Where has the civility gone

[a-might-bit-goosty]

Yeah, that's it - we're just not as good as you!

Nah, the Hatch just has a different vibe. People fighting over parking, swell, right-o-way. Not often, just occasional, but more there than other spots. Just different. And nice to get away from it, where any such issue is like once in a blue moon.

[jimoakes]

I love the Hatchery. People from many different states and countries mixing it up on the water and the shore. It's an exciting community. Do they all have a great attitude? Not always, but who does?

I've met life long friends there. My dream would be to have an eternal windy July at the Hatch. That would be Heaven!

[isobars]

[windoggi]

[mogunn]

[rigitrite]

It's been ages since I last sailed the gorge (2002), but even then, I noticed how some people who weren't that good of sailors were kinda dicks about stuff on the water and where you put your gear at Dougs...or Cheap Beach....or the Hatch. It's funny, but it's the same kind of thing you see in academia: while serving my time as public school teacher, I was forced to work with many a dip-shit educrat with a PhD in education. They would invariably demand to be called "doctor -------". After I quit my job as a teacher and went back to school to become an engineer, I met many many brilliant scientist, and even considered double majoring in physics due to the quality of the staff. My favorite physics professor built a scanning-tunneling electron microscope himself and did amazing research into molecular structure by taking pictures of individual atoms. Even though he had TWO PhD's (mathematics & Physics), ya know what he demanded you call him? .....Fred.
I've found that the best sailors in the gorge are equally unassuming, are totally fine if you just refer to them as "dude".

[isobars]

[mogunn]

[swchandler]

When I started taking vacations to the Gorge in the late 80s and early 90s, one of the renowned hot spots was the Hatchery. While we were usually renting a house in the Rowena area in that timeframe, we would often make the trek to the Hatchery and launch right there in the thick of it at Kodak Point. It was the Northwest's version of Malibu Point like it was back in the early 60s. It was definitely a spot you had to experience just to say that you'd done it. Needless to say, to be a regular, you had to like the tightness of the crowd on the water, and the theater of sailing right in front of the audience perched above along the wall. It was a pretty crazy place that was chock full of aggressive action and close calls.

Frankly, it was a bit too frantic for me contending with the folks showing off their stuff. It didn't take too long for me to discover Swell City. I was more than happy to pay for parking, and thrive in a more casual laid back scene where I had more space to have fun.

Although I haven't sailed the Hatchery since probably 1993, I know that nothing has really changed. It's still arguably the best spot for large swell in the Gorge when the corridor goes off, but you have to love the crowd and all the potential anxiety it can create.

[surfersteve]

I disagree strongly with most of the negative posts. I sail from the point at least 40 days a season and rarely experience bad attitudes, rude behavior, or parking arguments. Everyone is either friendly or just keeps to themselves. No one acts territorial including the pros.
It seems unrealistic to think you should show up at the Hatchery mid-summer and have the river and parking lot to yourself. Big days get crowded. That is just the way it is.
I could probably "find" someone who cut me off or took a swell I wanted, but I am usually too busy having a good time and watching others do the same. In fact, the river is one of the only places I can go to avoid the ills of society.