why anyone thinks Oregon-Portland, etc... is a good sailing base ... crappy bars to cross ... winds more akin to windsurfing than sailing on the Columbia ...

I'll take the Puget Sound any day ... sail all year ... great sailing in South sound 100's of secluded anchorages and smaller towns to visit ... and if going North hundreds more smaller communities and anchorages to visit if so inclined or as we do a couple times a year head to the San Juans and Gulf Islands ...

... a long day to Port Townsend (or slightly shorter day to Port Ludlow and do the Perry rendezvous as a start up to a couple of weeks in the Islands as we have done for the past several years - Bob puts on a fun gathering - regardless of how his band sounds ~grins~) or up the inside (Sarasota Passage) where few if any of the big ships go, either ditch out at Deception Pass (on a slack) or do our version of the ditch ... the Swinomish Channel and avoid the oh so typical FOG in Port Townsend (anytime of the year!!-) ... and visit in LaConner or not an hour 1/2 later you get spat out in the Sj's ...

Oh well ...guess one does the best where one is situated ... but who the hell really believes Oregon is worth a damn for a sailor??

Windsurfer yes, Kite sailor and of course Moth foiler yes (all WET sailing which I'm seriously over these days - done my duty in a Hobie, Snipe, 505, Flying Duchman, etc...) but on a cruising boat or anything else resembling one ... I just don't get it?

My opinion ... yours may vary ~N