2012-09-14 Get Home Ittis

Almost a race.

With the decision by half of us to leave Friday, the draw from home must have been very strong.  Rene and Kent pulled out at 5:58am.  I said hi to Rene on the driveway as I was carrying out my bags - he turned and said hi - then walked to his truck and they were gone.......

I saw Harold and Handre loading Jim's van - so we said our "good bye's".

I pulled out at about 6:02, went to McDonalds for an Egg McMuffin and my morning tea.  I was on the highway by 6:15am.

Three hours later, even though I was travelling somewhat over the speed limit, the big van, with all the boards  bouncing along on top, pulled past me.  Harold A was waving smugly....  They turned off at the Boardman Turnoff - taking the "short cut".

I called Kent and learned that he and Rene were having breakfast at the "Jack in the Box" at Kinniwick, so I stopped there to meet up with them and also get fuel.

As I was entering the restaurant, the Big Van passed on the highway.  I guess the "short cut" - wasn't....

Our next stop was Coeur d'Alene, where we filled up with gas.  No sign of the Big Van....  Wait...  There he was filling up with gas as we passed....

At Bonners Ferry we stopped again and bought lunch at Safeway.  The Big Van pulled in just behind us.  Jim was obviously in a rush, so while Kent, Rene and I enjoyed a sandwich on the patio - Jim quickly herded his people into the van so he could be off again.

Kent made the comment that no one could argue the point that today Big Air Jim was passing everyone!

After stopping again at Nanton for supper at the subway, I lost Rene and Kent.  Rene was driving with his new Radar Detector, and I just didn't want to fly through the construction and speed zones in Calgary.

To ensure that Jim would get home first - Jim even called to give us bogus information about a supposed speed trap around Innisfail.

No question - Jim and the guy's got home first!  Way to go Jim, Harold and Handre!

Most important - everyone is home safe.....

Hope the other guy's got some wind on the last few days.

Looking forward to June!

Ted

2012-09-13 Ditto on Steroids

Easterly at Stevenson.

For those who thought yesterday was a windy easterly - today upped the anti.  Jim asks - can you spell "Smoke on the Water".  Handre said he was sailing behind someone and it looked like he had exhaust coming from the back of his board.  The tops were being blown off the tops of the waves.

But first......

Handre said yesterday was his best sailing day ever.

Big Air Jim said that yesterday was the best day he had ever had at Stevenson, and then Today is the best day he has ever had at Stevenson!

The forecast was for great wind, but when I checked the Stevenson's "Bob's Beach Cam" at 8:00am, just as I finished breakfast, my first impression was that it wasn't great.  Here is the photo.

The wind was only showing 22mph, and if you look closely you can see Gerry and Eddy standing on shore looking at the water.  When I arrived a half an hour later, I realized that there was a big wind shadow just off shore, so the wind on the water was much higher than what was showing on the meter.  Later in the day, the wind shadow filled in, and the readings were a lot higher.

The boys checking out the conditions before their next session...
(Really - they are just trying to build up the courage to go out again...)

Did I say that today was windy!  The far side was extremely windy.  Lots of attempted jibes which ended up in explosions.

Kent had a lot of fun!

Handre going for a Jibe!

Oops...

Kent Lays it down!

Big Air Jim was going FAST!.. His best day ever at Stevenson - twice in a row...

Kent - doing a Lay Down Jibe...

Eddy found a great place for lunch just a block from the Sailing Site!
Excellent sandwiches and Lemonade!!

I was on my 4.2 all day - and over powered most of the time....

Wow - what a day!

A calm day in Hood River....

This photo was taken at the Event Site in Hood River - only 15 miles from Stevenson.  It was blowing 30mph at Stevenson, but here the water here was glassy with almost no wind....  Hard to believe!

The forecast doesn't look great for the next couple of days.  Rather than wait around and hope for marginal wind on Saturday, most of us are leaving tomorrow (Friday) Morning.  Ross and Kent are planning a bike ride Friday Morning, and will probably leave on Saturday.  Eddy will try to get another kite lesson in before he heads home, so he and Gerry will also probably leave on Saturday.  Al was in Portland today with his family, and will also be staying a bit longer.

It has been an amazing trip, with way more wind that I ever expected, based on the marginal forecast when we left Edmonton.  I think our arms are all a little longer, and most of us have many sore muscles....

Looking forward to June!!!!

