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Formula Jr
10-06-2001, 05:40 AM
Boating is alittle like sex; even if its bad sex, its still better than no sex. Here is a write up of my first run on the Willamette and Columbia Rivers.

Fall is licking its chops to pull the curtain on this season, but there are still some nice days. So, I headed north, a hundred and eleven miles, to Willamette Park; just South of downtown Portland, OR. The Park has a good ramp (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell914.jpg) and restrooms, and they have rebuilt the docks that were torn out in a recent flood. Usually the park charges $3 for entry per car. The season is offically over, so its a free launch. Who ever said, "There's no such thing as a free launch," is obviously wrong.
I've never been in this area at boat level, so I had to get it out of my system with a look-see. I was immediately set back by just how ugly Portland is from the water. Portland on land, is a great city. It is one of the few urban areas I've ever been in that still works. The newswpaper is downtown. The bakery is down town. The brewery is downtown. The waterfront how ever, is a mess. I guess thats why you see the same, one and only, pretty waterfront area (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell903.jpg) in the travel pamphets. I can usually find some place, some angle, some isolated subject to make a decent pic, but Portland was a real challenge. The sun's position did'nt help. If you are a bridge freak, this is your place. We got every kind in the book: suspension (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell904.jpg), cantilever, vertical lift, box girder, modern concrete pole structures, and several I can't find the right words for. Its an engineer's dream and an artist's nightmare. I guess what strikes you first is the eclectic, jagged nature (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell913.jpg) of the area. The West Side is set up for large tour boats, there are few places for small boats to tie up. The East Side is all revetment rocks and stacked highway bridges. From these bridges in a car, the city looks beautiful.

There's a cool little sub (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell910.jpg) at the science center but no dock for water access.

Once Henry Dog figured out he couldn't actually eat the Portland Skyline, we cruised to the Port. Lots of other cool, big, old stuff (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell902.jpg) here rusting away. And there's a large, side slip, ship building crib area. (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell900.jpg) And ya got a drydock (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell912.jpg)where big ass frieghters raft up. Any boat under 60 feet is just a bug on the windshield. And the big boys need every foot of the channel to manuver. Now you see all these huge ships and think you've got deep water to cruise in, but if you get even alittle off the channel, you're in trouble. Mostly due to 130 years of building and then forgetting hundreds of side deversion dams - pilings and planks built perpendicular to the shore that are used to speed up the water flow in the channel and keep it clear of silt. They are everywhere. I would venture to say, that the only safe way to travel these waters is to follow the buoys and day markers. I nearly rammed an old subsurface dam and I was only about 50 feet out of the Channel, trying to avoid a barge.

Then the wind kicked up. A little chop nothing special, but I should have paid more attention - people told me the lower Columbia can get nasty.

Just past the mouth of the Willamette (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell908.jpg), on an inner passage of the Columbia behind Hayden Island, I found a cool isolated beach (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell907.jpg) to let Henry run around. There were some idle grain barges that created some protection from the freighter (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell901.jpg) wakes. There's a little rise to the beach so I walk up the hill and to my surprise the wind is really pouring thru the trees at a constant 20-30 mph. And yet, I still didn't make the neccessary mental connections.

So I head East up the Columbia and past the Airport. I figure I'll head up beyond Government Island, beach again and stroll around. My, my; the chop is now pretty good sized. And the wind seems to be picking up. So I set the tabs and do a spirited run up to the I-205 bridge. (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell905.jpg) Just past the Bridge the wind kicks up another notch and the river is running fast. Now I'm looking at maybe 40 mph winds, I'm running wet and its getting too rough for my old boat. Just past the bridge I come off plane cause I'm banging the boat up pretty good- big mistake. Took two over the bow, one over the side -it just blew right over the boat- and one over the transom before I could turn around to match the following seas. I can tell now that the Columbia has zones to it where the wind can quickly buildup short period, three footers with wind shearing tops. I turned in the middle of one of these zones. I also found out, I was running during the witching hours - late afternoon/early evening - when all the locals know that the wind chases the sunset.

