Gorge, 8/28 - 9/2/06, Roosevelt to Stephenson

[kenonstott]

I still had 5 days coming from the cancelled June Gorge trip. I suddenly decided Sat., Aug. 26 it was now or never and was on the way by the next morning.

I was hesitant as it I had only been to the Gorge once this late in the season and that wasn’t particularly successful. I sailed 6 of 6 days, better success than the July trip, but 3 easterly with 3 westerly, an unusual pattern. I only had one day at the Hatchery, which is also unusual, catching sessions at Rowena, Roosevelt, Home Valley, and Stephenson. Two of the three easterlies were quite strong, one starting off 4.2. The strongest easterly came on a day that Windance, iWindsurf, and Bart were predicting lighter 10-20 winds. But Gunnars had predicted they could easily be wrong so we were both sitting by ourselves on the Stephenson beach by 6:30am watching the whitecaps turning to smoke. They did get the one big time westerly right as I sailed a 3.7 for 5 hours at Rowena, getting blown of the water for 1.5 hours. That too was different as it was NW, wasn’t working at all at Doug’s, and for Rowena, had way bigger rollers than I have seen crashing into the Oregon side. It was also nice having fewer crowds and having plenty of room to park (except Stephenson was a madhouse with all the sailors concentrated in one area).

It was also different in that I had to convert from a 28’ motor home to a minivan; I went with 3 boards and 6 sails, ditching the 100L board and 7.5 and 8.5 sails. I sure missed the restroom and refrigerator. I used all the equipment so I must have picked right. I only spent a total of a couple of hours on the 135L board and 6.9 but they were sweet sessions. The rest was on the 85L and 75L on the small quiver. I dug out the old Gorge roof rack for the boards and that almost led to a catastrophe. I was going through some strong wind at The Dalles and the front top bar came off. I went to the shoulder immediately and all 3 boards were pointed out at a 45° angle. I was probably seconds from losing all the boards. I felt like I dodged the bullet there. I left the Gorge at 5pm Sat. after a huge day of sailing. The Utah contingent had just grown with Linda, Sarah, Stu, Lane, and Cindy showing up to join Gunnars and it would have been nice to stay. But I was missing Penny by then so back to Utah I came. My sailing tank is full again.

[RickHeninger]

I just get this feeling everytime somebody posts they've been in the Gorge and had a successful trip that a heel click is in order!

Or that an angel gets it's wings... Or atleast it's sail! Maybe instead of wings we'll sail on the clouds... Kiters will get kites instead of wings! But I hope they're fire retardant!

[Craig Goudie]

Hey Rick,

It's been cranked up this week, and it looks good till Sunday,
Grab your gear and head on up.

-Craig

I just get this feeling everytime somebody posts they've been in the Gorge and had a successful trip that a heel click is in order!

Or that an angel gets it's wings... Or atleast it's sail! Maybe instead of wings we'll sail on the clouds... Kiters will get kites instead of wings! But I hope they're fire retardant!