Yesterday though, I got a break with a very, very long day of Windsurfing here in the Gorge. Windsurfing’s my usual release and diversion so I don’t go crazy, but it’s been pretty infrequent that it’s been good. Combine that with the above drudgery and it’s no wonder I’ve been grumpy <g>…

Anyway, yesterday was one of those days memorable days on the river where we started out in the morning around 9am and driving out to a spot that normally isn’t a favorite. Waking up to a wind sensor reading 34mph this early in the day has the makings for a truly epic day. Dougs Beach is not my preferred spot but when we showed up around 9:30, it was already cranking. Now here in the Gorge Memorial day *usually* is a madhouse with people from all around coming in to camp out for the long weekend. Normally at 8am you’d be lucky to get a parking spot at any of the major sailing sites. Yesterday at 9:30 with 3.5m wind blowing, there are maybe 10 cars in the lot? I could hear the theme to the Twilight Zone playing in the background. After some coercion and contemplation, we ended up sailing for an hour in horrible choppy conditions. 1 down, 3 to go…

Next further driving out East. The gradients have gone ballistic by now around noon. With that kind of pressure difference expectations are high. We arrive at the Wall a little later. Ah, this is where some of the people went. Out at the Wall it looks a bit more crowded, but where’s the big wind? It’s reasonably windy but nothing like what the gradients would bely. The Wall and surrounding waters of the river are much more pleasant to hang out in and the sailing even in marginal 4.2m conditions is a treat, with head high swell ramping up even in the marginal conditions. The 2 hours on the water go by in no time at all… Coming out I realize I forgot to put on sunscreen in my hurry to go out. This after joking around with another guy who had a ‘slight’ burn on his neck. Ouch… 2 down – 2 to go.

Usually a day like this begs for a drive further east to Arlington, but the sensors are not reading good. Drat – love the Point at Arlington and I haven’t made it out there yet. The meter at Doug’s however is reading mid 30s now, so we get into the car and back towards Hood River. Driving up to Dougs is a sight – the river is white washed with spray ripping off the white caps and 6 foot+ swells rolling through. And there’s nobody there. There are 8 cars in the lot and it’s 3.0. The Twilight Zone theme repeats. Holy shit it’s windy. I brought small gear, but is it small enough??? It turns out the answer is barely – it’s freaking windy. The gusts must have easily hit 50mph. Getting through those means just letting all the air spill out of the sail. Luckily the main wind is a little more bearable at maybe 40mph? But what an experience – it’s been a while since I’ve sailed a big day like this and riding to steep completely blown out windswells in the troughs makes the world go dark <g>… a few of those where way over head high. There’s nothing that compares to Victory at Sea sailing even if it’s – putting it mildly – a little out of control. You know it’s windy when you jump and the surface of the 7 foot something board provides most of the lift in the jump… Now I’m really worked. But we’re still not done!!!

By now it’s about 7pm. We set out to hit 3 *different* sites. But we only hit 2 – we sailed Dougs twice and sorry, that doesn’t count. Alrighty then. Back to the Hatchery. We roll up to the Hatchery which is the most crowded spot for Windsurfing on this river usually – the signature Gorge spot. It’s late, but it’s windy here as well. Not quite as windy as Dougs, but there’s still occasional spray. The Hatchery lot is EMPTY. There are two cars parked with people who got done at least an hour ago. What the heck is going on? It’s Memorial Day weekend which traditionally next to 4^th July is the busiest of the year, with the place crawling with Tourists. Nobody. We could have gone out and sailed the Hatchery by ourselves, but it looks a bit choppy so we drive up to swell, rig and go out – by ourselves. The whole Corridor is empty, not a single sailor out – and it’s hammered 3.5m. Ok, this session was fun, but it wasn’t much of an impressive session. A few jumps and attempted spectacularily wiped out back loops are the highlights of this very short session before I can’t remember how to water start…

Phew… what a day. It’s one of those days where you leave everything you got out with mother nature. When I came back home, I managed to read for about 15 minutes before passing out for the night at 10:30 (which not even close to my usual bedtime).

Another day. Ah I feel better now. It’s like the cobwebs and doldrums have lifted at least for the moment. Give me a little while with the damn SmartPhone stuff and it might come back <g>.  But seriously, it’s such an important reminder that getting out really blowing off some steam is so important for a better attitude and aura for daily life.

Maybe now things will go a bit better in the office as well!