My first Gorge Trip
Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 4:46 pm
Last weekend I headed down to the Gorge for my first exposure to windsurfing in the Hood (Hood River delta). I made it to Stevenson (15 minutes up the road from Hood River) with Airush Friday afternoon and found a great campsite to stay at in Home Valley (15 USD/night), just down the road. There is a nice sandy launch for windsurfing, but no good for airush's kite to be launched. We headed back to Stevenson to have a look at the kite surfing "hotspot" launch and, after asking directions at their very friendly and informed information center, found the hot spot for launching kites in the Stevenson area. Needless to say, it was a very small launch for someone fairly new to the sport. You had to launch your kite with it at the top of a hill and you at the bottom. The area was grassy, and experienced kiters would have no problem, but it wasn't for us.
So... we headed down to Hood River for a look at the hatchery, wave city, the event site and the sand bar area - oh, and some shopping too. I couldn't believe how many surf shops there were! It seemed like there was one on every corner of every block. Some had hundreds of used boards! We talked with the local board dealers and found a great area for a kite boarding/windsurfing combo launch area at the end of the sandbar.
The next day we headed out to the sandbar (after picking up a used 139 l Finatic for me - YAHOO!) and I rigged up my newly acquired 6.5 M sail (thanks Colin). The wind came up to 15 kts around 11:00 and I figured it was time to try out the new board. I quickly tried an uphaul to make sure the board would float my 100 Kg weight and was happy to find that it did I then went out for an hour to learn the personality of the board. What a difference from the 200? litre transition board I was using before. I was able to get on a plane quickly and the board was extremely responsive. Later on during the day I discovered what being overpowered on a sail really meant as 30 to 40 kt squalls blew me and my 6.5 off the water! Luckily the sandbar was up wind and getting back to shore was merely a walk along the sandbar to shore. The current kept me in line with my point of origin on the shore as well due to the river current going in the opposite direction of the wind. Airush tried launching his 12 M kite twice in 20-25 kts later in the afternoon and was similarly overpowered. I rigged my 5.0 and airush went out on a 9 M. Both of us had a great session with the wind stabilizing around 15-20 kts. All and all a great session of 8 hours of sailable wind and 5 hrs of TOW.
A few things of note which I picked up for this spot (Just up river from the toll bridge) were: The water white caps were quite deceiving as the Hood river sand deposit leaves a large area (close to 1/2 km) of 2-4 foot water which is ideal for kite surfing but doesn't give the water much room to show how much it is white capping (we checked the windspeed with a meter). The sand bars were ideal for launching the kite but made windsurfing difficult with the long rear fin I had. Once I moved further down from the sandbar, there is deep enough water to sail without worrying about getting stuck in the sand. The barge lane seemed to have the best wind but you could see the barges from a long way off and easily get out of the way.
If you have 4 or more days to get down there, it is worth while as the scenery is great and with an ocean on one side and a desert on the other, thermals are guaranteed. While I was there they also had demo's all day. I saw an add for renting gear for $45 USD/day if you don't want to haul it all. If you have the option, take the Coho and rock 101 instead of the Tsawassen ferry through Seattle. That will save you a good 3 hours of driving and the scenery is better too.
So... we headed down to Hood River for a look at the hatchery, wave city, the event site and the sand bar area - oh, and some shopping too. I couldn't believe how many surf shops there were! It seemed like there was one on every corner of every block. Some had hundreds of used boards! We talked with the local board dealers and found a great area for a kite boarding/windsurfing combo launch area at the end of the sandbar.
The next day we headed out to the sandbar (after picking up a used 139 l Finatic for me - YAHOO!) and I rigged up my newly acquired 6.5 M sail (thanks Colin). The wind came up to 15 kts around 11:00 and I figured it was time to try out the new board. I quickly tried an uphaul to make sure the board would float my 100 Kg weight and was happy to find that it did I then went out for an hour to learn the personality of the board. What a difference from the 200? litre transition board I was using before. I was able to get on a plane quickly and the board was extremely responsive. Later on during the day I discovered what being overpowered on a sail really meant as 30 to 40 kt squalls blew me and my 6.5 off the water! Luckily the sandbar was up wind and getting back to shore was merely a walk along the sandbar to shore. The current kept me in line with my point of origin on the shore as well due to the river current going in the opposite direction of the wind. Airush tried launching his 12 M kite twice in 20-25 kts later in the afternoon and was similarly overpowered. I rigged my 5.0 and airush went out on a 9 M. Both of us had a great session with the wind stabilizing around 15-20 kts. All and all a great session of 8 hours of sailable wind and 5 hrs of TOW.
A few things of note which I picked up for this spot (Just up river from the toll bridge) were: The water white caps were quite deceiving as the Hood river sand deposit leaves a large area (close to 1/2 km) of 2-4 foot water which is ideal for kite surfing but doesn't give the water much room to show how much it is white capping (we checked the windspeed with a meter). The sand bars were ideal for launching the kite but made windsurfing difficult with the long rear fin I had. Once I moved further down from the sandbar, there is deep enough water to sail without worrying about getting stuck in the sand. The barge lane seemed to have the best wind but you could see the barges from a long way off and easily get out of the way.
If you have 4 or more days to get down there, it is worth while as the scenery is great and with an ocean on one side and a desert on the other, thermals are guaranteed. While I was there they also had demo's all day. I saw an add for renting gear for $45 USD/day if you don't want to haul it all. If you have the option, take the Coho and rock 101 instead of the Tsawassen ferry through Seattle. That will save you a good 3 hours of driving and the scenery is better too.
. If Mr. Bill has his way it sounds like Bean will be going away for a while...