Good morning!
This week’s report is brought to you by 2nd Wind Sports at 210 Oak Street in Hood River. It’s Labor Day Weekend (well, almost), and that means it’s sale time at 2nd Wind. Come on in and consign your old gear (it’s way easier than selling it on iWind/iKite) and pick up some new gear at a great price. 2nd Wind has awesome, cheerful, intelligent employees who will help you spend your money wisely. It’s going to be a windy long weekend, so throw all your gear in the car, get down here, and swing by 2nd Wind to say hello!
Today’s going to be a big west wind day on the water as a cold front makes its way across the Cascades. The early gradient was at .16 from Portland to The Dalles with another .06 out east, and the low clouds were right at Hood River. If you want to sail at the Hatchery or kite at the Sandbar, go early, as the approaching front may push the clouds in further and make things gusty later.
We’ll see a quick build to the 25-29 range at the Hatch, and Mosier this morning, with 20-24 at the Sandbar and Stevenson, before the wind shifts east to Doug’s, Maryhill and finally Roosevelt this afternoon, for 26-30. As the front gets closer, the wind maybe pick up to 30ish at Stevenson for an hour or two, and the wind will likely get gusty at the Hatchery.
Tomorrow looks windy too, but the central Gorge will probably be cloudy. The Sandbar and Hatch get gusty 13-18 tomorrow, while beaches east of the clouds see a slow build to the 23-26 range.
Coming up tomorrow, it’s the last swap meet of the season. Head to the Hood River Expo Center to sell your old gear or buy some new gear. The swap meet starts at 7 and goes until everyone heads to the water for windsurfing and kiting, probably around 11. And finally, coming up on Monday, it’s the Roy Webster Cross-Channel swim. If you’ve never done this, it’s a kick in the pants. You get to ride to the far side of the river on the Sternwheeler, jump off, and then swim back to Hood River. You can take your float alligator if you want to…
Boaters, the Kayak Shed’s shop paddle today starts out on the Class IV Orletta section at 10:30, meeting up to run the middle at the BZ eddy around 12:30. The White Salmon’s holding at 1 ¾ feet, so it’s still good to go!
Have a great day today!
Temira
p.s. If you find this report useful, entertaining, or just want to recognize all the hard work that goes into it, please take the time to make a donation by clicking on the button at the bottom of the page. For a suggested donation of $10, I’ll add you to the email version of this list ‘til May 2011, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors.