Gorge dayz 3 & 4

Bridge Up! Never saw that one before...

Silver Fox at Swell

Swell and I got the place to myself 6pm

Bob's beach was the place for wind Sunday....

Well the 4m winds definitely were best on Thursday and Friday. Weekend
saw us do Swell on Saturday with the AM gradient holding .08 most of
day which meant 5m gear. Switched in the JP77 for old faithful, the
84FSW. Smaller than expected sailing groups on the weekend as the
declining forecast kept the masses home. Sailed until about 3 pm then
moved to the Hatchery where I sailed an evening sesh for a few hours
while watching the pros make wind in out in front of me. We hooked up
with Jim and Larry who Craig actually talked too on the water doing
long kite downwinder. Town was packed dinner at Full Sail and ice
cream at Mikes.

Sunday was near repeat but it started much stronger than Swell with
the Hatch packed as all the 17-23 winds were focused there. More MI
sailors as the Lansing crew from the demo tour are here sailing with
us. Pretty good am happily powered on 5m's until it dropped at noon
with temps everywhere at 100+. The heat wave is here and that's not
good for winds in the gorge.

We thought that was it but reports were Stevenson was the place for
winds now 20-28 - let's go. We arrived and it was in the 4.7-5m range.
Parking was packed but we rigged big and got some rides nice early
rides in this wide section of the Columbia. Nothing great but were
getting rides at yet another nice site and 4 pm though it dropped and
even the 5m's were not going to work. Great spot though we watched the
kiters next rip it up at their launch up wind (couldn't get Larry to
rig his kite as the launch is so packed). Great hook up to see Andy
and Callie (and future sailor Alec!) for dinner at Full Sail - these
guys have a great home base 50 minutes for HR. Yeah were jealous.

As I finish this it's east here on Monday morning-no winds likely from
the west until Thursday. It's going to be 100 inland and the desert to
so that means were ready to head home too. Off to breakfast at Bette's
and finally time to hit the shops - see you again next summer HR!

Gorge Day 2 yep it's blowing.

Hatchery rocking 4.7m for the crowds

9am Swell City - things looking pretty

It's 6pm Hatch evening sesh.

Day 2 and we get get lucky it's 20++ at Swell and the corridor is the
place to be. 4m's and the 77FSW and 83 Global Wave get the job done
for the morning sesh. 25 with gusts in the 30's keep the smiles on our
faces. Waves and a small crowd of the regulars make the locale seemed
indiscoveted by the masses. We sail until the winds drop a bit and
then in the late afternoon move east to the Hatchery.

Great evening sailing with the pros at the Hatch who are ripping it up
for the crowd at the Jibatorium. 4.7m worked perfectly with a short
spaced tall swell and winds 20-25. I swear the 77FSW planes in
anything and is an exact replica of the 84 only 15% smaller. Fun
sailing while watching shakas, geckos and loops happen right in front
of me. Evening sail ends at 8pm with a short drive to HR for brews and
burgers at Horsefeathers. More coming tomorrow if the gradient holds...

Gorge day 1 Live thru us!

Gorge day one... Yeah those are 3.4's...

Short and sweet... day one had us at 3 sites starting at Dougs beach
where winds were tapping 40 on the first runs out. Craig on a 4m and
me on a 4.2m way too much on the OR side where it was 3.5. We sailed
for an hour or so and were getting beat up by gusty winds and a huge
curling swell in the river midsection. Whatta start, crazy conditions,
let's move before we die.

Next Maryhill rocks. Yes it's 32-39mph here with about 10 people out.
I get killed on a 4.7m and Craig works a 4.0 to perfection. But by 2pm
it's killing both of us and the 3.4m's need to come out. They work
well in the gusts but are so small when I duck jibe I miss the boom
they're so short (130cm). Great site and sailing peak winds in 40's
with PDX to Dalles gradient hitting .20 mb - the most I've ever sailed
in. Too much for us with the back and forearms begging for mercy.

Evening sesh = Arlington/Roosevelt. The best most solid 3 hours of
sailing (4.2) I've ever had. Sun, big waves abound, near 100 temps and
it's only 5 pm with about 30 sailors out. Just a great cap off to the
first day. We sail until 8 pm and have a 1.5hr. Drive back to HR.
Awesome site, day and conditions. We perfectly followed the peak winds
all day as the eastern push moved the gradient down the river toward
the desert. More coming tomorrow...yes it's on.

Sunday, July 19, Island Lake is a good ride

Another biking day and the winds don't seem to want to cooperate. This time Island Lake State Park doing 14.8 miles in 1:20. Brent joining in for a good ride that was dry and fast. Much better place when you loop the blue and yellow trails together!

Thursday at Metro, July 16, we need more wind!

Hardly worth the post, but with a suprise westerly breeze the boys all met up today at Metro. Armed with the 6.2 Alpha and the 107FSW I got about 2.5 hours of up and down winds. Nothing but patches and streeks of 20+ gusts to ride. Weeds abound too. We need some real wind now - looks like we'll have to head to the Gorge to find it!

Sunday, July 12, Tour De Pontiac MTB

Super fast and bone dry - thought I might have broke an hour but still not there yet... Got in 10.58 miles in 1:03 under the sun and nice 75 degrees. Great day on the trails with few people riding the heat of the afternoon - most in the lake. The new rear cog and chain had the Enduro trannie riding and switching so smooth - a great update. The bike was as solid as ever over some huge rock garden outcrops that now are really making some sections at speed very technical (= do not fall). Many thanks for my sponsors of the day Red Bull and Alleve. Pontiac is a great ride always...

