Monday, 6/19, Woodruff Narrows

[JimSouthwick]

At the suggestion of Mike Hill, the Heber Valley ward of the UWA sent a delegation consisting of Mike, George Ward and myself to check out the fabled, mysterious Woodruff Narrows. For those who are unfamiliar with Woodruff Narrows, it's a 4-mile-long reservoir on the Bear River about 14 miles north of Evanston on highway 89 (just beyond Wyoming Downs). Late in the season when the water level is low, it has a reputation for questionable water quality, but at the moment, it's relatively full, and the water doesn't look or smell any worse than the contents of Rush. Anyway, we broke a cardinal rule of windsurfing; we left wind to find wind (a little at DC, quite a bit at J-Bay). Upon reaching Woodruff, we found lots of whitecaps at the south end, but decided to see if the north end might be even better; it wasn’t! The further north we went, the fewer whitecaps we saw. Back to the south end. The wind was averaging about 15 MPH, but with gusts into the high 20s. Mike and I went out on Hypersonics (105 and 96) with 5.3 m^2 sails, George on his Carve 131 and trusty 5.7. We were all very powered up in the gusts and at least moving in the lulls, similar to the conditions one often encounters at Sulphur. We got on the water at about 1:30 and quit at 4:30, just before the wind backed way off.

So why go to Woodruff instead of Sulphur even though it’s slightly farther from Utah? For one thing, it’s about 25 miles further north and possibly less likely to be affected by thunderheads over the Uintahs. And it’s different.