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Kite Launch Event Site Thru Summer

 
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eric

Since 13 Jan 2006
1803 Posts

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PostTue Jun 25, 19 6:26 pm    Kite Launch Event Site Thru Summer Reply with quote

I think it's time that kiters get x% of the lawn throughout the summer. I would be obliged if the CGWWA, of which my family are members, would consider taking this up.

Yes, there are potential issues.

Thanks,
Eric Cohn
Hood River

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wylieflyote

Since 30 Jun 2006
1634 Posts
Puget Sound & Wa. Coast
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PostWed Jun 26, 19 8:18 am     Reply with quote

Long overdue. And now even more of a pain if you ride a foil and are forced to carry to the far end of the sandbar for a non-carbon-eating place.
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Jonpnw

Since 22 Jul 2010
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Pacific Northwest
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PostWed Jun 26, 19 8:39 am    CGWS Reply with quote

Join the Columbia Gorge Wind Sports association . There is a dinner this Thursday at Stonehedge we need a kiters show of force . https://cgw2.org/shop/

I am all for kiters with foilboard launching from the grass year around but can you imagine trying to police that ? We can't even get people to leash their dogs or keep from parents from setting up picnics with children in the launching and landing zones. Laughing

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Join the Columbia Gorge Water Sports Association. http://gorgewindsurfing.org/

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Sasquatch

Since 09 Mar 2005
2053 Posts
PNW
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PostWed Jun 26, 19 8:44 am    Re: Kite Launch Event Site Thru Summer Reply with quote

eric wrote:
I think it's time that kiters get x% of the lawn throughout the summer. I would be obliged if the CGWWA, of which my family are members, would consider taking this up.

Yes, there are potential issues.

Thanks,
Eric Cohn
Hood River


Eric can you please elaborate? I was kiting there last Friday and it looked to me that kites were spread out west from sandbar most of the way west on the grass. People were also launching and landing from the grass. From what I was told this was a change of proceedure. Has it changed back?

What can I say, I ride the coast almost exclusively.

There was one windsurfer that I saw launching from the grass and a few others in the parking lot. WAY more kiters than windsurfers.

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wylieflyote

Since 30 Jun 2006
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Puget Sound & Wa. Coast
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PostWed Jun 26, 19 8:50 am    Re: Kite Launch Event Site Thru Summer Reply with quote

Sasquatch wrote:

Eric can you please elaborate? I was kiting there last Friday and it looked to me that kites were spread out west from sandbar most of the way west on the grass.


It's a yearly Spring allowance. Now that the sand is exposed all kiters will only launch on the sand, not the grass. When the sandbar is submerged in the Spring the is impossible so the port allows grassy launching.

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Pepi

Since 16 Jun 2006
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PostWed Jun 26, 19 2:28 pm    Re: Kite Launch Event Site Thru Summer Reply with quote

It will be all fun and games until the Port is either sued, or has to make even a basic insurance settlement.
If/when that happens, kiteboarding would cease to have access on any Port of Hood River properties
(*Side Note : You could still walk out to the Sandbar to launch/land, since that is DSL land)

Things do happen. 2 years ago, we had two separate incidents in which a bad launch at the Event Site resulted in persons being rushed to the hospital.

The status quo may not be to everyone's liking, but it does a lot in keeping the safety levels manageable and maintainable for the Port of Hood River.

I am an avid foiler who has to do the exact same walk and launch as everyone else. In addition, I am also a kite retailer who relies on all kiteboarders having continued access via the Hood River waterfront properties.

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eric

Since 13 Jan 2006
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PostWed Jun 26, 19 2:46 pm     Reply with quote

Fair enough. I trust your wisdom Pepi. I will once again do the sandy walk, and wade of shame

Eric

Buuuuuuuut, it's a bitter pill. Had to add that....

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jasonq

Since 12 Jan 2009
242 Posts
hood river
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PostWed Jun 26, 19 7:22 pm     Reply with quote

first, i have no idea what i am talking about.

that said, is the center of the hood river deep enough for a foil? could you launch from the spit, and follow the Hood out to the channel?

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Pepi

Since 16 Jun 2006
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PostWed Jun 26, 19 8:45 pm     Reply with quote

Good question, but no, not deep enough.
BUT!
The east end of the Marina Beach, just east of the bathroom, the water drops deep quickly and is launchable for foiling.

