Crap! 10' swell and a shorty Sunday

[isobars]

Port Kelley had the biggest swell on Sunday my gang has seen in years on the river, and, yes, one guy was completely comfortable in his shorty.

So why the "crap"? Because I believed the sensor data and stayed home. That 16 mph much of the afternoon was actually a consistent 30 or better. The sensor is by necessity tucked into a corner that doesn't get winds below 225-230 degrees. The last time the sensor said 16, it was 16 and dying, and they got skunked.

What a sport!

CRAP!

Mike \m/

[mmyers]

I went out around 12:30 when it was fairly calm with a 6m.
5 minutes later a squall came through and I was out in the middle. Sensor read gust to 42 (who know what it was out in the middle) Took 20 minutes before the wind died down and I could make it back to shore.

CRAP! for me was later in the day, watching your gang tearing it up and I was stuck on the beach not able to grip the boom.. Now 2 more days of wind and I'm on the side lines..

There was 5 surfers and 2 kiters out there yesterday. Most I've seen there all summer.

[Mulekick84]

[30knotwind]

Gusts were the name of the game on Sun/Mon at 3mile, I sailed everything from 3.5 to 5.5, swapping sails every 30 minutes. Strange day... waves were not normal rollers, felt more like Celio than 3mile. I was sailing (good), but it took a lot of extra work, physically and mentally.

Port Kelly could have been better. Why is the sensor so bad?

[isobars]

The PK sensor is on the silos, which are tucked back into a wind-sheltered corner of the twisting canyon. It's the only building anywhere near the venue, so iW has no other choices I can see. I should ask their "out east" sensor guy -- he sailed there yesterday -- whether they could install a stand-alone sensor on the north wall of the canyon. It's inaccessible by car, but there is a RR track beneath the cliffs. That's where the wind and swell are; the wind fills in about a 1/4 mile offshore, and the swell gets good maybe 3/4 mile out, so picking a sail size is a real crapshoot even on rare steady days. We may launch into winds of 0-10, ripslog a few hundred yards in 10-25 mph, but sail in 30G50 mph. This often requires riding boards much too big for the wind and terrain just to get to and from the wind. My 13# 88 liter wave board felt like a loaded barge on the outside but still wouldn't get me back to shore when the wind backed off even just moderately. I wouldn't even consider taking most modern shortwide boards out in that much wind and terrain; my Evo would have been flat-out dangerous on the outside.

I enjoy a 5.2 when the wind is averaging upper 20s to around 30; I was too lit on a 3.7 to play in yesterday's bigger gusts. When the wind backs off, which it frequently does with little warning, it can take 30-60 minutes of slogging, then buttsailing, then maybe swimming to return to shore, and if you weren't upwind and miss the narrow beach, you're in deep doodoo. Lastly, PK is a morning place; even when it blows, which is usually a late fall phenomenon, it usually shuts off like a light switch by late morning; these PM sessions are rare.

Why do we do it? It's close to us, 100-yard glassy troughs between giant rollers WHEN IT GOES OFF A FEW DAYS A YEAR, and it's close. The wind quality problem yesterday ran the full length of the lower Columbia, so the Wall, Arlington, 3-mile, Patterson, Plymouth, and PK all suffered from huge swings in the wind. Let's hope today is steadier.

[Georges]

Me Me Me, I I I , Do you ever get tired of yourself iso? Just saying.

[jesusjones]

Sounds awsome M.