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--- gorge_downwind_champs_2022 [2022/07/31 18:08]
preavley created
+++ gorge_downwind_champs_2022 [2025/03/23 19:49] (current)
@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 **Gorge Results** \\
-**Paul ****Reavley **Jul 15   #32012  \\
+**Paul ****Reavley **Jul 15 #32012\\
-Posting here: https://my.raceresult.com/211454/results#0_3EF1B7
+Posting here: [[https://my.raceresult.com/211454/results#0_3EF1B7|https://my.raceresult.com/211454/results#0_3EF1B7]]
-**Reivers ****Dustin **Jul 15   #32016  \\
+**Reivers ****Dustin **Jul 15 #32016\\
-No stories?  Looks like several mid-race pull-outs.  A full page of did not start people.  Looks like some folks found bad current.  Just going by finish times there must have been some totally wrong lines.
+No stories? Looks like several mid-race pull-outs. A full page of did not start people. Looks like some folks found bad current. Just going by finish times there must have been some totally wrong lines.
-**David Hooper **Jul 15   #32017  \\
+**David Hooper **Jul 15 #32017\\
 Sorry, Reivers! Dan's single malt is preventing cogent reretelling of tales.
-**David Hooper** Jul 15   #32018  \\
+**David Hooper** Jul 15 #32018\\
-Suffice to say: lots of current,  wrong direction.
+Suffice to say: lots of current, wrong direction.
-**Denise Weeks** Jul 16   #32020  \\
+**Denise Weeks** Jul 16 #32020\\
 Okay, I’ll take a stab at it. I missed out on the single malt.
@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 Denise
-**bflannelly50 **Jul 16   #32021  \\
+**bflannelly50 **Jul 16 #32021\\
-Reivers-I’d like to hear a report about a guy who was woken up past his bedtime by a group phone call by a bunch of drunken Barnacles in the Gorge. I hope you enjoyed our rendition of “Happy Birthday To You”. By coincidence, a guy walked past and it actually was his birthday. \\
+Reivers-I’d like to hear a report about a guy who was woken up past his bedtime by a group phone call by a bunch of drunken Barnacles in the Gorge. I hope you enjoyed our rendition of “Happy Birthday To You”. By coincidence, a guy walked past and it actually was his birthday.\\
 Father Flannelly
-**Mary ****Harmon **Jul 16   #32022  \\
+**Mary ****Harmon **Jul 16 #32022\\
 Great write-up Denise!!
-**Larry ****Bussinger **Jul 16   #32023  \\
+**Larry ****Bussinger **Jul 16 #32023\\
-Another short version.  The start was messy with hundreds of boat ahead of me.  I saw the out-riggers heading for the Oregon side, so I followed like a lemming.  It was messy through the Narrows and the runners were moving so fast that this old body couldn’t catch them.  About a mile before Viento I started catching waves and having a good time. (Except for dodging fish nets.  Not sure why I‘m attracted to them).  Big 4 footer stuff in front of Mitchell Rock and I’m booking it.  But then the guy I’m catching goes over right in front of the rock.  So… feet over and holding station in the mess until he remounts.  Took 3-4 tries until I suggested he put a leg over both sides of the boat.  He finally got going after about 5 minutes.  Then great fun to the finish.
+Another short version. The start was messy with hundreds of boat ahead of me. I saw the out-riggers heading for the Oregon side, so I followed like a lemming. It was messy through the Narrows and the runners were moving so fast that this old body couldn’t catch them. About a mile before Viento I started catching waves and having a good time. (Except for dodging fish nets. Not sure why I‘m attracted to them). Big 4 footer stuff in front of Mitchell Rock and I’m booking it. But then the guy I’m catching goes over right in front of the rock. So… feet over and holding station in the mess until he remounts. Took 3-4 tries until I suggested he put a leg over both sides of the boat. He finally got going after about 5 minutes. Then great fun to the finish.
 Larry Bussinger
-**Larry ****Bussinger **Jul 16   #32024  \\
+**Larry ****Bussinger **Jul 16 #32024\\
-I also made off with someone’s blue folding chair.  Let me know.
