Ron and I went to the Deschutes Sat to play at tressel. We arrived and began playing somewhere around 8:00 AM anticipating an awesome day. It's years since the Deschutes has been this high. Bob had already been there playing for an hour when we arrived. Pat and Krista showed up in the early afternoon.
Tressel was a hoot! But it has continued to change. It no longer has a flow where it is a hole. It is an awesome wave though! When surfing on the steepest part, it would break and be a whole lot of fun spinning and throwing huge blunts. It was definitely a longer boat wave, but the spud boats could make it work by entering from the other side of the river. I morn the loss of Tressel Hole, but tressel wave is pretty fun too. The atmosphere was electric. No matter how crowded it got...and it did get crowded....everyone was polite and all had a good time.
Pat and I also went to the Deschutes. We arrived Friday morning and found only three people there ahead of us. During the time we boated Friday, the level was at 11,100 cfs. In the old days this would of equated to a solid foam pile across the breadth of the wave, but two years down the road, it was more like the Tressle of 2001 at 7,000 cfs. The great thing was that of the 15 or so people who eventually showed up, we were all so happy to be there that it really didn't matter. There were smiles and great attitudes everywhere!.
On Friday it was impossible, at least for those of us who were there, to catch the wave by entering from river left. So the line of entry eventually shifted such that it was completely on river right. I had never entered from this side, but found that I actually like it more than from the left. The entry is dynamic and will give you a few thrills whether you catch the wave or not. Plus the eddy is full of trees and branches that we would hang out on while we waited. It was way more fun to que up on the right and bond with everyone than fight the currents on the left.
Saturday, Pat and I took our time getting back to the hole and arrived for a level of 11,600. The 500 cfs increase made a big difference in the ability to catch and ride the wave. It also meant that it was alittle easier to catch the wave from river left. So the line (which eventually grew to about 30 of us...although at any one time at least 10 people were on shore) was split evenly on left and right. Chris and Ron were smart enough to bring boats that were well designed for the fast green Tressle of the day. And as a bonus they were generous enough to lend them out. I had the best rides of my life in their Technos (Ron's "state of the art", and Chris's "one of a kind"). For the first time in my life I got a few big air blunts. It was an incredible feeling to power down my bow and actually feel it slice through the green, knowing that my stern was also flying through the air. I'll be reliving that memory every night before I go to sleep for sometime to come.
We camped out Friday night, and surprisingly again had the campsite to ourselves. I had prepared Gordon's curry chicken recipie the night before so all we had to do was dump the contents of a zip lock bag into the dutch oven, wait an hour and then chow down on a delicious meal. It rained intermittenly Friday night, but with Pat, the "master of the rain tarp", the rain was a pleasant accompaninment rather than an inconvience. There were a couple of bumps in the road when Squirrels Blues review drained our battery and we had to beg juice from strangers, and when Pat drove away from camp before untying the tarp from the car racks. But hey, what's a trip to the river without a little adventure. I sure wish all my nights were spent in a tent next to a river of play. But alas, they aren't so off I head to the drear of my Richland abode :(
Deschutes at 12,000
Posted - Feb 03 2003 : 1:29:23 PM
