Late August Gorge Trip - Day Two

This was the beginning of Day Two.

Wind was still up from the previous day, but it was forecasted to drop off.

Dennis and Kevin checking the conditions -

I took out the same setup from yesterday as the wind was still up.  And again the BRM S3 3.4 was perfectly powered.

Headed downwind a bit more than yesterday afternoon - but honestly the waves were best up towards the campsite.

I didn't stash the parawing much this session - the waves were too short and only in the couple of spots today that it didn't make sense to take it down.

Dennis mid-tack.

The wind got really strong so I went in for a break.  The launch-landing spot was so easy (not as easy as Hickam - but pretty close).

After snacks, I headed back out but switched to the Silk 1050/152.

I got up and had some rides, but the wind started to fall off so I went in - twice - to size up the parawing.  But in both cases (4.2 then the 5.3), it was too little too late.

We broke down camp and prepared to head off west in the morning.

Pretty incredible that the wind can be nuking in the morning, then glassy a few hours later.

The camp site was really nice - clean bath house, no bugs, nice quiet location - made me really miss the Trail Manor.

PF:11/W:3/PW:97/FD:61/S:25

Late August Gorge Trip - Day One

La and I took a trip up to the PNW.  First stop was dropping me off at the eastern part of the Gorge.  Nick was camping with some other friends from San Diego - and he said crashing was not a problem!

Driving through the Gorge was pretty cool - lots of beautiful scenery and the wind on the water looked nuclear!

And the water was not that cold (at this time of year).

We pulled up to the campsite, offloaded my stuff and I was assembling the parawinging stuff.

AFS Silk 850/USurf 135/Standard fuselage on the Cedrus Evolution Surf mast all bolted on to No.34

I had the BRM Maliko 2.9 and S3 3.4 in th3 pouch.

This has been on my bucket list for quite some time - and having Nick as a guide made the learning curve go quick.  With current opposing wind in a narrow channel, there were some things to work out.

The front half was really cool - after getting my bearings, I followed the other guys downwind.  Waist high swell in a river headed up current.  Normally you'd want to go upwind to develop your margin of safety (and not have to walk back) - here the current will take you back upwind if you have issues getting up on foil.

Riding swell in a river with the parawing put away is definitely a different experience - especially with uber nuking winds at your back driving everything.

The back half of this first session was super challenging - the wind was shifting and trying to get up in short period chop is not the easiest thing.  But I eventually made it back to the launch.

The swell bumps were not evenly distributed across the river - on this run the rides were better on the Washington side 

Admittedly I spent most of this session trying to get back to the launch - the winds were really strong and towards the Rufus side they were shifting.  I broke out the Maliko 2.9 but even that was a little too big.  I left the Flysurfer POW V1 1.7 and 2.5 back home (not thinking I would need them due to the declining wind forecast).  But the real issue was the shifting direction and not the parawing size.

This time of year it stays light until around 2030 - so after resting, catching up and waiting for the wind to settle, we went back out for a second session.  I took the same gear and used the BRM S3 3.4

With the wind more consistent, this was a much better session.  I still got some retracted parawing rides in, but the swell wasn't as ride focused.  In fact I didn't see the need to go far downwind and was happy just doing the run in front of Maryhill.

The S3 3.4 was perfect as was the Silk 850/USurf 135

The wind was up all night - no glass off.

What a Saturday!!!

PF:11/W:3/PW:95/FD:61/S:25