Down hill was sweet. I'm barely planing and the boat is ever so softly getting major air with an occassional full bow plow. The wind is at my back so I'm matching the spray. I'm nursing it, cause this boat has nothing left to give after breaking stuff at Lk. Washington. A more together boat would have had a wild time here. Watching the big jets (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell906.jpg) come in for landing was a trip. These huge aircraft are lofting in the sky and you can see them almost freefall drop and then bounce back up in the air as their wing tips wobble up and down. Also, in this area just West of the Airport are kite windsurfers. I've never seen these in action. Its a large wake board with a para-sail kite that they control with two handles. One guy seemed to really know what he was doing. He was zipping across (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell911.jpg) the water, hit a wave and then did something with the controls and got airborn maybe 20 feet straight up, glid for a while like a hang glider and then set back down without missing a beat. Then I notice there's some kid on the sandy beach trying to fly one of these para-sails like a sport kite. A gust grabs the kite and lifts him about 10 feet up and 30 feet over before he lets go of one side, and cartwheels off a sand dune. He got up and shook it off. Oh... to be 18 and brainless again, that must have been fun.

I landed again at Hayden Island to dry off. There's no wind here, and the sun is still high enough to heat me up. Once I got back into the Willamette, I did a buzz run up as far as gas would allow looking for the Willamette Falls at Oregon City. The gas gauge won the augument so I called it a day and tooled back to the ramp. Funny, the clutch didn't disengage as I centered the stick and stepped off the boat with both lines. I quickly stepped back in the boat. That would have been interesting.... Though the day was fun, and a little wet, I'm still surprised that the major city of the prettiest state in The Union has such a mangled river scape.

Scott Pearson
10-06-2001, 07:25 AM
Owen,

As always...I enjoy reading your adventures. Sounded like a blast!

(NJ)Scott

Dr. Dan
10-06-2001, 08:40 AM
Great writing, I think you might be related to Mark Twain or Hemingway, maybe Henry is! Thanks for the write up!...Doc ;)

Formula Jr
10-06-2001, 10:11 PM
Oh No! Busted! (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell915.jpg)

Hey Doc, we don't have to tell everybody do we?

mattyboy
10-08-2001, 02:27 PM
hey formula jr.
nice story, Henry took a nice shot of you sitting on the Jr., talented dog, the wind is pretty unpredictable up there, isn't that where the wind shook apart the Tacoma bridge?
it's sister bridge is in NYC, the Whitestone it is the exact same brige but never had the same problem.
keep those card and letters coming ;)


Matt

Formula Jr
10-08-2001, 11:23 PM
Mattyboy, the Narrows Bridge is on the Puget Sound. It was called Galloping Gerrdy before it completely fell apart due to the lack of boxing the lower structure of the bridge. Interesting story, is that the guy in charge of insuring the bridge, pocketed the money - bridges never fall down he figured. And sort of disappeared right after it collapsed.

mattyboy
10-09-2001, 08:44 PM
nice guy!!!!!
I don't think anyone got hurt it was swaying pretty good before it fell .
galloping gurdy sounds like a girl I once knew.

again nice story and pics


Matt

Formula Jr
10-09-2001, 09:04 PM
The Narrows Bridge holds a special place in my memory, since I met up with some technical rock climbers while going to school up there at UPS. We jumped the fencing on the Tacoma Side and walked out on the I-beams to the first piling. we had ropes and stuff, but it was still pretty wild.

Blewbyu
11-12-2001, 02:39 PM
Owen-I was planning to do that area next summer (If the timing worked out).However,your pics were worth a thousand words,and your words were perfect.
I'm gonna change plans,and probably do the area around Cathlamet and Puget Island instead.
Thanks for the story w/pics-most enjoyable.And YES, Portland from the water looks like it fell outta the Ugly tree,and hit all the branches on the way down.A lot like the Duwamish waterway in Seattle.

Formula Jr
11-12-2001, 03:16 PM
Thanks Jeff for the complements. Yes, Portland was not what I expected, don't think I'll do that again. Cathlamet looks more interesting. Are you thinking a run to the east or west and would you like company? Next season, I'm looking at both Roosevelt Lake and Ross Lake. Ross lake was beautiful when I was up there a few years ago on foot. The bright green "Niece" color of the water is a fantastic contrast to the rock formations, geenery and there are several tiny islands for camping on the water. Roosevelt of course is in the Washington scab land area so again the two trips would be a study in extremely different climates.

PS. Oky, I looked closely at Ross Lake. Is there a way to launch on this lake from the American side?
:confused: