 29, 2020, 07:33:41 AM »
Sitting outside at Lewis and Clark--the little restaurant near Bob's--I watched the wind pattern on the water, it was bizarrely narrow and focused on the Washington side a few yards offshore in a band perhaps fifty yards wide. There were whitecaps in the band and nothing on either side of it. The "whitecaps" looked a bit suspicious though, more like big current ripples that were getting their tops blown off than wind-generated whitecaps.

The day didn't do anything to improve my opinion of east wind in the gorge. I've had some great east wind days, but there's always something basically fucked. And I've had some horrible east wind days when I spent most of the time self-rescuing. Never going to be my favorite.

I also should have changed out the 1010 for the 1020. I have to get the 1010 above a fairly high critical speed to get it off the water and I couldn't do that in the marginal wind with the current cutting down on total lift. The 1020 gets up at a much lower speed but would be like riding a bronco. 
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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Re: Super good day
« Reply #21 on: May 30, 2020, 02:09:29 AM »
Damn, that was awesome!  So nice to have the Event Site back on line.  Foiler's heaven yesterday with the sand spit completely blocking the current.  Trying to beat the heat (I don't get along with 90's), I got there early and rigged 6.0 for a crazy steady and sweet solo session.  Lots of Kite foilers and windfoilers joined in towards the end.  Bill came when I was derigging and I passed him the baton.  From the looks of the charts it stayed equally as steady but just got better as the day went on.  What a treat.

Looks like a bomb is going to drop today.  Forecast is for thunderstorms here and 40 to 50 out east with gusts over 60 knots.  May be a rest-up day because it is looking great starting Sunday.

PonoBill

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Re: Super good day
« Reply #22 on: May 30, 2020, 07:51:16 AM »
I'm going to have to go today. Fat guys love big wind. My chance to use my 3.5 wing, which is nearly virgin.
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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Re: Super good day
« Reply #23 on: May 30, 2020, 08:17:11 AM »
I'm going to have to go today. Fat guys love big wind. My chance to use my 3.5 wing, which is nearly virgin.

Here's the quote from iWindsurf:

By the mid and late afternoon, gradients from Portland to The Dalles will exceed 0.30". When you combine the mighty WSW gradient that sets up in the afternoon with highly unusual atmospheric instability and intense wind shear aloft, what you get is a sudden, violent blast of nuking WSW winds for the Eastern Gorge but also a life-threatening risk of severe thunderstorms that could produce large hail and wind gusts in excess of 60 kt.


PonoBill

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Re: Super good day
« Reply #24 on: May 30, 2020, 08:20:18 AM »
Perfect.
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.

PonoBill

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Re: Super good day
« Reply #25 on: May 30, 2020, 02:25:43 PM »
Well, that was crazy. I went out on my 920/340 foil and 3.5 M f-one. Heading out on the first reach everything felt great. Crazy wind, the gusts were extreme and the strongest gusts came with a lot of south in them while the more steady stuff had a lot of north. The wing was getting yanked all over the place but there was enough power so I could just feather it over my head and run upwind moving super fast. I wasn't having much trouble with the foil, it felt really locked in even pushing it faster than it really wants to go, but the swells were big and they were ripping apart on the top, so there was a fair amount of up and down just running over them.

I could see the big gusts coming--they tore the swells apart into spray which hit me like a fire hose a few times. I tried to jibe, almost made it--that little wing feels like a toy--but I fell switching feet. Got up and headed back and I couldn't stand up. I've got a habit of getting up switchfoot and swapping as I stand on a starboard tack, but this time when I tried to switch the wind and swell just blew me off the board. I tried to come up regular foot but when I got my front foot swung up onto the board it would round up a little and toss me off. Tried both ways about ten times and finally ran across the river on my knees with the board coming up on foil several times, which was kind of fun.

My fake boom was coming undone. The Velcro I've been using has died so I've been wrapping the whole shebang with some line. In all the thrashing that came undone and was flopping around, attached only to the front handle. Like I needed something else going on.

I came in and re-tied the boom and headed out again. As I did the wind suddenly jumped another ten kts or so and the two windsurfers got blown flat in the water. There were three kiters out, the two windsurfers, and up at the hook I could see a couple of sailfoilers. The sailfoilers disappeared while I was struggling to get to my feet with spindrift hitting my face in a steady spray. Finally got up and ran back out. I didn't want to go all the way across, I could see that the combination of current (350,000 CFS) and wind was making epic swells. If it had been smooth and steady that would have been a blast, but with my wing flipping around like a hooked fish it just didn't look inviting. Tried to jibe just before the current hit, got blown off the board on the downwind turn (faceplant without overfoiling) and had the same problem getting back up even though I'd given myself a good talking to about it being all in my head. This time I got up on the foil on my knees and made it almost all the way back to the event center.

I did one more reach, which went really well, had the same problem, knee foiled all the way back. As I was approaching the event center I had a kiter on one side of me who was sitting on his strapless directional board zooming in, and on the other side a kiter sitting on a foilboard, flying it effortlessly. People in the event center were congratulatory about the knee-wingfoiling, which I thought was kind of weird given that they were ignoring the kiters who looked like they were doing it on purpose. I assumed I just looked like I didn't have much choice (I didn't), but whatever. I decided to give it up and get some stuff done since it was more work than fun.

I windsurf says it was 17 gusting to 41 when I started and popped up to 25 gusting to 45 on my last reach. I think later in the season I'd think that was no big deal, but I'm used to gentle zephyrs right now, so I need to harden the fuck up a bit.

I'll take a look later to see if it calmed down a bit, or at least is blowing just in one direction. I love using that little wing and I'm sure it's going to get some good use this year.
« Last Edit: May 30, 2020, 02:40:17 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.

PonoBill

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Re: Super good day
« Reply #26 on: May 30, 2020, 03:20:54 PM »
So much for my plans to go later. The sky looks like something from a post-apocalyptic movie, and the river looks like it's fixin' to kill someone.
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.

Phils

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Re: Super good day
« Reply #27 on: May 30, 2020, 04:10:31 PM »
Well, that was crazy. I went out on my 920/340 foil and 3.5 M f-one. Heading out on the first reach everything felt great. Crazy wind, the gusts were extreme and the strongest gusts came with a lot of south in them while the more steady stuff had a lot of north. The wing was getting yanked all over the place but there was enough power so I could just feather it over my head and run upwind moving super fast. I wasn't having much trouble with the foil, it felt really locked in even pushing it faster than it really wants to go, but the swells were big and they were ripping apart on the top, so there was a fair amount of up and down just running over them.

I could see the big gusts coming--they tore the swells apart into spray which hit me like a fire hose a few times. I tried to jibe, almost made it--that little wing feels like a toy--but I fell switching feet. Got up and headed back and I couldn't stand up. I've got a habit of getting up switchfoot and swapping as I stand on a starboard tack, but this time when I tried to switch the wind and swell just blew me off the board. I tried to come up regular foot but when I got my front foot swung up onto the board it would round up a little and toss me off. Tried both ways about ten times and finally ran across the river on my knees with the board coming up on foil several times, which was kind of fun.

My fake boom was coming undone. The Velcro I've been using has died so I've been wrapping the whole shebang with some line. In all the thrashing that came undone and was flopping around, attached only to the front handle. Like I needed something else going on.

I came in and re-tied the boom and headed out again. As I did the wind suddenly jumped another ten kts or so and the two windsurfers got blown flat in the water. There were three kiters out, the two windsurfers, and up at the hook I could see a couple of sailfoilers. The sailfoilers disappeared while I was struggling to get to my feet with spindrift hitting my face in a steady spray. Finally got up and ran back out. I didn't want to go all the way across, I could see that the combination of current (350,000 CFS) and wind was making epic swells. If it had been smooth and steady that would have been a blast, but with my wing flipping around like a hooked fish it just didn't look inviting. Tried to jibe just before the current hit, got blown off the board on the downwind turn (faceplant without overfoiling) and had the same problem getting back up even though I'd given myself a good talking to about it being all in my head. This time I got up on the foil on my knees and made it almost all the way back to the event center.

I did one more reach, which went really well, had the same problem, knee foiled all the way back. As I was approaching the event center I had a kiter on one side of me who was sitting on his strapless directional board zooming in, and on the other side a kiter sitting on a foilboard, flying it effortlessly. People in the event center were congratulatory about the knee-wingfoiling, which I thought was kind of weird given that they were ignoring the kiters who looked like they were doing it on purpose. I assumed I just looked like I didn't have much choice (I didn't), but whatever. I decided to give it up and get some stuff done since it was more work than fun.

I windsurf says it was 17 gusting to 41 when I started and popped up to 25 gusting to 45 on my last reach. I think later in the season I'd think that was no big deal, but I'm used to gentle zephyrs right now, so I need to harden the fuck up a bit.

I'll take a look later to see if it calmed down a bit, or at least is blowing just in one direction. I love using that little wing and I'm sure it's going to get some good use this year.
This is fantastic

PonoBill

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Re: Super good day
« Reply #28 on: May 30, 2020, 04:22:58 PM »
And here's the lightning. Wow. That one was close. Flash/Bang almost at the same time. I guess if it hit you you'd never hear the bang.
« Last Edit: May 30, 2020, 04:27:29 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.

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Re: Super good day
« Reply #29 on: May 31, 2020, 04:21:08 AM »
Dan got some fantastic photos.  https://www.facebook.com/dttravel/media_set?set=a.3549806701716665&type=3

This was in the central Gorge and it looks nuts but out East it was blasting and there were hurricane force gusts at over 75 when this peaked out there. 

Here are some great ones of Mark:







What an epic SUP photo:



Some SUP Foiling:



And a great one of windsurfing:

« Last Edit: May 31, 2020, 05:04:25 AM by Admin »

 


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