Drysuit Checkout Dive in Woahink Lake

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After Heather purchased her new drysuit, we decided to go try it out.  A favorite site to test drysuits and get crabs is the Florence Jetty.  We arrived at high tide hoping that the visibility wouldn’t be too bad.  This is looking just east of the SCUBA access ramp.  It was an extremely high tide from the looks of things.  Perhaps there was a bit of a storm surge.

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This is the ramp into the water.  There was a good deal of debris in the water sloshing around.

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There were some big waves coming in on the south jetty and big breakers just offshore.

IMG_3823The large logs rolling around in the entry area and the complete lack of visibility didn’t make us very happy.  If you can’t even see anything in the entry area, the whole site is usually blown out.


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Heather isn’t too impressed with Northwest diving.

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Watching this log roll around made us decide to go to our backup dive site at Woahink Lake.


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We went to the east boat ramp at Woahink Lake where SCUBA classes often go diving.  There isn’t especially much to see in the water but it is a good site for when the west boat ramp is full (it was with a class) and the jetty is blown out.  The green tank is one of Heather’s two new aluminum 80 cubic foot tanks.  Now we have enough tanks to do two dives each before needing air fills.

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Heather getting into her nice new drysuit.

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Getting ready to go diving together for the first time!  It only took about a year to get here.

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Heather in her suit.  It is a bit baggy around the hips but once underwater, that bagginess gives an increased range of motion.


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Me in my BARE suit.  I haven’t met many other people who dive red BARE suits.

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In our suits together.


IMG_3846After the dive warming up together in the car.  We only did one dive at Woahink because it was rather cold and nasty at the surface and because there really isn’t a reason to do two dives at the same place in Woahink ever.

Miscellaneous Motorcycle Photos

 Here are some miscellaneous motorcycle photos from the last few months.  Above: the XS850.

 The XS850 luggage.

 

 

 Drew’s ATK right before we did a sketchy CraigsList deal in Cottage Grove.

 The XL500S before I sold it.

 Mileage at second fill-up for the XS1100.  Subtract 98.4 miles from this and you get the mileage I started at.

 Out with Ashley in Belfountain.

Welcome Home 1979 Yamaha XS1100SF Special!

A few weeks ago I picked up a very nice low mileage Yamaha XS1100SF Special with all original paint and a King and Queen seat (banana seat).  Heather and I had been watching it on Craigslist for a while.  While she was gone back east, I surreptitiously picked it up and led her to believe that someone else had purchased it.  Before she got back, I did a complete overhaul on the bike to get it road worthy, titled, registered, and plated in Oregon.

This is a gorgeous four cylinder inline engine.  Yamaha basically taped on an extra cylinder compared to the XS850 like I already owned.

 

 LOVE that seat.

 Low miles.

 The seat is ridiculous and awesome.  I am fairly certain it has the original cover.

 

A comparison of the XS850 (on the right) and XS1100 (on the left).  The biggest differences I have found are the much wider engine on the 1100, the bigger tail light on the 850, a slightly higher fork height on the 850, and different kick stand configurations with the XS1100 being almost vertical when on the kick stand.  Otherwise, the two bikes are very similar.

 

I moved into a shop space with Drew and got an orange jump suit to work on the bike.

 The XS1100 getting ready for its first test ride after a comprehensive overhaul.

 

Someday maybe I will put wave rotors on this and more modern brakes.  Single piston brakes with solid disks don’t stop as well as I would like.

 I wonder if I could modify the bike to get it to the speedometer’s top speed…

 Ready for a ride.

 

 Drew rode the XS850 while I rode the XS1100 up to a nice view point over Corvallis.

Ashley rode her Ninja 250 which is surprisingly large next to the XS1100.  I can say that Heather was EXTREMELY surprised when I pulled up on the XS1100 to take her for a ride.  The surprise was complete.  Considering how much more power the XS1100 has compared to the XS850, she is very happy to be riding on the back of it.

 Sunset over that gorgeous banana seat.