Ted

2012-09-12 Easterly at Stevenson

Easterly at Stevenson

First - I want to make it clear that it was not me who made the "spousal abuse" comments on yesterday's blog.  I have been receiving Threatening Emails from various wives, (including my own) and I feel I have to defend myself.....We were all on the deck at the condo yesterday after sailing, and I had finished up the blog - I thought.  I handed the computer over to a certain sailor (who believes that he gets "Big Air"), and he went to work making the final edits and corrections.  Those comments were made without my knowledge.  My sincere apology to any of the wives who may have been offended.  For the record I fully support the idea of bringing home gifts for our better half's, and or supporting a major shopping spree by them while we are away....

Back to Sailing.....

The call was for very strong easterly winds at Stevenson.  The problem with easterlies is that they usually start early, and end before noon.  We decided to get out early so we wouldn't miss them.

After a quick stop at McDonalds for breakfast, I arrived at the beach at around 8:30.  Gerry was already on the water coming back in.  He wanted to rig down from his 4.8 to his 4.2.  IT WAS VERY WINDY - ESPECIALLY ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER.

I got out on the water about 9:00 - right after Eddy.  The others started arriving and soon everyone was out.

Pretty well everyone were on 4.2's or 4.8's/  I sailed my 4.8 all day!

Big Air Jim

Time is a funny thing.  Big Air Jim swears he had a 3.5 hour session in the morning.... he got on the water around 10:00 and was tired and off the water by 11:30 - resting to get ready for his next session...

Handre

 Handre had a blast.  He is jumping and completing a good percentage of his jibes!  We are now starting to give him "Negative Advice".  He is getting better too fast, and we are concerned that he will be a better sailor than most of us in a year or two.  So Handre - make sure you keep your legs straight - slow down before going into those Jibes, and most important - remember to hold the sail until you are all the way through the turn, and DON'T lean forward!

Blaine

 Blaine was showing us all his new Jibing technique.  Very stylish, but not all that effective....

Blaine - looking stylish as he is heading back to the beach!

Kent - using Handre as a jibe marker...

 Kent chased Handre around for a good part of the afternoon.  Kent witnessed a few Jibes and jumps!

Blaine

Harold - Looking stylish in his new Promotion Wetsuit

 At noon we came off the water as the wind backed off.  I thought we were done for the day.  To our surprise, the wind picked up again, and blew all day.  It was still blowing 30mph when we left the site at 5:00pm.  Everyone said it was the best Easterly they had ever sailed at the Gorge.  Steady warm wind, and even some swells to play on!

Harold W had to pack up at 2:00 and leave for home.  It was hard to leave when it was such a beautiful day, but apparently he has a big event at his ski lodge that he has to get ready for.  We were all sorry to see him go - but the good news is now everyone has their own room in the condo.... (Sorry Harold)

Harold A

De-briefing on the deck back at the condo after a great day of sailing!

Big Air Jim - in another Fantasy

We are not sure what Jim is doing here to Blaine's van....  We think maybe that he is still having fantasy's about rescuing people, and that by pretending that Blaine's van is an ambulance, he is moving into a more involved dream world.  We have noticed that he as been losing his grip lately.  Today, for example, he sailed all day on his 4.7, but thought he was sailing on his 4.2.  It didn't even dawn on him to wonder why he was keeping up to some of us for a change......

2012-09-11 Dietary Advice, Shopping and Slogging

Dietary advice, Shopping and Slogging!

Last night, Handre gave us another lecture on proper dietary habits, how to stay fit and maximize endurance.

Handre's special diet....
Nothing like 2 Litres of Ice Cream for dessert!

Temira's forecast was for light easterly winds at Stevenson by mid day.  Light wind means - no rush - it means taking time for breakfast - and then SHOPPING!

Almost everyone bought something....  the list includes, pottery, wetsuits, mast bases, fins, base plates, booms, repairs and a Radar Detector. Some "near men" succumbed to obvious spousal abuse and bought jewelry or pottery.  PUKE! Harold knows it's worth about 6 cents on the dollar.

• Ted wins for spending the most (sorry Louise) with a boom and a wetsuit.  (I saved over $300!)
• Eddy wins the prize for best husband - he bought some Jewelry for his wife to try to make amends for everything else he has done on this trip....
• Harold wins a prize because he bought a new Wetsuit, Fleece, and Mast Base.  It wasn't all that expensive, but we know it really hurt him to part with those dollars. Dust bunnies were seen running from the Pro Motion store after Harold opened his wallet.  Gerry said that there were tears in his eyes when he took out his wallet. People lined Cascade aveneue for about 6 blocks in both directions to see the inside of Harolds Back Pocket.  Everyone commented on how it was worth it.  TV stations had cameras and as I understand it, the evening news of this event was rated higher than the Hoarders Series. Rene says he can hardly wait till Harold opens his wallet again in 2024.