+I also made off with someone’s blue folding chair. Let me know.
 Larry Bussinger
-**Kimberly Reeves** Jul 17   #32031
+**Kimberly Reeves** Jul 17 #32031
 Denise D and I took our time getting to the start. All the boats were jammed up close to the start boat so they could jump to the Oregon side.\\
@@ Line 49: / Line 49: @@
 As we paddled OR side we watched folks mid-right of the river surfing, but they weren’t going faster than us further right so we stayed put.\\
-The weed gods decided to visit our rudder and we had to do the classic back-up twice, but then we were on our way again. I gotta say that the last 2 miles were a test of our ability to grind it out. We were exhausted, mildly cramping and our wee bums were sore. I can’t remember being so happy seeing a finish line or recall Dominoes  pizza ever tasting that good.
+The weed gods decided to visit our rudder and we had to do the classic back-up twice, but then we were on our way again. I gotta say that the last 2 miles were a test of our ability to grind it out. We were exhausted, mildly cramping and our wee bums were sore. I can’t remember being so happy seeing a finish line or recall Dominoes pizza ever tasting that good.
 Big shout out to all of the wondermous volunteers.
-**Eric ****Grossman **Jul 17   #32032  \\
+**Eric ****Grossman **Jul 17 #32032\\
 Good Boys and Bad Boys in Da Gorge
-I was a good boy and made it to the Gorge finally, bad boy for taking so long. Joined all the good Bellingham boys and girls to surf and what a show, awesome representation with so many making the podium - like Kim said “good to be a hamster”. I had a blast in the big surf and a scare on the road home....For all you folks with Good Boy racks…I was making what seemed like better time home yesterday on I-5 than in the race and all of a sudden heard some crazy knocking sound from my boat and fearing the worst made a b-line for the next offramp - only to find straps and boat perfect, but apparently a subtle change in wind direction had the quick connect pins for the base bar extension vibrating and sounding like a broken strap - so a quick tape job fixed that and might save your heart rate spiking above your threshold someday.
+I was a good boy and made it to the Gorge finally, bad boy for taking so long. Joined all the good Bellingham boys and girls to surf and what a show, awesome representation with so many making the podium - like Kim said “good to be a hamster”. I had a blast in the big surf and a scare on the road home….For all you folks with Good Boy racks…I was making what seemed like better time home yesterday on I-5 than in the race and all of a sudden heard some crazy knocking sound from my boat and fearing the worst made a b-line for the next offramp - only to find straps and boat perfect, but apparently a subtle change in wind direction had the quick connect pins for the base bar extension vibrating and sounding like a broken strap - so a quick tape job fixed that and might save your heart rate spiking above your threshold someday.
 Race went ok, though had to go a bit gingerly on a sore back muscle after over-rotating almost into the soup checking out the White Salmon blue can the day before. Had to follow Duncan's guidance to become a good barnacle someday and Kim’s whiskey that night didn’t help. Also tried to follow Father Flannely’s advice to initially hug WA in waves near the eddy line, then cross to center right after the end of the narrows concrete marker, but waves coerced me immediately into the middle where I worked hard and seemingly harder than Dennis who obviously listens to the Father. He wasn’t really gaining, but always in striking distance. Instead I followed Tom and kept passing competitors while we were in the waves then losing a few places the last 3-4 miles without waves to guys with arms as big as my hamstrings. Surf got better past Viento and best about 50 yards off of Mitchell’s even in glassy conditions! Yeah glassy - right past Mitchell’s any sign of wind disappeared - probably because I stayed too far right. Had fun neck and neck with a few racers then managed to catch the slightest ripples possible telling myself the sooner I can get my aching back straight, butt out of the bucket and some of Kim’s whiskey the better.
