The Gorge Cup that wasn't

While thousands of couples all over the country were tying the knot and gamblers were taking their chances given the supposedly lucky date of 7/7/07, the Gorge Cup was on the receiving end of some not so great luck. Sure, we had racers, raceable conditions (actually, it was stupid windy and had been for days; I got a nice Friday afternoon session as well), a race committee, and a boat. Unfortunately, while setting the course, the committee boat suffered mechanical failure - a 1/4" metal rod in the steering linkage sheared off, leaving the boat with plenty of power but no steering. Oops...

Darren set an anchor and, after it became clear that this couldn't be fixed in place, bobbed around waiting for rescue (see Exhibit A...). Scotia organized a volunteer on a jet ski, hoping to salvage the racing by setting a figure 8 course and guiding the boat into a good spot to set a start/finish line, but despite valiant attempts, the ski operator never got the outside mark set in the crazy conditions (it ended up getting blown way downwind past the tip of the sandbar and had to be retrieved from there).

In the meantime, though, it was pretty furry on the water. Exhibit B in the picture (rather grainy, I know - so much for cell-phone photography) shows you that there were solid caps and 1/2 foot chop on the inside, just off the breakwater at the Event Site - a spot that's usually glassy. Outside, it was windy enough for Dale to be on his jump board and 4.2 Hucker. I borrowed a smaller slalom board from Bruce and got out on my 5.0 holding on for dear life, and later (after it let up just a wee bit) we had really nice powered up slalom sailing.

I got some great speed runs on my 6.0 and 24" slalom board down from the lower Hatchery into the eddy below Wells Island; after one particularly fast one I figured I'd go get my GPS. By the time I got back out, though, the wind on the inside (where the water is flat enough to go fast) had died. I got one peak speed (one second interval) of 37.1 knots, but the rest of the readings were all around 33 knots - which is about as fast as you could go in the channel where the wind was holding. This was similar to the day before, where I also didn't think of getting the GPS out until the conditions had deteriorated a bit.

As bummed as I was about not getting to race, I had some great sailing, so overall I'd call it a successful trip. Thanks to Scotia and Darren and Sam for trying to salvage the racing; they sure tried hard.

Spring Fever...

This was taken last week at Post Point - I had several great formula sessions, all on the new 9.9. The last one (on Thursday) was even blessed with brilliant sunshine. The new 9.9 is feeling great - can't wait to get the 10.8 (any day now...). Went to the Gorge over the weekend, got some good sailing there despite early season flukiness in the conditions - winds at the Event Site were pretty up and down; on Friday, we were going back and forth between FW and slalom, but invariably the wind would die after being out on the small gear for just a bit.

Learned that my board handling on slalom gear seems to have improved over the winter (nothing like survival sailing to make you feel like the swell off the White Salmon bridge is a very nicely organized playground). Also learned that I got just a bit too comfy on my FW stuff, with my setup tending more towards control rather than pushing the edge for that extra bit of angle - not surprising if you're sailing in cold water, cold air, and don't have a tuning partner for a few months. Nothing like lining up with Bruce to keep you honest.

Can't wait for racing to start ;)

My best session this year...

... happened at the Event Site in the week between the Blowout and the FW Northamericans this month. It was a pretty light day (15 out on the river, some holes on shore). What made it special was that for the first time, it wasn't me giving a ride to my six-year-old, it was her giving a ride to me.

Two years ago, I got to give Hope a ride on Bruce Peterson's Start, using a small Retro Ripper rig. It was a ball - she loved, actually told me to pump so we could go faster. We bummed a few more Start-sessions off Bruce and Joe Wyatt, and then last year, we got our own, complete with a Sailworks 1.7 Retro Ripper rig. For someone used to 11m race sails, that feels like a handkerchief.

Hope has loved getting rides on the nose. Sometimes, on windy days, we'd actually get the Start planing (on a 5.0 Retro), and she'd be standing between my legs holding on to my boardshorts, hooting and hollering. But for some reason, she wasn't all that interested in holding on to the boom by herself, or uphauling the sail. She had a lot of fun, especially if she could get rides with other kids at the same time. It's actually quite doable for a full-size adult to have two six-year-olds on the board and still go places - amazing.


This summer, after a few sessions riding and playing (the Start makes an excellent lake toy), she decided she wanted a 'lesson.' So that puts us at the Event Site. Just so happened Charles Ivey was there, too - and he kindly gave us some pointers on how to do the on-the-beach piece of this. Within minutes, she was balancing the rig, feeling what little changes in stance and posture did.






Afterwards, we hit the water, with me kneeling on the nose of the board (gotta love that EVA foam deck...) and Hope in full control of the rig. Occasionally, I'd balance things a bit for her, but generally, she just did it all by herself:

Now what's really cool about this is that there was no 'instruction' here - it was all just her being a kid, being in her body, and feeling her way around the thing. Because we had the right gear (big, floaty, forgiving, cushy board and the Ripper rig that was the right size for her and reacted appropriately to her input, unlike some of those board-flat kids' rigs you see sometimes), it was completely intuitive. She was playing instead of receiving a lesson. Sure, one of these days, she'll want to know stuff about how it all works. For now, though, she's just enjoying the sensation of being the link that converts the force of the wind into forward motion - the same sensation that got all of us hooked on windsurfing. What a kick - here's my daughter, grinning at me and having the best time, effortlessly sailing along.

If you have kids yourself, or you're an actual or honorary aunt/uncle, you owe it to yourself to take them windsurfing. It's tons of fun, and incredibly rewarding. Just let them experience that thing that lights you up - you wouldn't believe how easily they get the stoke. Just don't think you have to teach them any lessons - you're just along for the ride ;)