Breaking news:Outterridge wins US Nationals

Four races yesterday plus three race completed today ended up with Nathan Outteridge as the US National Moth Champion. The next four places were Bora Gulari, Scott Babbage, Arnaud Psarofaghis, and Rohan Veal. Congrats Nathan! Here's a link to the results from the CGRA website. It's a little discouraging that I was scored DNC (instead of DNF) for race 5 since I was close to the committee boat with 1:30 remaining (a subsequent capsize resulted in a mid line start about a minute late, but I did sail two legs before heading in for my smaller sail.) I guess next week I'll make my presence known to the recorder. Oh well...


Here are today's head shots, starting with our new national Champion.








As for me, I started the first race today, sailed two legs, then decided to come in and switch to the smaller sail (the one for WUSSES.) Actually, I enjoyed the next half hour - very comfortable upwind, but having to sheet carefully off the wind to avoid stalling. The borrowed foil from Andy seemed to work fine. I'll give my repair job on the gen3 foil another day to cure before I test it. Below is a shot of the Hansen mini-rig, given its first Baptism in the Columbia River today.



Enjoy Good Charlotte and their song The River.

The River, by Good Charlotte (2007)

As I walk through the valley
of the shadow of LA
The footsteps that were next to me
have gone their separate ways
I've seen enough now
to know that beautiful things
don't always stay that way
I've done enough now
to know this beautiful place
isn't everything they say

I heard that evil comes disguised
Like a city of angels
I'm walking towards the light

Baptized in the river
I've seen a vision of my life
And I wanna be delivered
In the city was a sinner
I've done a lot of things wrong
But I swear I'm a believer
Like the prodigal son
I was out on my own
Now I'm trying to find my way back home
Baptized in the river
I'm delivered
I'm delivered

[M.Shadows:]
You're from a small town
You're gonna grow up fast
underneath these lights
Down in Hollywood
on the boulevard the dead come back to life
To the praying Mother
And the worried Father
Let your children go
If they come back
They'll come home stronger
And if they don't you'll know

They say that evil comes disguised
Like a city of angels
I'm walking towards the light

Baptized in the river
I've seen a vision of my life
And I wanna be delivered
In the city was a sinner
I've done a lot of things wrong
But I swear I'm a believer
Like the prodigal son
I was out on my own
Now I'm trying to find my way back home
Baptized in the river
I'm delivered
I'm delivered

Baptized in the river (on my own)
Baptized in the river (on my own)
I wanna be delivered
(on my own, on my own)
Baptized in the river (on my own)
I wanna be delivered
Baptized in the river (on my own)
I wanna be delivered
Baptized in the river (on my own)
I wanna be delivered
I confess I'm a sinner
I've seen a vision of my life
And I wanna be delivered!

Racing has begun! -updated 6:30 local

Overcast and cool was the order for today. Our venue is at Stevenson on the above map. Racing kicked off at noon in about 15-20 kts. A first beat does not a regatta make, but Kevin Hall rounded the weather mark's offset buoy in the lead, with Bora hot on his heels. The other top helms were withing 20 seconds. Two races, then a break. Results as I get them. Currently AP is flying until the wind drops. Visions of Weymouth? So how much wind was there in the morning session? Andrew Friend said he saw windsurfers off Stevenson (just below the start area) sporting 4m sails. Supposedly the RC registered a gust at 30 (mph?/knots?) which initiated the postponement.



At about 3:45 the wind had dropped suffuciently to hold two more races. Breeze appeared to be consistently less than 15, with some holes of 8-ish. The results of the first four races haven't been posted yet, but I heard that Nathan and Rohan both posted scores of 1,1, and 2. Team Australia seems to be fast! Tomorrow's first start has been moved to 10:00 a.m., with the hope of getting some racing in before the wind build.

Here are today's head shots. Seven more tomorrow.









My story is another disapointment. My fix of the T-joint failed so I couldn't even get to the race course. I've decided to just glue the two pieces together and not worry about trying to take it apart until the end of racing. There was some good news: my small sail arrived (just about the time the wind dropped, as predicted) and Andy Mills agreed to loan me his older FC one piece board. It seems to fit my boat and the settings are in the ball park so tomorrow's plan is to use his foil, and either the normal or small sail, depending on the wind. After racing I may try my new board and see if the second repair worked.

Meanwhile, here's Green Day. Enjoy. I'm headed to the wine and cheese social.

Boulevard Of Broken Dreams, by Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong

I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me and I walk alone

I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
and I'm the only one and I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk a...

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I walk alone

Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Aaah-ah,
Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah

I'm walking down the line
That divides me somewhere in my mind
On the border line
Of the edge and where I walk alone

Read between the lines
What's fucked up and everything's alright
Check my vital signs
To know I'm still alive and I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk a...

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I walk alone

Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Aaah-ah
Ah-ah, Ah-ah

I walk alone
I walk a...

I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
And I'm the only one and I walk a...

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I walk alone...

Nuclear Winds

"This is the strongest I've ever seen it at Cascade Locks."
-Jonathan McKee.

Again the river was empty for the four or five hours in the middle of the day except for the whitecaps whipped up by the nuclear winds. People are talking about the US Nationals which start tomorrow and, if the conditions were like today, are expecting the race committee to possibly sail before 10:00 and/or after 5:00. If the fleet were on the water at mid-day it would be a race of attrition. Folks are understandably cautious about risking damage to their boat before the worlds (which start Monday.)



The parking lot is becoming more and more like a world championship venue. National flags are sprouting and sponsors' banners are flying and hull stickers are being applied. This morning we saw a second home-built (so I'm not alone!) Chris & Joanna Cochrane came in with a woodie (visions of the '70s!) Chris said he had sailed this boat only once in light breezes. The baptism tomorrow in the nuclear winds of the Gorge should prove interesting.