With this summer expecting to be more hectic at the Sandbar, I will be trying to get my launching dialed in here when I can.

jasonq wrote:
first, i have no idea what i am talking about.

that said, is the center of the hood river deep enough for a foil? could you launch from the spit, and follow the Hood out to the channel?

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ldhr

Since 21 Jul 2009
1470 Posts
Hood River
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PostThu Jun 27, 19 7:38 am     Reply with quote

Pepi wrote:


With this summer expecting to be more hectic at the Sandbar, I will be trying to get my launching dialed in here when I can.


What makes you think this summer will be more hectic? So far this spring it's been pretty mellow.


My 2 cents on launching from the grass during July and August...... I think the ES is a multi use facility (novice windsurfers, sup'ers, kayakers, and swimmers).
It's too dangerous to have kites in the mix and there's no way the port will ban other users.
Big Winds has a big investment in the site for windsurf lessons and gear rentals to novices who drift downwind into the area where kiters would be launching and landing.

Personally I have no problem carrying my foil onto the sandbar and walking out to th deep water.

Incredibly grateful for the 9 months we can launch from the grass..... but also willing to play nice and share the waterfront with other users for the busy season.

The port could do themselves a favor to avoid confusion and limit the grass launching during July and August only.

Last edited by ldhr on Thu Jun 27, 19 8:26 am; edited 1 time in total

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tkaraszewski

Since 21 Oct 2016
41 Posts
Hood River
 



PostThu Jun 27, 19 8:24 am     Reply with quote

As much as I'd like to keep launching from the lawn, it's not realistic in a multi-use situation where non-kiters want to use the space for picnics and sunbathing and such. We're lucky we're not in Europe, the whole sandbar would likely get closed to kites in the summertime.

One thing Europe does have, which we might be able to copy, is "boat channels" that are are strips ~20 yards wide, where no swimming is allowed, but boats (and sometimes kiters) are allowed to enter and leave the water from the beach.

We don't need this to have a specific legal launch area from the sandbar, but what if we put two buoys in the water, west of the sandbar, 10 yards apart, in water that was 5 feet deep, and ran two ropes from the buoys back to the sandbar. Then we'd have a little "access trip" where we could dismount in water we knew was deep enough (don't come in past the buoys or you might hit the bottom), and we could move all the rocks out of this strip so we could walk on clean sand there without stubbing toes and scratching foil wings.

Yeah, that'd be work that we'd have to do and maintain, but I don't see any reason we couldn't make a nice little foil launch area from the sandbar, if we wanted to put in the effort.

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ldhr

Since 21 Jul 2009
1470 Posts
Hood River
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PostThu Jun 27, 19 8:35 am     Reply with quote

tkaraszewski wrote:

We don't need this to have a specific legal launch area from the sandbar, but what if we put two buoys in the water, west of the sandbar, 10 yards apart, in water that was 5 feet deep, and ran two ropes from the buoys back to the sandbar. Then we'd have a little "access trip" where we could dismount in water we knew was deep enough (don't come in past the buoys or you might hit the bottom), and we could move all the rocks out of this strip so we could walk on clean sand there without stubbing toes and scratching foil wings.

Yeah, that'd be work that we'd have to do and maintain, but I don't see any reason we couldn't make a nice little foil launch area from the sandbar, if we wanted to put in the effort.

Interesting ideas thinking outside the box....

How would you dig out a 5 foot deep channel and keep the surrounding sand from drifting back into this channel? How would you keep beginners from drifting into the zone as they attempt their first water starts, dropping their kites in wind lulls and tangling on the ropes?
How would you police the freestyle guys who like to cruise the flat water in front of the sandbar doing tricks and showing off? Woohoo - watch me jump this rope and jib off the buoy.
Europe is more understanding of rules and regulations for crowd control.... Oregon is the land of the free and brave - kite free or die!

Last year there was a channel about half way down the sandbar that is almost always free of traffic..... no cones or maintenance required.

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tkaraszewski

Since 21 Oct 2016
41 Posts
Hood River
 



PostThu Jun 27, 19 9:31 am     Reply with quote

ldhr wrote:
tkaraszewski wrote:

We don't need this to have a specific legal launch area from the sandbar, but what if we put two buoys in the water, west of the sandbar, 10 yards apart, in water that was 5 feet deep, and ran two ropes from the buoys back to the sandbar. Then we'd have a little "access trip" where we could dismount in water we knew was deep enough (don't come in past the buoys or you might hit the bottom), and we could move all the rocks out of this strip so we could walk on clean sand there without stubbing toes and scratching foil wings.

