The Big Winds Weblog

Rider: Daryl
Gender: Female
Height: 5′2″
Weight: 120 lbs
Skill Level: Expert windsurfer
Board Tested: 2008 Naish Pro Wave 65L
Sails Used: 2008 Naish Session 3.4 - 4.7
Dates: Winter 2008 and Spring 2008
Location: Kanaha, Maui, Hawaii and the Columbia River Gorge
Conditions: High-wind wave and swell riding
A great board for smaller riders who love shredding waves.
Daryl sails the 2008 Naish Pro Wave [...]

Rider: Jodie
Gender: Female
Height: 5′2″
Weight: 115 lbs
Skill Level: Advanced windsurfer
Board Tested: 2008 Starboard Kombat 79 Wood
Sail Used: 2008 Naish Session 4.7
Date: May 27, 2008
Location: Event Site, Columbia River Gorge
Conditions: 15-25 mph, flatwater, medium chop, small swell
Two nights ago, Jodie had an opportunity to ride the Starboard Kombat 79 and the Naish Session 4.7 right out front [...]

Kiteboards Compared: 2008 Naish Sol 128, 2007 North Jaime Pro 128
Kites Used: 2008 Cabrinha Switchblade 3 6m, 8m and 10m, 2007 Cabrinha Omega 7m and 9m
Dates: Spring 2008, Summer 2007
Location: Columbia River Gorge
Conditions: Everything from flatwater to swell-riding, underpowered to insanely overpowered
Rider: Dane
Gender: Male
Height: 5′5″
Weight: 135 lbs
Skill Level: Advanced Kiteboarder
Howdy! My name is Dane, [...]

With the help of Mac, one of our expert kiteboarding instructors, we just finished giving the royal treatment to the 2008 North Rebel 08. As we did with the Switchblade 3, we extensively detailed and photographed the Rebel and uploaded the results of our investigation to our photo gallery at Flickr.
The Rebel is North’s [...]

Kiteboard Tested: 2008 Naish Sol 128
Kites Used: 2008 Switchblade 3 6m, 8m and 10m
Dates: Spring 2008
Location: Columbia River Gorge
Conditions: Mellow 10-18 mph, moderate 16-24 mph, and intense 22-34 mph
Rider: Dane
Gender: Male
Height: 5′5″
Weight: 135 lbs
Skill Level: Advanced Kiteboarder
Even though it’s still quite cold out there, I’ve already been riding the 2008 Naish Sol 128 kiteboard quite [...]

Board Tested: 2008 Naish Global Wave 78
Sails Used: 2008 Naish Force 4.2 - 4.7
Dates: Fall 2007, Spring 2008
Location: Columbia River Gorge
Conditions: “Fully powered-up to light and funky.”
Rider: Steve
Gender: Male
Height: 5′10″
Weight: 150 lbs
Skill Level: Expert windsurfer
Steve is a lighter guy than Joe, and he wants to take a moment to share his own experience riding the [...]

Board Tested: 2008 Naish Global Wave 78
Sail Used: 2008 Naish All Terrain 4.0
Date: May 6, 2008
Location: Rowena, Columbia River Gorge
Conditions: 26-39 mph winds, swell riding
Rider: Joe
Gender: Male
Height: 6′2″
Weight: 185 lbs
Skill Level: Expert windsurfer
Joe tested the 2008 Naish Global Wave 78 the other day, and I was able to corner him and learn what he thought [...]

Board Tested: 2008 Naish 10′6″ Stand Up
Paddle Used: 80″ Werner Spanker
Dates: May, 2008
Location: Event Site, Columbia River Gorge
Paddling Conditions: glassy flatwater, and 10-15 mph wind chop
Windsurfing Conditions: swell riding in 10-30 mph winds, 4.7 meter sail
Rider: David
Gender: Male
Height: 6′0″
Weight: 170 lbs
Skill Level: Expert stand up paddler, expert windsurfer, expert kiteboarder
David has recently been spending a [...]

Board Tested: 2008 Naish All Terrain 95
Sail Used: 2008 Naish All Terrain 5.0
Fin Used: Stock Naish All Terrain 28 cm fin
Date: May 5, 2008
Location: Rowena, Columbia River Gorge
Conditions: 8-21 mph winds, swell riding (marginal conditions)
Rider: Joe
Gender: Male
Height: 6′2″
Weight: 185 lbs
Skill Level: Expert windsurfer
Joe is our shipping manager here at Big Winds, and he is one [...]

Boards Tested: Aquaglide Amundson 11′3″, Naish 10′6″, Naish 11′6″
Paddles Used: Naish Stand Up, Werner Spanker
Dates: Spring 2008
Location: Central Columbia River Gorge
Conditions: Flatwater paddling
Rider: Daryl
Gender: Female
Height: 5′2″
Weight: 120 lbs
Skill Level: Expert windsurfer, intermediate paddler
Rider: Andy
Gender: Male
Weight: 85 lbs
Age: 12
Skill Level: Intermediate windsurfer (working on his jibes), beginner paddler
Daryl is one of our most knowledgeable experts here [...]

A big thanks to spamark for risking life and limb, or at least his own personal warmth and the dryness of his camera, in shooting this nice video while balancing on a board over the frigid water of the Columbia.

There are also a bunch of photos of the event that people have posted to this [...]

Tons of people braved warm weather and blazing sunshine to join us last Saturday for our Naish Stand Up Paddling Demo, and we want to extend a hearty thank you to everyone who showed up! We also want to shout out a huge thanks to the guys at Naish for putting together this fun-filled [...]