Here's a new batch of faces, starting with Chris and Joanna









The musical inclusion for this afternoon is again from The Jam. Enjoy Absolute Beginners, what I would feel like if I were to hit the water in this much breeze. By-the-way, I appear to have fixed the mainfoil but probably won't test sail it until tomorrow, allowing the epoxy an overnight to cure.

Absolute Beginners, Paul Weller (1981)

In echoed steps I walked across an empty dream
I looked across this world, there was no one to be seen
This empty feeling turned and quietly walked away
I saw no warmth in life - no love was in my eyes
I stared a century thinking this will never change
As I hesitated, time rushed onwards without me
Too scared to break the spell too small to take a fall
But the Absolute luck is - love is in our hearts!

I lost some hours thinking of it
I need the strength to go and get what I want
I lost a lifetime thinking of it
an' lost an era daydreaming like I do

I stared a century thinking this will never change
As I hesitated, time rushed onwards without me
Too scared to break the spell too small to take a fall
But the Absolute luck is - love is in our hearts!

In echoed steps you walk across an empty dream
But look around this world, there's millions to be seen
Come see the tyrants panic see their crumbling empires fall
Then tell 'em we don't fight for fools -
'cos love is in our hearts!

I lost some hours thinking of it
I need the strength to go and get what I want
I lost a lifetime thinking of it
an' lost an era daydreaming like I do

You can lose some hours thinking of it
You need the strength to go and get what you want
You can lose a lifetime thinking of it
And lose an era daydreaming like I do oooooooo

The Wind

The story today continued to be the wind. A few folks took to the water early, but by 11:00 a.m. the river was empty and the fleet was either de-rigged or waiting for the breeze to stabilize. Giovanni claimed the breeze was twisting with little vortices: once he said he was sailing upwind on port and all of a sudden found that the boat was on starboard without a change in heading. He also claimed gusts of between 25 and 30, although the Stevenson iwindsurf gauge never had anything over 27 knts.



At any rate, around 5:00 the wind seemed to steady out, though it was still pretty strong. Rohan was the first to head out, sporting a solid glass rudder horizontal with a swallowtail planform.



After about 10 minutes he came back in to fix something on his vang. Shortly thereafter Bora and George headed out. Bear had only about a couple of minutes of sailing before his boat exploded. We saw a 180 degree pitchpole and perhaps that's what caused the bow fitting to rip out. At any rate his M2's forestay fitting, wand crank and a bit of carbon decided they didn't want to stay attached to the hull. The RIB rescue boat was summoned and he was towed back in. Bora stayed out a bit and wowed the crowd with his speed and boat handling. Finally around 6:00 p.m. the breeze moderated enough for about a dozen folks (me included) to join the fun. Unfortunately, my fun was short-lived as the new mainfoil pulled out of the strut. So tomorrow it's more boatwork, probably cutting back the tang to some solid material, discarding the 1/4" long Helicoil and instead drilling and tapping a new hole, and utilizing a bolt much longer that the 3/4" long 1/4-20 that John used originally.




Sorry about the toe shot; here are today's head shots. More tomorrow!










For today musical inclusion, I chose something with no vocals, just some masterful guitar work by Carlos Santana and Neil Schon, from Santana’s Album “Caravanserai” (1972.) The tune is titled Song of the Wind. Enjoy.

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

Set Up

Today was unpacking and putting the boat together. George had brought the box down from Portland yesterday, but after arriving here at 8:00 p.m. I just didn't have any energy to get down to the boat yard. This morning found the breeze already about 20 knts at 7:00 a.m. There was a multi-class regatta on the water today so we weren't allowed to use the beach or rigging area. None-the-less, Will Logan and I pulled our boats from their crates and proceeded to assemble them out of sight of Marilyn Hodson, the regatta director, aka Boat Yard Nazi (actually she was very accommodating, with the explanation that since she told others they couldn't rig in the boat yard today she had to have us toe the same line.)

At any rate, as the morning turned to afternoon, Will and I finished the assembly process and we moved the boats across the park to store them with those of the other mothies. Chris and Mark were doing some carbon work; others were fiddling with bits. Only Amac got on the water (launching from a ramp that required a hundred yard sail straight up wind, short tacking between rock walls to get out the main channel.) The breeze was pretty strong all day (it appeared 15-25 from the shore.) Here's the gauge readings from Stevenson.



Maybe my small size sail will get some use after all! Below are some head shots I took today. More faces tomorrow, when we all should get on the river.









Enjoy The Talking Heads.

Take me to the river, by Al Green (1974)

I don’t know why I love her like I do
All the changes you put me through
Take my money, my cigarettes
I haven’t seen the worst of it yet
I wanna know that you’ll tell me
I love to stay
Take me to the river, drop me in the water
Take me to the river, dip me in the water
Washing me down, washing me down

I don’t know why you treat me so bad
Think of all the things we could have had
Love is an ocean that I can’t forget
My sweet sixteen I would never regret

I wanna know that you’ll tell me
I love to stay
Take me to the river, drop me in the water
Push me in the river, dip me in the water
Washing me down, washing me

Hug me, squeeze me, love me, tease me
Till I can’t, till I can’t, till I can’t take no more of it
Take me to the water, drop me in the river
Push me in the water, drop me in the river
Washing me down, washing me down

I don’t know why I love you like I do
All the troubles you put me through
Sixteen candles there on my wall
And here am I the biggest fool of them all

I wanna know that you’ll tell me
I love to stay
Take me to the river and drop me in the water
Dip me in the river, drop me in the water
Washing me down, washing me down.
.