a Bean in Oregon
a Bean in Oregon
Here’s the lowdown on Bean and Richi’s Oregon Trip. My camera bit the dust on day two so I hardly have any pictures but I’ll upload a couple once I scan them.
Fri. Aug. 12th
Dropped family off at airport and headed south on a weak Gorge forecast for the weekend. Checked the hatchcam from a small town library to decide Gorge or coast and two hours later was rigging up the 4.2 at the Hatch for a wicked kick-off to the trip. Super warm – boardshorts and rashguard and not too crowded with the weak weekend forecast.
Sat Aug. 13th
Gorge forecast zippo for the next two days so we head off to explore the coast. Get to Oceanside socked-in with fog and 12-15 knots at the most so we head for Manzanita and spend the day there seeing the north wind way outside but it never made it to the beach. Should have rented a surf board.
Sun Aug. 14th
Forecast says northerly again so we head for Oceanside. The fog is right at the beach but it’s just sailable so I rig up the 5.8 and head into the fog on my lonesome. It’s marginal. I can plane once I’m out of the break but each time I come in for a ride it’s a sloppy schlogfest. I didn’t sail all that long when we decided to load up and head back to the Gorge. Just south of Oceanside we look down on this cool looking little beach near a resort called Happy Camp and head in for a look. It’s a cool protected beach inside an island/sandbar complex with perfectly flat water and 17-18 knots so we decided to try to get in a freestyle session. The current was BRUTAL and we spent most of the time fighting to get upwind. Lesson learned. Back to the Gorge.
Mon Aug. 15th
Ahhh back in the toasty Gorge. The day starts slow – 5.8 warm up trying tricks for an hour then it kicked up to 5.0 and the swells started rolling. Got in a couple of 3/4 back loops before the wind came off again and most people packed up and went home. Waited for a while then decided I don’t have big gear for nothing so I got out the freestyle board and 5.8 and had a blast for another hour working on the usual moves until I decided that I couldn’t come home until I could tack so I worked on tacks for the rest of the trip and made great progress.
Tuesday Aug. 16th
This was the big day. It was full-on 4.2 at Doug’s when we got there at 11:00, 3.5 (which I don’t own) in the mid-afternoon and was still 4.2-4.7 at sunset. The swell was the biggest I’ve ever seen at Doug’s and I had an overpowered kick-ass blast in gusts to 40 for hours and hours. Probably the biggest airs of my life and the day was capped off with a show from one of the best sailors I’ve ever seen in person – giant push loops, stalled forwards, awesome.
Wednesday Aug. 17th
Today was yesterday’s little brother. Doug’s again – 5.0 for a couple of hours then 4.2 for the rest of the day. I had no stoke for the first little while as my feet were sore from my ongoing footstrap issues. The swell was a little smaller but the big ones were easily head high and the airs were sweet and my back loops still only get 3/4 of the way around. My tacks, however, have gone from a 5% success rate to maybe 75% and it ends up being another blast of a day start to finish.
Thursday Aug. 18th
Last day and the Gorge is completely shut down so we head for home, with a detour. Half way to Portland we’re both feeling a little choked about getting skunked on the last day so we say *u%k-it and burn it for Manzanita. It was a good call. Sunny a warm, started powered up on the 5.8 and finished OP on a 5.2. Huge airs and stoked to see my buddy make it out past the break his first time in real waves. A perfect last day in the end but a ton of driving.
So that’s it. An awesome trip and my only regret is that it was always too little or too much to work on the forwards but Columbia will be delivering soon enough and I will get it. The OR coast definitely needs more of my attention in the future and hope to head further south next summer.
Fri. Aug. 12th
Dropped family off at airport and headed south on a weak Gorge forecast for the weekend. Checked the hatchcam from a small town library to decide Gorge or coast and two hours later was rigging up the 4.2 at the Hatch for a wicked kick-off to the trip. Super warm – boardshorts and rashguard and not too crowded with the weak weekend forecast.
Sat Aug. 13th
Gorge forecast zippo for the next two days so we head off to explore the coast. Get to Oceanside socked-in with fog and 12-15 knots at the most so we head for Manzanita and spend the day there seeing the north wind way outside but it never made it to the beach. Should have rented a surf board.
Sun Aug. 14th
Forecast says northerly again so we head for Oceanside. The fog is right at the beach but it’s just sailable so I rig up the 5.8 and head into the fog on my lonesome. It’s marginal. I can plane once I’m out of the break but each time I come in for a ride it’s a sloppy schlogfest. I didn’t sail all that long when we decided to load up and head back to the Gorge. Just south of Oceanside we look down on this cool looking little beach near a resort called Happy Camp and head in for a look. It’s a cool protected beach inside an island/sandbar complex with perfectly flat water and 17-18 knots so we decided to try to get in a freestyle session. The current was BRUTAL and we spent most of the time fighting to get upwind. Lesson learned. Back to the Gorge.
Mon Aug. 15th
Ahhh back in the toasty Gorge. The day starts slow – 5.8 warm up trying tricks for an hour then it kicked up to 5.0 and the swells started rolling. Got in a couple of 3/4 back loops before the wind came off again and most people packed up and went home. Waited for a while then decided I don’t have big gear for nothing so I got out the freestyle board and 5.8 and had a blast for another hour working on the usual moves until I decided that I couldn’t come home until I could tack so I worked on tacks for the rest of the trip and made great progress.
Tuesday Aug. 16th
This was the big day. It was full-on 4.2 at Doug’s when we got there at 11:00, 3.5 (which I don’t own) in the mid-afternoon and was still 4.2-4.7 at sunset. The swell was the biggest I’ve ever seen at Doug’s and I had an overpowered kick-ass blast in gusts to 40 for hours and hours. Probably the biggest airs of my life and the day was capped off with a show from one of the best sailors I’ve ever seen in person – giant push loops, stalled forwards, awesome.
Wednesday Aug. 17th
Today was yesterday’s little brother. Doug’s again – 5.0 for a couple of hours then 4.2 for the rest of the day. I had no stoke for the first little while as my feet were sore from my ongoing footstrap issues. The swell was a little smaller but the big ones were easily head high and the airs were sweet and my back loops still only get 3/4 of the way around. My tacks, however, have gone from a 5% success rate to maybe 75% and it ends up being another blast of a day start to finish.
Thursday Aug. 18th
Last day and the Gorge is completely shut down so we head for home, with a detour. Half way to Portland we’re both feeling a little choked about getting skunked on the last day so we say *u%k-it and burn it for Manzanita. It was a good call. Sunny a warm, started powered up on the 5.8 and finished OP on a 5.2. Huge airs and stoked to see my buddy make it out past the break his first time in real waves. A perfect last day in the end but a ton of driving.
So that’s it. An awesome trip and my only regret is that it was always too little or too much to work on the forwards but Columbia will be delivering soon enough and I will get it. The OR coast definitely needs more of my attention in the future and hope to head further south next summer.
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is that a whitecap?
is that a whitecap?
