Well, as far as the blowout goes... I wish that I could tell of another exciting story where I was fed by a household of Yakima Indians along the river, or that I couldn't decide where to go ashore, down current or downwind of an elongated dead rotting sturgeon corpse... Or of 60 MPH winds in the "Narrows" that narrowly would let me go with my life... But I can't...
This year, the blowout was pretty much non eventful... Maybe that's because I took a step forward by renting a Carve 133 based upon a suggestion from Bruce Peterson... Or that the wind was relatively tame the whole way through this time... Whatever the case, it was still fun and exciting... You never know what you are going to get, yeah, like a box of chocolates!
Before the race Dale Cook and others kept vascillating between TEN O's or SEVEN. EIGHTS! Well, my biggest that I brought was a 6.7 this year. Being that in 2002, when I had tried it last, I got NUKED into the boom a few times on a 5.2... In the end, Dale ran out there with his sawweeet Roberts Formula style board and a 9.9M sail.
The wind was relatively weak at the start in Stevensen's... I was the first guy over the upwind wake of the "rabbit start boat"... And one of the last ones over the downwind side of the wake!!! he he... The big sails screamed out of there and the rest (1/4 of the field) of us on smaller "slolom gear" watched. I planed quite a bit, but shlogged quite a bit... Staying on the sides where the least current was but where most of the wind would be... Sometimes tricky... Anyway, I finished the course on slolom gear... That was my goal... 3 and a half hours or so... There were a couple 40MPH gusts, but I survived them O.K. on my 6.7 Northwave and the Carve 133... When I came through the "Corridor" (Hatchery) people were on 5.0's. The Carve seemed surprisingly sluggish... A rental, probably had water in it! It's all about the correct gear... So...
CARL CHRISTENSEN... My call out is to you!!! Now that I have accomplished my goal of finishing the race in time (2.5hour cut off to viento/2 hour cut off to Event site from Viento/ overall 4.5 hour cutoff) on slolom gear, I will allow myself to do it on any gear in the future... You would actually compete very well in this race and I think that you should do it next year. I know you could finish it on your gear in under 1.5 hours... You would love it... I believe Duane Karen has done the race a few times, talk to him... But I'll tell ya, you would love it! And you would finish top 10 I'll bet. It is only a grueling race if you chose the wrong gear... If you nail the gear, it's actually a 1 to 2 hour joyride... (actually, in 2002 I think, Cook got launched... 50 wall of white water with his body planing out of it cartwheel style I've heard)
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