Sauvies or Jones Beach tonight after work?

Kruse · Since 21 Oct 2005 63 Posts

[quote="Youkai"]
I never thought I'd say this but excepting the lack of wind I think I'm spoiled by Sauvie.

That is an all time classic quote!

Bill C · Since 15 Sep 2005 203 Posts Portland Stoked

Sauvie is a magical place. Where else can you hang out with gang bangers and watch trailer park entertainment while your car is getting broke into.

Youkai · Since 08 Feb 2010 553 Posts Beaverton Addicted

Oh come on be nice lol. To be fair this is only my first season and my only other experience was Saturday at Rooster where I was way over powered on my 11m and I forgot my 7m Sad

On a side note is it just me or do sandbars suck? Again this could be because I can't do a land start yet but I like that at Sauvie I can walk 5 feet into the water and be deep enough for a water start. I had to walk quite a ways away from the shore at Rooster to get deep enough to water start.

Sasquatch · Since 09 Mar 2005 2102 Posts PNW Bigfoot

SI: Once in a blue moon or shall I say a harvest moon, SI will blow strong 9 to 11m SLE kite size. This will create some small swell up by the tree clearing over by the stream outlet on the Ridgefield wildlife sancutary side. There is also butter flat water over there. There is also butter close-in on the Oregon side and up by the weiner and buns beach. It seems SI blew more back in the early part of the decade. Windy days have decreased significantly. However, SI wind can be fan steady with no variances. . .which is a cream dream. In August and Sept there can be some sweet Harvest Moon evening riding and the drive on the island is beautiful. The beach is a melting pot of people and income classes. . .some care for the environment, others leave their garbage right where they sat on the beach. That being said, SI can be fun, but overall, at a certain point in your kiting career, you will look for better sites.

On a rare occation, SI has been the only game in town; that was when I would see HR/gorge people visit.

Jones: is a haul for flat water and chop. Love the beach access and wide open feel.

Beach: Sharks, waves, and cold water. Don't go there. Razz

windpower · Since 27 Jul 2010 48 Posts Hood River / Colorado

Whether Sauvie is appealing or not to someone has entirely to do with their objectives. People get into little battles over whether a kiting spot is "good" or not based merely on differing -- and unarticulated -- objectives.

Some possible reasons it might appeal to many people:

Wind blows there on sunny days, with blue, flat water and a picture-perfect view of Mt Hood as a backdrop to the kiters -- it's probably the best place of the many I've checked out to get awesome kiting photos. There's over a mile of kiteable beach, meaning plenty of room for everyone, including dogs (though with so much space, that means you need to be able to self-land). Wakes from passing ships can be fun. Lack of sandbars and hidden logs/rocks means no chance of running aground or needing to steer around such things.

It's 50 minutes from NE Portland (that means 1hr 40min from HR). You can park right by where you kite, and therefore it's easy to haul in barbeque stuff and really make a nice evening of it, especially if you are traveling with non-kiters as well. The kiter crowd is totally devoid of pissy attitude, and remarks above about a class divide with the non-kiter crowd are in my opinion both unkind and unwarranted.

Winds are fabulously steady -- good for learning or practicing new stuff. I've seen it be 12m weather many times this summer. However, I've definitely wished I owned a 14m in order to go there more often, or be less worried about stalling out in the shipping channel.

Additionally, Sauvie seems by observation to be good on easterly days (this occurred on both big easterly weekends this summer). So, for folks who have a distaste for nudity at Rooster and don't want to use the western part of Rooster, they can go to Sauvie instead.

Finally, Sauvie just got its own sensor and forecast line on ikitesurf, so it should be a little easier to choose when to go!

pdxmonkeyboy · Thu Aug 19, 10 6:06 pm

If your objective is to sit on the beach with the possible chance of mowing the lawn sauvie is great.

If you like to ride flat water, boost big airs, or scream over the water at my Mach 10, sauvie doesn't give it out like she used to.

It's a great place to learn to kite but after a couple years, it's a fairly boring kite wise.

Nak · Thu Aug 19, 10 7:27 pm

Sauvie's listed as an choice over Rooster on Easterlies? No offense intended, but that's funny as hell! Laughing

All kidding aside, Just so you know, Easterlies tend to kill Sauvies. There can be exceptions of course. Especially when Rooster is nuked out, it's a rare day indeed that Sauvies is rideable.