Windsurfing spot to live?

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20946

Hanford's contributions to the TriCities and the region include:
1. Tens of thousands of jobs, including high-end trade specialties, lawyers,and engineers of all types and levels. Richland once vied with Los Alamos for the highest per capita number of PhDs in the nation. It still ranks highly in that regard.
2. Many billions of dollars in federal cash inflow to the community.
3. Attracting a large, very diverse, and rapidly growing center of mass of cutting edge research (e.g., several labs employing thousands of scientists and engineers from all over the world), education (JC, 4-year undergrad, grad school), and advanced development and manufacturing facilities (e.g., outer space engines and power supplies, the world's fastest production street automobile. Google PNNL and Tridec for starters.
4. A nuclear power plant belching out billowing megawatts of electrical power.
5. Google Hanford Reach National Monument. Excerpts include:
• "Biologists have documented 727 plant species, 40 species of mammals, 246 bird and 1,500 invertebrate species on the monument and 43 fish species"
• "Our philosophy is to have as small a footprint on the landscape as possible ... while opening additional areas to the public."
• "From the overlook, visitors can see the last free-running stretch of the Columbia River, the Hanford site and far beyond. The view from the monument's Saddle Mountains to the north includes the Cascades on clear days."
• The Columbia is the principal focus of visitor use and is expected to continue to grow in the future for fishing, hunting, kayaking, canoeing and commercial jet boat tours, according to Fish and Wildlife.
• "the Reach has become a major draw for tourists. Visitors include the monument on an itinerary that often also includes local wineries".
• "I think most certainly the monument has put Tri-Cities tourism on the map. It's been a catalyst for tourism,"
• "Eco-tourism was our selling point (to protect the Reach) during those 15 years leading up to the declaration [as a national monument] ... "It also gives us a high quality of life here, and when you try to attract businesses and high-paying jobs, a high quality of life is what people are looking for."

Its primary contribution to the world equaled that of Los Alamos.

Despite all that, a visitor or even a resident who never read a newspaper would never know Hanford exists. It just sits there, all 586 square miles of it, bothering no one except the un- and mis-informed far left whiners who can't comprehend that freedom isn't free. But for Hanford, the U.S. would be under Nazi and/or Japanese dictatorship and/or many hundreds of thousands more people would have died in WWII ... one of the reasons Richland High School still proudly calls itself the Bombers and has mushroom clouds on its logos. Tours of Hanford’s historic B Reactor, the world's first plutonium production reactor, are fully booked out within minutes of their midnight availability window opening. Long-time residents here are very proud of the huge part many locals played in defending the free world from tyranny, and have very little sympathy for baby boomer whiners who have no personal comprehension what sacrifices were necessary to avert it.

DanWeiss · Joined: 24 Jun 2008 Posts: 2296 Location: Connecticut, USA

WMP · Joined: 30 May 2000 Posts: 671

Arrgh · Joined: 05 May 1998 Posts: 864 Location: Rio

boardsurfr · Joined: 23 Aug 2001 Posts: 1266

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20946

mrgybe · Joined: 01 Jul 2008 Posts: 5181

ducks007 · Joined: 27 May 2006 Posts: 35

Your first post is spot on. Sure, you'll get at least 2 people bragging about their sessions in late October, but "no thanks".

ccyne · Joined: 28 Aug 2006 Posts: 139

I'm here in SE Virginia and we too sail all year round. Asside from July and August you can average 1 to 3+ sessions a week. Throw in the fact that depending on where you reside you are no further than 3 hours from Hatteras Island and that unlocks quite a few more sailable days.

As far as terrain... You name it, we have it. Flat water, bump, waves.

Winter can get on the chilly side and you will definately test the 100 degree rule in Jan-Feb. We do often get prefrontal SW days those months, where the wind will blow 20+ and the temp will get over 70.

Cost of living is quite reasonable. Economic swings don't hurt too bad here as there is a huge military presence.

There are also plenty of other types pf recreation to keep you busy. The Blue Ridge are 3 hours west. We have good fishing and world class golf if that's your thing.

Finally we have a great group of local windsurfers.

bmmiller · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 110

Hey, if anyone wants to find out the statistical wind averages for any popular site go to windalert.com. (You can log in with your iwindsurf.com login info). Search for the please you're interested in. For example, Avon Ocean, NC. Then click on the Details link. Scroll down on the page that loads and you'll see the statistical monthly wind averages. Click through the months to see them all.

Here's Avon Ocean: http://windalert.com/en-us/Search/SpotInfo.aspx?spotid=392

Here's Isobar's stomping grounds, Port Kelley: http://windalert.com/en-us/Search/SpotInfo.aspx?spotid=442

This tool might actually help you decide where to move!