Aug 22 - HR Sandbar

Hood River Sandbar, Hood River, OR, USA

Sailworks Retro 6.5, Goya Bolt 95, MFC Weed_34/45. Wind: 19 14G26

Couple of good runs.

Watched Roo cruise on his new Naish Bullet 95. He seems quite happy with it :)

Aug 21 - HR Sandbar

Hood River Sandbar, Hood River, OR, USA

Sailworks Retro 6.5, Goya Bolt 95, MFC WeedFin 34, Wind: 12G22

Dinked around. Made a couple of jibes, got a couple of 'sort of' runs. Watched Roo race (and beat) a couple of jet skis :) .

Best wind was 9-11 AM,  20G30 but I napped through it- tough getting old... 

Aug 17 - Floras Lake, Or - PB 5x10

Floras Lake, OR, USA

Sailworks Retro 5.5, Goya Bolt 95, MFC WeedFin. Wind: 18 Knots

A mellow sailing day compared to yesterday. Worked on jibes. Seem to be catching the rail on the Bolt on starboard jibes. Port jibes are OK.

Roo commented: 

Another PB Barton, you're getting used to them now. 30 knot 5x10s can't be too far away...well done.

Windxtasy commented:

Well done on another PB, Barton.

Roo, you'll never get him back to The Gorge now!

I commented:

Interesting... wind was about 5 knots less today, my 2 sec was only 0.8 knots slower and my 5x10s were faster - most of that was because the chop was pretty small today, no major adrenaline rush and I could lock in better :) . 

Anita, you are not far from the truth :) , if the coast was a little warmer... Floras is great for me because I am not intimidated there AND the runs are short - forcing me to get in a lot more jibing practice. Floras is a great training ground for me to get experience on my new gear which will allow me to feel comfortable at the Gorge.

Starboard jibing: found that I 'lock' the leeward rail of the Bolt and the board won't turn. My amateur analysis is that I'm trying to jibe the Bolt the way I do the JP Freestyle Wave and I just should not bury the rail on the Bolt so much. When I back off on how tight I want to jibe the Bolt, I have no problems.

Major problem: I have great gear except for me - am forced to accept reality that my 68 year old body doesn't have the stamina that my 38 year old body did (duh). So will have to up my non-sailing exercise efforts so I don't waste so many good sailing days by pooping out half way through the day...

Aug 16 - Floras Lake, Or - PB 2 sec, 5x10

Floras Lake, OR, USA

Sailworks Retro 5.5, Bolt 95, MFC Weedfin  Wind: 25 20G30 knots

Short session before the wind picked up to 30+ knots average, gusting 35 knots. Could/should have rerigged but was too lazy,cold, and muscles were already cramping from yesterday's exercise, and I had already achieved my goal for the day of topping 30 knots. 

Got my first 30.96 knots on the GW052 dial on the second run. As I have been told many times, speed sailing is mental - even in small, less than one foot chop the run got my adrenaline pumping. Kudos to everyone that is in the 35+ category, especially the chop that Roo deals with :) .

Roo commented:

Barton has buggered off in the Hilton RV to the coast to chase PBs....pussy! Could have had flat water here.

Alsosnoff commented:

Barton, I admire your persistence! You've done it! Congrats! :-)

Dean Withrow commented:

Barton... welcome to the 30 knt club!! Congrats my man! 

I commented:

Thank you Roo, Peter, Al, and Dean. I squeaked past 30 a while ago but by such a slim margin as to make it really questionable. Today I had two 2 sec runs over 30 (30.429 and 30.254) plus a max at 30.96 so am now willing to say I did it :) .

Roo, well done!  

True, I could have had flat water at the Sandbar channel course but then I wouldn't have had the opportunity to be chilly in 65F foggy wind gusting to 35 knots :) . One more day here on the coast then heading home. Next road trip in the motorhome is likely to Hood River now that I'm regaining some confidence.

Aug 15 - Floras Lake, Or

Floras Lake, OR, US

Naish Chopper L (4.7 equiv), JP Freestyle Wave 77, Goya Bolt 95, MFC weed fin. Wind: 22 Gusting 27

A tad chilly with air temps at 65F-70F but made returning to the heated motorhome a nice treat.

Same old numbers. Good wind but even with the Bolt for about 1/2 the width of the lake I was underpowered. The locals kept saying will be 30+ knots so didn't rerig. Probably should have been on the Retro 5.5. On the positive side, got a good workout, got some nice port jibes. Starboard jibes were in the lighter wind and not too successful there.