Does anyone still do this? This year meth is in and Corona is out.

I'm aiming last week in June into first week of July again.

Thx for keeping the stoke going Tony

Jelly, Tommy & Yours Truly hope to score trips finally again this year.... barring pandemic death & fuel shortages etc.. Renos be damned to hell, we are close enough....bears can shit in the woods, so can we
Coast Gorge Victoria Day Week, Mid June to end, mid July to 1st week August...maybe a Gorge fall outing that was sooo lovely last year!!

Hope to run into happy wind people then....

PS- i am not sure we are not entirely alone on this site now so maybe try some of that facenovel stuff

KUS wrote:PS- i am not sure we are not entirely alone on this site now so maybe try some of that facenovel stuff

Some things are best kept off Facebook... lest we inadvertently invite the riff-raff.

I've got last 2 weeks of June open. Was looking at doing the AWT event, but think I'll try to keep the trip open to some MTB possibilities as well depending on forecasts closer to the time. Definitely keen to ride some waves again!

Yah looks like I’m finally gonna make it down for the party! Time frame pretty open as of yet, but planning for when others are there so you can all show me around!

KUS wrote:...Coast Gorge Victoria Day Week, Mid June to end, mid July to 1st week August...maybe a Gorge fall outing that was sooo lovely last year!!

Starting to look less than positive now, strange how quickly things can change

KUS wrote:

KUS wrote:...Coast Gorge Victoria Day Week, Mid June to end, mid July to 1st week August...maybe a Gorge fall outing that was sooo lovely last year!!

Starting to look less than positive now, strange how quickly things can change

I'm total using this as an excuse for not going this year instead of sharks, cold water and other obligations. I didn't make it last year, and was already looking more doubtful for this summer, as much as I miss the wind and waves, I don't miss the cold.

dunkinguy's session log: Long Beach on Monday June 29, 2020 wrote:Late blow but enough to bring on some stoke. Mostly lame sloggy but managed to line up a couple nuggets. Fun doing the Not Oregon Coast right here with the gang in the backyard.

This gave me the idea that we should be thankful for a local opportunities and celebrate them as the staycation version of the SOC.

Van Isle - Phase 3 Trip 1

Session 1 – windsurfing - Pipers (2020 June 28 )


Dip. Quick “splash n’ dash” on the way to the west side. The 30 mph and 4’+ rolling swell was too much to pass up. Thanks to Windsurfish for the on-site OSR and to Eastside for the on-water company. One-hour stop to rolling again. Unfortunately the coast-to-coast was not to be this time (wind at Long Beach was just enough to stir things up but not enough for windsports). Decided to wait to see what the morning brought.

Gallery (to view as a slideshow click on the screen icon top right)

Session 2 – SUP – Long Beach (2020 June 29)


photo credit: Ethan Clutton
Sweet sixteen. Late breakfast at camp then look-see at Long Beach, Wick, Cox Bay webcam and North Chesterman webcam and returned to Long Beach. Looked like less work and more reward then yesterday so joined Johnny and Dan for SUP session just south of Incinerator on the low-tide. Turned out to be super fun and there were smiles all around. Almost as much fun watching Dan hack as it was catching waves myself and party wave with Johnny! Great warm-up SUP session! Unfortunately Heather cut her ear when she took to the water after we came off – sixteen stiches later, she is better than new (and counting the minutes until she can get back out there).

Gallery (to view as a slideshow click on the screen icon top right)

Session 3 – wavesailing – Long Beach (2020 June 29)


Icing. Had just finished late lunch when Ozy sent out the call “windy”. It was still light, but the day was slipping away (almost 5 pm already) so time to get out on the water. Grabbed a couple waves middle beach before working my way up to tinies to join Ozy, Dan, BWD and Redbaron. Light wind slog and ride. There were some misses, but there were some moments too! Really impressive group to be sailing with. Very thankful to be on the coast (even if not SOC)!

