2012-09-10-Roosevelt

Sunday night - well after the blog had been finalized for the day, we were all laughing at a photo of Mike, which Wynnie had taken of him on the deck after a BB'q.  A short time later, we were in the same condition.  Hope you are having as much fun as us Mike!

Handre is concerned that this was a "Viewing" not a snooze.

Big Air Jim - in Recharge Mode...

Well, I shouldn't have laughed at the swimmers on Saturday at Stevenson, because it was my turn today.

The day started as usual with Coffee at Dog River, and the breakfast at the Hotel.  I think everyone was still worn out from all the high-wind sailing yesterday.  Also, as usual, there was great debate and disagreement about where to sail.  Eventually, we all agreed to go to Ruffus; but half way there, I got a phone call that the plan had changed and we were now going to Roosevelt.   Apparently someone heard that someone had talked to someone who had a phone call from someone (possibly the Russians) at Roosevelt, and it was blowing 4.2 there already. 

It was hard driving past Maryhill which was “going off”, but we did, and arrived at Roosevelt.  It was windy.  Pretty well everyone was out on 4.0, 4.2 or 4.7 – and we sailed all day.

Rene drove Ross and Kent upwind about 10 miles and they did a “downwinder”.  Kent said the first hour was some of the best sailing of his life, with large swells and perfect wind.  The last hour was a bit lighter, but still fun.

Kent and Ross's Downwinder - about 10 miles.

Handre continued to work on his jumps and jibes.  Rene had a good day, particularly at the end of the day when he took out a bit bigger board.

Eddy took the day off from windsurfing and took his first Kite Lesson.  Thanks to the fire in Slave Lake and his insurance payment, Eddy is sailing all new gear!!!

I caused the excitement of the day when, on the far side of the river, after doing a jibe on a large head-high glassy swell - wonderful....  Unfortunately, I didn’t quite get into my footstraps when a big gust hit, and I went head over heals and landed with the back of my head and shoulder on my mast.  Ouch!  Big Air Jim sailed over to ask if I was all right.  Apparently the fall was quite spectacular.  I was still laying on my sail, trying to figure out how much I hurt.  When I turned around to talk to Jim, I noticed that my mast was broken just above the boom.  Damn - it is a long way to shore....  

I was much closer to the far side, but the landing options there aren’t great – and the far side is more than an hour away by car.  After removing the top piece of the mast – so it wouldn’t tear the sail, I decided to just swim the rig in.  I was wearing my life jacket, so it should be a fairly easy swim – but long - just over a kilometer.

Ted's Swim

I told Jim I was OK, but asked that he check on me every 15 minutes or so.  Did I say it was a long swim.  Every hundred strokes or so, I would look to see if I was making progress- not much...  Jim went in to shore and then came back out, and couldn't find me.  All the guy’s were looking for me way down wind – but with the current, I was swimming straight back to the beach… The current offset the effect of the wind.  

Ted is happy to be back on shore - almost.

Not finding me, Jim got worried, so he sailed over to Arlington.  He crawled out over the rocks - probably damaging his equipment.  He found a lady who drove him up and down the river so he could check the far side for me.  Then he found the Coast Guard office and talked to the coast guard, putting them on alert that a sailor was missing.  By the time he made it back to the beach, I was already in.  The swim was long, but uneventful.  Several sailors stopped to ask how I was doing, and Kent, Gerry and Handre offered a tow.  I tried to hang on to the back of Gerry’s board for a bit, but I didn’t have the strength.  Kent was put out  that I would accept a tow from Gerry, but not from him…  At this point, I was most of the way across the river, and making good progress, so I decided to just keep swimming.  No worries….(Kent's comment--  what a long swim, no barges thank goodness but we were not that worried.  Ted made a nice jibe mark for about an hour.  I think his swim would have been shorter with less help)

Lots of help from many concerned friends!

I felt bad that Jim and the others had gone to so much trouble.  It is great to have such good friends.

Blaine had a great day
 - One Rig - All day - 

Kent had the Best Sail of his Life
(First hour of the down winder)

Ted with his modified mast....

Mike P and Kent at 6th Street

The rest of the day was great sailing, but uneventful.  I re-rigged my 4.8 and went back out for a short sail.  The wind actually filled in with the most consistent wind of the day, although the swells were not as big.  Once again, the wind outlasted the sailors.  The wind was still blowing hard as we packed up and left.

We all headed to 6th Street for dinner where we met up with Eddy.  We even ran into Mike P - our Candian friend who lives down here managing his Books by You website, and sailing almost every sailable day.

The house was pretty quite by 10:00.....

Great Day!