2022-06-19 Roosevelt - Again

Ted Wing Foiling.  Thanks Andreas for the photo!

We got a text from Jim Mudry early in the morning saying that conditions were good at Roosevelt.  He and his wife were spending the weekend there.

We had a quick breakfast and left by 9:30.  Gerry stopped by Sailworks (they opened on Sunday just for him) so he could pick up his new foil!

Andreas started his day with a bike ride to Mosier where he had a coffee and breakfast sandwich!  He said the bike ride made his day!   Kent did point out that with an e gravel bike the ride did not really count as a bike ride but was more like a stroll through the park.   (He rode with a full jacket and long pants, and didn't even break a sweat!).

It is a relatively long drive to Roosevelt, at about 75 minutes, but the scenery  is spectacular.  As you drive through the gorge, part of time you are in the bottom looking up at the cliff's, and part of the time you are on top looking down! The views are amazing, and with all the rain they have, everything is much greener than usual.  As you approach Roosevelt, the gorge opens up to a very wide flood plane with interesting rock outcroppings, ranch land and fields growing grapes for the many local wineries!

I arrived at Roosevelt around 11:00 with Kent, Big Jim, Brad, Blaine and Bernd.  The others were a bit later.   Jim Mudry was just coming off the water and told us he had a great session on his 5.5m wing.

The wind had dropped and was a bit light, so there wasn't exactly a rigging frenzy.

Bernd was out first on his 14m kite and twin tip board.  Conditions were perfect for his big kite and he had fun blasting between and around us!   It was a little strange seeing a non-foil device on the water.  He had two great sessions.  The first on his twin tip board, and the second on his surfboard.

I rigged my 6m wing and headed out.  I slogged all the way across and all the way back..... so I came in for a rest.  I am pretty sure that if I was more efficient at pumping, I could have gotten going.  Brad, Blaine and Kent all went out on their wind foil gear and worked their way upwind where they had a great time in light steady 6.0 conditions.

I went out Wing Foiling again, this time with Jim Mudry.  He showed me how to swim the board and the wing out to the wind line.  I got foiling right away in a gust and foiled almost all the way across the river, until I started trying to pump my board, but managed to splash down.  I worked and worked and worked, for about 8 reaches back and forth, and was so close to getting the board going, but no luck.  I came back to the beach totally spent!

Later in the day, the wind started to build.  Cam had a great day.  He is now completing most of his jibes, and is having a lot of fun doing wave rides dropping his wing.  Brad and Blaine are completing almost all of their foiling jibes and foiling fast!

Handré decided to switch to Windsurfing, but found the wind line was still a long way out, so decided to put on a smaller sail and go back out to Wind Foil!   He may turn into a full time foiler like the rest of the gang if he does not watch it.

Big Jim was out on his 7m Flyer and foiled most of the time!  Cynthia was doing great on her Roberts board and was the last one off the water.  She started the day chasing Kent jibing every time he did and running him down on the reaches.   Kent thought she was doing awesome making most of her jibes and carrying good speed out of the turns even if there was a touch or two.   She kept her dad busy rigging smaller and smaller sails.  I think she ended up on the 3.3.

Cynthia with a big smile, after a good day!

Andreas and Ross were out kite foiling and both had a great day, although Andreas was disappointed that his top speed for the day at 38kph was slightly under Kent's top speed of 40kph.  Kent foiled for 80km with an average speed of over 25kph.  His best yet!  The new foils setup really increased his speed - and of course he never falls anymore - well almost never...

Kent had "His Best Day Ever! - on his new small front foil wing

I had a couple of more sessions in the stronger wind, one on my 6m wing and one on my 4m.  Both were great sessions, and I foiled almost all the time, but I was so tired from my fist, slogging sessions, that I wasn't learning a lot - still - time on the water!  Foiling in the big swells is sure fun!

I came off the water around 5:00.  Most of the others sailed until almost 6:00 and were back in Hood River before 9:00

Cam, Cynthia and Big Air Jim met up with Cam's brother for supper.  Cam doesn't see him often, so really enjoyed the visit.  Handré, Bernd, Andreas, Ross, Kent and I went to Pfriems, and were able to order our food just before the 9:00 cut-off.  The food and company were great!

Back at the condo we watched the first two races of the Sail GP in Chicago, which was pretty exciting, but we were all tired, so turned it off and went to bed before the third race.  What a bunch of Party Animals.  

pFriems