Gallery (to view as a slideshow click on the screen icon top right)

Session 4 – SUP – Long Beach (2020 June 30)


photo credit: Ethan Clutton
Monkey Mafia. Mid-day SUP to start things off. More variety in wave size with some pulses of south swell that made for challenging decisions at times. My rhythm felt off and I took many of the large ones on the head on the inside. Thanks to Johnny and Heather who let me demo their Quattro Glide 110. Very easy to stand on and catch waves given its fairly narrow width – fun whip! Nice to see Bamfield Dave out ripping lefts off Incinerator and to see the NW flow wind line arrive from the water! The BWD Dave crew decided to hit tinies for a repeat, but Ethan wanted to try to kite North Chesterman and South Chesterman (and I secretly wanted to go there too) – thank to Tony for the OSR text.

Gallery (to view as a slideshow click on the screen icon top right)

Session 5 – wavesailing – South Chesterman (2020 June 30)


Progression. Ethan and I took to North Chesterman to let him warm up – unfortunately the odd waist-high-plus sets kept him close to the beach. He showed creativity in trying several different strategies for getting off the beach, but was only rewarded with a few short rides.


Better luck at South Chesterman with the flat water at the west end of the beach. Fun sailing together, working the onshore shore break at NC and caught one memorable felt-like-more-than-six-turn-wave at SC that made the whole session worthwhile. Looks like all the kiting desensitizing training sessions I have been taking up at Squamish spit have finally paid off – I was pretty comfortable sailing in the heart of the bee-hive (most of the time – some of the behavior was still a touch unnerving). Ethan was a little frustrated, but I saw a huge progression since the last time he kited South Chesterman (two safe launches, sessions and landings in pretty challenging conditions/crowds) – proud parent moment. The bonus was I started the day with an empty air mattress and ended it with a full one (simple repair) – life is good!

Gallery (to view as a slideshow click on the screen icon top right)

Session 6 – SUP – Long Beach (2020 July 1)


First. Ethan got his first SUP in – the waves were finally big enough to draw him out onto the water. Funny that he got in windsurfing and kiteboarding sessions before a SUP session. Fun group of BWD, Pete (surf foil), Lisa and Johnny. Lots to choose from. The larger ones were a touch round, but rides were had by all.

Gallery (to view as a slideshow click on the screen icon top right)

Session 7 – wavesailing – South Chesterman (2020 July 1)


photo credit: Ethan Clutton
Fireworks. I was hopeful NW flow would kick at South Chesterman again today. We did a 4 pm look-see but it was really light and really flat, so did a grocery run and grabbed a take-out pizza from the Shed to eat back at the beach. By the time the pizza was done it was “go” time! Ethan had his doubts but it was fun for me (he opted out). Waves were more consistent then yesterday but wind was lighter so took more sail (6.1) and more fin (24 cm) – they did seem to help get moving but they both really seemed to make the board slow and heavy to respond to on the wave. Net result of conditions plus equipment resulted in higher wave count then yesterday. Fewer neighbours – only four kites up. Thanks again to Ethan for shooting pictures again today. You could hear Canada Day fireworks in the distance from the Long Beach Campground (likely on Long Beach).

Gallery (to view as a slideshow click on the screen icon top right)

Session 8 – SUP – Long Beach (2020 July 2)


Merry-go-round. Got caught on the look-see merry-go-round – NC (low-tide shore pound), SC (too small and wind blown), Long Beach (looked OK), Flo (wind blown line and peak up in the rock garden), Wick (unruly), back to Long Beach (looked settled and clean) – time to give Long Beach a shot. Ethan wasn`t convinced so I went out just in time for the wind to stir things up and there was a lot of current too so it got turned into a bit of a garbage can. Got one really nice long open right after hunting for what seemed like forever, so decided to save some energy for the evening glass off.

Gallery (to view as a slideshow click on the screen icon top right)

Session 9 – SUP – Long Beach (2020 July 2)


photo credit: Ethan Clutton

Glass off. BWD and The Law were out and working the shoulders for long rides. I joined in a little late (tide came up that extra little bit and they all started to close out). This was the session I took for Tsawwassen. Still got a couple of short rides on a couple of heavy waves. Nice to get wet again. Thanks to Ethan for shooting.

