No Problems, just Challenges and Opportunities

A slight setback this morning as my new, yet-to-be-tested gantry decided to part ways with the transom. Not a disaster, but the sail/swim back to shore about a quarter of a mile without a rudder was a good test of my seamanship skills (Let's see... without a rudder you hang off the stern and let the drag of your body generate the steering forces, all the while holding the weather corner of the rack down to keep the boat upright, while you gingerly tend the sheet to accommodate the gusts, remembering not to let go of the hiking stick as the busted pieces - tiller, gantry, vertical, and horizontal - trail behind you...) Adam got an interesting shot that shows the rudder's foil dragging behind me as I was swimming appearing as a shark's fin hot on the chase. So anyway it was off to a hardware store in Stevenson (about a 4 mile bike ride across the Bridge of the Gods) to get some aluminum plate to reinforce the G-10 attachment points, some stainless steel fasteners, and some, as Amac called it, "stronger glue." My rudimentary analysis of the gantry failure is that the G-10 rod pulled out of the bottom centerline tube and caused a cascade of failures. The solution was to re-glue it but to include a through bolt to prevent the rod from coming out. I also had to re-build the starboard side gantry attachment point as it was torn off when the bottom rod came loose. The fix appears institutional looking, but should hold (I'll find out tomorrow after the glue sets up.) Below is a shot from the pier in downtown Stevenson. It shows the southern side of the Gorge. Cascade Locks is the far point in the picture.



Meanwhile back on the beach, many folks are still waiting for boats to be delivered. Others are sitting on the shore watching the pros sail in the 25 knots of breeze. My initial impression is that there's lots of weeds when launching that needs to be cleared once off the beach a bit. The water is warm and the thin wetsuit seems sufficient. The breeze today started strong, with about 20 knts at 9:00 a.m., died a bit around 10:00, then built back to the strong stuff. Below is the Stevenson iwindsurf readings.



Lastly, as promised, here's some more head shots.









Since I was in a jam this morning, for today's musical interlude I decided to include The Jam, and their Tales from the Riverbank. Enjoy.

Tales from the Riverbank, by Paul Weller, the Modfather.

Bring you a tale from the pastel fields
Where we ran when we were young
This is a tale from the water meadows
Trying to spread some hope into your heart
It's mixed with happiness - it's mixed with tears
Both life and death are carried in this stream
That open space you could run for miles
Now you don't get so many to the pound

True it's a dream mixed with nostalgia
But it's a dream that I'll always hang on to
That I'll always run to
Won't you join me by the riverbank

Paradise found down by the still waters
Joined in the race to the rainbow's end
No fears no worries just a golden country
Woke at sunrise, went home at sunset

Now life is so critical, life is too cynical
We lose our innocence, we lose our very soul

True it's a dream mixed with nostalgia
But it's a dream that I'll always hang on to
That I'll always run to
True it's a dream mixed with nostalgia
But it's a dream that I'll always hang on to
That I always run to
Won't you join me by the riverbank
Come on and join me by the riverbank