VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Glad to here there are others headed this way!

S11 – Crescent City – SUP (2018 June 20)


Glass. Got another crack at the peeling right this morning. Only three of us out – high-stoke Judes (SUP), a longboarder, and me. Some heathy sets rolling through with lullage and a few bombs thrown in to make sure you were paying attention (dropped into a few and took more than a few on the head on the inside). Pelican flew by in the distance. Osprey fished from the air. Fun way to start the day and this put the shine back on Crescent City. So much so that I risked triggering my PTSD by revisiting the Crescent City WalMart to use their WiFi and do some shopping. All went well, this time.

Leo also mentioned he has been sailing a ‘new’ spot called Chrissy Field (south of Brookings just before the Oregon/Cali state border) on days when the rock is ‘crazy’. Sounds like there are washrooms and showers at the Welcome Centre. Some pictures from a quick look-see here.

Film crew set up at the cape (but didn’t see Ozy). It will be interesting to see what they do over the next few days when it starts blowing 40+ mph.

Pony getting exercised at the campo.

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Chrissy has free WiFi too last I stopped there.

Ended my trip with an awesome SUP at Florence with Jesse. Sorry I'm going to miss the rest of the crew hope you guys have a great time!!

S12 – Pistol River (2018 June 21)


Back. Johnny and Heather returned from the redwoods. Yuma returned from Portland (but was sailing without peer). Wind came back today (early but light). Some swell lingered (but not enough to draw us out at the cape). Playful session at the rock (first session at the rock for the trip for me). Some locals out. A few kiters on hover boards (foils). Shared a few runs and some pointers with Heather and she seemed to be pleased with the results post-`lesson`. Yuma thought the conditions were “so-so” but Heather was stoked with sailing the rock and making gains today! Big gear for most (except Yuma and Heather). Super burritos with Yuma. Slideshow and tales of Long Beach at the campo.

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S13 – Pistol River (2018 June 22)


Medium. Similar to yesterday only larger, bumping it up to ‘medium’ for Pistol River. Still no haunted house, but there was a ‘death from above’ ride (California Joe just about took me out doing a broad reach from above). Yuma was putting on a show again today – Trudy was impressed. Late in the session saw something rather large grey and white in the shore break just as Johnny and I were launching. I called to Johnny and he saw it too. Later Leo mentioned he had seen it as well and just sailed around thinking it was sand getting sucked to the surface. But it didn’t ‘feel’ sharky, so we all went out again. Heather graduated to getting out in the larger shore break. Yuma said the medium swell was “great practice” and I saw him boosting some big airs off the larger rouge waves on the outside. Word on the beach was it was a “fun” session. Quick look-see at the south jetty, but small and gusty. Grilled plates of fresh green ling cod, steaks and smokies at the campo for dinner.

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Trudy Lary Gallery

S14 – Pistol River (2018 June 23)


Assignments. Yuma very kindly gave each of Johnny (top turn - back foot pressure), Heather (bottom turn – dropping in or pivoting on the wave) and I (tighter bottom turn and top turn transition – hands and back foot pressure) some coaching last night and assignments of things to work on today. Heat bubble at the rock delayed taking to the water until early afternoon even though the cape was 4.0 by 10 am (but too flat to draw any takers). We all worked on our assignments today and made progress. Many thanks to Yuma for working with us. Leo seemed to think his new-to-him wetsuit was much warmer (seems he used to get cold walking down to the water in his old perforated suit). Yuma took in a quick ‘glass off’ session at the cape and said it was “small”. Dinner at Thai food truck (sounds like they are moving into the old SUBWAY store) and slide show at the campo with Windoctor, Keen and Redbaron (sound like they shared a fun session at Bandon on the way down).

