Random Morning Thoughts
This morning I was looking at that old photo of me kiting, and I was thinking about how awesome it is when we take the time to introduce others to our beloved sports. I learned to kite way back in 1999 because a guy named Darian decided it was his mission to get more women into kiting.
At that point, I couldn’t have afforded lessons – I was making minimum wage washing dishes on Maui. Darian didn’t care. He didn’t want money. He wanted to share the stoke of kiting. He loaned me (and many others) his trainer, body dragged with us, and sent us out with his board, his kite, and all his gear. I can’t tell you how many women he taught to kite, but I bet it was dozens. I suspect you have Darian to thank for the fact that there were so many women kiting back in the day and have continued to be so many female kiters.
And that brings me to my point: It takes a lot of time and energy and patience to teach someone a new sport, but you can change a passionate beginner’s life by taking time out of your day to teach, even if you aren’t getting paid. I promise you’ll be repaid in kind with gratitude and huge smiles on the face of your student. I know you have friends who’ve said, “I want to learn to kite,” or “I want to learn to windsurf,” or “I want to learn to kayak.” What if we all agreed to teach just one friend one sport each summer? What would our worlds look like then?
Thank you for your donations during the Summer 2014 Pledge Drive!!!
Thanks to all of you for your support over the last month. You guys have shown me an incredible amount of support and love and appreciation, and I’m humbled and grateful, and my bikes will stay repaired for the rest of the year. And I’ll stay caffeinated and able to forecast almost every day. You guys rock. New to this forecast? Use it here for free or make a donation and get on the mailing list. It’s not $99/year. Not $50/year. No, just $12.34 or more gets you on the list for 12 months. Do it via PayPal/CC by clicking on my photo. Don’t PayPal? You can send a check to Temira @ PO Box 841 in Hood River. Thank you for your support, and thank you for trusting my forecast. You guys mean the world to me. Thank you a thousand times over!
Gorge Wind
We’re off to a light start this morning, but there is a .07 gradient (pdx-dls) hiding behind the ripples on the river. Expect the wind to climb to 13-16 from Hood River to Mosier by mid-morning, picking up to 17-21 this afternoon from Stevenson to Hood River, possibly picking up a bit more at Stevenson, but likely getting gusty near Hood River and Mosier as a weak weather feature moves into Oregon this afternoon.
Tomorrow starts with 13-15, rising to 17-20 by late morning, strongest in the same places as today, and probably gusty as that weather feature slowly slips out of the PNW. Late in the afternoon, as the weather feature finally clears the area, we’ll likely see 22-25 near Rowena, possibly filling in at Maryhill. Saturday starts with 13-16 and picks up to 24-28 in the afternoon, strongest near Hood River early and from Lyle to Rufus in the afternoon. At this point, Sunday also looks to have westerlies at 17-20 or more, but you know how I feel about those long-range forecasts!
Out on the coast, expect (north/central/south) 15-20/20-25/30, NW 4@6 today. Tomorrow: 15/20/30, NW 5@7. Saturday: 10-15/15-20/30+, NW 5@7.
| Your favorite beach | Dawn Patrol |
9am- 11:30a |
11:30a- 3pm |
3pm- dusk |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rooster’s Rocks | be | there | for a | naked sunset |
|
| Steven’s Locks | it’s coming | 8-11 | 16-19 | 19-22 | |
| Hatchery/White Salmon Sandbar (minus a few for Hood River) | 5-10 | 13-16 | 17-21 | 16-19 | |
| Doug’s, etc. | 5-10 | 13-16 | 17-21 | 17-21 | |
| Rufus, etc. | 5-10 | 5-10 | 13-16 | 13-16 | |
| Roosevelt, etc. | 5-10 | 5-10 | 10-15 | 10-15 | |
| Temira’s sail: 35-40: 2.9 / 30-35: 3.2 / 26-30: 3.5 23-26: 4.0 / 20-23: 4.5 less than 20: something bigger! |
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| Tonia’s kite: 35-40: 4m / 30-35: 4-6m / 26-30: 5-7m 23-26: 7-9m / 20-23: 8-10 / 15-20: 10-12 / 10-15: 13-15. |
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Advertising Worth Reading
Hood River U-Pick Organic Farm
Hood River U-Pick Organic is a certified organic family farm located at 4320 Royal Anne Drive. Wind not blowing? Trails too dusty? Maybe you just want to do something fun and relaxing for you (and the kids too!). Come on up and pick Dahlias, roses, raspberries, kale, heirloom tomatoes, basil and garlic. Other seasons have other fantastic organic crops. Self-Serve: cash and checks.
Gorge Weather
I happened to wake up around 5:30 this morning and catch a bit of a colorful sunrise. Then I rolled over and went back to sleep, because sleep>sunrise, happy in the knowledge that we’re going to see a lot of beautiful sunrises and sunsets over the next few days as thunderstorm chances increase, giving us lots of clouds for the setting sun to paint with red, gold and purple.
Expect temps in the mid 60’s this morning (window-opening worthy), rising to the upper 80’s this afternoon. A weak weather disturbance will creep into Oregon, triggering convection this afternoon, evening, and overnight. Maybe we’ll see thunder, lightning and rain, and maybe we won’t. Friday starts partly cloudy with temps in the mid 60’s, rising to the mid 80’s, with continued chances for thunderstorms. Saturday starts sunny, becoming partly cloudy with a chance of t-storms in the afternoon as another weak weather feature moves through. Temps Saturday will be in the low 60’s early and the mid 80’s in the afternoon.
White Sprinter Van of the Day with cyclist of the day.
Road and Mountain Biking
In very exciting trail news, we of the Hood River County Recreation Trails Committee gave the thumbs up to the Kleeway yesterday. It’s a one-way downhill-only mtb trail that will run from Family Man to the bottom of Seven Streams, separating the uphill and downhill traffic on Post’s busiest section of trail. Yay! Stay tuned for details on fundraisers and work parties.
The Clymb: free membership. Cheap gear.
Temira approves. Click to join.
River Levels / Cheezburger update
The White Salmon is at 2.25′. Cheezburger’s wants to advertise with me, but my advertising slots are full through Labor Day. This makes me very sad, because I like Cheezburger, and I want you guys to go rafting with him if you go rafting on the White Salmon. The John Day dam is putting out 149-173kcfs and The Dalles dam is reading 131kcfs. Columbia river temp is 68.9 degrees at The Dalles Dam.
Events – email me if I’ve missed any outdoor-related events
In events this evening, there’s the Post and Pint bike ride at Dirty Fingers at 5:30, where two hours on the bike earns you one free pint of beer. There’s a women’s road bike ride out of The Dalles City Cyclery at 5:30 tonight, and there’s free community yoga at Yoga Samadhi in White Salmon at 6:30.
Coming up this weekend, the local windsports advocacy groups, CGWA and CGKA, have a kiteboarding and windsurfing slideshow featuring Grant Myrdal’s photos at the Hood River Hostel Saturday night at 7. It’s First Friday in Hood River, and there’s sailboat racing in Cascade Locks all weekend. Finally, the Bridge of the Gods Blowout organizers have finally settled on a race day: it’s Sunday, August 10th.
Have an awesome day today!
Temira
