Although all the windsurf contests I was planning to attend this summer have been postponed and cancelled, it definitely hasn’t put a damper on the amount of windsurfing I’ve been doing.
The early spring closures and lockdowns forced me to explore new launch spots in the Gorge, and the limited services at campgrounds on the coast meant no showers after our salty sessions.
In the early spring our go-to spots on the Washington State side of the river such as “The Hatchery” and “Doug’s Beach” were closed along with most other parks and Port of Hood River beaches. That meant that for a while our only launch option was from a friend’s private residence with water access. With a slow reopening we were allowed to access water from “The Hook” and “The Marina”, both spots we normally don’t use. As it turns out they’re excellent launches. Who knows, we might be using them some more. At every beach we followed all the safety precautions, kept a safe distance, avoided contact and kept healthy by enjoying the outdoors and the wind! We even had a photographer from Outside Online covering how rural parts of Oregon were coping with the pandemic. Kilii, the photographer, took some photos of Kelsey and I sailing at this spot in early spring, and also of our housemate Bobby wing roller blading in the Hood River Event Site parking lot, which he later used in his article.
It was a cool month of June, which favors some of the spots in the eastern Gorge. They’re a bit more of a drive, 45 minutes to oen hour, but well worth it! With the sun going down very late, we scored more sunset Arlington sessions than ever. My most used set-up there was my Starboard Ultrakode 76 and Sailworks Revolution 3.5! What a fun spot to sail!
Travel to most of the Oregon Coast was discouraged in the spring, but when State Parks reopened Kelsey and I scored a few good trips. We went down to Pistol River for a week with her dad and brother. We camped at Huntley Park, a few miles up the Rogue River, and after a couple days of solid rain, we ended with a few days in a row of 4.0m and 4.5m wave sailing at Pistol River. There was no contest there this year, but it’s always such a fun place to sail, and there is always a good crew of local riders and dedicated windsurfers to keep the stoke level high!
Besides Pistol we did a few weekend trips to Florence, also an excellent wave sailing spot on the Oregon Coast only four hours drive from Hood River. Every trip we did there turned out to have excellent wind and waves, a good SUP surf session and great camping. We got Kelsey a new surf SUP so she’s stoked to get out in the waves in the mornings too!
At the beginning of July between those adventures Kelsey and I managed to get married too! We had a small ceremony, and are hoping to do something a bit larger next summer when we can gather larger groups.
The summer winds in the Gorge have been good as ever! With all the launch sites reopened, we’ve mostly been windsurfing at the Hatchery, Doug’s Beach, and a couple of Stevenson sessions on east wind days.
During a normal summer Gorge launch sites are packed with Canadians, but with the border being closed to nonessential travel they’re all forced to keep it local up north. However, the beaches in the Gorge continue to be packed! There has definitely been a bit of a windsurfing resurrection in the states, all the “finning” launch sites have been full on the windy weekends, and the Event Site where people foil from has seen a steady growth of wind foilers.
Time to wrap up this long overdue update. The wind is already averaging 15 knots at the Hatchery, which means soon enough it’ll be 20 knots. Time to throw the Starboard Ignite 93 in the van and pack a lunch!
