The huge Big Winds Fall Sale continues! Do not miss this opportunity to score the best prices of the year on remaining stock of new and used windsurf, kite and stand up paddle gear. Inventory of many models and sizes is unusually low, so do not, repeat DO NOT wait! Call us toll free at 1.888.509.4210 or email us at for our sale prices!
We’ve added a few new kites to our closeout page. One’s a 2008 Naish Torch 9m ridden by Big Winds rock star Bea. This is a used kite in B+ condition. She’s also offering a 6m Torch (kite only) in A+ condition for $425 that’s only been ridden five times. And there are a couple of North Rebels and a Rhino out there too. Have a look!
Saturday, Aug 23, from 4 to 7 PM.
Activities start at 4 PM with childrens games on the beach, then continue with hot dogs and beverages available for purchase. The band Cash Cow will be playing live music. Come one, come all to this long-awaited event!!
Fox Sports Net
Monday through Friday, August 18-22, 5PM repeating at 9PM and 11:30PM.
Saturday August 23, 12:30PM features the finals for all of the sports.
The largest demo fleet in the U.S. is now on sale. We’re taking reservations for all of the 2008 gear from our lessons, rental and demo programs. This is some of the best gear out there, used for one short season in fresh water. Release dates for most of this equipment will be August 19, 2008. Check out the list and give us a call at 888-509-4210 to reserve your choices now. First come, first pick of the litter.
You would think that Big Winds needs 57 employees before this would happen, but amongst our lean crew of full-time staff we have two, count ‘em two, employees who share the same birthday!
Daryl absolutely kills it out at Swell City, and she’s happiest on those incredibly windy days when she can rig her 3.0 sail. She loves riding the swell, and watching her catch a huge wave and ride it to its completion is truly a sight to behold.
New this year is her custom North Pacific windsurf board, shaped here in Hood River by the famed Art Colyer himself. If you see Daryl at The Hatchery wish her a happy birthday, and be sure to catch a glimpse of her new board!
Bea manages our kite department here at Big Winds, and she too has a new custom board from Art, a directional kiteboard that she uses for shredding the swell at Rufus. The similarities don’t end there, however, because Bea and Daryl actually share the same birthday!
While Daryl rocks the poleboard, Bea is a tangleboarder through and through, going after it on her grunty Torch C-kites and custom-sized Naish Thorn. Bea is always on the move and is one of the fastest kiters on the water, but if you manage to catch up with her you should wish her a happy birthday!
Mike is one of our lessons and rentals dudes here at Big Winds, and he is perhaps the most excitable fellow in Hood River. You always know when Mike’s out on the water having a good time, as his cheers, shouts and whoops echo up and down the Gorge. Last night we had a late, light breeze and Mike was out there tearing it up, riding his 12m North Rebel and an 11′6″ Naish stand up paddle board!
Seriously, this dude is crazy, and hanging around with him you can’t help but draw on his boundless energy, endless excitement, and love for life. If you see Mike around town today wish him a happy birthday, and buy him a cold one or two!
The results are in, and the Big Winds crew absolutely cleaned up at this year’s Gorge Freestyle Frenzy! Congratulations to Tyson Poore, Whit Poore and Rob Warwick for snagging 1st, 2nd and 4th place!
All of these guys have been super-involved with our windsurfing clinics and advanced junior camps, and we are grateful to have such kind, talented folk working with our students.
We had an amazing Fourth of July in the Gorge this year, filled with plenty of wind, barbecued meats, and a beautiful fireworks display to top it all off. What’s more, here’s a picture of The Hook from that day! The Hook is a protected lagoon on the Columbia River here in Hood River where we teach all of our windsurfing lessons, and you can see that it was absolutely brimming with Big Winds students learning to windsurf. Wow!
Thanks to all of you who came down this holiday weekend to hang out with us, and a special thanks to our entire Hook crew, including our brave instructors and our hardworking gear technicians, who make all of this possible. Just think, these guys are making new windsurfers every day!
Led by longtime instructor Heidi Chapel, our Women’s Clinics are a terrific way to improve your skills in a supportive environment while having a great time with other women who rip!
These 2-day advanced clinics are designed for women who have a bombproof waterstart and are looking to develop other aspects of their windsurfing. Heidi and her team of instructors will cover a variety of skills, including rigging, stance, harness and footstraps, increasing confidence in high winds, and jibing.
We have two women’s clinic sessions this year, one from July 12-13 and another from August 9-10, so you can choose whichever one fits best in your schedule. All clinics start at our shop here in Hood River, the perfect base camp for pursuing windsurfing excursions anywhere in the Columbia River Gorge.
This season we’re offering stand up paddleboard rentals, which is a perfect way to get out on the water on those rare no-wind days! All of our stand up rentals are conveniently located at our beach center on the Columbia River, right next to the Event Site.
Stand up rentals are $25 for two hours. This package includes everything you need to get out there, including board, paddle, leash and wetsuit. We’ll do everything we can to get you on the water, no matter the wind!
For the first time in 22 years, our annual Canada Day & Fourth of July Sale is available to our web customers! That’s right, for the first time ever you don’t need to visit our Hood River store to take advantage of our biggest in-season sale of the year!