Harold - bleeding after opening his wallet to purchase a new wetsuit....

There were also a bunch of "Almost" purchases.  Kent is looking at a board, and Al is looking at a sail.

About noon, Gerry announced that it was blowing 23mph at Stevenson, so a bunch of us headed there.

I was first out (Wind Dummy).  Unfortunately there wasn't quite enough.  I planed once, but slogged a lot.  Kent and Al also tried without much luck.  Harold W had the best sail on his 6.5m Sail and his 150 Litre board.

Ross called it right, and went out on his 12m kite.  He said he probably should have been on his 15m kite, but at least he was blasting back and forth, and getting some air!

Al - got to practice his rigging
- at least he got wet...

Harold W - wins for best Windsurf of the Day!

Even Kent couldn't get Ted's rig going.
No Louise - it's not a new sail - just demo-ing it.

Big Air Jim dropped by, but after one look, decided to go play Tennis with Handre.  After a close match, Jim came out on top again.  Handre better step up! Actually just for the record, Jim says he crushed him like a bug:-)

Blaine and Harold decided to go for a mountain bike ride.  They rode "straight up" for 7.5 km,( a 19% grade) and when they got to the top - they found that all the trails were closed due to logging......
So they went straight back down with only a few trails.  They returned dusty and exhausted - ready for some brews and fellowship!

2012-09-10-Roosevelt

Sunday night - well after the blog had been finalized for the day, we were all laughing at a photo of Mike, which Wynnie had taken of him on the deck after a BB'q.  A short time later, we were in the same condition.  Hope you are having as much fun as us Mike!

Handre is concerned that this was a "Viewing" not a snooze.

Big Air Jim - in Recharge Mode...

Well, I shouldn't have laughed at the swimmers on Saturday at Stevenson, because it was my turn today.

The day started as usual with Coffee at Dog River, and the breakfast at the Hotel.  I think everyone was still worn out from all the high-wind sailing yesterday.  Also, as usual, there was great debate and disagreement about where to sail.  Eventually, we all agreed to go to Ruffus; but half way there, I got a phone call that the plan had changed and we were now going to Roosevelt.   Apparently someone heard that someone had talked to someone who had a phone call from someone (possibly the Russians) at Roosevelt, and it was blowing 4.2 there already. 

It was hard driving past Maryhill which was “going off”, but we did, and arrived at Roosevelt.  It was windy.  Pretty well everyone was out on 4.0, 4.2 or 4.7 – and we sailed all day.

Rene drove Ross and Kent upwind about 10 miles and they did a “downwinder”.  Kent said the first hour was some of the best sailing of his life, with large swells and perfect wind.  The last hour was a bit lighter, but still fun.

Kent and Ross's Downwinder - about 10 miles.

Handre continued to work on his jumps and jibes.  Rene had a good day, particularly at the end of the day when he took out a bit bigger board.

Eddy took the day off from windsurfing and took his first Kite Lesson.  Thanks to the fire in Slave Lake and his insurance payment, Eddy is sailing all new gear!!!

I caused the excitement of the day when, on the far side of the river, after doing a jibe on a large head-high glassy swell - wonderful....  Unfortunately, I didn’t quite get into my footstraps when a big gust hit, and I went head over heals and landed with the back of my head and shoulder on my mast.  Ouch!  Big Air Jim sailed over to ask if I was all right.  Apparently the fall was quite spectacular.  I was still laying on my sail, trying to figure out how much I hurt.  When I turned around to talk to Jim, I noticed that my mast was broken just above the boom.  Damn - it is a long way to shore....  

I was much closer to the far side, but the landing options there aren’t great – and the far side is more than an hour away by car.  After removing the top piece of the mast – so it wouldn’t tear the sail, I decided to just swim the rig in.  I was wearing my life jacket, so it should be a fairly easy swim – but long - just over a kilometer.

Ted's Swim

I told Jim I was OK, but asked that he check on me every 15 minutes or so.  Did I say it was a long swim.  Every hundred strokes or so, I would look to see if I was making progress- not much...  Jim went in to shore and then came back out, and couldn't find me.  All the guy’s were looking for me way down wind – but with the current, I was swimming straight back to the beach… The current offset the effect of the wind.  

Ted is happy to be back on shore - almost.

