pacific northwest wakeboarding

When searching for boats it seems like 90% of the boats are from Portland,Seattle and sfbay.. doesn't it rain all the time up there?

Yes it does. And where there is alot of rain , there is alot of water to play in. Problem is people that are new to the boating thing fool themselves when first buying. They think they are gonna get more use out of them than they actually do. It becomes my second full time job in the short summer to get out and use the boat. If you don't, it just is not worth it. Thus the high # of boats form our area for sale.

I was gonna say... nothing I hate more than having one of my very few days off being spoiled by rain

San Jose gets 300 days of sunshine a year...and the central valley and foothills are only a couple hours away where the summers get HOT. Prime boating conditions 5 months out of the year, if not more.

It rains here every day, it sucks. Stay away!

how many boatable bodies of water near SJ? How far from the delta?

Agree with the full time job.. Live in Portland area, we are on the boat EVERY sat and 90% of sundays the entire summer. It's so short you have to. However, in the summer everyone here goes hard and has a good time. Right now though the boat payment plus storage fees are hurting.

I to agree with the full time job statement during the summer we are at it Friday through Sunday and any other day we can squeeze in a couple sets but I must say when the weather is nice their is no better place to be we have tons of water and never suffer through drought. I agree it is odd so many people with boats but we have water everywhere.I also think it odd the amount of company's here in the northwest that help drive our sports such as wakemakers,wakeside,exile,hyperlite,inland surfer and Samson sports to name a few

I lived in Seattle for 17 years- am in Minneapolis now, but people go a little CRAZY when the sun comes out in Seattle. Boating in the summer is awesome in the PNW though- clear water, deep lakes and you can board year-round with a dry suit. There are also lots of options in Eastern Washington. Anyone who's been around Wakeboarding for a while has seen write-ups on Lake Entiat in the magazines, etc. Well it's only 2.5 hours fron Seattle and it is one of the BEST boarding destinations in the world. 50 miles of protected water on the Columbia river and while it's REALLY cold in the early part of the year, there are 300+ days of sun and the canyons protect at least come of the water all of the time from wind. We still go there every summer with friends to camp/board/party for a week. One of my favorite places in the world.

Originally Posted by epic1

how many boatable bodies of water near SJ? How far from the delta?

Within a couple hours, there must be at least 10 lakes, if not more. The Delta is about an hour and 15 minutes, depending on where you put in. There are three small lakes (Anderson, Calero, and Coyote) in Santa Clara County as well. Berryessa is about an hour and 45 minutes and once you get over Altamont pass, there are a bunch to choose from (Don Pedro, Tulloch, Turlock, Modesto, McClure, New Melones). Going south, Nacimiento and San Antonio are about 2 and a half hours away.

The eastern part of Washington State is pretty arid with little rain, especially during the summer.
During the summer, the temps reach into the 100's all the time. Lots of rivers and lakes. Where I boat on the Snake and Columbia, the scenery sometimes reminds me of Lake Powell. Great place to live and play.

The eastern part of Washington State is pretty arid with little rain, especially during the summer.
During the summer, the temps reach into the 100's all the time. Lots of rivers and lakes. Where I boat on the Snake and Columbia, the scenery sometimes reminds me of Lake Powell. Great place to live and play.

"It rains here every day, it sucks. Stay away!"
No problem! Last year I was wakeboarding in florida on christmas day, air 75/ water 70, it was epic! and northern ohio, where I ride in the summer is better than florida.

I would like to think the PNW is not sothern Cali,Ohio,or Florida. No offense but it's not.

Originally Posted by kruiserkat

I would like to think the PNW is not sothern Cali,Ohio,or Florida. No offense but it's not.

Yep, your right, it's not. We don't have to ride in a 13' deep ditch, or on a packed lake with 90,000 others. Tons of deep lakes in the area.

We live about a block from one, keep the boat on the water & ride 7 or 8 months of the year. Rack up 100+ hrs a year without riding in the rain.

But it rains every single day. So stay away.

BTW, where do you think 90% of all wakeboards & waterskis are made??

Not sure where your going with that one Bill K? I live in the Portland Area, and my 09 LF Lyman board is made in the United Arab Emmerats according to the sticker on it. Most of my lines/handles are made in China, as with my boat gear, boat trailer well in Tennessee, and the boat Tennessee also. As the post states Pacific Northwest Wakeboarding. Not Ford, Chevy, GMC, Toyota, Texas, Europe, or any other place. Although I can see where Northern California would be considered PNW. But like most post's here on WW there is always sombody that likes to take the post somewhere else. I know where my stuff is manufactured and where the companys are located, do you?

