A huge highlight of the event for me, besides having the tower work out so well and not being shut down by the park service for setting it on the Rock, was getting to try a couple proto/sample sails Jason Diffin had only just retrieved from customs.  A 4.7 Fringe seen here during a Sunday morning warmup/demo opportunity.  The next set of photos were the 4.2 that I used in the grandmaster’s final heat.  And they are by far the sweetest sails I’ve ever gotten to hold.   

Photos courtesy of Nancy Pruitt. 

    Best loop hair:  That would of course be Boujmaa without hesitation.

And he handily defended his titles from last year for most tweaked aerials and furthest distance traveled. 

    The most unsung hero of this project next to the judges (and he does a lot of that too), would have to be Russ Faurot.  Largely unseen in this photo as well, but believe me he’s there behind the scenes in large fashion.  Dude is such a huge part of making the AWT happen. 

    And the gnarliest of the gnarly on the set up crew would be Jen and Ryan with close runner ups to Scotty, Dwight, James, Colby, Scott and Ben.  A shout out to Leo for helping out too, along with everyone that even smiled in our general direction, much more, humped building material over the dunes or braved an uncertain fate helping us set up. 

   The 2011 set up was a somewhat tricky blend of borrowed scaffolding to go along with an unrelated set that James had.  But at least it featured a roof and some windbreak up there.  Not to mention about 64 sq.’ of real estate and a desk to work off of. 

    In 2012 we rented the full kit from Ace in Brookings and had it looking fairly pro.  And it came in at a rather palatial 80sq.’  Double that if you count the observation/photography deck up on top. 

    2013 was pretty much a repeat of 2012 in terms of the tower set up.  And while it was still a pile of work to get it set up, it was so nice not to have to reengineer everything or sweat where the scaffolding was coming from.  

   So in 2014, I called to reserve the scaffolding on the appointed date only to find out they didn’t rent scaffolding any more and had sold it all off without telling me.  My next move was to discover that now, the nearest rental was in Eugene or Medford.  After a couple months of somewhat sweaty searching, we found and rented this set from a private individual locally at the last minute.  And then had to recut a lot of the lumber in our kit as this scaffolding was a different length and height than what we had been using.  And with the 5’ section height, it required some creative engineering to have enough headroom for the crew. 

   At this point we were becoming fairly resigned to the possibility that the Wave Bash wasn’t going away anytime soon and that we might as well try to buy scaffolding rather than continue to rent, borrow or steal it.  Not to mention having to recut so much of the box and the accessories in response to every new size.

   Getting it leveled out on the Rock in 2016, while an ambitious project and a provider of some additional stress in the beginning, did provide by far the sweetest view with the least amount of blowing sand.  The feeling was a lot more solid up there too, due in part I’m sure to the footing and the extra attention to the bracing in consideration of the added height and windage.  You even had line of sight to the parking lot from the tower. 

   Another huge bashie out to Nancy Pruitt for not only honoring the event with her presence and support, but for letting me use her 6D to shoot some of the Pro final.  Oh man, that camera is total machine and such a joy to handle.  The feel and the the action is superlative.  She even has an ultra sweet tripod to rest it on as well.

    This shot courtesy of Tom and Gary who were on hand to take it all in.   

    Best trophies were by none other than Dwight Bode himself this year.   Myrtle wood and local stones combined in artful fashion.  He’s even created a perpetual trophy you can find on display over at the Inn of the Beachcomber.   While Dwight claimed at one of the early discussions about this project that it would only take him a weekend, I think it’s safe to say that he spent more time on them than that and much gratitude is due.   Such pretty work for sure.  

    Once again and as always, the best and most loved event sponsor was Ted Eady and the crew over at the Inn of the Beachcomber for opening the place up and throwing down the epic BBQ’s and flying the flag in such huge and gracious fashion.  Next time you’d like to share a glass of wine while taking a private hot tub with a view of the ocean, remember to thank them for all the love and support they have extended to the American Windsurfing tour from the very first event in 2010.  

    The 2015 set up:

    The Bashie for best security detail for the event site was again and as always, Sheila the wonder dog.  (Seen here clearing the contest venue of those pesky seagulls.) 

  One more Bashie that comes to mind to close out the 2016 Pistol River Wave Bash is for the biggest confession:

    That would be that at the time, I was kind of glad it was over so I could get back on my rehab, trying to restore a little order in my life and quietly slip back into retirement from competition.  Sure I love having the crew come to Pistol, love the parties, love all the energy, love the stoke and I love checking out all the ultra sweet gear.  But I’m also loving getting back to the business of catching all the windsurfing I can.  Sure it’s unreal to have so much talent ripping the place up.  But it’s not like I get much sailing with them.  Oh and there I go again with the complaining.  Yeah, I just wish we could somehow spread everyone’s visits out over the entire season to give me a chance to get some quality time, share ideas, work on photography, video, train with and generally hang out more.