Trail ituneage: The Becoming - Vol. 1, Kutless - To Know That You're Alive, The Wedding - Polarity, Skillet - Comatose

Great day of sailing west winds at Blue Lagoon blowing 15-30++ with 40 high gusts at about 5:30pm. All attending were happy with the winds once they kicked in and had a little bit of WNW going. For the record, one of the choppiest days ever, as Jeff put it, - it's like a day of mogul skiiing. Most were overpowered on 5.7 and5.8's but very happy to be outrunning the numerous jets skiers, motor boats and offshore racers congesting Anchor Bay. Great ending session after 7pm when the boaters had gone and the chop flattened out. Blue Lagoon shines after a slow month of June, this site is really nice for these days when the west wind blows...

Gear: 6.2 Alpha and 107 then 5.7 Xpresh and 85 FSW

Sat, June 20 ABM = Another Broken Mast

Blue Lagoon day and I made a late day trip after the boys said it was blowing - I guess it was... Rigged up the 6.2 Alpha and the 107 FSW and went out in some nice 15-20 blows only to have the nearly brand new PowerX Wave 60 snap on the long ride out. Great time for a swim and walk in have 2 minutes of sailing! Rigged another 430 and off I went (hole in bottom of Alpha sleeve now) got an hour or so of good WNW before the 7PM switch to full N/NE... day over. After 3 weeks of no wind here this was a tease but I'll take it for now.

Tunes: Ever Stays Red - On the Brink Of It All

Brent's POV Cab Video from Day 7 on Da Reef

CABARATE TRIP 2009 DAY 7

Friday, May 29, 2009 "Last Day, Lets Make it the Best!"

When we woke up, you could already see the palms waving in the moderate breeze and you could see the waves building and small whitecaps farther out in the ocean in front of El Magnifico. This was a very good sign. We headed out early to Cafe Pitu for the Omlettes we could not get enough of. $149 Dominican Pesos, thats about $4 bucks for the best Omlette you ever had. It is not as cheap as it was the first time I visited in 2000, but it is still very reasonable here.
Once at the Vela center, we could see it was going to be a very good day. We were the first ones there and we were ready for the wind. I started on a 122L Starboard Kode while Chris went w/ a smaller 107L JP FSW. I was ripping on a bigger board and a 6.9 sail. I was a bit board, so I decided to beat up wind out of Cabarete bay and found the wind changed direction slighly about a half mile out, with enough north in it to allow me to rip up the coast almost a mile or so to some unsailed territory. There was nobody on the beach and I sailed along until I reached the last building I could see along the beach. I was a ways east of the bay, way off shore and definitely out of site of the Vela Center. I decided to sail back down to the bay because an equipment failure would really suck this far away.

The down winder was full-on seat of my shorts sailing with big ocean swell and incredible speed down the faces. By the time I was back in the bay I was nearly exhausted from trying to keep it all together on the ride down the coast. Definitely a highlight of the weeks sailing! I could see things had also picked up in the bay during my two hours outside the bay so I headed in to get lunch and change to wave gear.

About 2:30pm, JAB showed up and went out with an 84L Twinser and a 5.4 sail. Chris was on the same sail with a Freestyle wave 84. I had enjoyed the speed earlier in the day, so I decided on a 6.2 Alpha for power and a 94L Kode. I mounted up the GoPro video camera on the booms and headed out. The waves were getting bigger and some of them has steep faces for big air. It was getting perfect for a few more loop attempts!

John was having his best session of the week on the twinser, working the waves like a champ and even pulling off some duck-jibes. Chris was 100% on his duck jibes all week and ripping the waves. I saw him slash the top of a wave and drop down the face of a nice 5 footer right in front of me while I was heading out...I wish I had a picture of that!

I returned the favor a bit later with Chris following me out. A perfect ramp set-up and I launched it into a backie at top speed. He got to see it all close up from 30 feet behind me. I got some still frames I pulled from the video so you can check out the action.

We continued on until the very end...6pm. We wre all completely exhausted, but we got it all on our final day of sailing. Nobody injured, no gear broken (except for Chris breaking the carbon tail on a pair of booms earlier in the week). A great session!

6pm stated happy hour so a small celebration was on order. We toasted to the best day of the week!

At 7:30 we meet Will one of the instructors at the Vela Center as well as Boris and JoAnn (from Austria) and Steve and Nichole (Steve a RAF fighter test pilot). The nine of us went down the street for a round of put-put golf before going to dinner. It was a spirited game of 18 holes and a value for the price of 50 pesos, about a buck-fifty per person. The winner was decided by a bet that Will could not rest the ball above a sloped hole on the 17th. By accident he accomplished it (on his fith stroke) and was given a "1" for the hole...which saved the game for him.

For dinner we walked back into town for Chinese...What? Yes, even a Chinese restaurant in Cabarete. Keep in mind all of these places are open air...which also means open to bugs, roaches ect. Who knows what goes on in the kitchen, but the food was good and substantial. One of the best meals of the week, with the exception of our first night at lax for pizza and spagetti!

After dinner we were full and exhausted. It was our last night and we had to get packed so we headed home. We wanted to get some sleep before our long trip back on Saturday. What a day it was!