south Oregon coast 2018

[LeopardSkin]

Must be really warm, cuz no hoodies!

[C36]

Must be really warm, cuz no hoodies!

Water is cool/cold from upwelling, but hoods and boots are optional.

S14 – Pistol River (2018 June 23)


Assignments. Yuma very kindly gave each of Johnny (top turn - back foot pressure), Heather (bottom turn – dropping in or pivoting on the wave) and I (tighter bottom turn and top turn transition – hands and back foot pressure) some coaching last night and assignments of things to work on today. Heat bubble at the rock delayed taking to the water until early afternoon even though the cape was 4.0 by 10 am (but too flat to draw any takers). We all worked on our assignments today and made progress. Many thanks to Yuma for working with us. Leo seemed to think his new-to-him wetsuit was much warmer (seems he used to get cold walking down to the water in his old perforated suit). Yuma took in a quick ‘glass off’ session at the cape and said it was “small”. Dinner at Thai food truck (sounds like they are moving into the old SubWay store) and slide show at the campo with Windoctor, Keen and Redbaron (sound like they shared a fun session at Bandon on the way down.

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Trudy Lary Gallery

[C36]

S15 – Pistol River (2018 June 24)


AC. Pistol River kicked even though there was high heat forecast for Medford. Felt like the AC was turned on down at the beach (much cooler than yesterday). Kites out on Pistol River proper. Gentle start with light wind inside saw early birds given challenging launching conditions but solid wind outside. Those who took to the water latter were treated to slightly more wind (4.5/92 for me). NW wind pushed a little more wind swell than yesterday. Fog flowed over the cape and encircled the rock eventually shutting down the wind. Fun while it lasted. Felt busy out on the water with over a dozen out at once with most sailing above the rock. Newcomers were commenting on how cold the water felt on bare feet (and hot the sand was). Stopped in at the cape for look-see on the way back to town and saw Nanmoo, Ethan and Ned taking to the water for the evening glass off with fairly steady wind but modest swell. Dinner at Panther’s Den (as Thai truck was closed). Another day well spent!

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[Michael]

Yuma very kindly gave each of Johnny (top turn - back foot pressure), Heather (bottom turn – dropping in or pivoting on the wave) and I (tighter bottom turn and top turn transition – hands and back foot pressure) some coaching last night and assignments of things to work on today.

Nice, private lessons from Japan's top ranking sailor! Also glad to see the doctor is in the house, the rock looks small but fun! It's hard to read your posts now, stuck back home.

[C36]

Yuma very kindly gave each of Johnny (top turn - back foot pressure), Heather (bottom turn – dropping in or pivoting on the wave) and I (tighter bottom turn and top turn transition – hands and back foot pressure) some coaching last night and assignments of things to work on today.

Nice, private lessons from Japan's top ranking sailor! Also glad to see the doctor is in the house, the rock looks small but fun! It's hard to read your posts now, stuck back home.

Beyond nice! Yuma is awesome guy and very approachable and giving of his time and talents. Fun to watch sail and even better to get to know. Sad to see him leave today and hope our paths cross again in future.

PS The rock was bigger today - much bigger.

As for you I will take some turn for you tomorrow my friend!

S16 – Cape Sebastian (2018 June 25)


Collison. Early morning look-see at the cape. Yuma headed north. Glad the south Oregon coast and the wind community treated him so well! Safe travels! Morning wind start to amp up faster than the emerging west swell, but the modest almost fun size swell made it playful. Two kites out a full crew of windsurfers. Nanmoo and Redbaron collided – thankful neither was hurt, just minor board damage with kiteboard taking the worst of it. Both seemed very thankful there were no injuries. Reminder of how important shoulder checks are. Saw another Hindenburg while lining up an inbound wave. Thanks to Chris for the reminder, coaching and encouragement on completing my bottom turns. Managed a couple that felt pretty good and Moo commented on one. Stoke was high despite the collison. Thanks to Windoctor for taking the time to shoot! Session wound down when the wind started getting puffy. Windsurfers headed for the rock and kiters headed for Crescent City.

