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Flights to the Gorge was Where to Ride 8/14

PostPosted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 8:14 am
by Craig Goudie
Grantsville AM session at 7.5 is probably the best bet. There might be
an hour or 2 at DC on an 8.5 around 2 PM, but potential is small.

Flow remains SOutherly from now until Thursday.

Best wind looks like this Weds this week,

-Craig

tweaking the pdx connection

PostPosted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 11:09 am
by rob smith
Craig,
Just got back from 3 out of 4 days in the gorge. I wanted to get your opinion on flights (i have used delta and southwest) and can you get flights last minute if the wind is up for reasonable fees? I do like keeping the gear there, that a bonus rather than driving. We sold our condo at the "lodge" as our friends part owner, moved to HR. We are on the look out again and it seems the real estate has really slowed in the last 6 months. I thought about you and others who have had injuries as I just got back on the water this weekend (as i had shoulder surgery from an ac separation). Did fine without any problems. loved the sailing 3.0 to 4.7
Rob

Re: tweaking the pdx connection

PostPosted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 3:04 pm
by Craig Goudie
All right Rob! Glad you're back on the water with no or low
ill effects.

I've never found a last minute Delta flight for a reasonable fee. It
depends on what's been sold, but for the last 3 years, the airlines
have been much more efficient, and almost every flight is full.
This is good because it keeps them in business, but bad, because
those $130 round trip tickets from a few years ago are just a memory.
Think in terms of $750-$1,200 if you're are planing to go on a wind forecast with Delta.

Southwest is a little more reasonable at a max of about $400, it'll
usually be about $350 within enough days for a good forecast.

Then there's the reduced flights. The late flight out of PDX to SLC
on Delta is 5:18 PM. You'll have to be off the beach at 2:30 to catch
that, or 6 PM for Southwest and off the beach at 3.

The early Delta flights go out of PDX at 6:10. This can get you to work Monday
Morning by 9:30 if you really have your act together.
The early Southwest flights tend to get you back into SLC around 11AM.

Real estate slowed? In HR? I haven't noticed that, but you could get
a killer deal on a residence in the Dalles. White Salmon, and Bingen
are totally consumed by people moving in to work at Insitu, they just
got a huge government contract. Google is putting in a huge
server farm in The Dalles, so that would be the place to speculate
on property, in my opinion. There's a new sign over by Dallesport
on the other side of the river that says "Googleville". Hmmmmmmm.

-Craig

rob smith wrote:Craig,
Just got back from 3 out of 4 days in the gorge. I wanted to get your opinion on flights (i have used delta and southwest) and can you get flights last minute if the wind is up for reasonable fees? I do like keeping the gear there, that a bonus rather than driving. We sold our condo at the "lodge" as our friends part owner, moved to HR. We are on the look out again and it seems the real estate has really slowed in the last 6 months. I thought about you and others who have had injuries as I just got back on the water this weekend (as i had shoulder surgery from an ac separation). Did fine without any problems. loved the sailing 3.0 to 4.7
Rob

PostPosted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 8:25 pm
by rob smith
I have found about the same with Delta being higher now than Southwest. I think with the good detail, you must have worn a trail between SLC and PDX. I like the early morning options as well.

I saw Jason, Marty and Carl at the event site as I had to return at about 7 pm to fetch my forgotten harness. I spotted a hypersonic and a windwing. I knew that there was a Utah connection as not too many gorge sailors have hypersonics.

I noted the slow down from some realtors and an observation that there may be some leveling of some of the listings. I drove past the proposed GOOGLE site. THey supposedly got a great deal on power in the Dalles for their servers and operations.

Ideally, it would be great to get good fares when the forecasts call for decent wind. Thanks a lot.
Rob