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End of Summer

Cruising close to a barge - rider Phil Soltysiak
Cruising close to a barge – rider Phil Soltysiak

Or is it?…

I just got home to Toronto from 4 weeks of chasing wind up and down the Columbia River Gorge and it’s probably the hottest day I’ve experienced all summer – 42 degrees here in Canada! That’s 107.6 Fahrenheit in American 😉

Four weeks is my record  for how long I stayed in Hood River, and it definitely didn’t feel long at all. Time flies when you’re having fun!

I’m not going to lie, there were a few windless days, but kayaking the White Salmon with Dale Cook and binge tennis playing with the Canadian (but Hood River local) Rajanis and German (summer time local) Sven kept those days entertaining. It did however become pretty obvious I’m missing the majority of my 10,000 hours in those 2 sports.

Our tennis group - photo by Tanya Ferguson.
Our tennis group – photo by Tanya Ferguson.

On the windsurfing days I used everything from 3.7 and my 76l Kode up to 5.3 and my 103l Flare. There were hot days, cool days, sunny and rainy – I love the variety of conditions on the Columbia River. There were some epic days with some of the very talented local riders including Rob Warwick, Wyatt Miller, Zane Wewerka and JP Bowles.

I also love the pizzas – and am addicted to them. If you’re ever in Hood River I highly recommend eating at Solstice and Double Mountain.

So now the plan is a couple of weeks at home chasing wind and getting ready for the last PWA World Cup in Sylt, Germany, starting September 30th. I’m also going to squeeze in a stop in Holland at Brouwersdam for the DAMX European Tour event right after.

Enough blogging! Time to grab a bite and pack the boards, Lake Erie should be going off tomorrow!