We arrived late Thursday night to where we would be staying at our friends White Salmon weekend adventure home. The cabin was perfect for our 3-generation family get-away. There was RV parking for Grandma and Grandpa, and a bedroom for Brandon, Hayden and I; and hot showers, a kitchen and huge deck with a view of Mt Hood in the distance to relax on after a long day of downwinders! Ahhhh…

Friday we arrived at the Fairgrounds in Stevenson in time for the 1PM social paddle.

While Grandma and Grandpa watched Hayden and drove shuttle….,

we rigged our new Stingray 2 outrigger canoe and joined about 60 other boats for an epic downwind run. With a 30 knot wind at our back, we linked wave after wave, laughing all the way to the take-out 6-miles up the Columbia River. Yep, UP the Columbia River! And, even going up-river, we were hitting top speeds of 11.8 miles per hour!

Hayden greeted us from Grandma’s arms at the take-out with a huge smile and a look of sheer delight. We all sat down for a picnic by the river before loading the boat and heading back to the Fairgrounds for run number 2.

This time, we took our surfskis. The conditions were just as epic! We shared the river with kiteboarders and windsurfers… we would hear them coming by the sound of their boards tearing across the water as they ripped by us at speeds over 30 mph!

Saturday, we returned for more downwind fun. We spent equal time doing downwinders and watching some of the other events and taking pictures. The OC6’s raced a 9.5 mile course out of Stevenson, weaving in and out of a variety of sailboat races whose buoys seemed to send racers tacking in and out of the canoes triangular race course.

A few miles up-river the kiteboarders and windsurfers competed in big air and freestyle competitions. And, sprinkled throughout the Gorge, there were trail runs, adventure races, whitewater competitions, bike races, community events, street fairs and more.

Sunday was our big race-day debut! Our first race in our new OC2, and the competition was fierce! Patty Lawson, whose False Creek team won the women’s OC6 race Saturday, along with her husband, JD would be strong. Then, Jim Bauer and his partner Allison Scott from Spokane, who were supposed to be Brandon’s canoers for the Ski to Sea this year if it hadn’t been cancelled, were on scene and looking fast!

At the Gorge Games, Women and Mixed teams, along with the Stand-Up paddle boarders, were to race at 9:00AM. The men’s teams would go immediately after. At 9:00AM we were lined up with about 30 other competitors. We would be doing two-laps of a triangular race course. We would have an upwind leg, downwind leg, then a crosswind leg. Patty and JD were to our left, and Jim and Allison on our right when the starting horn sounded. We took off hard, beating into the headwind. Patty and JD took the lead, with us close behind, and Jim and Allison in our draft.

At the first turn around, Brandon and I went wide, and as Patty and JD made their turn, Brandon took a sharp angle and squeezed between their boat and buoy. “Over hard!” Brandon commanded from the back of the boat. And, with a good effort, we were leading the downwind leg. We kept up a good push, but, by the second turn around, they were still right there. Jim and Allison were about 100 yards back. We paddled with the wind at our side, never relenting. This lap took us under the dock, where spectators stood cheering. I could make out Hayden’s little blue sunhat in the crowd as we closed in.

We continued to pick up the pace on the second lap around the course, both of us feeling good. By the last leg, we had put about a minute on Patty and JD.
We crossed the finish line in first and high fived with our paddles… stoked on our new boat and energized by another new way to have fun on the water!

In the men’s race, Karel Tresnak from Hawaii dominated the men’s solo ourrigger,

John Mooney won the men’s surfski,

and Jim Bauer hopped back on the river with his brother, Nick, to win the men’s OC2.

Next month, we will return to the Gorge for the Wildside Relay — a 2-person, 4-leg, 20-some mile downwinder.

~In the Spirit of Compassion and Adventure~

Heather, Brandon and Hayden