Windsurfing Magazine

kristin
2002-08-06 08:15:33 | 154 views | 0 Comments

A friend of mine recently told me about a conversation she heard
and it went something like this: ''You know, I have seen alot of
things around these parts but now I've seen it all, There were some
crazy people out on the Columbia River Windsurfing, Windsurfing of
all things!''

More than likely that was our bunch out ripping around at the
river. Tucked in the Northeast part of Washington is our part of
the Columbia river, known as Lake Roosevelt. The lake is made
formed from the water that backs up The Grand Coulee Dam. Most of
the good wind (5 0-6.0) comes in the spring and late fall hut
during the summer we get lighter yet more consistent wind
(6.5-7.5). There are 3 primary sites from which we sail from and
each of them have their own unique qualities.

Ricky Point

The wind typically comes from the South, but when it goes North
we head to Ricky Point. This place is known for great flat water
sailing. Big widestyle boards and huge sails are the exact recipe
for eye watering speed. Ricky Point is set up perfect for North
Winds and is graced with ample parking and a sandy launch.

 

Bradbury Beach

For those of you who love to rip on long reaches but are still
perfecting your jibes, this is the place for you. This National
Park campground/boat launch has grassy rigging, sandy beaches and a
mile-and-a-half long reach. There is a shallow area which is
perfect for practicing everything for water and beach starts to
shortboard tacks. With our own computer based windcheck site, we
have this placed dialed in for great sailing.

Barnaby Island

Picture a 10 Mile straight stretch of river which narrows down
to a few hundred yards wide and becomes 200+ feet deep. This all
culminates at a place that we call ''The lsland.'' On a strong SE
wind we pull out the shortboards and small sails because the wind
is solid from shore to shore and the swell can push 5-6 feet. This
is our Double Black Diamond and this place Rocks!

Lake Roosevelt, can be a very exciting place to Windsurf. You
can sail pretty much from Mid-March to Mid-October at any one of
these spots depending on wind direction and strength. In addition
to windsurfing, there is plenty of other entertainment nearby;
there is world class mountain biking, motorcycling and during the
winter snowboarding and snowmobiling. This truly is the
undiscovered country.

 

For more info contact Kevin at pugman@theofficenet.com