Does anyone kite at Vancouver Lake in the Couv, WA?

rockinbach · Since 11 Apr 2010 51 Posts Vancouver, WA

Hello, I moved here recently and was wondering if anyone kites Vancouver Lake just northwest of downtown Vancouver, WA? I live literally 5 minutes away and just can't resist the close proximity. I've been there to check it out. It looks pretty decent. Decently large lake with relatively sufficient beach access areas within the public park and also outside of it by where the crew team practices. I haven't, however, checked it out on any windy days to see what the wind is like over there.

I also did notice some stuff about how iffy the water quality was in the 70's when Alcoa handed it over to the city. But they claim to have made attempts to clean it up since then. I mean they let folks swim in it.

Any input?

Thanks,

Todd
rockinbach

pdxmonkeyboy · Sun Apr 11, 10 5:53 pm

Nope

shitty wind and very very bad water quality. Not sure what the heavy metal counts look like bur the fecal coliform counts are off the charts. Failing septic systems along burnt bridge creek channel tons of human shit into the lake and the cow pastures flanking the lake get flooded in the winter= more shit. Kind of a bummer as it could be a cool place if the wind was better

pauls · Since 20 Jun 2005 564 Posts Northern Portugal Addicted

Agree with PDXMB. Vancouver lake is a big dirty tease. I live in Arnada part of Vancouver and the lake would be very convenient but regardless of water quality it just fails to deliver. I've windsurfed and kited on it and it was always a wasted effort. The southerly storm winds are gusty to the point of being unridable and there are much better places to go when the northerlies start to kick in.
From West side of Vancouver closest spots for Easterlies go to Rooster. Westerlies Jones or Stevenson. Northerlies Woodland or Kalama or if you like driving Sauvies. Southerly storm winds - you can try Frenchmans Bar or Wintler - search the forum for the stories. Lots more places - you'll soon find them if you get out and ride

Gorgegezzer · Since 14 Jan 2007 67 Posts

The wind died on him on Vancouver Lake, He had to swim in. The wetsuit rubbed his skin and he got an infection so bad, he had to see a Docter who presribed antiboitics

BoostinRooster · Since 11 Apr 2010 1 Posts New Member

I do!!!! It's wicked!!!! Love the cow shit!

hobbsla · Since 28 Jan 2006 389 Posts Obsessed

Nice avatar Rolling Eyes

shred_da_gorge · Mon Apr 12, 10 9:21 am

I used to bike race there weekly and enjoyed the lack of wind, FWIW.

rockinbach · Since 11 Apr 2010 51 Posts Vancouver, WA

From the Columbian

http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/may/09/swimmer-dives-in-to-bring-attention-to-vancouver-l/

Matt Graves takes a practice swim Saturday morning at Vancouver Lake, which he plans to cross May 28. Sailing club members Tim Brown and Roy Potts accompany him in a motorboat.
Vancouver Lake swim
When Matt Graves tells people he’s planning to swim across Vancouver Lake on May 28 to promote awareness of water quality, he said, they usually have a uniform assessment.

They say he’s crazy.

The 2,600-acre lake, tucked between Vancouver’s city limits and the point where the Columbia River bends to the north, has paid the price for man-made changes to the natural environment. The Columbia, harnessed by dams and constricted by dikes, no longer pushes out accumulating sediment with rampaging bursts of springtime snowmelt.

Vancouver Lake is now badly clogged with silt.

During a practice swim Saturday morning, Graves stood up in chest-high water at a buoy marking the midpoint of a two-mile swim.

“I don’t think most people realize how shallow that lake is,” he said.

At the same time, stormwater — collecting everything from fertilizers to motor oils — continues to pour in by way of Burnt Bridge Creek and Lake River. Public health authorities have commonly issued no-swimming recommendations in recent summers due to blue-green algae blooms in the shallow water.

Graves, 34, an environmental specialist who works for the Port of Vancouver, hopes that his swim will help people realize the cumulative effect of lawn chemicals and other pollutants dripping into storm drains that ultimately flow into the lake.

“People have a big impact on water quality,” he said. “The more aware people can be … the longer we can keep places like Vancouver Lake open for future generations to keep using.”

Graves is not only raising awareness with his swim, but he’s also partnered with the nonprofit Hough Foundation to raise money for the foundation’s Pool Pal Scholarship program, which gives children access to open swim times at Marshall Pool. He said he spoke last week to excited students at Hough Elementary School, who donated $20 they had collected.

On Saturday, Graves tested the waters.

Clad in a light wet suit donated by Seven Seas Scuba of Vancouver and wearing a swimming cap adorned with an X-mark through “E. coli” and “Blue-green algae,” Graves set out from the dock of the Vancouver Lake Sailing Club on the lake’s eastern shore. Tim Brown, the club’s commodore, and member Roy Potts shadowed Graves in a small motorboat.

Members of the sailing club have been active in working with local authorities to clean up the lake.

“Vancouver’s lucky to have this,” Potts said.

Indeed, on a sunny morning with the surface glassy-smooth, the lake glimmered as a natural jewel in an urbanized environment.

Graves, who swam competitively while growing up in Coos Bay, Ore., slipped into the water shortly after 8:30 a.m. He had been swimming regularly at the Hough Pool, until funding shortfalls forced the foundation to close it permanently in February, but he wanted the chance to try the real deal on Saturday.

“It definitely took the breath out of you when you jumped in,” he said.

After a few initial zig-zags, Graves straightened his course with help from Brown and Potts aboard the motorboat. It took him 26 minutes to get a mile out to the midpoint buoy and another 29 minutes on the return back to the eastern shore.

On the morning of May 28, he’s planning a straight west-to-east course from Vancouver Lake Park all the way across to the sailing club.

He’s hoping the water will be fine.

“If people understood this lake should be open to swimming, then people would be more aware of how to keep it clean,” he said.

• What: Benefit swim across Vancouver Lake.

• When: 8 a.m. Friday, May 28.

• Where: Matt Graves will start his two-mile swim at Vancouver Lake Park on the west side of the lake and finish at the Vancouver Lake Sailing Club on the eastern shore.

• To donate: To sponsor the swim or make a donation, go to http://www.houghfoundation.org.