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. 

July 29 - Floras Lake, Or

Floras Lake, OR, USA

Naish Chopper M (4.3 equiv), JP Freestyle Wave Pro 77, 2x10 thrusters, 26 Black Project. Wind: 23 18G30 knots

Another day getting more comfortable on the smaller gear. Flores Lake is a great place for old foogies like me to practice on new gear without the fear of having to be rescued :) . Wind backed off a tad from yesterday so even though I went up in sail size I still had a little bit of slogging to get going - which was good practice for the Gorge. Felt good to be making port jibes again. Starboard jibes were in the wind shadow so will take more practice. The FSW77 is a very lively little board which has a great feel.

July 28 - Floras Lake, Or

Floras Lake, Oregon

Naish Chopper S (3.7 equivalent), JP Freestyle Wave 77, 2x10 thrusters, 26cm MFC. Wind: 28 20G34+ knots

First day of sailing on the FSW 77 and Chopper S combo. Flores is a great place to get comfortable with new gear. Had two sessions - the first one was just getting familiar with the FSW 77 and Naish Chopper sail and how twitchy both are and how little floatation the FSW has. Spent over an hour getting worked and tired but enjoying the 'relative consistency' of the wind compared to the huge holes at the Hood River Waterfront Park. The wind holes here just went from slight slogging to fully powered and locked in. Seccond session was better and made some jibes on the ocean side. Did not try jibing on the East side as the wind was consistently slightly weaker. If condidtions are like this tomorrow, will probably go up at least one sail size to the Naish Chopper M (4.2 equivalent) just for grins. Only 3-5 sailors out at any given time and only a couple of kiters.

Oh, the 'Hilton on Wheels' is working great, wife is enjoying it :) .

July 26 - HR Sandbar

Hood River Sandbar, Hood River, OR, US

Sailworks Retro 5.5, Goya Bolt 95, MFC 45 degree 34 cm weed fin. Wind: 22 15G32

The weed fin worked great in allowing me to sail through the weedy area on the way out/in to/from the sandbar. Didn't even feel any drag going through the weeds.

While Roo got his 40+ 2 sec goal today, I got my goal of one good catapult dismount :) . Other than the catapult I'm slowly building my tolerance to risk...

Roo commented about the conditions:

Very little sandbar, about 50 yards of flat water then out into the chop to put the hammer down. Gusting 30 knots at times and big sand clouds rolling off the sandbar. Upwind a kiter got lifted off the beach and rag dolled it was so gusty, broken neck and leg! Ouch.

July 25 - HR Sand bar

Hood River Sandbar, Hood River, OR, US

Sailworks Retro 5.5, Goya Bolt 95, MFC KP-RC 360 wind: 24 18G30

Today Roo mentioned that my sailing technique is OK, I just have to be more aggressive in the jibes (i.e less timid) and as a result I got an 'I told you so' from my wife who has been saying the same thing to me for a couple of months (ever since I returned to the Gorge). On the other hand, this is coming from my wife who thought the standard jibe technique was the catapult launch :) . My response is "I'm working on being aggressive but not the catapult launch".

Not great numbers today like Roo's or Roo Jr's but felt good to start feeling comfortable holding down a 5.5 in 30 knot gusts. Didn't get the big numbers in part because I wasn't comfortable venturing far from the sandbank (and thus a beam reach) partially because I had an ongoing example of what could happen - a guy spent about 1 1/2 hours trying to waterstart to get back to shore as he drifted around in the current downwind of the sand spit. Roo finally had a jet ski go pull him back to shore.

Also, I wouldn't describe my new motor home as 'Hilton on wheels' but it is a nice 2016 24' Class C built on a Mercedes Benz Diesel Sprinter dual rear tire chassis with two slide-outs, and it gets 16-17 MPG. Oh, and all the gear fits either in the rear 'vehicle wide' storage or inside. Nothing dangling outside to tempt people. This is a vehicle that has many uses besides windsurfing

Roo's comment about the conditions: 
I wish it was flat Boro, top speeds are out in open water away from the sandbar! Touch and go whether you crash at the end of the run it gets so choppy and bounces you everywhere as you turn back upwind. You'd love it, come on up...more wind of the strong variety forecast from Saturday onwards and water level should drop back down.

July 13 - HR Waterfront Park

Hood River Waterfront Park, Hood River, OR, The Gorge, USA

Sailworks Retro 7.5, Goya Bolt 95, MFC KP-RC360 Wind: 15 12G18  17 14G22

A day to struggle. Couldn't get the Goya to easily pop on a plane, wanted to round into the wind, was just a lot of work. At the end of the day, learned from Roo that 7.0 is probably the biggest sail I should put on the Goya because 'over sail' on a board causes the problems I just mentioned. Too much sail puts too much pressure on the mast base and keeps the board stuck in the water longer than is normally would be before poping on a plane.

Another day, anther learning experience. Got a lot of practice clearing and waterstarting the 7.5 sail...

July 12 - HR Waterfront Park

Hood River Waterfront Park, Hood River, OR, The Gorge, USA

Sailworks Retro 5.5, Goya Bolt 95, MFC KP-RC360 Wind: 17 14G23

Up and down, some pretty big wind holes. Should have rigged the 6.5 as was underpowered most of the time. Still, good to be back on the water. Making a little progress on jibes, with Roo's help. 

After the sailing session spent some time taking videos of Roo and Julian (Roo Jr.) making some runs on Roo's WindFoil. Very interesting to watch but I'm not yet ready to take the plunge on yet another learning curve :) .

Roo commented:

Good to see Barton back in town cruising on his Goya and gadget laden with his new solar powered trailer!

July 5 - HR Waterfront Park

Hood River Waterfront Park, Hood River, The Gorge, OR, US

Sailworks Retro 5.5, Goya Bolt 95, MFC KP-RC 360  Wind: 18 15G24

Another very gusty, up and down day. Lot of missed jibes today but made a couple, slowly learning...

July 4 - HR Waterfront Park.- PB 5x10

Hood River Waterfront Park, Hood River, The Gorge, OR, US

Sailworks Retro 5.5, Goya Bolt 95L, MFC KP-RC 360. Wind 18 14G24, 20 15G29

A gusty, bumpy day. First session (around noon) was good, in control, fully powered. The second session (about 3) was a tad too much for me to hold down in the gusts so I bagged it early. Still liking the Goya and still struggling to jibe. Today I would typically catch a gust and ride it to where I wanted to jibe but then struggled with being fully powered/over powered and jibing on a wave/swell face. I would typically chickenout on committing to leaning forward into the jibe and I would be soggy toast. Ankles still a little tender from the crash yesterday.

Working on the 5x10s, Roo :)

Met Canadians: Gary (private practice veterinarian), Rod (government veterinarian), Bill, Woody, Don