Sport Today

Any suggestions for decent places to pick up
cheap gear in the Columbia-Hood River area?
I am after a complete rig & board..2nd hand
or unfashionable old stuff is preferred...

ta

C

I'd say Second Wind in Hood River, but then what do I know.

Jim Munro

Second Wind is pretty good, lotsa used equipment, decent prices. Windance
has a good used-board section, but 'cuz consignment cost mo' money there
the prices are higher. If you're in Portland you should check out Gorge
Performance on Macadam .. overall prices are cheaper than most places
in Hood River.(disclaimer: I know the owner of Gorge Performance
and sail w/him alot .. but I do think the prices are better than at
all of the places in Hood River)

        Around here the average used equipment prices are :

8' - 8'6" gorge custom (shuler, cascade, windance etc.)  $400-$450
exceptionally used - $250
new - $695(gorge animal) - $850(Dill/w footstraps)

9'+ epoxy slalom(Seatrend, Fanatic, Hypertech etc)   $600-$800
exceptionally used - $200- $400
new - $1195 - unlimited($2k?? i dunno, too pricey for me to look at)

What are the prices in your neck of the woods?

========================================

In regards to average sail size. Most of the guys I sail with have to
replace their 4.0 and 4.5 sails the most. I tend to be on my 5.0 alot
this year, but it's cuz the Wind God is mad at me. Tried my first forward
sunday, didn't make it, tho I held on over the handlebars; it was a rush.

Chris Perret

 [stuff deleted]

I want to hear more about this forward loop attempt.  I've read the
articles (not sure I'm crazy enough to try one) but these are written by
guys who do it all the time. I wan to hear from regular week-end
warriors who went for it.  What (in your opinion) level should one be at
before they make an attempt? Long jumps, really high jumps, table tops?
What are the things you *DEFINITELY SHOULD NOT* do when trying to loop?

Pat
 'P19' (making sure my hospitalization insurance is up to date!)
--
 Patrick J. Pinchera           | Wernher Von Braun when asked if man can be

 Interface & Control Sys., Inc.| best computer is a man, and it's the only one
 Melbourne, FL, USA            | that can be mass-produced by unskilled labor."

When I was in cabarete recently I saw a guy, fellow Dominican I may add,
that was doing forwards on relatively small chop. The chop was small but
with steep faces. He would jump the board and rotated what seem to be 300
rpm's during the loop.

The m***is you don't need too much height to go for it (just spin fast).
I must add however, that in some attempts he did not get to high so he
wound up doing barrel rolls instead. The other thing is he was cranking
when he hit the chop which allowed him to catapult pretty high.

After gaining some confident cranking lots of air off the reef waves I
tried to convince myself to go for it. The problem was the speed in which I
hit the waves and got airborne was enough for me to think otherwise. I
suspect what I (we) need to do is get the air but lose the speed. At least
during the first few attempts. I can't imagine myself attempting a loop
while going at mach speeds. Scary just thinking about it. :-)

I would like to hear from those who have done them to let us know what the
steps are to initiating the loop. I did read the WS article by Cort Larned
but it still left me fuzzy regarding technique. Do you throw your body forward
while sheeting in? Or do you just tuck and sheet in?

--

AT&T Bell Labs       {  att!mtgzfs3!felixc  }       a rad board, rad waves,
Middletown,NJ        {     (908)957-5081    }       and a company sickday!"

Pat-
As my friends will testify, I'm not by any means a "hot" sailor. I basically
nail 80% of my flat water jibes. 50% of my chop jibes, and $100% of my
dunk-jibes.  I've been working on lay-downs and have never completed a
duck-jibe w/o eating alot of sail. Every time I come home I'm covered
in bruises,cuts scrapes and a great big GRIN.

        Basic skills that the guys at ABK say ya need before going for
it. a) jumping in the harness lines. helps ya get higher and maintain
control of rig
    b) ability to "chop-hop", ie. the ability to get board out of
water w/o just relying on a nice ramp.  Basically this is a board control
thing, if you're passive in your jumps you probably don't yet have the
feel of tucking the board up under your butt.
To do it:(remember, consider the source .. I haven't made one)
pick a nice, small pice of chop/ramp in 4.5-50 conditions, jump it
, close your eyes and crank as hard as ya can on your back hand. No
need to throw weight up and over, just CRANK on the back hand. You
will rotate, as the clew passes thru the wind you will literally just
get shoved over. If you're alive when it's all done you've just survived
your first cheese roll attempt. Next time open your eyes :-).
 As far as what NOT to do. What all the guys I know who can make
'em say "ONCE you commit, NEVER NEVER let go". They claim that
if ya let go you'll lose equipment in the confusion and could get hurt.
The other thing I can say is "keep your legs tucked", you'll spin
around faster, and you're not as likely to sprain a knee on splash
down.

See ya
Chris Perret

: >Any suggestions for decent places to pick up
: >cheap gear in the Columbia-Hood River area?

I'm a satisfied customer of Windance, having bought and sold things
there numerous times.  They work well at long distance, too.

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