Chinook 34 Sailboat – Cinnamon

Wow, two days in a row in February!!! One fast realizes that the weather guys have a hard time predicting weather in Portland, Oregon in the winter time. The prediction for today, February 15, 2009 is for rain mixed with snow and a high of 39 degrees with winds from the SE 10 to 15 knots with gust as high as 22. There was another band of rain rapping around the low pressure center that had move to the South and in the early morning it was raining with gusting East wind. The infrared satellite pictures showed the rain band was moving North across our area with clearing behind. By noon it was 50 degrees and the wind had shifted around to NNW 6 to 10. Turned out to be a beautiful Sunday afternoon for a lazy cruise and watching the Sunday racers.

The Portland International Sailing (Cruising) Regatta runs every Sunday from Thanksgiving through the end of February. Any Sunday you will see 10 to 15 boats from the Cruising Fleet out doing a 14-2-14. Anybody can come out and join the racing. Just show up at Columbia River buoy 14 at noon on Sundays and have your VHF radio on channel 68. Terry Johnson on the C&C 34 Ozymandias hails the course and gives the starting sequence. No spinnakers allowed.

Sunday Racers wing-on-wing on the Columbia River, down river with I5 bridge.

Sunday Racers on the Columbia River looking East, up river, with Mt Hood in the background.