Tuesday - Everybody on the water!

Cam - Enjoying his Latte at Dog River Coffee!

We really changed up our schedule today.  We still had Coffee, or in my case tea at Dog River Coffee, then a walked across the street to Bette's for breakfast.  But this time, Al's Van was blocking Blaine's van in the driveway, so Blaine and Brad had to ride their bikes downtown instead of driving.  It almost threw our hole schedule off.....  Of course, we still had the ritual gathering at Sailworks to discuss the weather and possibly purchase some new gear.   Finally the obligatory stop at Safeway for a sandwich and salad, and then off to the sailing site!

This is what $12,000 worth of Bikes looks like
All held to the post by a $20 lock...
Oh... and my bike was there too, I guess it was more than $12k

Today, the sailing site was Roosevelt.  We arrived at around 1:00.  The conditions weren't epic, but they were certainly sailable.

Mike and Harold were first out.  Mike on a 5.6 and Harold on his 4.7.  Al went out on his 5.5, Blaine on his 5.7 and Brad on his 5.2.  The wind was up and down a bit, but everyone had a great sail.  Brad, Blaine, and Gerry all sailed over 50km.  Wow.

The day was a bit up and down, but we all agreed that it was much better than what had been forecast.

It is interesting what foiling is doing to our group.  Kent, Big Air Jim, and Rene, all said NO to good 5.6 windsurfing, and decided to foil instead.

Big Air Jim (we might start calling him "Big Fin Jim") was out on a rented JP 135 board, Rene was on his 155 JP with a 4.2 sail, and Kent was on a 4.2m sail and his North Pacific Board.  Jim enjoyed the board so much that he and Cam plan to purchase one in the morning.  It is not for him, it is so he can get his grandkids excited about the sport. I guess you have to justify it somehow....

To say that Kent enjoyed his day would be like saying that the sun is slightly warm!  He was so excited that he couldn't contain himself.  He spent the day over on the Arlington side riding waves on his foil.  His track is amazing and so different from a windsurfing track.  He described riding waves on the foil, letting the sail flag out if he was overpowered, and still having to put front pressure on the board to keep the foil in the water.  He said that he fell 30% of the time when doing his bottom turns, but he is still getting the feel of it - and loving it!  He was like a little kid with a new toy!  (Actually he is an old man with a very expensive new toy...but still having fun!  The rest of us are going to have to work on getting our jibes down so we can do the same next year!

Kent's Foiling track - you can see his wave rides down by Arlington

I decided NOT to say no to 5.6.  My 5.6 Hucker is my favorite sail!  Even though we come to the Gorge for high winds and very small sails, I am still most comfortable on my 5.6.  I had a great day, making most of my jibes and feeling at home and in control.  I am not ready to give that up for foiling anytime soon - I don't think.....

Ted's Track.  It looks a lot different than a foiling track....

It seems that whenever there are kites around, there is always some drama.  One of the valves on Eddie's kite released when he was sailing causing his kite to deflate in the middle of the river.  Obviously, that is not good!  He had to swim to shore.  Ross sailed around him to keep him company, but couldn't get too close to shore or his kite would have dropped and there would have been two kiters swimming.  Kent took a rope down to them, but Eddy was already close to shore so they couldn't use it.  I drove down to the bridge and picked Eddy and his gear up and took him back to the sailing site.  This is not the first time that this has happened to this kite.  He thought he had the problem solved with zip ties holding the tubes together, but, apparently not.  Undaunted, Eddy re-rigged and went out again on a different kite!

Eddy - washed up on shore down river!

Eddy says he won't be using that kite again!

Most of us were off the water by 5:00.  The wind seemed to be lightening up.  Our kiter group, however, decided to go out for another session and made it work.  Cam was doing power turns like we have never seen him do before, and he was even trying some jumps!  Fun to watch!  He is looking like he knows what he is doing out there!

Brad was the last windsurfer off the water!

Mike decided to stay at Rowena for the night, but the rest of us, who don't have a mobile home with us, haded to head back.  We packed up and left the site around 6:00.  The original plan was for Mexcian, but the restaurant was closed, so we ended up at the pHriem's Family Brewhouse.

Great Day!

The End of the day!