These sale prices are so low that we’re not allowed to display them on our website, but we assure you that all web orders placed from June 27 to July 7 will be personally processed by one of our experts, to make sure that you get the appropriate sale price. Your online shopping cart will not display these discounts, but your final credit card charge will reflect all sale pricing.
As always, you are free to call us to speak with one of our friendly windsurfing experts, and still take advantage of these incredible prices. This sale pricing is limited to stock on hand so act soon for your best selection!
What a great Father’s Day! I had the great pleasure of windsurfing with my two daughters and son-in-law on a gorgeously sunny, windy, classic Gorge day. What a blast!
I hope all you dads had a great time as well. Hats off to all of you!
See you on the water,
Steve
Thanks to everyone who came out on Saturday to hang with us at the Sand Spit! We had an awesome time trying out the upcoming Crossbow IDS, Cabrinha’s hotly anticipated kite whose Intelligent Depower System simplifies self-landing and stands to revolutionize personal safety.
The Crossbow has seen some pretty major changes from last year, and based on how incredibly well they handle it’s all been for the better! In addition to complete on-demand depowering, the Crossbow IDS features stronger materials and construction, a ton of tuning options, and a wider wind range than ever before!
Also, a hearty thank you goes out to Damien Leroy, who in addition to being one of the best kiteboarders in the United States, is also one of the kindest souls in the world. No matter if you needed a a kiteboard to borrow, a launch at the Sand Spit, or a good laugh at the saloon, Damien was always there and happy to help you out.
Rider: Daryl
Gender: Female
Height: 5′2″
Weight: 120 lbs
Skill Level: Expert windsurfer
For years Daryl has ridden the Neil Pryde Zone sails, in every size from 3.5-5.2. The Zone is a forgiving, lightweight sail that is perfect for female sailors. They don’t require a ton of downhaul, and Daryl can rig the Zones without a downhaul tool of any kind.
The Zone features a ton of monofilm paneling, which keeps the sails light while sacrificing some durability. That said, the monofilm makes it easy to see through the sail, which was a deciding factor for Daryl. Things can get pretty congested at Swell City during those busy days in July, and Daryl loves being able to maintain a wide eye on her surroundings.
Rider: George
Gender: Male
Height: 5′10″
Weight: 180 lbs
Age: 56
Skill Level: Expert windsurfer
This year, George is riding the 2008 Starboard Kombat 89 Wood in any conditions that demand a 4.0 - 5.2 sail. He finds the Kombat to be a fast and crisp ride that reacts immediately to input.
In higher winds George rides the Kombat 79 Wood, which is the perfect board for him when sailing in the Gorge. It’s faster than a pure wave board and doesn’t have as much rocker, and it’s as much fun as anything to ride in the swell.
Rider: Andy
Gender: Male
Weight: 85 lbs
Age: 12
Skill Level: Intermediate windsurfer (working on his jibes)
Andy uses Sailworks Rippers as his main sails, in the 2.5 and 3.3 sizes. The Rippers are just as durable as adult sails, but are designed with the height, weight and strength of kids in mind. Andy can rig and downhaul the Ripper sails himself, without adult intervention, which makes both him and his mother stoked. Being able to rig your own gear means more time on the water for both mother and son!
Andy rode the JP Australia Young Gun 114 last year, which was instrumental in helping him progress to the next level in his windsurfing. This year he’s working on his jibes, and hopes to ride the Starboard Evo 75 for the season. That said, he’s also eyeing up his mom’s Naish wave boards!
Keep it up, Andy! You’re a ripper!
Big Winds, the largest windsurfing and kiteboarding shop in the continental United States, is looking for a web-savvy windsurfer or kiteboarder to manage our online identity and e-commerce website. The ideal candidate will be knowledgeable about advanced web design and development techniques, and will be passionate about playing an important role in the windsports industry. This is an onsite, year-round, full-time salaried position at our shop in Hood River, Oregon.
Common tasks will include updating and maintaining website content, managing our online product catalog, and acquiring and processing product images. Solid writing skills are a must, as you will be responsible for writing and editing website content and product descriptions. We ask that you have keen eye for design, and a passion for making our website as informative, enjoyable, and easy-to-use for our visitors as possible. We believe in a rapid-fire iterative development cycle, and we measure the evolution of our website in days, not months.
Technical requirements include proficiency with Adobe Photoshop and the ability to write semantic XHTML/CSS. Experience with Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, Blueprint CSS, SSH/Bash, Subversion and MySQL is a plus. Applicants must be comfortable and productive working in a Mac OS X environment.
The employees at Big Winds are very much a part of a team environment. The successful applicant will be one who is self-motivated, hard-working, smart, athletic, loves to windsurf and/or kiteboard, and enjoys being in the company of like-minded individuals. If this sounds like you, contact Steve Gates, General Manager, at steve@bigwinds.com.
Resumé and references are required.
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The statements made on this weblog were accurate, to the best of our knowledge, at the time they were posted. However, life goes on. Things change. We change. Thus nothing said, suggested, or uttered on this weblog is necessarily a guarantee.
For the most accurate and most current information, please visit the official Big Winds website.
Thanks!