anybody else thinking about hitting the spit today?

magicmaker · Since 29 Oct 2006 895 Posts da Hood Opinionated

well, ikite is saying 14-18 mph with an average of 15.5mph AND it almost looks nice outside. Anybody else thinking about hitting the spit today?

I'm gonna watch the wind graph for the next 2 - 2.5 hours and see how gusty it gets, but i may head out around 3:30 if it doesn't start raining.

magicmaker · Since 29 Oct 2006 895 Posts da Hood Opinionated

i'm going now, sure hope i can figure out how to self land and launch this bow kite!

lance_k · Since 04 May 2005 561 Posts Hood River Photographer

blowing 12-23...

magicmaker · Since 29 Oct 2006 895 Posts da Hood Opinionated

i never would have thought the wind was this gnarly while i was out there on the T2, i thought it was a little gusty, but not this gusty. All i can say is that the sesssion was too f'ing short. I came in just before 5 cause i thought the wind was getting unpredictable, and well, i guess i hit that right on the nose.

OH ya, all that wood and debris out there, is a fucking nightmare. it is badbadbadbadbadbbadbadbadbadbbadbadbadbadbad BAD_BAD_BAD! Mad

Navanod · Since 20 Feb 2007 207 Posts Beaverton Stoked

Yuck!

genek · Since 21 Jul 2006 2165 Posts East Po KGB

That's some classic Gorge winds for ya Confused

lance_k · Since 04 May 2005 561 Posts Hood River Photographer

gee i was bummed i didn't get out until i saw this....

Inept_Fun · Since 14 Apr 2005 1417 Posts Hood River XTreme Poster

Is all the debris located in mostly one area or is it all over the place? If its super terrible then we need some people to get out there while the water is low andCUT SOME SHIT DOWN!

magicmaker · Since 29 Oct 2006 895 Posts da Hood Opinionated

today, the water was fairly high. Basically, there was a small "pool" on the north end, right about in the middle of the sandbar where the southern most side of it on the sand was free from debris; this is where i got out today with the north end of this "pool" opening up into the river. Both the west and east sides of this pool had logs/stumps/branches/everything all over the place.

which brings me to the western most end of this "pool" is probably the north-western most end of the sand bar that was above water today. When i came in upwind of all this shit, i was thinking, man i hope it doesn't gust and i get lofted onto all this debris and get impaled.

The western most part of the sandbar, which was underwater, had tons of big logs, stumps, the whole shitload of debris out there. It is treacherous. I much prefer last spring when the whole sandbar was underwater. I should have taken some pictures with my camera phone. Maybe i'll take my digicam down there tomorrow and take some pictures to post. I may try and hit it again if the conditions are similiar, but i doubt work will let me leave early two days in a row.

inept- I am all for clearing the debris down there but it is not going to be easy, not just because of the permits we'll need to get, but cause most of it is pretty well heavily lodged in the sand. I doubt it can be just pulled into piles to be burned.

lance_k · Since 04 May 2005 561 Posts Hood River Photographer

tekko · Since 20 Feb 2006 376 Posts White Salmon Liquid Force

I have been out to the spit a number of times int he past month or so flying kites and have ridden 3 sessions there.

One thing I will point out is that, even in the past month, it has gotten noticeably better! The first day I went out, it was hard to find enough room to rig and self launch. From there it was "don't put the kite down, or it's done"

Since then, and especially since we have started getting W wind and higher water, a huge amount of wood has moved off the western edge and either floated away, or added to the larger pile in the middle.

Yes it's still a nightmare.. but it is getting better every day.

Lance, the napom idea is a great one.. anyone have any connections?

Either way... and I said this the first time I walked out there..

It's going to be a good year for Airtime Kite Repair!