@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 El Grosso
-{{https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/groupsioattachments/13838/92410605/32032/0?nolink&|IMG_6801_sternwheeler.jpg}}
+{{:races:gorge:gorge22_1.jpg?direct&500x281|gorge22_1.jpg}}
-**David ****Hooper **Jul 17   #32033  \\
+**David ****Hooper **Jul 17 #32033\\
 A fun week, indeed. A few highlights:\\
-letting go of the "must have waves to paddle" feeling on Monday, and having a beautiful, mellow, downwind+downriver paddle from Drano to Stevenson in the easterlies. No surfing to speak of, but I decided that a low effort, 7+ mph, 13 mile paddle in a beautiful place is ok too. Plus, it's so much nicer on the river than on land when it's 97 degrees. \\
+letting go of the "must have waves to paddle" feeling on Monday, and having a beautiful, mellow, downwind+downriver paddle from Drano to Stevenson in the easterlies. No surfing to speak of, but I decided that a low effort, 7+ mph, 13 mile paddle in a beautiful place is ok too. Plus, it's so much nicer on the river than on land when it's 97 degrees.\\
 Camping with the BBOP crew and hanging with Denice and Reina's Hawaiian friends, all a short walk from Barnacle Central.\\
-Not having the biggest tent in the campground, but close. \\
+Not having the biggest tent in the campground, but close.\\
 Air mattresses.\\
 So many fun paddles with so many fun folks.\\
 Race day was a grind at the end, but waves were fun through the narrows and especially at Mitchell's. I was (stealthily) duking it out with Dennis from before Viento to just past Well's Island. As I'm sure he's happy to report, this year's lesson for him was "Never give up, even if it seems futile. Your competitor could always run into weeds right before the finish." The finish buoys were in sight, when I tried to shave a few seconds by cutting close to the east end of the island, only to run into a thicket of benthic macrophytes - stuff growing off the bottom all the way to the surface. Just like paddling through an eelgrass bed at low tide. Dennis walked past me, and when I finally got out, I must have had a thicket on my rudder still. Had to stop and back up, by which time my quarry was long gone - all within less than a half mile to the finish. Motto for this year: if you can't prevail, at least learn something, and have fun along the way.\\
 Spent yesterday morning packing up camp (I couldn't find the push button to make our tent automatically fold up), then hopped in with Eric G. and Kirk C. for one last Home Valley run. We found some of the sweetest sets of the week (for me, anyway) lining up right along the Oregon shore. I was pretty lazy and didn't do any GoPro footage this week, but sure wish I had some of that.\\
-Congrats to everyone up there on the podium, those who raced and prevailed over the current (or suffered through it to the finish), or who just came down for the fun of it. \\
+Congrats to everyone up there on the podium, those who raced and prevailed over the current (or suffered through it to the finish), or who just came down for the fun of it.\\
 A few pics attached of Barnacles in Paradise.\\
 Dave H.
-**Dan ****Mayhew **Jul 17   #32034
+{{:races:gorge:gorge22_2.jpg?direct&400x194}}{{:races:gorge:gorge22_3.jpg?direct&400x513|gorge22_3.jpg}}{{:races:gorge:gorge22_4.jpg?direct&400x194}}{{:races:gorge:gorge22_5.jpg?direct&129x200|gorge22_5.jpg}}{{:races:gorge:gorge22_6.jpg?direct&400x194|gorge22_6.jpg}}
-I had a much better start to the race than the remounting demonstration I gave last year in front of all the OC-1 paddlers that were queued up behind the surfskiers.  After the red flag went up it took me awhile to warm up. Once I found my grove, I was alone on the Washington side watching the hordes fly down the Oregon side.
+**Dan ****Mayhew **Jul 17 #32034
-I paddled a few miles then I saw a lone surfski ahead of me even closer to the Washington shore. Of the 500 paddlers it was my archrival, Deano! This season I beat him in the Lake Whatcom Classic, and he destroyed me in the Ski to Sea.  That made The Gorge the season championship. Game was on to catch him.
+I had a much better start to the race than the remounting demonstration I gave last year in front of all the OC-1 paddlers that were queued up behind the surfskiers. After the red flag went up it took me awhile to warm up. Once I found my grove, I was alone on the Washington side watching the hordes fly down the Oregon side.
-A perfect train of waves took me from about 15 waves back to two waves behind him. I hung there a bit waiting for another train to jump on. No train, but I did pull even, and we started yelling at each other with giant smiles on our faces.  I couldn’t exactly hear what he was saying, but I am pretty it sure it was: “you look great, and you’re crushing it!” That Deano is a swell guy.
