2022-09-11 Smoky Multi Sport Day.

Calm and Smokey

We got up to a very calm and smoky day. The forecast was for not much wind, but a possibility of a session in the late afternoon.

Everyone sort of did their own thing, during the day. Eddy sorted out his kite lines, Blaine went and washed his van, and Jim and Cam went shopping (what else). Cynthia has told Cam it is OK to buy more gear, but that before he did, he had to make a spreadsheet adding up all his purchases of the last few years. Cam said it was a cruel thing to do. He has spent a lot of money over the years! Still, a boy needs his toys, and it is important to keep the economy going!

At about noon, Kent, Blaine, and I decided to ride our bikes to Moiser for lunch at the Taco stand. It is a beautiful ride down the "Old Historic Highway" which is now a bike/pedestrian route. Blaine and I had our E-Bikes, while Kent was working hard on his Mountain bike. An e-bike can make it really easy, or challenging, depending on if you use the power and at what setting. I wanted some exercise, so I had it off for a lot of the ride, and only used it on the steeper sections, or if I was being left behind! I only used about 15% of my power, which is pretty good for a 20km ride.

Ted, Blaine and Kent - Bikers!

When we got to Moiser, the Taco stand had just closed, so we turned around and rode back to Hood River. On the way down, we passed Mike who had driven up to the start of the old highway and was going for a walk. We had lunch at Freshies, which is a bagel place. It was excellent!

After lunch we stopped at the Event Site. Big Air Jim Eddy and Cam were there waiting for wind. Eddy had gone to Viento and had a good afternoon session on his 12m.

It was dead calm, but we could see a wind line coming down the river, and then actually felt a little bit of a westerly breeze.

We rushed back to the condo, gathered our gear, and then headed back to the Event site to wait with them. I stopped at Safeway on my way so was a little later getting there. I parked, got out my chair and headed to the grass, but was intercepted by Kent, Brad, Blaine, and Al who were all heading to the Swell City where they figured the wind and waves would be better. I-Kitesurf said it was already blowing 20 or so there.

I put my chair back in the van and followed them over. There was only one other fellow there when we arrived at swell around 5:30pm. He was rigging a 7m sail to go with his foil gear, so Kent Brad and Blaine decided to rig their 6.0. I rigged my 5.5 wing with my 999 front foil, but then decided to wait for the wind dummies as I couldn't really tell what the water was doing. I am glad I waited.

The local guy took off and headed upwind at rocket speed and was soon out of site. He wasn't any help.

Blaine was first out. He went about half way across the river, and then came back. He couldn't sheet in or hook in. He needed a smaller sail. As he was coming in, Kent went out. He did the same thing! Wow, it was windy.

Al went out on his 5.5 and big windsurf board and then came in and went out on his small board and had a great time! He said it was really good, and he stayed dry (not falling in) a lot of the time!

Kent and Blaine re-rigged to 4.5 and went out, both had a great time. Kent is learning to wave ride and was putting on a performance until it was almost dark.

Brad first rigged his 6.0, then his 5.2, and then his 4.5. He had a good session on his 4.5. The other sails didn't get wet!

Brad and I had similar experiences with the flat water on the far side. We both did a few jibes in a row in the flat water. (They were my best three jibes back to back ever - easily staying on my foil). We then both saw some weeds right to the surface (I think Brad actually crashed because of them), we got off our boards, and found it was so shallow we could both stand on the bottom. Brad was in shoulder deep water and was able to warn Kent off - as Kent was heading that way. I was in waste deep water - too shallow to go without dragging my foil on the bottom! Wow, I was so lucky I hadn't run my foil into the ground! Good thing I was foiling right through my jibes! I swam back out to deeper water, and tried to stay off the the flat water from then on!

Ted's Track!

The shallow water extends out for about a third of the width of the river! I had a really good session, but the big waves on the inside were an interesting experience for jibing!

Ted - coming to shore after a great session!
Thanks Al for the photo!

With all the smoke it got dark sooner than usual. When we started, the sun was just a red hazy disk in the sky, and by the time we had derigged, it was dark! Blaine was using his flashlight to make sure he hadn't left anything on the ground!

Brad - de-rigging after a great session!

We stopped for pizza and salad from Safeway on the way home, and cooked it in Al's condo! Some of the others arrived and we had a good de-brief with them talking about the day and the evening session!

Big Air Jim somehow had the shim on his foil was backwards. They changed it, and then Jim had a hard time keeping the foil in the water. I think he preferred it when it was backwards! He will have to get that sorted out. No one seems to know who put it on backwards.....

Cam had a great session first on his 6m wing (way over powered) and then on his 4m wing and 899 foil.

Mike was out on his 10m kite kitesurfing and Ross was on his 7m kite.

Eddy turned 60 earlier this year, so Brad presented him with his 40-20 shirt!