Gallery (to view as a slideshow click on the screen icon top right)

Session 10 – SUP – Cox Bay (2020 July 3)


Demo. Tested rode a Quattro Carve Pro 7’10” x 27.5” x 99 litres. Big drop in length (-6 inches), width (-4.5”) and volume (-21 litres) from my go-to board (8’4” x 32” x 120 litre Fanatic AllWave). I wasn’t sure it was going to be doable and figured I would be back at the van grabbing my board or Ethan’s board for most/all of the session. But it worked! It more than worked – it ripped! Fairly easy to paddle out on my knees, but once standing up it took a lot of concentration and effort to stay onboard and position to catch waves. I would have caught way more waves on my board, but this one offered a really responsive platform once you were on the wave. At 5.9 kg the Carve Pro is uber light and this helps make it super responsive – so much so I almost did an accidental wave 360 when I railed it with a hard bottom turn pressure used on my board. If we had glassy conditions most of the time I would consider this size, but we don’t. Love the on-wave feel of this board but would really like to try the 8’ x 28.5” x 109 litre to see how much easier it is to position and how much of impact the extra size has on the on-wave performance. BIG thanks to Dan and Jesse (Redbaron) for making this happen!

Gallery (to view as a slideshow click on the screen icon top right)

Session 11 – windsurfing – China Creek (2020 July 4)


Underwhelmed. Super funky low-level wind and too light. It looked windy at times, but it wasn`t. Used the time to practice heli tacks (and as a result light wind waterstarts and uphauling – more uphauling today than the rest of the year combined). Also spent a good deal of time watching out for: high-speed fishing boats (over 100 out); 12 m kites on foils doing fly-bys (many overconfident pilots over lapping kite/lines), kites hitting the water after failed turns or ‘tricks’ (people learning), and kites falling out of the sky in the funky wind (all kinds). Still a beautiful day and clearing sky holds promise for a `better` day tomorrow.

Gallery (to view as a slideshow click on the screen icon top right)

Session 12 – windsurfing – China Creek (2020 July 5)


Similar. All the signs pointed to a `better` day than yesterday (marine layer to the south, clear sky overhead, early inflow, but it turned out to be very similar to yesterday (including the overlapping), The difference was today there were some short rides to be had about 6 pm when the wind shifted more south and started to gust. Did a one-on-one fin test and prefer the MFC FreestyleWave 29 cm to the Makani freeride pointer 34 cm. I came in when I thought it was done, but it tricked me and the real power-half-hour was at pot-banging time (7 pm). Silly me – should have stayed on the water until dark.

Gallery (to view as a slideshow click on the screen icon top right)

Session 13 – windsurfing – China Creek (2020 July 6)


Charm. Third day was a charm (sort of), despite being the worst forecast of the three. It started to inflow at China Creek at 9 am (four hour ahead of Harbour HQ). Still big gear weather (6.1/116/28 for me and 8-10 m and foils for the kites) but it was stable (close to the water), fairly steady and slightly stronger than the last two days (all good). Sailed right in close to the lighthouse today (header on the way in and lift on the way out and some nice flat water. Enough swell that jumps were possible. This travel day draws the trip to a close. Good run – nice to spend time outside.

Gallery (to view as a slideshow click on the screen icon top right)

OMFG!!! 17ft!!! That will be fun just watching it on the webcam!!

Tsawwassen wrote:OMFG!!! 17ft!!! That will be fun just watching it on the webcam!!

OK I was wrong it wasn't fun watching it on the webcam! These were from the morning, I was out sailing in the afternoon so didn't get any screenshots then but hopefully there will be some pictures from anyone who sail there of maybe Florence. When it's breaking outside of that rock at the Cape you know it's big!! The Rock looks sweet too, look at the space between those waves!! I miss Oregon!!

Dana at the Jetty!
From Dana's facebook page, photos thanks to Trina.

Wow, you'd need like a 3m long foil mast to get through that!

You Gorge experienced guys -- there's a possibility I may at least temporarily live in Portland OR, which I would obviously position myself as close to the Columbia River as possible.
Is the wind at The Gorge seasonal, like late Spring to Fall, from thermals like Victoria but better, or does it get some year-round or mostly year-round consistent wind?

It's thermal but you can get frontal and outflow. East of Portland is where it's at.
Big water and air temperature swings mean more suits required to sail year round, few people bother through the winter.

Oh ya, probably gets pretty cold. Good thing I'm Canadian.