Lived in Seattle for 20 years, now in the Bay Area. Both areas have uniquely diverse options for water sports but don't kid yourself.....most of the "close" bodies of water are a zoo in both locations on hot summer days. Wakeboarding in the warm rain is not to be underestimated, it is pretty fun but not all the time. I have to be honest, the Delta is hard to beat. It simply has THE best water conditions even at Noon on a sunny Saturday. It might be dirty and 13" deep, but damn you can find your own flat channel to yourself all day without seeing another boat. Even if you have someone come into your area, their wake is gone before you can think about it. One of the things I took for granted in Seattle, was how close everything was. 5 minutes to that lake, 20 minutes to the other. In NorCal, I (not everyone) have to drive hours to get where I am going to get to a decent piece of water. Boating is a sport in Seattle, here it is a lifestyle because you drive a four hour round trip you feel like you have to spend 8 hours on your boat to justify the time/expense. Overall, I log a ton more riding hours here than in Washington.....

You got me, Cade. Your stuff is made in China with the rest of the beginner & intermediate equipment. Most anything I've bought in the last couple yrs was made here in the US or in Australia (Rubber Jungle).

A huge chunk of the board & ski companies, ie; LF, O'brien, HO, Hyperlite, Kidder, D3, Connelly, Inland Surfer, etc. are based in the PNW. Many have manufacturing facilities right here (Redmond, Issaquah, Ellensburg, Lynnwood, North Bend, etc.) & make their high dollar items locally. And then some of them contract to Playmaker & other Chinese companies to make their beginner & intermediate equipment (for quantity & quality reasons).

BTW, Playmaker may be located in China, but it's still US owned & funded. I just found out that Surftech, the largest surf board manufacturer in the world, plays the same game..... owned by a guy in Cali, operates in Thailand.

Exactly why we have so many unemployed Americans. Asians are cheaper and we bought into it cause it was cheap.

Don't they say convertibles are cheaper here, too? Less demand......

Bill, the only CWB product made in Lynnwood is the Tsunami Wake Surfer. All the rest of the boards are made in Dubai.

Yea, I'm not nearly as familiar with their product line as some of the others. Occasionally I run into a few of the guys who work at CWB, but thats about it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm just saying that a lot of the waterskiing & wakeboarding products have historically been made in the NW. Maybe due to Herb, Denny & Greg's involvement early in the game. Maybe because the weather is mild enough to lay up glass almost year round. Maybe for other reasons too. But it goes back years in the area.
I would venture to say that these sports are more popular in other areas, but I've heard that they are not good areas for manufacturing with fiberglass, ie; Texas (too hot), Florida (too humid), or Minnesota (too cold) to name a few.

Back to the topic at hand.....
The NW is not even have one city in the top ten rainiest cities in the country. Yes the NW gets a significant amount of moisture, but it is all over the Fall, Winter, and Spring. In Portland we average around 30" of rainfall a year. That is about average to most US cities. It is just that we get a ton of gray and wet days in the Spring, Fall and Winter. It is almost guaranteed sunny and warm here in the summer time. Yes it can be quite depressing this time of year, but the summers most definitely make up for it. Knowing that it is almost impossible to have a bad weather day in the summer it is easy to plan going out on the boat whenever you want and don't get caught in any storms, etc.....
FYI,
I just googled the wettest cities in America and they receive almost 2x our annual rainfall:
Mobile, Alabama--67 inches average annual rainfall; 59 average annual rainy days
Pensacola, Florida--65 inches average annual rainfall; 56 average annual rainy days
New Orleans, Louisiana--64 inches average annual rainfall; 59 average annual rainy days
West Palm Beach, Florida--63 inches average annual rainfall; 58 average annual rainy days
Lafayette, Louisiana--62 inches average annual rainfall; 55 average annual rainy days
Baton Rouge, Louisiana--62 inches average annual rainfall; 56 average annual rainy days
Miami, Florida--62 inches average annual rainfall; 57 average annual rainy days
Port Arthur, Texas--61 inches average annual rainfall; 51 average annual rainy days
Tallahassee, Florida--61 inches average annual rainfall; 56 average annual rainy days
Lake Charles, Louisiana--58 inches average annual rainfall; 50 average annual rainy days

Correction for bawshog:
Last years summer in the NW kind of sucked.

Originally Posted by tyler97217

Correction for bawshog:
Last years summer in the NW kind of sucked.

Much appreciated DB.

I think it rains more often here. Doesn't rain as often, but a lot harder down south. Just had a tornado touch down near Salem. Yikes.

Last summer did suck.

Originally Posted by lionel

Last summer did suck.

West of the Cascades. You guys need to check out whats east of the mountains sometime. I can't believe it took me 23 yrs of living over there before I found that out.

6in of rain in issaquah in one day last weekend.

technically it rains more in pdx than it does here, but i think (with exception of last summer) they get a little longer season. they seem to get higher temps too.

i love issaquah and lake sammamish, houseboating on lake roosevelt is second to none in this state imo.

Checked it out twice last year Bill. Still sucked. Of course it was hot before and after both times....

