Windsurfing
I was wondering how many fellow RV’rs and rv.net enthusiasts also have the windsurfing bug? I would be interested in hearing about, and seeing (pics) of, places you have been and how you outfit your ...
Forum Discussion
Okay, I'll just admit it. I'm not dying to sail at the Gorge.
I visited once, when it was too cold to sail. (Or, well, too cold for us--we talked to a guy whose beard was frozen solid when he came in off the water.) It's a pretty area and all, but the prospect of sailing there does nothing for me.
One major reason is the same as at Canadian Hole--the crowds. Can't stand 'em. I'm there to sail, not to mix it up with everybody else. I find it dangerous, and not knowing whether the person coming at me knows (or will heed) the right of way rules makes me nervous.
At Bird Island, I got to know a particular woman because we'd both go way downwind to get away from everybody else. When we'd inevitably be approaching each other, we'd both make a long, wide arc around each other, leaving no doubt that we were getting out of each other's way. Not to accuse here, but I've found that men (and men comprise what, 90 or 95% of windsurfers?) will bear right down on you and yield at the last second. If at all.
Don't get me wrong--I like racing, and sailing close, and even terrorizing, if it's with people I know AND everybody is in agreement that's what's going on. But I hate when people I don't know terrorize me just because it's the way THEY have fun.
I'm also very much cowed by the prospect, at the Gorge, of dodging those huge barges, especially while dealing with waves/swell/current and deep, cold water. The good news is that I wouldn't be sailing at the same time that people like to do jumps and loops, so it's unlikely I'll be landed on by somebody.
Because I don't really want to go there, I haven't researched it in depth, but there seems to be a lot of wind-chasing going on. I'm more the type to sit still and have the wind come to me. And if it doesn't, it doesn't--I'll do something else. Something that doesn't involved familiarity with isobars. I realize that's not really the Gorge mentality.
That said, it's likely we'll end up there at some point and I'll certainly entertain the notion of sailing. Maybe I'll discover a kinder, gentler side of the Gorge that is more suited to the testosterone-deficient.
I visited once, when it was too cold to sail. (Or, well, too cold for us--we talked to a guy whose beard was frozen solid when he came in off the water.) It's a pretty area and all, but the prospect of sailing there does nothing for me.
One major reason is the same as at Canadian Hole--the crowds. Can't stand 'em. I'm there to sail, not to mix it up with everybody else. I find it dangerous, and not knowing whether the person coming at me knows (or will heed) the right of way rules makes me nervous.
At Bird Island, I got to know a particular woman because we'd both go way downwind to get away from everybody else. When we'd inevitably be approaching each other, we'd both make a long, wide arc around each other, leaving no doubt that we were getting out of each other's way. Not to accuse here, but I've found that men (and men comprise what, 90 or 95% of windsurfers?) will bear right down on you and yield at the last second. If at all.
Don't get me wrong--I like racing, and sailing close, and even terrorizing, if it's with people I know AND everybody is in agreement that's what's going on. But I hate when people I don't know terrorize me just because it's the way THEY have fun.
I'm also very much cowed by the prospect, at the Gorge, of dodging those huge barges, especially while dealing with waves/swell/current and deep, cold water. The good news is that I wouldn't be sailing at the same time that people like to do jumps and loops, so it's unlikely I'll be landed on by somebody.
Because I don't really want to go there, I haven't researched it in depth, but there seems to be a lot of wind-chasing going on. I'm more the type to sit still and have the wind come to me. And if it doesn't, it doesn't--I'll do something else. Something that doesn't involved familiarity with isobars. I realize that's not really the Gorge mentality.
That said, it's likely we'll end up there at some point and I'll certainly entertain the notion of sailing. Maybe I'll discover a kinder, gentler side of the Gorge that is more suited to the testosterone-deficient.
