Sorry to have to report that the body of Crissy Field local, Paul Mann, who had been missing in the Gorge since Friday, July 3, was found today near the Hood River Event Site. Paul disappeared after going for a solo SUP session at the Hook on Friday, but his board was found floating down the river later that day. This is so sad.
Paul was a very friendly guy. Funny that his nickname was "Angry Paul"... almost a contradiction. One of my first memories of him was his sharing some prosciutto and cheese w/ me pre-sesh at Crissy. He was a fixture at Crissy, and he will be missed.
We had some pretty good days at TI this past week, and Christian (aka German Shepherd) brought his waterproof camera out for some fun. Unfortunately, the waterproof camera was not so waterproof and is now in for service.
For those of you who've never sailed TI, it's one of the best spots in the Bay. Clean, unobstructed wind, minimal boat traffic, nice smooth rolling swell, and big ramps. For those interested in sailing here, please check out these resources first:
I sailed a couple of days this week at Treasure Island. This is one of the best spots in the Bay, and it is a real gold mine later in the year when a lot of other sites are shrouded in fog or light wind. By the time September rolls around, both upwind (Crissy) and downwind (Berkeley) will be light, but TI will still be 4.7! I hadn't yet sailed here this year, so it was nice to go and check out the "new" access to our "old" launch.
I sailed my 4.7 and 81l wave board here on Monday and Tuesday. Both days started off a little flukey on the inside w/ choppy water, and both days the conditions improved dramatically later in the day after the ebb had a little time to kick in. The wind smoothed out and so did the water and swell near the island. Classic TI conditions. GS caught some in-the-water footage which will be posted soon, so check back in a few days.
Wednesday was a nice, windy Berkeley day. I opted for Berkeley over TI because the ebb kicks in an hour later every day, and I knew TI was unlikely to be good until later in the day. It was 1pm now, and Berkeley was reporting solid readings, and Asma was going out on her 4.0.... that's good enough for me! A nice day was had by all. Most guys were out on 4.1 to 4.5 or so, and the girls were on 4.0's
Thursday was a rather ho-hum Marina Bay/Pt. Isabel day. 4.7 and 90l Twin Tip were the call again, but the wind was a little flukey. We sailed over to "The Pelicans", the flat-water spot in the lee of the Brooks Island Sand Spit. The wind was terrible over there... probably a bad direction, so we sailed back into the main sailing area and had a decent day. Not all that powered, but planing all the time.
Well, that was weird. The NW wind that we normally get in May (but didn't get this year) decided to visit us in mid-June. The 3rd Ave Channel sensor was reading in the 30's by 1pm, and it was ebbing, so my decision was easy: go to 3rd and hope that my 4.2 was going to be small enough.
I got there, and it was nuking... the kind of day where everybody is on a 4.2, or whatever their small sail is. Some were lucky enough to have 3.5's and 3.7's. I had emptied out some of the gear from my van to make room for deliveries, and so I didn't have my small wave board, and I had just sold my 3.7 the day before, so 4.2 and 81l New Wave it was for me.
Of course, the wind all but crapped out by the time I hit the water. I slogged all the way to the channel, slowly bobbing over the transition between the brown water of the shallows and the green water of the deep water channel. I finally got on a plane once in the channel, and it was solid 4.2 The water was pretty confused... some good hucking ramps on port, but it was nice and smooth and swelly on starboard. I sailed out in the channel for about 30 minutes, but I didn't want to get stuck out there, so I did a test run back to the launch and planed about 3/4 of the way back. I decided to call it a day and not risk getting stranded out in the channel.
Some more familiar faces showed up, and it looked like the wind had filled in again, so I went back out. This time, the wind had guts. The water got that fuzzy texture, and it felt like sailing on granola... totally OP'd and hanging on. I stayed on the inside, and there were some good hucking ramps, but after awhile I called it a day so as to save my bad elbow.
Here's a little vid of Arnout Ter Schure before I went out:
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