Dougs - Day 4

Brad is Sad......

Brad is sad,
His day was bad.

He crashed on a swell,
Then he swam like hell.

But his rig drifted far,
past the sand bar.

Blain sailed up the river,
But couldn't deliver.

At the end of the Day,
Brads rig went away.

We are all sad,
Brads day was bad.

The day started off with the usual meeting in the Dog River Coffee Shop. The forecast didn't look great - but there was a chance for wind in the "Middle East". Lots of discussion about which site - no one could make up their mind. Andreas tried to talk Kent and I into kiting as it would be a "Low wind" day.

Kent finally made a decision to check out Doug's. What the locals call no wind could still be a good day for us on our bigger stuff.

We arrived at Doug's at about 1:00pm. Kent rigged up right away and had a great hour on his 5.2. The rest of us waited to see if it would build. (Rob's advice is to always wait until about 2:00 so you don't have to re-rig.) By the end of the day, Kent had three rigs - but he also had the most sailing.

I took my video camera with the waterproof case and tried to take some video of the guy's on the far side of the river. Very difficult to see because of the sun and reflection. I may have to rig some kind of hood if I am going to do it again.

Blain waited until about 1:45 - then rigged and went out. Within 15 minutes, the wind picked up.

Brad was out on his new rig doing great. He had a big crash around 3:00 and lost his rig. He tried to swim to it and a few people stopped to help, but he though he was gaining on it. In the end he couldn't catch it.
Blain was over powered on his 5.2 but tried to catch the rig and went way down river (up wind). No luck.

Jim and Brad took the van and went looking. They borrowed a jetski and toured the river. Still no luck.

Today we are checking the shops and looking for local advise.

I started out the day on my 5.6 and Free xxx board. When it picked up - I was doing the video, so I had an interesting ride back. I put on my small board - the Acid with the 5.6 for a while then rigged my 4.8 with the acid. Still overpowered in the gusts - but the 4.8 got me through the lulls. Big swells on the inside and choppy outside. It was a survival day for me - I only felt dialed in for the last hour or so.

Moritz had a great day - doing waterstarts all over the place.

Cam was wired on his 5.2 - said he was dialed in all day.

Kent said he did a "Hero" wave ride that went on for ever. Unfortunately no one saw it...

Ross was "Hitting the Rail" and slashing all over the place.

Jim had some great jibes early - I even caught one on tape. But spent most of the day with Brad hunging for Brads rig.

Harold was tearing up the waves on his 4.2.

It would have been our best day of the trip if it weren't for loosing Brad's rig.

Today looks like a rest (and hunt for the board) day - but the forecast is promising wind again Wednesday.