The Gorge.

Daily Wind forecasts, questions about weather, gear, locations, etc.

The Gorge.

Postby pavel krasnov » Thu Jun 09, 2016 4:37 pm

I am thinking about driving up to the gorge sometime within the next 3 weeks for some kiting. I never been up there. Can anyone please give me some advice. I am particularly interested in an acurate way to forcast wind for up there. What websites / resources do you guys use? I just dont want to get scunked.
pavel krasnov
 
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Re: The Gorge.

Postby Craig Goudie » Fri Jun 10, 2016 9:26 am

Greetings Pavel,

You're picking a statistically good period for wind up there, if you stay for a week, probabilities
are good you'll get 5 days out of 7 on a Kite. Check our own "Gorge Info" page
gorgeinfo.php for some reasonably good info (though it tends to be
a little more windsurf oriented than Kite oriented, it's still plenty useful). Then, Iwindsurf is always good
if you have an account http://wx.iwindsurf.com/. Timera Lital does an excellent job with a Free Forecast
at The Gorge is My Gym http://thegorgeismygym.com/. The 5 day forecast from Weather .com https://weather.com/weather/5day/l/USOR0162:1:US
and from Accuweather http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/hood-r ... ast/335259 are useful if you apply an 8MPH addition to their forecast wind speed around the
Hood River area. Wind On Water can be useful for free realtime data http://windonthewater.com/.

Best bet's for launches for 1st time Gorge Kiters are The Sand Bar (off the Hood River Event Site and
prepare for a large Kite crowd). Kite Point
(behind the Slingshot Building in Stevenson between Bob's Beach and the Boat Ramp). Rufus (out East near Biggs
Junction). After that you can graduate to places like The White Salmon Sand Bar (gateway to the Hatchery
Basement) or the Lyle Sand bar (Kiters there a bit territorial). After you get adjusted to that, you can (and Kiters
do) launch just about anywhere, but Gorge launches can be a bit challenging due to a lack of beach area.

If you're going to do your own forecasting, look for the North Pacific High to park off the Oregon coast. Try to
pick a week that looks like HR air temps will be in or around 75 to 85 degrees. That'll
put you into West winds (and good swell) in the 20-40MPH range depending on frontal pressure enhancement.
But if you see a big heat blob and high pressure from Portland to the Dalles, don't give up just because you're
looking at a glassy river in the Hood River area. Just drive West to Stevenson(and Kite point) for some steady
Easterly action with 18- 25MPH winds. That usually works until air temps get to around 95 degrees in HR when
there's no wind anywhere (except maybe the coast).

Good luck! I might also suggest you reach out to local legends John Guay, Todd Jaques, Jim Hornbeck, and Billy Bordy, as they get a lot of time up on the river.

-Craig

p.s. Remember I am a windsurfer, so you'll have to filter this info through your Kiting filter.


pavel krasnov wrote:I am thinking about driving up to the gorge sometime within the next 3 weeks for some kiting. I never been up there. Can anyone please give me some advice. I am particularly interested in an acurate way to forcast wind for up there. What websites / resources do you guys use? I just dont want to get scunked.
Craig Goudie
Sailing the Gorge on my:
8'4" OO Fat Boy, 7'9" OO Slasher, 7'4" Goya SurfWave
with Northwave Sails
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Craig Goudie
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Location: Most Likely--Doug's Beach


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