2017 Fall Gorge Trip: Saling the Hatchery

We all met at Bette's for breakfast. We are 14 now and when Handre joins us tomorrow, we will be 15. The forecast was a bit vague but was calling for wind in the afternoon.

Breakfast at Bette's. Ross came late - so wasn't in the photo.

Cam rented a car so that he could be independent of Jim. With Cam mostly kiting, it just works better. It also means that Eddy (who is also only kiting) can travel with Cam instead of Gerry - so that is a win all around.

The wind started picking up, around 11:00. Mike, Blaine and Brad were the first to get to the Hatchery and reported that it was looking good.

Blaine

Cam, Eddy and Ross went to the White Salmon Bridge to Kite, but the rest of us headed to the hatchery. When I got there, Blaine was coming off the water - he had been out on a 5.2, but couldn't hold on, so was going down to a 4.7. I rigged my 4.8 and Nash board and had a great sail for an hour or so. Mike was on a 5.2, but everyone else was 4.8 or lower.

Kent-going up!

Alex was out on a 3.8, but decided to relocate to the Event Site after struggling to waterstart in the big swells. Didn't hear how she made out but we should find out at breakfast tomorrow.

Alex

I stopped for lunch, just as it started to pick up again. Everyone started re-rigging. Now the call was 4.2 or 3.8 or less.

Blaine clocked over 50km on his GPS watch. I think everyone had a great day!

Kent complained that with all his foiling, he was having trouble jibing because he was now leaning back in his turns. I don't think anyone was feeling very sorry for him - he was still doing his jibes better than a lot of us! He said he figured them out once he went down to his 3.8m sail!

We sailed until after 5:00 and then sat around until after 7 having a beer, talking about the day and de-rigging. Cam, Eddy and Ross joined us for a beer. They had all had a great day as well.

Chris at Sixth Street was very happy to see us and made room for all of us. Great day!