Not finding me, Jim got worried, so he sailed over to Arlington.  He crawled out over the rocks - probably damaging his equipment.  He found a lady who drove him up and down the river so he could check the far side for me.  Then he found the Coast Guard office and talked to the coast guard, putting them on alert that a sailor was missing.  By the time he made it back to the beach, I was already in.  The swim was long, but uneventful.  Several sailors stopped to ask how I was doing, and Kent, Gerry and Handre offered a tow.  I tried to hang on to the back of Gerry’s board for a bit, but I didn’t have the strength.  Kent was put out  that I would accept a tow from Gerry, but not from him…  At this point, I was most of the way across the river, and making good progress, so I decided to just keep swimming.  No worries….(Kent's comment--  what a long swim, no barges thank goodness but we were not that worried.  Ted made a nice jibe mark for about an hour.  I think his swim would have been shorter with less help)

Lots of help from many concerned friends!

I felt bad that Jim and the others had gone to so much trouble.  It is great to have such good friends.

Blaine had a great day
 - One Rig - All day - 

Kent had the Best Sail of his Life
(First hour of the down winder)

Ted with his modified mast....

Mike P and Kent at 6th Street

The rest of the day was great sailing, but uneventful.  I re-rigged my 4.8 and went back out for a short sail.  The wind actually filled in with the most consistent wind of the day, although the swells were not as big.  Once again, the wind outlasted the sailors.  The wind was still blowing hard as we packed up and left.

We all headed to 6th Street for dinner where we met up with Eddy.  We even ran into Mike P - our Candian friend who lives down here managing his Books by You website, and sailing almost every sailable day.

The house was pretty quite by 10:00.....

Great Day!

2012-09-09 - Doug's

Windsurfing Momentum.

Ross was unloading his stuff when I got up.  He had been at the coast for a week with Karen doing some stand-up paddle boarding.  I guess she didn't want to spend any time  with the rest of the group, so she flew back from Portland, rather than come out to visit and sail with us.  All twelve of us are now here.

We headed to Bett's for Breakfast - the plan was to get to the Hatchery by 9:00......

Handre challenged himself to eat an entire Bett's Cinnamon roll all by himself.  He almost succeeded.  Only a few crusts left on his plate when he was done.  He must be in training for another Marathon....

Handre - the Cinnamon roll Challenge!
Beat that Lazelle!

Kent took this photo of me at breakfast working
on our blog.

At 8:15 we got Temira's forecast and the plan went to hell!!!

Group Momentum is a funny thing.  There are 12 of us, at probably and average of 190 lbs (some of us more, - like me, and some less - like Harold).   That's 2280 pounds - more than a ton.  It is very hard to get a mass that large moving, and once moving, it is very hard to get it stopped.

Temara's forecast was vague.  It was clear it would be very windy everywhere, so the decision as to where to sail was difficult.  We sat around after breakfast at Bett's trying to decide.  12 people - 15 different opinions - instead going sailing, we spent an extra 45 minutes deciding that Mary Hill would be the place to sail.

We arrived at Mary Hill Beach Park to find the wind was NOT blowing.  We had driven past Rowena and Dougs, where it was blowing very hard.  Rather than just turn around and go to where the wind was, the momentum effect took it's course.  There was discussion about waiting for the wind to come up.  There was discussion that maybe the wind was higher than it looked....  Not...
After a conference and lots of discussion, we headed back to Dougs.... Duh... Kent's comment...  It was Ted that finally just left or I think we would still be at Mary Hill deciding which way to drive to Dougs.   Double duh...  Finally (with Ted's help) momentum had swung.  We were at a sailing site where there was wind.

What a day!  The call was small boards and small sails.  I went out on my Kode and 4.2 sail, and then switched to my 77 litre acid.  There is only one or two days a year that I can get on my Acid board.

Blaine

Big Air Jim was on a 4.0 and he called the day Amazing.  Handre was on a 3.4m Sail and a 75 litre board.  Ross was on a 3.8 (his smallest sail), and Harold A was on a 3.3m.  We sailed all day until the wind dropped - around 5:00pm.  Big waves and lots of fun by all!  Blaine and Gerry were the only ones in the group that weren't on their smallest gear.  Blaine says he stayed on a 4.2m sail, but he has a 3.7 in the van that he has never used.

Harold A, Hanging on....

Big Air Jim - Cutting a Jibe in High Wind....

Blaine - keeping the fin in the water!

Handre - going upstairs!

Handre won the award for the most jumps.  We're not sure if they were on purpose, but he was getting some nice air on almost every reach.....

Handre blasting past Big Air Jim.

Handre on his 3.4 and 74 litre board.

Allan - getting ready for another couple of reaches.

Harold W

Harold A, carving a high wind jibe!!

Once we were all off the water, the wind started to pick up again - although probably not quite as windy.  We were all just too tired to go out again.

Pizza, Beer, and "Sailor Jerry" back at the condo.