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Trudy Lary Gallery

S15 – Pistol River (2018 June 24)


Pistol river kicked even though there was high heat forecast for Medford. Kites out on Pistol River proper. Gentle start with light wind inside saw early birds given challenging launching conditions but solid wind outside. Those who took to the water latter were treated to slightly more wind (4.5/92 for me). NW wind pushed a little more wind swell than yesterday. Fog flowed over the cape and encircled the rock eventually shutting down the wind. Fun while it lasted. Felt busy out on the water with over a dozen out at once with most sailing above the rock. Newcomers were commenting on how cold the water felt on bare feet (and hot the sand was). Stopped in at the cape for look-see on the way back to town and saw Nanmoo, Ethan and Ned taking to the water for the evening glass off with fairly steady wind but modest swell. Dinner at Panther’s Den (as Thai truck was closed). Another day well spent!

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S16 – Cape Sebastian (2018 June 25)


Collison. Early morning look-see at the cape. Yuma headed north. Glad the south Oregon coast and the wind community treated him so well! Safe travels! Morning wind start to amp up faster than the emerging west swell, but the modest almost fun size swell made it playful. Two kites out a full crew of windsurfers. Nanmoo and Redbaron collided – thankful neither was hurt, just minor board damage with kiteboard taking the worst of it. Both seemed very thankful there were no injuries. Reminder of how important shoulder checks are. Saw another Hindenburg while lining up an inbound wave. Thanks to Chris for the reminder, coaching and encouragement on completing my bottom turns. Managed a couple that felt pretty good and Moo commented on one. Stoke was high despite the collison. Thanks to Windoctor for taking the time to shoot! Session wound down when the wind started getting puffy. Windsurfers headed for the rock and kiters headed for Crescent City.

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S17 – Pistol River (2018 June 25)


Silly. Udder arrived just in time for full-on Pistol River conditions to start his trip with a bang. Keen and Moo both got a tour hug from a road weary Udder. Windoctor and Redbaron were the first two out on four-somethings and the rest followed. Barracuda looking dead fish on the beach. Wind ramped up and it turned into survival sailing. Uneasy feeling on the water. After a few reaches Udder joked, “See you next year!” Lots of sailors tucked up just below the islands launching. Crew was sailing well and one local said we were doing a good job of getting out. But once you were outside there was a lot going on. Windoctor and Redbaron were both standouts to my eye. Dana and the Boss rallied and took to the water in the mayhem. Saw even experienced sailors chicken gybing and getting rejected toward the end. Definitely a day for choosing your battles. Challenging session. Udder asked if the next one could be fun. Stopped for a look-see at the cape and it looked windy and Luke was having a solo ‘glass off’ session in 40+ mph gusts.



Udder’s inflatable couch got quite a bit of attention at the campo. Super burritos for seven for dinner.

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S18 – Cape Sebastian (2018 June 26)


Quick splash n’ dash. Early morning session at the cape to get one in before the ‘hate’ showed up. Took to the water with Portland Dave about 9:30 am. Nice to go straight from pajamas into my wetsuit. He rigged 3.7 and I rigged 4.0 in anticipation of the wind coming to us and it did. We were both lit from our first rides. There was some nice pulsing west swell to be had. I saw Portland Dave catch on rather large singular moose knuckle that walled up to logo high. Keen mentioned that it looked like I caught a few nice waves. Shore pound walled up quickly at times and I got surprised by the third wave on one trip out and when presented with sudden doom I jettisoned my gear to fend for itself when I drove into the throwing face. Fun way to start the day! Said my good-byes and then began my return trip north with the hopes of finding something sailable along the way but all I found was large close-outs with huge foam piles – Bandon, Winchester, Florence (two kites out beyond the impact zone and double overhead foam piles on the inside), Ponsler, Ocean Beach, Neptune, Yachats were all large, boiling sea and lots of white water. There was a lot of power and energy being released in the ocean today. Newport south jetty was the only spot that looked workable with about a dozen kites in the 9 m range tucked up in the lee of the south jetty. Directly off the beach was another story all together. If this was my first day on the coast I would have gone out, but this was day 14. I decided to keep driving given the long walk up the beach, time of day and I wasn’t too keen on competing with the dozen kites for fun-size waves. I arrived on Wind Mountain just in time to see the sunset. That felt like the right thing to do.