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S17 – Pistol River (2018 June 25)


Silly. Udder arrived just in time for full-on Pistol River conditions to start his trip with a bang. Keen and Moo both got a tour hug from a road weary Udder. Windoctor and Redbaron were the first two out on four-somethings and the rest followed. Barracuda looking dead fish on the beach. Wind ramped up and it turned into survival sailing. Uneasy feeling on the water. After a few reaches Udder joked, “See you next year!” Lots of sailors tucked up just below the islands launching. Crew was sailing well and one local said we were doing a good job of getting out. But once you were outside there was a lot going on. Windoctor and Redbaron were both standouts to my eye. Dana and the Boss rallied and took to the water in the mayhem. Saw even experienced sailors chicken gybing and getting rejected toward the end. Definitely a day for choosing your battles. Challenging session. Udder asked if the next one could be fun. Stopped for a look-see at the cape and it looked windy and Luke was having a solo ‘glass off’ session in 40+ mph gusts.



Udder’s inflatable couch got quite a bit of attention at the campo. Super burritos for seven for dinner.

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[ShonanDB]

Nice, very nice!

[AdrienGrelon]

x2! You doing a full month down there or what, Dave?! Enjoy!

[C36]

x2! You doing a full month down there or what, Dave?! Enjoy!

No. This is the last installment (from the coast).

S18 – Cape Sebastian (2018 June 26)


Quick splash n’ dash. Early morning session at the cape to get one in before the ‘hate’ showed up. Took to the water with Portland Dave about 9:30 am. Nice to go straight from pajamas into my wetsuit. He rigged 3.7 and I rigged 4.0 in anticipation of the wind coming to us and it did. We were both lit from our first rides. There was some nice pulsing west swell to be had. I saw Portland Dave catch on rather large singular moose knuckle that walled up to logo high. Keen mentioned that it looked like I caught a few nice waves. Shore pound walled up quickly at times and I got surprised by the third wave on one trip out and when presented with sudden doom I jettisoned my gear to fend for itself when I drove into the throwing face. Fun way to start the day! Said my good-byes and then began my return trip north with the hopes of finding something sailable along the way but all I found was large close-outs with huge foam piles – Bandon, Winchester, Florence (two kites out beyond the impact zone and double overhead foam piles on the inside), Ponsler, Ocean Beach, Neptune, Yachats were all large, boiling sea and lots of white water. There was a lot of power and energy being released in the ocean today. Newport south jetty was the only spot that looked workable with about a dozen kites in the 9 m range tucked up in the lee of the south jetty. Directly off the beach was another story all together. If this was my first day on the coast I would have gone out, but this was day 14. I decided to keep driving given the long walk up the beach, time of day and I wasn’t too keen on competing with the dozen kites for fun-size waves. I arrived on Wind Mountain just in time to see the sunset. That felt like the right thing to do.

That’s likely my last installment from the south Oregon coast for 2018. It was a good run – 18 sessions in 14 days and on/in the water every day. Even made a few new friends. Now its time to start on the sand extraction (from everything). Looking forward to reading the updates from the others down there.

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[C36]

S19 – Swell City (2018 June 27)


Chunky. Early morning solo session at Swell City. Was looking forward to this redemption session after having to walk away from a session on the return trip from the south Oregon coast last year after bruising my ribs at the cape. Was hoping for a gentle 5.3/115 but got rather feisty 4.5/92. Got to try out the new concrete sidewalk to the beach and my new 3/3 short sleeve wetsuit. All good. Always nice going from pajamas into my wetsuit (the second day in a row). Off to run errands in North Bonneville and Hood River just a locals were arriving at Swell City.

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S20 – Doug’s Beach (2018 June 27)


Windy. There was some wind swell (some that felt overhead high), a little too much wind. Morgan landing towering back loops and a local guy on a 4+ metre Naish sail just killing it. Started on 4.0/74 and rigged down to 3.4, but still only riding swell in the lulls. Was thinking about returning to Swell City for one more try until I realized it was already 7 pm. Hoping for something a little sweeter tomorrow. Dinner at 6th Street and ice cream at Mike’s. It’s all good in the hood.

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[ShonanDB]

Looks like fun. Heading down to the Gorge for the Long Weekend as I can't put enough days together to get to the Cape.