Being from eastern washington, its funny how people think of the PNW (or at least Washington) as being Seattle, which is on the west side of the Cascades. A little off topic, but I've actually gone to some concerts at the Gorge where the band said, "thanks for having us Seattle!!!". Ah, what? Seattle is 2 hours and the Gorge is in eastern washington. Like many have said the eastern part of the state is usually dry and hot in the summer, where temps can reach the 100s daily. At the same time, I think last year's season did suck all over the state. It seemed like if it wasn't raining on the columbia or snake river then the wind was blowing like crazy.

Yea, but "sucked" in eastern WA is typically 80s or 90s & windy, maybe some rain but it's usually over pretty quick.

Some of my old friends from Sammamish posted some pics on Facebook the other day. Looks like flood stage is imminent. I don't miss that much at all.

Last summer we did trips to Crescent Bar, Hells Canyon, and Banks Lake. In each place we had a day or two of wind, and several days of 90s & descent water.
Already started planning trips for summer of 2011. We'll make it to Banks Lake at least once. Maybe Roosevelt? Anyone ever been to Lyons Ferry on the Snake?

This last summer was the worst rainy cold summer I've can remember, and I've lived in Vancouver my whole life (across the river from Portland, not Canada). I still got out there and got dome riding in, but not as much as normal. The water was extra cold too... The NW is awesome though. Tons of sick places to ride...Lakes all over eastern Washington, Lake Roosevelt, Columbia River, Willamette River, Billy, Prineville...Nothin better then a warm summer day in the NW!

agreed last summer was the worst I can remember as well.We were even able to find some rain at Shasta in august which has never happened to us before good thing we brought a cover because it came down hard all day

^^^ Ouch...not fun on the summer vacation. Pays to be prepared, though!

Bill K, where is Lyons Ferry located on the Snake? We usually ride around Fish Hook on the Snake, which is closer to Tri Cities.

Chris,

This is where Lyon's Ferry is. Quite a ways up north.

http://www.freeguidetonwcamping.com/...Ferry_Park.htm

I boat just north of Columbia point in Tri-Cities. If you ever want to come over this way without the boat, let me know. Always looking for new people to ride with.

Shawn

Shawn, thanks for the info. Yeah, when we're on the Columbia thats where we hangout and ride too. Usually on the east side of the little islands where you can see the big houses on the bank. Also, thanks for the offer, I'll have to do that.

Yea, we've spent quite a bit of time at Fishhook & Charbonneau over the last 4 or 5 yrs. It's an easy 2-3 hr drive from Spokane. But we've had some issues with wind & water conditions the last 2 times there. The last straw was the sprinkler system going off in the middle of camp in the middle of the night. The camp host there was just a BEOTCH.

Lyons Ferry is only a bit over an hour out of Spokane & the Snake changes directions a couple times there (nor/south to east/west). So I've been told that people who have been there got great water & similar weather as Fishhook. Guess we'll see.

Don't know why everyone is complaining about this past summer weather wise. Yes we didn't have the really warm days (which was great, less idiots on the water but i did meet the one idiot) but there was still alot of nice days for riding. Even though I didn't have my boat from August til November I was still able to put 160 hours on it this year.

This has been an interesting thread to follow. I live in Portland, OR. But I am not originally from here. So I understand the feelings of anger toward the rain.

But let me say this... the first and last thing you need to know about wake sports in Portland is the Willametter River. We live 10 minutes from the ramp, and that river has become like a second home for us. One day, I hope to actually live on its shores.

Every time we venture away from the river to some lake (and there are many to choose from up here), I say to my wife, "Why did we drive 2 hours for this when the best water around is right down the street?"

Like most transplants, the conversation of moving back home comes up often... but there's one thing that always ends its... knowing we'd be leaving the great Willamette River.

Just your typical evening on the Willamette...

B/C the lakes are clean and the Willamette is polluted????

http://books.google.com/books?id=Afm...lution&f=false

As much as you hear people complaining about the Williamette, it's good to hear someone is enjoyin it.

Bill,
We boat at Lyons Ferry quite a bit. Last July 4th it was close to 98 degrees, glass for miles and no one on the river. I rode for about 8 miles and didn't see another boat. The mouth of the Palouse River is a huge bay, just off the Snake, and the water temps can get almost into the low 80's. Feels like bathwater compared to the Snake or Columbia.

Right on, Kirk. Let me know if you guys do another trip to Lyons Ferry this year. I am so IN!

The Snake river rocks. We camp up river from the Ice Harbor Dam.

I love the Willamette (Willy) river. Wouldn't drink it, but love it......

Originally Posted by lionel

B/C the lakes are clean and the Willamette is polluted????

http://books.google.com/books?id=Afm...lution&f=false

Looks like that could be the Holgate channel which they are STILL trying to put in speed limit and no wake sports.. gerr.. Always on the river too but we are probably part of the 'bad' crowd too since we spend about as much time tied up inside ross island cove partying as we do boarding.

Kinda a rough day on the Columbia River in Peanut Cove...

peanut cove is great you can play all day then hit puffins for drinks and dinner we spend about half our time on the Columbia and the other half on the upper Willamette. when its good its great