Leaving Wind to find Wind.......

There were white caps on the lake when I got up this morning!  Definitely sailable, probably 4.8 or smaller for me!  It was also raining and 8c.  My WindAlert website showed winds of 40k gusting to 80k by afternoon - not my favorite sailing weather.

I had breakfast with Louise, saw her off to work, and then left for the Gorge at about 8:00am. It was raining and cold.  I didn't feel too bad about leaving the wind behind.

The view from my deck this morning.  

When I got out to Highway 56 and up to highway speed, my board bag on the roof started to make a lot of noise.  I pulled over to add another strap to it, but that didn't help.  I decided to take the board out of the bag so there wouldn't be anything to flap in the wind.  I pulled over at the Rosalind turn off, took the board off the roof and pulled it out of the now rain-soaked board bag.  When I tried to put the bag back on the roof, a big gust pulled the board out of my grip and it went flying, bouncing first on its tail and then its nose on the pavement before I was able to catch it.  I was very lucky a car wasn't passing at the wrong moment or things could have really gone bad.  I felt absolutely sick.  It was an old board but looked new.  I had been so careful with it over the years, and it looked almost new.  It doesn't anymore.  I now have two fairly significant repairs to make on the board before I can use it.  How stupid.

As I was finally getting things under control, my friend Neal Roth, who farms near Rosalind drove up to ask what I was doing on the side of the road in the rain!  I gave him the board bag to take home with him.  I don't have room in the van for a very wet, bulky bag and I think the board will be much happier on the roof without it.   It was crazy windy.  Environment Canada issued a wind warning alert for our area with gust up to 90kph.

With all that excitement behind me, the rest of the drive was pretty easy.  I caught up with Kent in Cranbrook at about 4:00pm and we drove in a two-vehicle convoy to Ritzville where we spent the night in the Best Western.  We had supper in the Ritzville Pastime Pub in downtown Ritzville.  It doesn't look like the booming US economy is doing much for Ritzville, but the food in the pub was excellent - not to mention the beer.  It should be an easy drive tomorrow into Hood River - about four hours.

Tim, Al, and Harold were all heading to Alberta Beach today.  I hope they got in some great sailing!  I am sure we will hear that it was the best day ever!

Andreas has been sailing in California.  Here are a couple of photos he sent me.

Pismo Beach

Waddel Creek