2016 Fall Gorge Trip: 2016-09-12 Bobs Beach and Rooster Rock

Chasing the Wind.

The forecast for today was for Easterly winds building around noon at Bob's Beach in Stevenson, and further East at Roosevelt State Beach Park.

We ate breakfast at Bette's as usual, and then a few of us stopped at Sailworks before heading east.

Kent is still thinking about purchasing a foil. Apparently, most of the barriers have been breached. His wife Lorna has even told him to go ahead and buy it. (We think she must have another expensive renovation project in mind or something...). Kent, however, is waffling. Sailworks should have the new foils in within a few days. Jim (from the Sailworks shop) has even offered to let Kent try out a foil behind his boat. We are all waiting in suspense.

We all arrived at Stevenson around 11:00. It looked windy, but only a couple of guy's were out, and none of them seemed to be going anywhere. A few of the guy's rigged, but only René was brave enough to actually go out. He was on his new 7.5 retro and his big board. We all needed a wind dummy, and it was René's turn to make the sacrifice. And sacrifice he did. The combination of light wind and current take you downwind very quickly. After planing briefly, he got caught in a fishing net, and then after he got free he did not plane again. He ended up west of the island with a very long walk back. Needless to say, nobody else went out.

The crew watching René get closer and closer to the bridge...

René is down there somewhere....

While René was making his way down-river, Cam and Eddy decided they would try their luck kiting at Rooster Rock. Ross was going to meet them there... they talked me into going with them.

Al decided to drive to Troutdale to have a visit with his nephew. He had a great visit and dinner with them, and was able to hold their 3 day old son Vedder. Very proud uncle!

Al and his Nephew's 3 day old son Vedder.

Rooster Rock State Park is a beautiful area. You have to pay to get in, but there is ample parking and a nice grassy rigging area. The only down-side is that you have to take a long series of steps down to beach level and then walk a half kilometer or so to get to the water. For kiting, it has a perfect launch area with a wide open beach and almost no obstructions.

Rooster Rock State Park

The wind was very light. Ross and I sat on a picnic table and chatted, while Cam and Eddy drove to the upwind end of the beach to try their kites. It may be that Cam just wanted to be close to the clothing optional beach which is further east. Apparently they "saw, but did not participate".

Cam got out on his 18m Foil Kite. He was making it work but did lose a lot of ground to the current - particularly at first. It was amazing watching him sail on almost flat water. A few other kites were just floating down the river, with their owners trying to swim them to shore.

Cam on his 18m Foil Kite.

Eddy had left his 14m kite in Gerry's van, so the largest the had was his 12m kite. He gave it a try anyway. He was able to get out a few times, but the combination of the current and the low wind speed made launching the kite very difficult.

Eddy - Walking his kite upwind

The guys sailed for a few hours before packing up and heading home. When I got back to Hood River, most of the guys were having a beer on Ross's deck.

Kent and Ross were off for a Mountain bike ride. Apparently they made it to the top of the last hill, and then Ross broke his chain. How fortunate - as he was able to coast all the way back to their car.

My friend Marten, and his friend Brandon, arrived from southern Alberta and were introduced around. They are both kiters and looking for a group to hang with. They seemed to fit right in.

We somehow got separated going for supper. Everyone seemed very tired. No party tonight - everyone went to bed early.