+I paddled a few miles then I saw a lone surfski ahead of me even closer to the Washington shore. Of the 500 paddlers it was my archrival, Deano! This season I beat him in the Lake Whatcom Classic, and he destroyed me in the Ski to Sea. That made The Gorge the season championship. Game was on to catch him.
+A perfect train of waves took me from about 15 waves back to two waves behind him. I hung there a bit waiting for another train to jump on. No train, but I did pull even, and we started yelling at each other with giant smiles on our faces. I couldn’t exactly hear what he was saying, but I am pretty it sure it was: “you look great, and you’re crushing it!” That Deano is a swell guy.
 We traded the lead along the Washington side for a long time, and then sidled over to the Oregon side after Mitchell Rock. When we were mid-right center Dean said go further to Oregon to get out of the current. I moved over to the eddy line and immediately felt my boat get lighter. I am not sure why Dean didn’t follow me over. I think he was just taking great joy in seeing me do so well.
@@ Line 96: / Line 98: @@
 Dan
-**allipp@... **Jul 17   #32035  \\
+**allipp@…**Jul 17 #32035\\
-Dave, I'm glad to hear that you also had good waves at Mitchell Point.  In our heat, which started maybe 20 to 30 minutes before yours, we had our best waves of the race through there.  A few people in later heats suggested to me that the wind had shut down for them, and that we were lucky to race earlier and get the waves that we got.  It's good to know that the waves were still there for you, and that the others just took the wrong line.
+Dave, I'm glad to hear that you also had good waves at Mitchell Point. In our heat, which started maybe 20 to 30 minutes before yours, we had our best waves of the race through there. A few people in later heats suggested to me that the wind had shut down for them, and that we were lucky to race earlier and get the waves that we got. It's good to know that the waves were still there for you, and that the others just took the wrong line.
-**paul ****clement **Jul 17   #32036  \\
+**paul ****clement **Jul 17 #32036\\
-Great week of downwind runs without the Champs to fuss about. We had a fun run on race day watching everybody crush the course, then we jumped out at the hatch. Best decision of the day! It was cool to see so many yellow jerseys on the river. \\
+Great week of downwind runs without the Champs to fuss about. We had a fun run on race day watching everybody crush the course, then we jumped out at the hatch. Best decision of the day! It was cool to see so many yellow jerseys on the river.\\
 Managed the usual road ride and a few Viento runs plus a bunch on the “Wild Side”. Overall a fantastic week!!
-**Erica ****Quam **Jul 18   #32059  \\
+**Erica ****Quam **Jul 18 #32059\\
 Last year was my first time at the Gorge: I only got in one Home Valley run before race day and the big waves (plus Carter's pre race warning about how big it would be in swell city) led me to bail at Drano Lake.
@@ Line 110: / Line 112: @@
 A highlight for me was a Home Valley to Drano run on Wednesday with Julie & Sue, Dave Hooper, and Jeff and Stacey Castleberry. Once I realized I could remount in big conditions (2 swims in the narrows) I was more relaxed and aggressive chasing those bigger waves!
-I'm ever so grateful for this paddling community. We've got a special thing here in Bellingham! Thanks to everyone who makes paddling (and hanging out and talking about whatever...) so much fun. Peter - you were on our minds down there. I'd like to give you a special shout out for sharing all your knowledge, helping build community and all your encouragement since I started paddling a ski.
+I'm ever so grateful for this paddling community. We've got a special thing here in Bellingham! Thanks to everyone who makes paddling (and hanging out and talking about whatever…) so much fun. Peter - you were on our minds down there. I'd like to give you a special shout out for sharing all your knowledge, helping build community and all your encouragement since I started paddling a ski.
-Here's my short highlight reel https://www.instagram.com/reel/CgKoHjIAyGe/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
+Here's my short highlight reel [[https://www.instagram.com/reel/CgKoHjIAyGe/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link|https://www.instagram.com/reel/CgKoHjIAyGe/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link]]

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