    Well, except for the sunglasses, this pretty much wraps up the ’16 event for me.  The gratitude has been flowing and the preparations for the ’17 have begun in earnest.  I’m lobbying for a little early in the season next year and have been working on getting a livecast together.  I might be dreaming on that one but it’s worth a try.  And maybe we’ll even get back to having a video to share next year.  Oh and now is the time if you have any input on the timing or content and you want to jump in with some energy or start thinking about coming for the next one.

    Anyway.  Back to it.  And I’ll try for more frequent postings from the south coast now that I’m getting caught up a little more. 

                                                                                                                                    With my respect, apologies and gratitude.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                  __________________\_  

    The “Old school” bashie this year goes out for the oldest board to take a first place trophy.   And that was by large measure, the 85 LS quad I rode in the Grand Master heats.  And a large shout out to Nancy Pruitt for hanging around to grab these most excellent shots. 

2010, such as it was:

2011, such as it was.

2012 fully dressed:

2014

   Best bringers of the madd stoke:  Sam Bittner and Scotty in the house, backed up this year by not only her most excellent Mom, but her Aunt as well.  Bringing the American WIndsurfing Tour to Pistol River for the seventh year running.  Indeed, it is the venue that started it all and I’ve heard her say a couple times over the years that in spite of it now being a world tour to such amazing places, that it is still her favorite event. 

And the 2016 Pistol River Wave Bash

   I’ll also have to claim this year’s bashie for the biggest complainer. In my defense, there was a lot to complain about, or at least make light of.  But that’s no excuse.  And I really am so very sorry about all that, and that I wasn’t better prepared coming into it.  Better than years past sure, but still not quite there in terms of being in the sort of zone I would hope to attain.   

Photo thanks again to Nancy Pruitt

    2010 was the first year of the emergent AWT and Pistol River was it’s only tour stop. The judges had to sit right out in the sun and the wind and it was rough duty.  Admittedly not as bad as the old days when they had to sit on the Rock, but still fairly brutal really.   A little off the deck sure, but if you’ve been to the Rock on a windy day, you know there’s no where to hide from all the blowing sand.  And between the wind, the sun and the spray, you’re gonna suffer out there.  

  2015 was the first year we actually had enough of our own scaffolding, thanks to some kit that James Lundin picked up.  Sure it’s not pretty, but having it afforded us to elevate our scaffold building art and lower my pre event stress level quite a bit.

And yet another awesome shot by Nancy Pruitt

    Photo by Nancy Pruitt

      Best spot for the judging tower turns out to be right on the Rock.  And I’m a little embarrassed it took us so long to get around to putting it there.  What got me thinking about it was that there was no where else to put it this year.  As you’ve probably heard, we had a big winter out here.  The beach and dunes are carved out and the usual spots were all below the hide tide mark.  The other possibilities either had some view blocked by the rock or were too far back or down the beach.  As I was down there on the previous high tide cycle that matched the event tides, I realized right on the rock was the only reasonable option and I took a tape measure up there to prove the spot I’d visualized.  Then all I had to do was talk the rest of the crew into it and then pull it off.  Ahhhh, but the former may well have been hardest part. 

    After seven years being a local liaison, production assistant and chief tower engineer for the Wave Bash, the one lesson that has stuck with me is that there’s nothing easy about setting up for an event at the Rock.  It’s a long way from the parking lot, it tends to be windy when you’re trying to set up, and while the state of our scaffold building art has come a long way, it really hasn’t become any less of a beating.  

  First, a most excellent shout out for the burliest surf-betty. And that turned out to be a hard fought tie between the whole crew.  Sarah, Ingrid, Tatiana, Sam, Cecilia and Jennifer were as always, stoked, ripping it up and making windsurfing look so fun.  And I must say it was quite awesome to have such an impressive percentage of the field be such amazing women.  Indeed, cause for so much gratitude and appreciation.

    And how about a few more from the pro heats courtesy of Nancy Pruitt to close this one out. 

That’s Sean Aiken in the house. 

    Nathan Mershon ripping it with flow and style, as usual.

And Boujmaa with an ultra clean cheese roll.

    So there you have the current state of our scaffold building art. Sure it’s not very pretty.  But it beats sitting on the rock and no, we will not be coming to a beach near you to set this or anything like this up.  You’re on your own on that one. 

Next >

< Previous