2011 Sandfest Friday Report

MotoUSA is on scene at the 2011 Sandfest on Oregon’s popular sand dunes. Just a few miles outside the towns of Northbend and Coos Bay, SF has been going for a couple days now but is really building steam as the weekend kicks in. Duners from all over are coming to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area to celebrate Independence Day and Americans’ much-appreciated freedom to recreate on the shifting beach sands with motorized toys. Sandfest is the first of two major events that take place each summer and pump major revenue into the coastal region.

As it was explained to us, Sandfest is the original festival on the Oregon Dunes. It became Dunefest when the organizers partnered, and now there is one of each since the organizers split ways several years ago. Dunefest draws more attendance, but the new Sandfest has been growing in recent years. This year seems to be on pace to continue that trend. Tomorrow will be the biggest day and we witnessed a steady stream of rigs pulling into the campgrounds with toy haulers and trailers full of roosting toys.

What’s the draw of Sandfest? Not only are there plenty of activities for the entire family, but the weekend extravaganza is free to attend. Unlike Dunefest, which has a bottleneck entrance that can easily be monitored, basing out of Boxcar means that riders, passengers, spectators and campers can come from all around and enjoy the atmosphere without forking over a gate fee. With the cost of fuel these days, it takes a small fortune just to make the haul with a dirt bike in the back of a pickup, much less an entire family affair with the fifth-wheel.

We brought our 2011 RZR XP 900 and it’s amazing to see how many of these machines are out here. I’m sure the numbers will only increase as the weekend progresses, but the side-by-side revolution continues to grow regardless of the weak economy. We’ve seen plenty of Yamaha Rhinos and a full spectrum of the Polaris RZR lineup, even a standard Polaris Ranger. Interestingly, I haven’t spotted a Kawasaki Teryx yet, which is one of our favorite UTVs. The Can-Am Renegade is prowling around as well.

Being out on the sand is a little sketchy. We went for a long loop and enjoyed relatively few encounters with other riders. As we headed closer to Boxcar the dirt bikes, ATVs, UTVs, sand rails and pickups started coming out hot and heavy. The Oregon Dunes are known for their worm trails and we had one close call when we met another RZR on one of those twisty trails. Back it down just a tad, folks. Let’s all go home in one piece.

Driving the three hours from Medford, we missed the side-by-side race today, but apparently the event didn’t take place. Several people we talked to were a little confused about what happened, but it seems that only one driver showed up for the event. However, night drag racing was a popular hit. This is the first time riders have been able to line up after sunset and test their reaction time. Rented lights illuminated the uphill strip and riders squared off against each other based on their own criteria. There was no official scoring, simply one-on-one grudge matches. There seemed to be an equal match of four-strokes and two-strokes. We heard about some sandcars and jeeps, but they didn’t make an appearance during our time hanging around the starting line.

We wrapped it up and headed across the dike road and back into town. We’re staying at the Mill Hotel which is part of the Casino. Rooms are modern and comfortable with easy Internet access. Many of the hotels on the Oregon Coast are small and their parking lots even smaller. Rates at the Mill are about $20-30 more than we’d like, but decided it was worth it for the safe, easy parking for our flatbed trailer. Tomorrow we’ll check out the ATC 3-wheeler Regatta, show-n-shine and try to get some dune time before the sand gets really hammered.