Yeah, that'd be work that we'd have to do and maintain, but I don't see any reason we couldn't make a nice little foil launch area from the sandbar, if we wanted to put in the effort.

Interesting ideas thinking outside the box....

How would you dig out a 5 foot deep channel and keep the surrounding sand from drifting back into this channel? How would you keep beginners from drifting into the zone as they attempt their first water starts, dropping their kites in wind lulls and tangling on the ropes?
How would you police the freestyle guys who like to cruise the flat water in front of the sandbar doing tricks and showing off? Woohoo - watch me jump this rope and jib off the buoy.
Europe is more understanding of rules and regulations for crowd control.... Oregon is the land of the free and brave - kite free or die!

Last year there was a channel about half way down the sandbar that is almost always free of traffic..... no cones or maintenance required.


If I was going to actually do this, I wouldn't try and dig a channel, I'd pick a spot that was already relatively deep, and use that. Something like this:



The buoys would be at the X's and the lines would be floating rope. When you first set this up, you'd put the buoys wherever it was 5 feet deep. If the water level dropped significantly later in the season, you'd have to move them farther out.

Then you'd just get a few people to spend a calm morning one day walking through the roped off section and picking up all the rocks they kicked until it was pretty clean. If sand drifts into the channel, no big deal. If rocks make it back into the channel, pick them up and move them out again. Rocks luckily move relatively slowly.

You can't 100% prevent beginners from making a mess of this area but it's farther up the sandbar than most beginners are starting, and I think most beginners will see special lines in the water and think they're supposed to avoid them. It's also pretty hard to get any serious tangle with a single rope on the surface of the water.

The main advantage of this channel isn't for crowd control, it's just for marking an area where you know the rocks have been removed and where you have a marker of depth that's safe for your foil. If people want to kite over/around it, whatever, that's fine, I still know that if I stop at the buoys I won't hit my foil on the bottom and I have a mostly rock-free walk back up to the beach.

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eric

Since 13 Jan 2006
1803 Posts

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PostThu Jun 27, 19 9:41 am     Reply with quote

I am convinced by several arguments posted on this thread that grass may not be the best option during the busy months of July and August.

I will have to get over it, which I do every season...

Thanks Laird, Tyler and Pepi for your well-reasoned arguments. I find myself in agreement with the three of you.

Best,
Eric

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Nak

Since 19 May 2005
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Camas
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PostThu Jun 27, 19 10:25 am     Reply with quote

I'm sorry, but these threads always crack me up. The event site is too crowded and too multi-use? Laughing Laughing I kite/foil Kailua WAY more than I'm in Hood River. And it's WAY WAY more crowded and WAY WAY more multi-use than the Event Site. And kite/foil launching and landing works just fine here. Along with the swimmers/wind surfers/wind foilers/kite lessons/windsurf lessons/paddle boarders, canoers, catamarans, dogs, tourists, sunbathers, photographers, runners, etc, etc. And all of this taking place in an area maybe a third the size of the Event Site. (Yes, Kailua beach is miles long, but many, many folks congregate at the entrance/kite launch zone. And all of the activity listed is taking place in that tiny zone.)

It's amazing what can happen with just a bit of common sense and courtesy. To the sunbather: "Excuse me, do you mind moving for just a moment while I launch my kite?" Typical response: "Sure! That looks really fun!"

Part of why it works is that the locals are not shy--at all--about instructing tourists/beginners as to proper kite etiquette and protocol. But the typical launching and landing scene here would give Event Site users a heart attack. It all works fine though. Seriously, I think Event Site users need a little more "Aloha" spirit.

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Sella

Since 21 Apr 2007
1794 Posts
Doin' The Dalles
FLY'IN HIGH PIE GUY



PostThu Jun 27, 19 11:47 am     Reply with quote

ldhr wrote:
Incredibly grateful for the 9 months we can launch from the grass..... but also willing to play nice and share the waterfront with other users for the busy season.

The port could do themselves a favor to avoid confusion and limit the grass launching during July and August only.

+1 agree. As much as I like Eric's idea of improved grass utilization the Sandbar for kiters just makes the most sense July - Labor Day Weekend (Sept 2nd) After that, it's a ghost town.

As always, Monday-Thursday has been wide-open rigging. During the weekend rush everyone has been helping launch/land, roll up lines, etc so it's been a fun and safe scene.

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