Incident at the Hatchery on Thursday, July 14th

[WEISDA]

If anyone knows of a guy named "Wind Mtn. Pete" who sails vintage Northwave sails on a blue Open Ocean board, please ask him to contact Terry at 509-637-5138 to discuss the damage he caused to the nose of my board when we ran into me on the water at the Hatchery on Thursday, July 14th. There were at least a dozen people on shore to witness the collision. I couldn't see much as he came up from behind me VERY FAST and upwind of me.

[surfersteve]

Terry,
I appreciate your frustration, but I suggest you simply take your board to Big Winds so Pierre can pick it up and repair it. The fact that this sailor didn't come seek you out suggests you are out of luck re: their personal obligation.
Short of finding video footing and providing evidence in a court of law to prove malicious intent, you may unfortunately be wasting a lot of time and emotional energy. Shit happens out there during these busy months. It sounds as if you are safe and for that I am grateful.
PS. It was not me.

[windfind]

Hi Surfersteve,

Normally I would agree with you but this was different than most accidents. The accident happened just in front of the bench in the middle of the Hatch with dozens of people witnessing the collision.

It was clear about 10 seconds before the collision that something bad was likely to happen. Greg and I were watching events unfold and were just commenting that this looked really bad when the "explosion" happened. Dozens of people gasped at the sound of the collision and rose to their feet. Given the speed involved I was certain that there would be major injuries or worse. Fortunately the fast moving board just clipped the nose of the slower board. If the point of impact had been 4 feet further back it would have been devastating given the high speeds involved.

The accident happened right in the middle of the best swell zone about 150 feet from the Hatch shore. This is the zone where most people are going relatively slow on beam reaches hunting for swell to ride. However there was one person on a really old purple/magenta sail that was cutting across the everyone's port tack beam reach course passing people on an extremely fast port tack downwind broad reach slalom board fashion. This means that the purple/magenta sail was often in peoples blind spot AND other beam reach sailors would be in their blind spot. Given that scenario and the crowded waters and speed and course of the purple/magenta sail we could tell that a collision was likely.

To the credit of the person who caused the accident they stayed with Terry to ascertain she did not have any apparent injuries. But they did not accompany her to shore or check on her board. Rather they took off on another high speed broad reach cutting across more sailors beam reach courses and headed deep into the basement. There were a good number of people who wanted to talk to this person but the purple/magenta sail did not return to the area while I was there.

I think there were clear violations of the Rules of the Road and Gorge swell etiquette involved here so the person involved should compensate Terry.

All of us have made adrenalin induced dumb mistakes sailing but it is a good idea to accompany those involved in a collision to shore. Some injuries, especially head injuries, and of course board damage are not apparent immediately and at shore you can ascertain damages better.

Just my personal 2 cents. I was so glad Terry was OK!!!

Mike Godsey

[surfersteve]

Thanks for clarifying Mike. However, my statement still stands. Someone should have sailed up to the sailor and firmly reprimanded them at some point. I feel comfortable doing that, but obviously not everyone has manners as poor as mine. It seems like good water citizenship to grab someone metaphorically by the collar to reign them in when we all see the likely future outcome of their behavior on a busy day in a tiny stretch of river.

My post was mainly to say be glad you are safe, but realize sometimes things happen in life we cannot fix and devoting a great deal of energy to them is nothing but counterproductive.

[windfind]

Hi Surfersteve,

Believe me there were many on shore who wanted to more than "firmly reprimand" the unknown person. Personally my carefully hidden southern redneck fists first history bubbles darkly to the surface at such events.

But as I said the person screamed away on a very broad reach into the far basement and none of us were on the water.

Besides... it was an honest dumb mistake and none of us responded with actions even dumber. I am sure the unknown person has already approached Terry regarding repairs. If not... then they won't be missed at the Hatch.

Mike Godsey

[WMP]

Sorry for any trouble. Things happen in life. I will take full responsibility for any damage to your gear. I took the time to make sure you were alright on the water, I asked if you were alright, looked at your gear and everything looked fine.

It was a gusty, choppy, twisty turny day at the Hatch. The wind kept switching directions from the south and then the north. I made a correction and was on a course to adjust for the wind shift from the north. You just happened to be in my blind spot at a time when the wind was very strong and changing directions. I can assure you that there was absolutely no aggressive / mollitious intent here from me at all.

I am sending you a PM.

Good day to you all.

[isobars]

That response doesn't surprise me. Pete has been a Gorge fixture for decades with many thousands of hours of TOW, and I've never heard any complaints about his behavior on the water.

[WEISDA]

WMP - It would seem that "surfersteve" is the only one out there talking about malicious anything..... It wasn't until I got out of the water to see that there was a crease in the nose of my board. I am not a newby here and have lived and sailed at the Hatchery for 20 years. I know what the wind was doing that day! Please PM me so we can be done with this.

[WMP]

[isobars]

My Bonzer went into the bottom and out the top of a friend's board. All my board showed was his white paint on it. Ya never can tell.