Sport Today

There have been some questions asked about how the weather in the Gorge
has been this year.  

This weekend Bart gave some figures about how the weather has been.  He did
not tell just how he decides which days have wind and which ones do not, but
last year he used 5.0 weather within 2 hours drive of Hood River.

       August                          15 out of 16 days

       June 1 to August 15             70 out of 75 days

My guess is that he chose June 1 as his starting point because there was some
hot weather in May that would have made his figures look worse.

Now for some questions:

The tunnel near Lyle Washington caved in last week and I heard that some
people were injured by running into the rocks.  This made Dougs Beach
a long drive so there were not many people sailing there.  Does anyone know
how bad the people were hurt or any more detail about this accident?

--------

I would like to know just how good my upwind performance really is.  Without
having someone else to sail against, I was wondering if anyone had done any
measurements?  If you choose a 1/2 mile or 1 mile reach, how far upwind from
your starting point can you get on one reach out and back?  This assumes a
regular jibe and not a tack.  If you have done this type of measurement please
list the distance as well as the equipment you were on.  The type of rails on
the board and the fin have a lot to do with this also so an indication of
round or square and a fin description would help.  

I have done some measurements on my 8'6" Gorge Animal with a standard Dill
thick fin and I would like to compare this data.  The board has round rails
so I know it will not do as well as a course board.

Saturday and Sunday I wavesailed at Manzanita.  On Saturday it was
blowing hard enough for me to sail my 8'3" with a 4.5.  The waves
were small.  Sunday had lighter wind but bigger waves.  I sailed on
my 8'10" with a 5.0 rigged full.  A great weekend of wavesailing!

How did the Gorge do on Sunday?

Ken

Went down to the Hatch and watched people in the 4.0 to 4.5 range.  
A few good jumps were sighted and one failed loop but it wasn't good enough
yet for any really good action.  

Went back down to the Marina area and rented a 8'6" Seatrend
from the Rhonda Smith Winsurfing Center (RSWC).  This
incidentally was the smallest board I've been on and sailed.  It took
me a while to get out into the better wind past the marina but after
that I did fairly well after sailing upwind (or downriver) to the
better wind and where other sailors, (KOOKS) were.  Actually as far as
KOOKs go, I only had one guy feel the need to spray me while I was down
and preparing for a waterstart.  I avoided people on occasion, so as
not to be a KOOK myself! :-)  

I sailed a good three hours with a few short breaks and basically
quit to save myself from the risk of injury.  The SeaTrend board had
"Bump & Jump" wriiten on it and I found out the meaning of it.  This
board being smaller and lighter than my 9'6 Raasta at home had no
problems finding air.  It felt so light under my feet it was incredible.
There were some nice swells on the far side of the river which made for
nice attempts at surf sailing.  I used a 5.0 the whole time, basically
because I was too lazy to go back and swap sails and plus the board was
a semi-sinker due to my weight.  I was overpowered many times but
fought it out till the end.  Probably could have used a 4.5 and been
a little more comfortable but I survived and was passing a lot of
people when up and under full power :-)  Took an official
wind reading with my meter at the RSWC when I was done and it was
22-28 mph.

Wish I could of sailed Sat and Sunday but had visiting in the area to do.
Sounds like I didn't miss anything on Monday.  

Pat? Mark?  How did you huys fare?

--
Kevin Smith                             uunet!modcomp!glsdev!kevin
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