In addition to a fire hazard in the small, wood (tiny house) space, smells quickly soak in and we have guests and family with severe allergies. The No-No's: - Absolutely no smoking or drugs on the property of any kind including E-cigs, marijuana or other drugs. You can walk down to the Dash Point dock and beach park but it is uphill on the way back. We are not near public transportation or walking distance to any shops. Our street becomes especially quiet once everyone is home from work and the only people we see are neighbors walking their dogs. ![]() The Neighborhood: Dash Point is a quiet NE Tacoma community on the Puget Sound (salt water, not a lake) about 20 minutes from Tacoma city center and we are a few blocks up from Dash Point dock and park. We actually lived in the tiny house while we were building our main house and it is cozy and sturdy in all weather. The Aloha Tiny house, private parking, entrance and deck are separate from our house below. Small but mighty: Tiny house living in 135 square feet plus queen bed loft and additional storage loft. Just up the street from several beach parks, the Aloha Tiny House includes everything you need for a comfortable stay all wrapped up in a cozy tiny house with your own parking spot and private entrance and deck. Long may Malcolm and the Dash grace the magnificent sailing waters of Langebaan-Saldanha.Welcome to our cozy Aloha Tiny House, the perfect central Pacific Northwest location in the quiet neighborhood of Dash Point, NE Tacoma. I suspect that the point of sail is much more suited to kites than windsurfers. ![]() The race is challenging because of the variability of windspeed across the course (inside the harbour it can drop alarmingly) and the fact that one sails on a very broad reach. There were many rescues and bruised egos that day. I have attempted the race three times but completed it only once – in a 30+ knot gale on a wave board holding down a 4.1 m 2 sail only because the board was controllable on the broad reaches. I left Saldanha in 1987 by which time it was notching up almost 150 entrants annually. In fact the Dash has been around for 26 years. That probably explains why the press release refers to the “24th year” of the event. ![]() Originally, the event – consisting of both the Dash and the Longhaul – was marketed as the Saldanha-Langebaan Longhaul and only later was it renamed the Downwind Dash. ![]() I think it was during the first race in 1984 (we ran a second one later in the year) that the wind swung into the west and the fog rolled in, forcing us to use the NSRI to track down lost sailors using radar! Originally the Dash was followed by a race from Saldanha to Langebaan and back on the Sunday (known as the Longhaul) to satisfy the course-board lobby – but I always knew that the main attraction was, and would remain, the Dash. There were 70 entries I think, almost unheard of in those early days. He has been the tireless driving force behind the race’s success and its longevity over all these years. But it was Malcolm, who is still Race Director (that must be another world record), who mobilised the yacht club members to man the marks, organised the rescue, arranged the communications and logistics, etc., etc. I came up with the original concept (after reading about the Molokai Crossing windsurfing race in Hawaii) and the course is probably very similar to the one I originally designed, which is shown on the Google Map below. The sailors would finally round Dial Rock and sprint up the beach at Saldanha to cross the finish line. It would feature a “LeMans” start on Langebaan’s beach and zigzag down the bay powered by the bay’s prevailing summer southerly. Way back in 1983, three keen windsurfers from Saldanha, Malcolm McGregor, Kevin Wilyman and I, sat down and planned a 17-20 km windsurfing giant slalom from Langebaan to Saldanha. The organisers are expecting 400 entrants! It may even be the world’s longest-running windsurfing race too. The press release announcing the 25th edition of the Downwind Dash from Langebaan to Saldanha, scheduled for 23-24 January, hails it as “the world’s biggest kitesurfing and windsurfing race”.
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