eat, drink, play, and sleep

The lapse in recent post is due to very good summer we have here in the Pacific Northwest, especially if you like sailboarding or kiteboarding. I have been camping with Tatyana in the Columbia River Gorge more than half time in the past two weeks. I sailed everyday that I chose to stay there instead of home. I am grateful of the relatively cool summer which generally translates to many windy days. We have a lot of days in the lower to upper 80s F, and the nights were mostly in the 60s F. The breeze cool nights in the Gorge are godsend for a restful sleep to recover the aching body to ready for the assaults by nature the next day. For war wounds, I had bruised ribcage on both sides sustained from wiping out and being hit by freak breaking swells in the river.

I also have callouses on both my palms from so much sailing. Fortunately none develop into painful blister.



I am taking refuge from consecutive days of seasonably hot weather due to a high pressure cell in Oregon.
today's high is expected to be just shy of a century mark at 99F - a perfect day to stay home and catch up with the blog posts

8/7/12 tuesday - packing for the trip

i had learnt my lessons to always bring more food than the planned duration

plenty of butane fuel canisters - i do most of the cooking that produces oily smoke in the great outdoors

in last trip, my skin broke out into very itchy rashes which i originally attribute to allergy with the neoprene wetsuits - i brought this chinese medicinal soap to fight poison with poison

i forgot to pay the launch fee in my last trip so i figure i would redeem myself by preparing thai-inspired barbecue chicken. i bought 2 friers and marinated them with my improvised mix of spices and fish sauce

save the boney cuts for stock - the huge bowl on the right is the chicken for BBQ

 i put them in ziploc bags so they pack efficiently in tatyana's compact refrigerator

i also carved a fresh pineapple - yes, you carve with a sharp knife in a spiral pattern so you lose the least of the sweet flesh near the skin

the fairest way to cut up a pineapple - each piece gets the whole variety of textures

i brought along a 5 gallon gasoline fuel tank repurposed for keeping 3 gallons of spare diesel - with the additional 3 gallons I can be more risk-taking to look for cheaper fuel en routes.

it wears a t-shirt to protect the cabinetry from chafing damage

head protection - the pink one for mellower days and the black hockey goalie helmet with full face protect for the epic nuking days when you wish you have a smaller sail than a 3.0 sq meter (when water sprays goes horizontal for the length of a barge).

I arrived to what the Gorge sailors refer to as the "corridor" in circa 4pm in the afternoon and sailed a relatively mellow afternoon till sunset. The corridor is the segment of the river center and near Hood River, OR and White Salmon, WA.

 8/8/12 wednesday - the place to be is still the corridor

someone pulled the plug in the night - the water level is very low but it does not affect sailing at all

a freight barge - a very common sight on the river; it is not uncommon for the pilot to have a forward blind spot for 1/4 mile. always respect these big vessels and stay well clear and never try to cross in front of them one more tack

move on please - there is nothing to watch here; it is a relatively mellow day and most males were on 4.2 to 4.7 sq m. being lighter i sailed with my 3.9. i could have sailed my 4.5

8/9/12 thursday
early morning

making a bacon and egg breakfast

yes, making breakfast like this is much more trouble than making any other meal; tending to the toast, bacon, and preparing the coffee is a handful if you want everything to come together at the same time

perfectly timing when everything is ready at the same time

Thursday tuned out to be not an exceptional day. I have very recollection of it except I wandered around taking pictures while waiting for the wind to build

high cloud in the morning = not so windy and slow build

 wild flowers along highway 14

 quite a bit of log trucks lately

the bnsf trains on this track have seen very high utilization ever since warren buffett invested a big stake recently ; there is no slacker enterprise under his ownership; the track is constantly being maintained and it attest he runs a very tight ship

Also most of the trains are very long. It is not uncommon for them to have 3 engines on the front and 1 engine at the back.

preparing a simple late lunch out of the marinated chicken intended for BBQ

the lid helped the chicken cook through much faster to conserve fuel

 i paired the chicken with chinese broccoli - so delicious when you are hungry

 After a long day of sailing I prepared the barbecue thai chicken. We had 7 persons (and a couple who sampled some and have to leave due to other commitments) and 2 chicken was plenty to go around. I served it with pineapple, and stir fried Asian vegetable. Everyone love the dinner and we party merrily until dusk.


 8/10/12 Friday - I took no photo this day

8/10/12 Friday would turn out to be an excellent day in the corridor. The wind started very strong from dawn and lasted all day. Mark arrived early when I just woke around 6:15am and did his dawn patrol (windsurfers' lingo for someone who starts sailing at the break of dawn). He is a heavy built and he went out on his 4.2 sq meter. I took no picture that day. Sail, eat, and nap was all I did. I started on my 3.9 sq m and rigged down to my 3.4 sq m. It was an incredible day and the wind direction lined up nicely with the river. Some swells were over one hundred feet and there were a lot of breaking swells.

8/11/12 saturday and 8/12/12 sunday
The forecast for saturday and sunday are both relatively calm. I returned home to stay cool and away from the crowd.

8/13/12 monday through 8/14/12 tuesday
While the original weather outlook on 8/12/12 calls for relative static (static is not good) pattern for next few days by the evening of 8/12/12 I was surprised to find out the coming two days may turn out to be fairly good sailing days in the corridor. Off into the Gorge I went.

Both Monday and Tuesday turned out to be pretty good sailing day, with just medium strong wind with occasional  bigger gusts. While one would like much stronger winds it beats in the office hands down.

sunset looking towards portland, or

preparing breakfast with leftovers from korean hotplate barbecue the night before

the result is a bowl of noodles with

i occasionally like a rather raw egg as many asian would do in their soup/noodle

a quickie lunch/snack

i could burn off the wine quickly, especially with a mid day siesta

Tatyana continues to attract curiosity once folks notice it's unusual exterior dimensions. I am always happy to let folks see the inside if they ask. Most were so surprised to see the full bath and very well appointed kitchen. All are so surprised it has nearly identical footprint of a standard American cargo van.

In these trips I used the two recent enhancements extensively.

shower arm holder cum wet wetsuit hanger - much better than drying it in the sun on the rearview mirror

the shallow retractable table is very convenient - i often leave it up even at night to hold the phone set as an alarm clock.

more salmon still
I left the Gorge relatively early in the afternoon on Tuesday as I started sailing at 7 am. On the way home I stopped by an Indian stall that sells salmon. I bought an 8 lb steelhead whole wanting to filet it myself. As I was leaving he called me and ask if I eat salmon roe. To that I said sure and he gave me two big sacs for free.

Tonight I am on a crash course trying to learn how to turn them into ikura to eat it sushi fashion.

Sorry pictures and write up to come if I succeed.