The Gorge

[flkiter]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CgW5R2nDr3u/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

The circus happening on the water

[Dwight (DW)]

I shot video from the point yesterday

https://youtu.be/jheyJjG-a5A

Cynthia was the most impressive thing I saw. The video was shot on my crappy phone camera. The video doesn’t show the true speed she had riding seated. I was blown away by the speed. She told me it is faster riding seated for some reason.

https://youtu.be/J_s9cQd4Us0

[PonoBill]

nuking already this morning.

[laszlo]

It looked so good yesterday in the central Gorge.  Grade A spectating at the Hatchery and Swell city.  Classic summer Gorge conditions. I am amazed by the winging skills and how quickly that has advanced.  Full aerial show at the point with a lot of great visiting riders in town.  Watersport playground mode.  Windsurf, Windfoil, Wings, kite, kite-foil, SUPfoil, OC's, Surfskis.

What is the one watersport not on that list?

[Hdip]

Is there going to be any coverage of the downwind race in the gorge this weekend? Any of you guys there going to go live on instagram at least?

[Admin]

It looked so good yesterday in the central Gorge.  Grade A spectating at the Hatchery and Swell city.  Classic summer Gorge conditions. I am amazed by the winging skills and how quickly that has advanced.  Full aerial show at the point with a lot of great visiting riders in town.  Watersport playground mode.  Windsurf, Windfoil, Wings, kite, kite-foil, SUPfoil, OC's, Surfskis.

What is the one watersport not on that list?

I did see a SUP doing a Viento today (and a 6 man Canoe).  There may have been more (brief highway glimpse).  Looked like perfect downwind conditions.

[Dwight (DW)]

Today (Saturday) we scored the session of the whole trip.

We (4 Floridian’s in our crew) only knew one thing. It’s the weekend, the Hatchery and Event Site are a no-go. Too crowded.

With no idea where to ride, we hatched a plan to scout both sides of the river in teams. Jacky and I headed out from Lyle, driving past Dougs. OMG Dougs is looking huge and it’s blowing at the beach. No wind shadow. On shore and looking like I’ve never seen it all month. I checked the wind from the point with my hand held meter. Difference between max and min is only 5 mph. WTF…steady wind, huge waves.

We all rode Dougs and had the session of a lifetime. The longest connected surfing of the trip. Insane. Then, just as forecast, (about 2:30 pm) the NW wind shift came and it all went away. The waves went from being lined up like the ocean, to a washing machine. We all left super happy we scored the magic session.

Oh, and the weeds are hilarious. They gobble you up like a octopus and try to drown you. It only took 10 minutes to figure out, no running into the flats for easy jibes. Stay in the big waves at all times. No weeds there. 

[PonoBill]

When Dougs is turned on, it's magical. Long, long reaches and swells that are just right. Rowena is generally good if Dougs is, and many times when it's not. The gorge is hundreds of miles of "the best spot ever". You're wise to avoid the hatchery, ec, and swell city on weekends when it's nuking, but the section of the river between the hatchery and the white salmon bridge is often empty with the same wind and swell as the hot spots. It's just not as easy to park and launch.

I do hate the weeds. Instant faceplant. You just have to know where they are.

[Admin]

Solo session at Dougs.  Incredible!  When we came here for the first time on vacation we got a week of 4.0 / 4.7 windsurfing wind before the Gorge turned up the volume.  We ended up at a whipped up Dougs.  My Northern lake sailing world got rocked. 

How long are you guys here?  The sites are really busy for 6 or 7 weeks.  Most of the year it is super uncrowded.

[Dwight (DW)]

How long are you guys here?

4 weeks. One more to go.

It’s the middle of the night as I type this. Had to eat again. Impossible to eat enough calories. I’m pretty sure I’ve lost a lot of weight. My small board is feeling corky right now.

[surfcowboy]

DW, thanks.  I've been getting reports from the SoCal crew in various camps and they are saying the same. "You have to get here."

All seem to love the variability of the spots and conditions. For those who haven't noticed the trend in reports. Most days you can find the level of riding you want, whatever that is. Really cool. Also hearing that it's "the" place to up your downwinding game due to the predicability.

Enjoy the rest of your time and don't forget to keep posting. Thx!

[PonoBill]

The downwinding advantage isn't so much the predictability (though that is a factor) as it is the swell shape. The wind blows against the current which means the faces are steeper and the speed a little lower than similar ocean swells. You might think that when the wind blows with the current that downwinding would be great, but typical east winds in the gorge mean small, rare bumps, and the ones that are there are harder to catch because they're moving faster. Kind of a general theory of swell relativity.

With the wind blowing against the current the swells are close together, so if you miss one the next will be along in six seconds. Usually, short-period waves are small, but the gorge swells get stacked easily, so it's not unusual to drop into a swell and find a windsurfer hidden down at the bottom--sail, mast, and all.

[clay]

Digging this thread, thanks for sharing Dwight.  Fun to see friends in your videos gives me a better baseline for how big the swell is.

[Foamranger]

What a day yesterday! Made a point of watching Mateo and KD finish the SUPfoil; by far the most impressive thing I saw was Johnny Heineken just killing it for hours right out front- incredible

[Admin]

Johnny Heineken just killing it for hours right out front- incredible

That guy rips beautiful turns.  Arlington last year on a windy day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fYIDWHLNyw