That’s likely my last installment from the south Oregon coast for 2018. It was a good run – 18 sessions in 14 days and on/in the water every day. Even made a few new friends. Now its time to start on the sand extraction (from everything). Looking forward to reading the updates from the others down there.

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Dave, huge thanks for capturing all of the great action. Really great shots and awesome to see everyone's level rising each trip. Stoked!

winddoctor wrote:Dave, huge thanks for capturing all of the great action. Really great shots and awesome to see everyone's level rising each trip. Stoked!

You're very welcome! Glad you enjoyed them. The level of your shots seemed to be improving even faster than your sailing (hard to imagine but true). Keep up the stoke and enjoy the rest of the mission!

I forgot to mention I just about got taken out by a brand new bar-b-que tilting off the back of the pick-up truck in front of me leaving Florence. I guess the driver figured it looked pretty stable at the store so no need to tie it down for the drive home.

Also chatted with a woman at Doug’s Beach who originally was from New Westminster now living in the Gorge. Seems she had her Evo blow away from her the day before at the Hatchery and never saw it again. She seemed pretty upset about the loss.

So watch out for loose loads and secure your boards!

Awesome times. Thanks Everyone.

Nanmoo, hurry up will ya, and start the thread for 2019 !

Lots of thanks to both Dave and Chris for taking time out to snap photos. There is no souvenir shop in Gold Beach... the photos are it!
Fun trip.

Keen wrote:Lots of thanks to both Dave and Chris for taking time out to snap photos. There is no souvenir shop in Gold Beach... the photos are it!
Fun trip.

You’re very welcome (I always appreciate the thank yous).

I also wanted to thank some of the other ‘shooters’ including Shirley Catone, Jesse Cohen, Trudy Lary, Dana Miller, Johnny and Heather Tam – it was a pretty impressive bunch sharing their talents this year!

winddoctor wrote:Dave, huge thanks for capturing all of the great action. Really great shots and awesome to see everyone's level rising each trip. Stoked!

I find it really helpful to sail there with such a group of skilled sailors and really appreciate the tips I got from others (including those from you Chris) - they really helped!

And just in case some were wondering if I ever took the water myself, here are some samples from this talented bunch presented in the order they happened.

Cape (June 13)

photo credit: Jesse Cohen
This one didn’t end well (I was late).

Cape (June 14)

photo credit: Shirley Catone

Cape (June 15)

photo credit: Dana Miller

Cape (June 17)

photo credit: Johnny Tam


photo credit: Heather Tam

Pistol River (June 23)

photo credit: Dana Miller
Yuma assignment #1 - tighter bottom turn and top turn transition – hands and back foot pressure. Thanks Yuma! That helped.

Pistol River (June 24)

photo credit: Johnny and Heather Tam


photo credit: Johnny and Heather Tam


photo credit: Johnny and Heather Tam
Yuma assignment #2 – Hit the foam pile (even if it's closing out, hit it anyway). Thanks Yuma! That helped.

Cape (June 25)

photo credit: Chris Curran


photo credit: Chris Curran


photo credit: Chris Curran
Chris Curran tip #1: complete my bottom turn. Thanks Chris! That helped.


photo credit: Chris Curran
Chris Curran tip #2: attack the lip with speed. Thanks Chris! That helped.

As more pictures surface of other sailors, I will post links to them as well.

The funny part was after showing all of these action shots to my kids the picture below is one they enjoyed the most – the strangest surf check I have ever been on dubbed “Dad crossing the river in his ‘booty’ shorts”.



photo credit: Jesse Cohen

I'm heading South from the 10th-18th. Kind of missed out on the crew but in case anyone is thinking Part2, I'll be chasing waves somewhere down there. Would love to sail with folk rather than the Warden.