Breakdown at the bridge.

dbk57 · Joined: 27 May 2005 Posts: 5

June 2 2014
I broke my mast by the White Salmon Bridge around 3 pm . The current in the channel was super strong and very difficult to swim through.
I want to thank all the folks who stop to check on me and helped me. The Gorge Kiting and Windsurfing is AWESOME. Thanks for looking out for each other . I especially want to thank the kiter who took alot of his time at the bridge who save my sail and boom so I could swim in with my board. I also want to thank the guy and gal windsurfing at the Hatchery who helped me get in when I was running out of steam and starting to get hypothermic and lastly the guy in the parking lot who literally lent me the hoody off his back when he saw how cold I was. It's good to know I live in a community where people still
look out for one another .
Thanks again David Kao

CUSalin · Joined: 11 Mar 2001 Posts: 405 Location: Hood River, OR

Glad to hear you made it in safely Dave!

uwindsurf · Joined: 18 Aug 2012 Posts: 968 Location: Classified

Glad you are OK. Epic day all around today in the Corridor, eh?

biffmalibu · Joined: 30 May 2008 Posts: 556

David,

How did the two Hatchery windsurfers help you get ashore when you were hypothermic and exhausted? Thanks.

It was very dangerous out there. Glad you made it.

johnl · Joined: 05 Jun 1994 Posts: 1330 Location: Hood River OR

Interesting news when I see more and more people sailing in shorties and boardshorts already while the water is still under 60 degrees. All it takes is one problem and you can get into a life threatening situation. Something to think about when you don't feel like wearing the thickness of wetsuit that you SHOULD be wearing for the water temp.....

This doesn't apply to David, I know he was dressed up. Smile

biffmalibu · Joined: 30 May 2008 Posts: 556

I am with JohnL re: wetsuits and safety at this time of year. Gear was getting lifted off foamy swell tops and blown downwind somewhat. One musn't blow the jibe and push the board away! It was often tough to see beyond the next swell top. So good luck getting to your gear again before you get tired. Do you think it was easy to swim in that stuff, getting smacked in the face and ears by swell periodically? There were NUMEROUS logs and branches in the water, right in the launches, in the floatsam zone on the channel sides, and in the channel. I clunk-clunked a couple at low speed. But it could have gone differently, and then I would be drifting/dragging for quite some time in the water, getting flushed perhaps beyond Swell City or getting stuck in the annoying perpetual big swirl between Swell and the Hatchery, getting chilled like a bottle of Chardonnay floating in a supermarket cooler. I am not certain I could tow 200#+ of tired and unreasonable (hypothermia!) human back to shore in those conditions. Hypothermia would most certainly set in without a wetsuit, no matter how superhuman a person is. And then swimming or even simply floating (blackout happens) is a big challenge.

Re: no wetsuits now...Don't try this at home, kids. I think most hotshots (no, I am not one of them) would agree.

*I am still curious how the two windsurfers assisted the swimmer who floated from the bridge to the Hatch. Strategy and technique would be good to share. Thanks.

Sorry for being so windy...