Water Temperature

[dosfatboys]

Where can I get the current water temperature of the Columbia, at the various windsurfing locations? Is there a formula for deciding when its warm enough to sail? Something about when air temp plus water temp added is greater than 100 then its bearable?
Thanks.

[isobars]

wwww.windance.com probably lists it. The iWIndsurf pager lists it (beneath the barometer readings. The Corpse (sick!) of Enginerds probably lists it somewhere in their huge website at http://nwp.usace.army.mil/site-index.htm. The temp listed is usually at Bonneville Dam, but the temp varies little between Tri-Cities east of the Gorge and Portland.

I personally find the 100-degree sum a pretty good indicator for my comfort and safety, because I wont wear gloves to sail. My body stays warm when sailingand occasionaly crashing in water around 40, but I consider ice water life-threatening if Im far offshore because it numbs my hands too quickly to fix a problem, de-rig, or self-rescue. Some guys sail all winter, even in water and air in the 30s; just wait til they break a mast or even just a harness line a mile offshore.

But once the water gets up to the low 40s, my bare hands do fine as long as the air temp is pushing 60. Im in a dry suit, of course, with a fleece shirt under it plus a hood and booties. The booties come off as the water nears 50. Once the water hits about 50, my air-temp threshold drops to around 50. Thus the 100-sum rule still works pretty well for me.

OTOH, Ive seen people wearing dry suits and hoods in mid-summer, too, in both Hood River and Maui. Its personal choice at the warm end. At the cold end, I personally consider safety to take a big front seat over preference. Being too warm is fixable -- you just let some water in. Getting cold is called hypothermia, and hypothermia is probably the biggest threat to our lives in this sport, at least in the Columbia.

The water was 42 last week, and that monster day on Tuesday a couple of weeks ago was quite OK barehanded, with the air in the 55-62 range, until the wind got out of hand and they closed the freeway. LAST winter (99-00) I sailed barehanded and safe into mid-January; this winter I hung it up when the water plunged into the low 40s around Halloween.

Mike

[johnyoung]

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers website has links to all the dams, with further links to water temperature; temperature is measure at the turbine intakes, I believe, about 15-20 feet down, so somewhat colder than the surface.