Wednesday - Smoke on the water!

Blown off the water!

I got an email from Al back in Alberta saying that he and Harold had a great day on Pigeon Lake at Brad's place on Tuesday.  Al was on a 4.2!  They are heading South today and hope to be in Hood River by Thursday.

Harold and Al at Brad's...

We took our time figuring out where to sail today.  The forecast was for out east, later in the day.  Eventually, we made it down to Bette's for breakfast.  They were happy to see us and asked when the rest of our group would be there.  I told her to count on a big group Friday morning.

After breakfast, we walked down to Big Winds.  Ross bought some booties at the Gorge Surf Shop, and Spencer rented a wetsuit and booties at Big Winds, and we spent some time looking at all of the different kinds of E-Bikes that they have in stock.  Ross is looking a small fold up E-Bike - only $1600US (or $2000 US with the bigger battery).

Kent was starting to getting anxious to get going - the problem was we didn't know where to go yet.  The next forecast was going to come in five minutes, but we couldn't wait.  We stopped at Safeway and then headed East with a plan to stop at the Maryhill bridge to confirm our destination.

I stopped at Windance on the way out of town to drop off three old booms and a mast for them to sell in their consignment area.    At Maryhill, we confirmed that Roosevelt was the call.  The wind looked quite Northerly, so the Wall would likely not be great.

We got to Roosevelt at about 1:30.  We all rigged.  I went out on my 5.6 hucker, and Spencer went out on the 4.8 hucker.  We were both overpowered.  I was able to make it work but it was hard sailing.  There was very large swell on the far side.  Kent was on his 4.8 and had a great time.  He said he hit some of the biggest jumps ever, but no one saw them, so we are not sure if he was even able to get his fin out of the water.....  I am sure they were impressive, but .......

Kent is the blue dot on the other side of the river!

Ross rigged his 7m kite, but then put it away and went out on his 5.  He stayed out most of the afternoon and had a great time.

After a break, I took out Spencer's rig, 4.8m sail and 90l Kode.  I had a few good reaches, but the wind continued to increase.  Kent changed to his 3.8 and was still over powered.

Spencer on Ross's 3.2 Sail and 80L board.

I re-rigged to my 4.2 sail, and we rigged Ross's 3.2 for Spencer.  We both went out, but the wind had come up again.

I did a few reaches, but then as I was coming back on one reach the whole river turned white with mist as a huge gust came through.  I tried to hold on, but just couldn't.  When the gust was passed, I sailed to shore.

I tried to take some photos of Kent and Ross, but they were both staying in the big waves at Arlington on the other side of the river.  They said there were lots of "logo'd" sails over there meaning sponsored sailors.  Obviously, we had made the right call, as they would not have driven that far if there was better sailing further West.

Kent - coming in on his 3.8.

The wind gusts continued to get bigger, but the wind also became shifty and gusty.  Kent's last session was "difficult".

For a first day, we saw it all.  My arms are stretched.  Even if the wind was gusty, it was a beautiful, warm, sunny day.

After packing up, we sat in the sun by the playground and had a beer while sharing stories about the day.

We went to pFriems Family Brewers  for supper and then headed back to the condo.

We spent the last part of the evening "helping" Spencer decide the next phase of his Motorbike trip.  Both Ross and Kent were full of ideas.  It looks like he will be heading to California to do some surfing!  I hope he sends photos so I can report on his progress on the blog.

Kent