2017 Spring Gorge Trip: 2016-06-16 No Wind Day

Roosevelt

We all met at the Dog River Coffee Shop around 8am. Back to the regular training schedule. I finished up the day's blog - then we all headed across the street to Bette's.

Temira's forecast was for light wind all day, but a chance of some possibly sailable wind late in the day at Roosevelt. We took our time getting organized and then headed off to Roosevelt arriving around 1:00pm.

There were light winds, so Rene and Kent got out their foils and provided the rest of us with a good hour of entertainment. Sorry - No photos of the foiling - Kent, afraid of any photo evidence slogged across the river and then did all his foiling a kilometer away from us. We all learned that weeds are a big issue for foils. A single weed removes the ability of the foil to lift. Kent is really starting to get the knack - and even completed a few jibes (although dropped the board into the water to complete it). It was Rene's first day so he struggled a bit, but did provide good entertainment to the rest of us.

Rene - Big Smile!

The wind gradually increased. A rigging frenzy ensued. Jim went out on his 7.0. Brad, Blaine and Gerry went out on their 6.6 Huckers. Al, Harold also went out. Cam and Ross headed out on their kites. The wind continued to pick up, so everyone came in to re-rig - and then re-rig again. I had a great session on my 5.6 Hucker and Nash board. I think Kent won the rigging contest having used four separate boards, and three sails (although he said he only used one boom).

Kent - de-rigging everything he owns....

We did have a little drama. Cam, who apparently didn't know how to connect his chicken loop properly, lost his kite (twice). Kent says he definitely didn't know how to connect it - particularly if he does it twice. The first time he came in and got Jim to drive downwind to find the kite. We watched with our mouths open as Jim in the big rig raced out of the parking lot (probably 50k by the time he got to the entrance), with the Thule box open.

They found the kite. Cam hooked into the chicken loop again (the wrong way) - the chicken loop released again and he lost his board. Eventually, he got everything back, but did a long swim and was very frustrated with his new equipment when he got back.

Now Cam is trying to blame the chicken loop design and is actively posting critical comments and videos about the system. The whole exercise is providing us all with a lot of entertainment.
Here is the link to his post.

Blaine had a great day!

We sailed until about 6:30 before we were all off the water and de-rigging.

I left a little early and met my friends, Wayne and Lori, for supper. Some of the other guy's went to 6th Street, and the rest went for pizza.

All in all, it was a great day - none of us expected the sailing to be as good as it was.