Anyone sore from yesterday? 7/13

Good morning, and oh boy is it a good morning if you like bid days on the river!

The forecast this week is brought to you Hood River’s best sail repair shop, Sail Repair at 13 Oak Street. Did you break a sail yesterday? Somehow I didn’t, but I bet some of you did. If so, give Olaf a call at 541-806-3117 and he’ll have your sail fixed by tomorrow at 9am. I think that he might not sleep tonight repairing all of yesterday’s broken gear. Sorry, Olaf… =) Anyway, two of you are going to win $65 sail repair gift certificates this week, so get out there and break some gear!

Yesterday was one of the windiest days of the summer so far, and today’s going to be windy too, but not quite as crazy. The 5am gradient from Portland to The Dalles was .09, with another .06 from The Dalles to Pasco. Since the cloud line is past Hood River this morning, and a weather disturbance passing through will keep clouds around today, the strongest, steadiest wind will be from Mosier to Maryhill today. It will blow 20-23 this morning, building to 24-27 (maybe a bit more, but not likely) by early afternoon, with 18-21 at the Hatchery, Sandbar and Stevenson.

A weak ridge builds over the Northwest tonight, setting up a much lighter day tomorrow and Thursday. I still think we’ll see very weak west winds, but we might just see a couple of near-glassy days on the river. West winds will be back by Friday, just in time for the weekend.

Honestly, I wish all forecasts were like yesterday’s. That was an easy call 35+. =)

If you’re a mountain bikers and you plan on riding Post Canyon today, be advised that there’s a big tree down in the Toilet Bowl downhill, about halfway down. Speaking of Post Canyon, here’s the latest on Mike Jacoby, via Denise: “Mike’s slowly improving each day. He has opened his eyes on command, thumbs up, etc, but not awake yet. They said his complexion looked good today – healthier. They are going to start feeding him some solid food – not just IV drip. No MRI yet. He has to be able to cough on command before he can lie flat for that test. The staff moves him around and sits him up periodically. His blood pressure goes up when they read him funny Facebook posts, so keep them coming. The family really enjoys them as well!” If you don’t have access to Mike’s Facebook page, send me your bad jokes and I can post them for you.

Coming up tonight there’s the final ladies’ standup paddle night at the event site, hosted by Big Winds. That’s weather permitting, so check bigwinds.com around 4:30 this afternoon. I’m guessing it’s going to be too windy, but you never know…

Boaters, the Klickitat’s around 1500 cfs, and the White Salmon’s around 2.7 feet, and coming up Thursday, Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River hosts ‘Wildwater, a Love Story’ by world class boater Doug Ammons. There will be photos, video, and love of whitewater. Be there. It’s going to be super cool. $10, 7pm.

That’s it for today. Whatever you do today, have an awesome day!

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