Pistol River Wave Bash 2010
British globetrotter Tanya Saleh currently lives in San Diego, USA. Having heard that this year the Americans were having their first national wavesailing event in a long while, she migrated 15 hours up the coast to Oregon for the Pistol River Wave Bash. She wasn't the only Brit as Timo Mullen and Sam Neal had flown out to compete. And they certainly weren't the only 'names' present as Francisco Goya, Kevin Pritchard and many of America's greatest wavesailing talent were coming to Oregon too. It was shaping up to be one hell of a Bash. Photos by Chris Hughes, movies by Kevin Pritchard.
Prologue
Pistol River is a spot near a town called Gold Beach in the very southern part of Oregon, USA. The Pistol River Wave Bash used to be a regular pilgrimage on the US Wave Tour, yet the last time it happened was a decade ago. But for 2010, Maui resident Sam Bittner made a huge leap and committed to make it happen once again.
We arrived at Pistol River a few days before the start of the event, and we've been totally blown away with just how windy this place is - non-stop, day after day. The guys have regularly been fully powered on 3.7s. The place is insane; cross-on, swell and absolutely nuking full power. Other guys have already started to turn up from the Gorge and Maui so I think the action's going to be pretty sick...
Thursday 17th June
Today was the first day of competition, and full single eliminations were run across all categories. The majority of the entrants have either come from the Gorge or Maui to create a star-studded event. Plus Sam Neal has come over from the UK, and last minute surprise Timo Mullen even turned up with JC!
Again, the wind didn't disappoint - the guys were on 3.7s and 4.2s all day and heats were run until dusk. The action was pretty awesome to watch and should get even more interesting when the Shadowbox Jump-Off takes place over the weekend. The men's first round results were Kevin Pritchard first, Francisco Goya second and Kai Katchadourian third.
Friday 18th June
The wind was a touch lighter on day two at Pistol with the guys rigging 4.7-5.0 for the first rounds of the double. The swell had also backed off a little from yesterday so heats started at 8 minutes with just two waves to count and no jumps. After a few heats the wind filled in and ramps jacked up with the flooding tide. Sailors rigged down and format was changed to include one jump. Stand-out sailors in the men's included Sean Aiken, Skylar and Whit Poor. There's a mix of the old school and new school battling it out, meaning no heat is an easy heat. At the end of the day they're only left to complete the semis where Goya and Kai are to fight it out; the winner will take on Kevin Pritchard in the final.
Sam Neal managed to hold on for a couple of heats despite slicing his hand open on his fin. Meanwhile Timo managed to break his second mast in two days during one of his heats, the ensuing couple of minutes of downtime saw him knocked out.
The standard of every fleet is incredible - most of the juniors have flown in from Maui: Morgan, Zane Schweitzer, Bernt Roediger, the list goes on. They sail almost flawless heats and can quite often give the pro fleet a run for their money. For this reason some of them are actually doing pretty well competing in both categories. Day one of the juniors saw Zane take the win, but Bernd managed to win the final today. This meant they had to go back out for a head-to-head decider. By this time it was about 7pm and the wind was easing, but Zane managed to pull it out of the bag to take the win.
The women's day two results leave Ingrid Larouche from the Gorge in first thanks to her good jumping and consistent waveriding. Tanya Saleh (that's me!) in 2nd and Christine Vogt, another Gorge resident, in 3rd. A special shout has to go out to Fiona Wylde who's only 13 years old but doing incredibly well competing alongside the women.
Event co-sponsor Robby Naish turned up as another surprise guest in the biggest mobile home we've ever seen - pretty cool. He was out sailing downwind and putting on an unbelievable display as usual. He has entered the Shadowbox Jump-Off so it should be a great show when it happens.
Sat 19th June
We've been at Pistol River for a week now, and today was the first day that the wind decided to play games. With only the men's, amateurs and masters semis and finals to run this was a little frustrating. The skippers meeting was delayed from 12pm to 2pm to 3pm, but eventually at around 4pm the wind had filled in just enough, and it was decided to start going through the final heats. It was a case of float out and waveride in.
Kai and Goya headed out and obviously made the light wind conditions look easy. The win went to Goya which puts him through to the final against Kevin Pritchard. As Kevin had won the single two days ago, if Goya won then they'd have to go head-to-head again. And of course Goya won. Head judge Matt Pritchard decided to hold off the 'super final' until tomorrow when the forecast looks much better.
Sunday 20th June
The wind didn't disappoint on the fourth and final day. And with steady 4.7 weather the final decider between Kevin Pritchard and Francisco Goya was on. Enough said really; watching two sailors of such calibre battle it out is pretty awesome and it was Kevin who took the win.
Massive thanks to Sam Bittner who made this entire event a reality. With no previous experience of running an event she seamlessly made it happen - no doubt with the support of many friends and all the sponsors. This was a pretty big milestone in US windsurfing after such a long time without a national wavesailing event. From all the competitors and spectators: THANK YOU SAM!
Final Results
Pro Men: 1st Kevin Pritchard, 2nd Francisco Goya, 3rd Kai Katchadourian
Women: 1st Ingrid Larouche, 2nd Tanya Saleh, 3rd Christine Vogt
Juniors: 1st Zane Schweitzer, 2nd Bernd Roediger, 3rd Morgan Noireaux
Masters: 1st Atilla Tivadar, 2nd Macrae Wylde, 3rd Royn Bartholdi
Epilogue...
So that was that - except there's still more to come. The epicsessions.tv / Shadowbox Jump-Off took place on Sunday afternoon, but results are still to be announced alongside a movie of the high-altitude action. Rumour has it there's only inches in it, and first place is between Timo Mullen and Francisco Goya.
Tanya Saleh is supported by JP / NeilPryde - keep up with her latest news at tanyak297.blogspot.com.
