A Wild Ride On The Columbia....

**Gofirstclass** · 10-03-2012, 12:59 PM

At our last month's yacht club meeting I proposed the club spend a few bucks to buy the equipment to mark a navigation hazard at a place where lots of boaters go. It's at the Mudhole, one of our favorite places to drop the hook and overnight. The motion was approved so I bougth the buoy, chain and hardware to attach it to an anchor one of the other guys in the club made.

Yesterday Brian, his 3-year old son Andrew and I went in Brian's Seadoo to set the buoy in place. It involved a trip of about 13 miles downstream to the Mudhole. When we set out from the club the weather was perfect...low 80's, light winds and almost flat water. We knew the winds were projected to pick up a bit so we wanted to get it done before they really kicked up.

Here's a shot of Brian and the anchor he made out of a 10-gallon bucket filled with concrete...

Here's Brian and his son Andrew as we're headed down river...

The cruise down was fun. This little boat gives a whole different feel to "Being On The Water" than Beachcomber because you really are on the water.
So we got the buoy set along with a friend who came out to enjoy the fun and take a few pics. Mark runs a business that involves diving, search and rescue, body recovery, salvage, etc.

Remember when I mentioned the winds possibly kicking up, and the blue skies in the first pictures? Well just as we were heading out of the protected Mudhole we ran smack into the wind. And the dust storm it brought with it.

Here are a few pics and videos I took on the way back. We were running against about a 20-25kt wind and a 1'-1.5' chop and that little boat bounced and kicked and what a ride we had. The dust storm also had kicked up and made for some interesting pictures and videos.

Here are some of the videos I took on the way back. I was trying as hard as possible to hold the camera steady, but you'll see what the ride was like.

As it turned out we made it back in one piece, albeit a bit windblown and bounced.

The hazard is clearly visible above the water right now because the water is down a couple of feet from its normal level. When the water level is up to its normal level that car body is a foot or two beneath the surface and a prime prop eater.

The buoy is in place now, so if anyone hits it in the future it will be their own fault.

**Molson** · 10-03-2012, 01:13 PM

car body?

**Bucit** · 10-03-2012, 01:20 PM

The jet boat seemed to do pretty well with the chop.

**AMFM3** · 10-03-2012, 02:01 PM

Gotta love those Sea Doo boat rides! Always an adventure Mike!

Mark

**wyrman** · 10-03-2012, 02:26 PM

Yeah, that storm hit pretty quick as you said, even though we were expecting it, it came out of nowhere.
I bet that ride made you apprciate Beachcomber.

**Bob & Sue** · 10-03-2012, 02:39 PM

Looks like a fun ride not.

**Gofirstclass** · 10-03-2012, 09:02 PM

Actually it was a kick in the butt. I've only been in one of those little Seadoos once before. It was fun then and fun yesterday. Yeah, it was bouncy, but not so bad that I had to hold on. I was laughing most of the way back because I was enjoying it so much.

Yeah, that was an autobody. I'm not sure how it got there because that's been all water/muck for many years. We set out to mark the location of a concrete weir box but couldn't locate the box. The local Sheriff's Dept has some kind of side scanning sonar that they use to recover bodies. I talked to the Undersheriff and he said he'd be glad to let his deputies assist us but the boat is out of the water for the season except for emergencies. He suggested we give him a call in the spring and he'd make sure it happened. So we'll go back out in the spring with another concrete anchor. We'll bring up the buoy and chain and, using the new concrete anchor we'll mark the weir box.

Mark....you're right....just another adventure. They just seem to keep on coming and we just seem to keep on enjoying them.

**AKBASSKING** · 10-04-2012, 04:59 PM

I have to laugh at this on! Monday morning we were at Coon Island on the Multnomah Channel and left for home about 21miles away. We hit the main Columbia River Channel at St. Helens OR. There is about a straight 7 mile run of river and the wind was blowing straight up the river against the current at a steady 25-30 mph and we hit 4 footers! In the river! I swear that there were big ones. I have never seen waves stack up like that on the river. Oh well, here in a few weeks or less we will have 7 months of rain and summer will be gone again.

**Gofirstclass** · 10-04-2012, 07:04 PM

Four footers on a river? Can't happen!

This video was from our trip to PDX in June. Four footers were the mild ones. It can and does happen frequently on the Columbia.
Wanna Bet???