Sailor missing at Rowena tonight

Brian_S · Joined: 11 Jun 2005 Posts: 249 Location: SE Michigan

An regular sailor, named Paco, is missing tonight. His gear washed up at Rowena.

Brian_S · Joined: 11 Jun 2005 Posts: 249 Location: SE Michigan

He's okay!

jstancati · Joined: 19 Apr 2002 Posts: 3

Yes I am OK . A gust yanked the rig out of my hands and as I was swimming towards it I watched another gust pick it up throw it into a cartwheel. The sail laid on top of the board so the wind blew it up river away from me while I struggled swimming against the current I could not swim fast enough and I was sailing alone so I headed to the WA shore .
Thankyou Charlie for driving me to Roweena. Thankyou Fred and Coleen and Mike for looking for me and calling rescue. And thankyou Wasco county Sherriffs dept , It's nice to know you were heading for the river to find me , I am glad that I showed up before you launched into 3.0 conditions and 6 to 10 foot swell.
Oh yeah, about my gear. A 3.3 EZZY wave se (blue) and an 8'5" custom Cascade. If found call 541-387-5941 for reward
Thanks

thomastatem · Joined: 19 Apr 2008 Posts: 8

I am glad you are alright! Stay safe brother!!! Cool heads save lives....

River-Lizard · Joined: 18 Feb 2008 Posts: 188

Good to hear you are ok... if it makes you feel any better, I had a similar experience a few years ago sailing just below the White Salmon River. Super windy day, and really big, steep swell. I just hit one wrong and got launched unintentionally, losing the rig in the air. Exact same thing... every time I swam for my rig, the wind pushed it further downwind and up-river. On my third attempt to reach it, the board and sail tumbled so far downwind I could no longer see it. Another sailor ended up giving me a tow back to shore. I was amazed to learn that my rig was actually found downstream almost at the Hatchery. Someone told me that in that situation, the rig will eventually stick in the water, and then the current will carry the board downstream, so that if you tread water against the current long enough, eventually the board will come back to you. Still, in big swell with no board and being almost invisible to other sailors, I was happy enough just to get out of there. Super nice of a guy to give me a tow!

hilton08 · Joined: 02 Apr 2000 Posts: 506

Paco, I'm glad to hear that you made it in okay.
The same thing happened to me at Doug's a few years back. I got separated from my rig by 10-20 feet, but with super strong wind pushing the board downwind and strong spring current carrying me upwind, I couldn't catch it no matter how hard I swam. As the board got further away, I was about to give up and swim for shore before I was totally exhausted, but I got lucky and another windsurfer came along and grabbed my board. With him anchoring it in the water, I was finally able to make progress swimming towards it.
Thankfully there was someone else around that day to see that I was in trouble.