Last weekend I headed down to the Gorge for my first exposure to windsurfing in the Hood (Hood River delta). I made it to Stevenson (15 minutes up the road from Hood River) with Airush Friday afternoon and found a great campsite to stay at in Home Valley (15 USD/night), just down the road. There is a nice sandy launch for windsurfing, but no good for airush's kite to be launched. We headed back to Stevenson to have a look at the kite surfing "hotspot" launch and, after asking directions at their very friendly and informed information center, found the hot spot for launching kites in the Stevenson area. Needless to say, it was a very small launch for someone fairly new to the sport. You had to launch your kite with it at the top of a hill and you at the bottom. The area was grassy, and experienced kiters would have no problem, but it wasn't for us.


So... we headed down to Hood River for a look at the hatchery, wave city, the event site and the sand bar area - oh, and some shopping too. I couldn't believe how many surf shops there were! It seemed like there was one on every corner of every block. Some had hundreds of used boards! We talked with the local board dealers and found a great area for a kite boarding/windsurfing combo launch area at the end of the sandbar.


The next day we headed out to the sandbar (after picking up a used 139 l Finatic for me - YAHOO!) and I rigged up my newly acquired 6.5 M sail (thanks Colin). The wind came up to 15 kts around 11:00 and I figured it was time to try out the new board. I quickly tried an uphaul to make sure the board would float my 100 Kg weight and was happy to find that it did I then went out for an hour to learn the personality of the board. What a difference from the 200? litre transition board I was using before. I was able to get on a plane quickly and the board was extremely responsive. Later on during the day I discovered what being overpowered on a sail really meant as 30 to 40 kt squalls blew me and my 6.5 off the water! Luckily the sandbar was up wind and getting back to shore was merely a walk along the sandbar to shore. The current kept me in line with my point of origin on the shore as well due to the river current going in the opposite direction of the wind. Airush tried launching his 12 M kite twice in 20-25 kts later in the afternoon and was similarly overpowered. I rigged my 5.0 and airush went out on a 9 M. Both of us had a great session with the wind stabilizing around 15-20 kts. All and all a great session of 8 hours of sailable wind and 5 hrs of TOW.


A few things of note which I picked up for this spot (Just up river from the toll bridge) were: The water white caps were quite deceiving as the Hood river sand deposit leaves a large area (close to 1/2 km) of 2-4 foot water which is ideal for kite surfing but doesn't give the water much room to show how much it is white capping (we checked the windspeed with a meter). The sand bars were ideal for launching the kite but made windsurfing difficult with the long rear fin I had. Once I moved further down from the sandbar, there is deep enough water to sail without worrying about getting stuck in the sand. The barge lane seemed to have the best wind but you could see the barges from a long way off and easily get out of the way.


If you have 4 or more days to get down there, it is worth while as the scenery is great and with an ocean on one side and a desert on the other, thermals are guaranteed. While I was there they also had demo's all day. I saw an add for renting gear for $45 USD/day if you don't want to haul it all. If you have the option, take the Coho and rock 101 instead of the Tsawassen ferry through Seattle. That will save you a good 3 hours of driving and the scenery is better too.

First class entry Stephen. Haven't been down there for years but you're bringing back fine memories...mmm, nice sandbars. How is it crossing the border these days? Were you asked for receipts on your gear etc.? Did you have to pay customs?

Customs was a long process. I had to pay customs so went in to pay GST and PST. They had to call someone to find out where my board was made as if it was from the US it was duty free. It took 50 minutes for that. In the mean time, they searched through the jeep with airush asking everything under the sun about our things. I guess they had fun looking through all of our wet sandy clothes and things while they killed time waiting for me to come back from paying taxes. They did ask for receipts but were friendly enough. If you are coming back with big stuff, claim all of what you bought as they will go through your wallet (and anyone with you) and ask for an explination for all of your receipts.

bean wrote:Always trash all your receipts or mail them to yourself back home if you want them. I've been through the border a bunch of times with mountains of gear - "anything to declare?" ... "I bought a used sail for $50" ... "allright, have a nice day" - love those friendly Canadian customs folks.

Interesting idea "Bean". Here are a few links that may interest you:

Seizure of Goods:
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/E/pub/cp/rc4 ... l#P24_1010
Personal Exception:
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/E/pub/cp/rc4 ... P181_22269
NAFTA goods:
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/E/pub/cp/rc4 ... P235_30692

Please give me a call to discuss your situation in detail. I have sent you an email with contact information,
Sincerely,
Bill Atkinson
Canada Border Services Agency

Bill Atkinson wrote:

bean wrote:I've been through the border a bunch of times with mountains of gear

Please give me a call to discuss your situation in detail. I have sent you an email with contact information,
Sincerely,
Bill Atkinson
Canada Border Services Agency

busted!

Hey Bill,

What's your work email address. I have some questions I would like to ask?

Too bad, Bean: if the Canadian Senate has its way, bringing back Gorge gear will be no problem
todays cbcnews.ca

Within five years, Canadians shopping in the U.S. for as little as an hour should be allowed to bring back $2,000 US worth of goods without paying tariffs.

I read on a bit, its because of security:

Kenny said the proposal to hike tariff exemption figures is a matter of national security, though it would cost federal coffers almost $100 million a year.

"If someone is nervous about smuggling a sweater across the border, they're showing the same signs as someone trying to smuggle a bomb," he said.

Border inspectors should be spending more time checking for signs of criminal or terrorist activity, the report said.


Senator Colin Kenny in Ottawa, Wednesday.
"These are the people who demand Canada's attention, not excessive shoppers," the report said.


Bean, if you are so good at crossing borders without being questioned, there may be several lucrative career options open to you!

Man this thread took a nasty turn. I enjoyed your write up about your Gorge trip Stephen. I last visited the Gorge in 86'...Since I started w-surfing Nitinat that August I've stayed on the Island!!!

Yes thank you Stephen - a great writeup! I love the Hood R. area and I can't wait to get back there (going for 3 weeks in July ). The first time I was there I knew I was in paradise when I saw all the windsurfing shops and every other car had gear on the roof.

And yep thats enough about the Customs stuff. Personally I have always claimed all of my purchases - even the downhaul rope that I buy there. I think that is the best approach . If Mr. Bill has his way it sounds like Bean will be going away for a while...
Dave

Well it sure is nice to know so you can do it right and have no trouble.
Thanks Stephen, you're a good writer.

I'm headed up for the first week in July. Hope to do some board shopping and find some flatish water (I'm no Dale Cook). My smallest sail is 5.0 gulp.....

Stephen, your post brought back memories....my first trip to da Gorge was back in '92 and I headed straight to the marina, the hot spot of the day ( at least for us beginners). I have been back every summer save one since and the place does go off, especially if you travel a little further afield to the east when conditions are good. The Wind Ranch in Bingen,Scorpion Bowls at Jack's and the Northshore Grill were the hotspots of the day, as was the River City saloon. All the hotshot sailors made it onto the weekly Gorge review video that was screened at the Northshore every Thursday. I remember being jealous of my buddy showing up on screen ripping an old school duck jibe (actually, backthen it was just a duck jibe). Camping up at Tucker park the subsuquent years brought about many more great stories of debauchery and drunken stumbles amongst the campfires. I am 6'5 and close to two bucks fiddy and there are few places inNorth America when I can sail my favourite sail size, 4.7, on a regular basis. Pay close attention to the forecasts at Windance.com as well as nwweather.com and you can't go wrong. See you in July!

Stephen, I'll echo great post - look forward to reading more. I've never been to the Mecca of NW wind yet - sure sounds attractive.