Tuesday - Double Dip

You don't often you see the Paddle Wheelers at the Marina.
They have been moved from Stevenson because of the Fire Risk

The forecast was for wind in the Corridor in the morning, and then at Doug's in the afternoon.  Most of us met at Dog River for coffee as usual, and then everyone except Ross was at Bette's for Breakfast.  With 14 of us, it makes for a big noisy group.

It was very smoky to start the day, but it seemed to clear during the day.

Smoky

Kent, Rene, Gerry, Jim, Harold and I went to the Event Site so see if there would be light winds good enough for foiling, but the water was very flat and what wind there was, was coming from the east (wrong direction).  

Jim on the end of the point - looking upwind to see if there were sailors on the water...

I spent the time setting up my Seatrend (Foiling) board, installing a safety leash on the fin.

Around 11:00, we could see the wind line coming down the river.  It looked like the wind at the event site wouldn't gradually build, it would just turn on!  There were whitecaps up river, and it looked quite windy at the Hatchery and Swell City.

Hard to see the barges coming out of the smoke!

I packed up my board, and we all left for Swell.  Gerry was the first out - sailing his 4.8.  We all followed, most on sails ranging from 4.2 to 5.2.  Rene and I, being the "bigger guy's", were out on 5.6.  We had a really good hour of solid wind, but it backed off fairly quickly, so at 1:00 we were done.

At breakfast, we had all talked about going to Doug's, so Handre made the mistake of actually going there.....  I have made that mistake in the past as well....  just because everyone is saying they are going to a specific sailing site, it doesn't mean that they will actually get there.  If you are the first to leave, you risk being there by yourself.  After sitting at Doug's with no wind, he finally gave up and headed west to meet us at Swell City.  Unfortunately, he arrived just after the wind had dropped.  He took out his 6.0 sail, but there wasn't enough wind, so he couldn't really get going, although he did make it back to the beach without a long walk.

We sat in the shade to have lunch.  What to do?  Will the wind come back?  Should we go to Doug's where it was forecast to blow later?  Go to the Event Site to foil, or go to White Salmon to Kite (although the wind had probably dropped off by then).

Kent, Rene and I decided to go to the Event site to Foil.  As I drove past White Salmon, I saw that Alex, Cam, Eddy and Ross were still out on their kites.  I thought about stopping but really wanted to try the foil.

We rigged our foils and went out.  I slogged most of the time, but was able to get the board off the water and my foot in the front foot-strap a few times.  After my sail, I had Kent take my board for a run.  It is quite different than his (longer and different foil), but he was able to make it work.  Bruce, Dale and Jim from Sailworks arrived and went out.  Bruce had a new custom built board - very sweet.  They sure make it look easy.  I convinced Jim to take my board/foil for a ride to test out how it is set up. He said it was well balanced, and gave me some tips for how to make it work in different conditions.  Great guy, so stoked on the sport and always willing to help.   For a first day on the foil, I count it as a success!  Kent is getting very good, completing some of his Jibes, and Rene is also making progress, although, like me, he is no Kent....

Me (Ted) with my Old Seatrend and new Foil

Eddy, Alex, Cam and Ross had a great kite session.  Eddy was really happy with his session - he went way upwind and back.  Alex had a good day on her surfboard style kiteboard.

Brad and Blaine - drove East to Stevenson, where it was supposed to be blowing 28, but they didn't get a sail.  Brad said Blaine had a nap, while Brad read Blaine's book.

The rest of the group ended up at Doug's, where by Big Air Jim's account it was the Best Sailing Ever!  They had 2.5 hours of very good sailing on 4-5m sails!

Kent, Blaine and Brad
Watching the action at the Event Site

We all ended up at the Mexican Restaurant for Supper - then Ice Cream at Ross's Condo!  It was a late night - probably 10:30 by the time everyone got to bed.....