The Big Winds Weblog

Intrepid Big Winds paddlers and friends hit the river on New Year’s Day. The rumor is that it will be an annual event.
The rest of the pics are here.

Big Winds and Naish are donating a Naish 11′6″ AST SUP board to the Providence Hood River Hearts of Gold Gala.

The board will be auctioned Saturday, November 7, 2009 at the Annual Awards Dinner & Benefit Auction at the Hood River Inn.

Nikki Gregg

Hawaii based personal trainer and owner of NRG Lifestyle Fitness Training, Nikki Gregg, is bringing her aloha spirit and exclusive stand up paddle boot camp to Hood River. She will help fine tune your technique and teach you how to get the most out or your paddle sessions. This is a great way to [...]

Robbie Naish, Dave Kalama and Michi Schweiger are coming to Hood River June 18th to participate in the inaugural Hood SUP Series. This presents a rare opportunity to see the legends of all things water in action. The racing gets underway at 6:30 PM but I’d get there early to mill around and hobnob with [...]

Some goings on and special deals at Big Winds.

We’re launching two new events this summer originating at the Big Winds Event Site Center. First up, the lady SUPsters meet every Tuesday at 5:30PM beginning May 19th for an informal, introductory and just plain fun paddle session. We’re calling it the Big Winds SUPper Club. The idea is to share the joys of SUP [...]

Board Tested: 2009 Naish Glide
Date: March 25, 2009
Location: Columbia River Gorge
Conditions: Wind: 12-15 Water: 42 Air: 45
Rider: Steve
Gender: Male
Height: 5′10″
Weight: 150 lbs
Skill Level: Expert surfer, expert windsurfer
“The stability on this board is awesome which was somewhat surprising due to the relatively narrow tail. The solid feeling makes it a no brainer and anyone can get [...]

2009 kiteboards are now available from Big Winds. David gives us a review of the Starboard, 12′6″ stand up paddle board and a couple of paddles.

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. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

We here at Big Winds recently launched a new section of our website dedicated to stand up paddling. There’s certainly a ton of cross-pollination between stand up paddling and windsurfing, and a number of the boards we carry have mast tracks so you can use them for either sport. That said, stand up [...]

We have rescheduled our Naish stand up demos for Saturday April 26th. We had originally planned on April 19th, but the weather is forecasted to be quite chilly this weekend.
Tell all your friends, and here’s hoping for warmer weekends in the near future!
Visit this event at Upcoming »

Board Tested: 2008 Aquaglide Amundson 11′3″ Stand Up
Paddle Used: 80″ Werner Spanker
Dates: Winter/Spring 2008
Location: Baja California Sur, Sea of Cortez
Conditions: Surf, small wind chop, and lightwind windsurfing
Rider: David
Gender: Male
Height: 6′0″
Weight: 170 lbs
Skill Level: Expert stand up paddler, expert windsurfer, expert kiteboarder
In small on-shore wind chop, the Aquaglide Amundson 11′3″ is a very stable stand up [...]

Join us on Saturday April 26th, 2008 to try out the entire stand up paddling lineup from Naish. Naish and Big Winds will be running free demos all afternoon from 1:00 to 4:00, sending people out on the Mighty Columbia River to try out some of this awesome gear.
The river is frigid this time [...]

Board Tested: 2008 Mistral Pacifico Wave 11′1″
Paddle Used: Werner Spanker
Date: April 2, 2008
Location: The Event Site - Hood River, Oregon
Conditions: Flatwater paddling, 0-5 mph
Rider: Dane
Gender: Male
Height: 5′5″”
Weight: 135 lbs
Skill Level: Beginner paddler, Advanced kiteboarder
Along with the Naish SUP 11′6″ that I reviewed, yesterday I also had a chance to paddle the 2008 Mistral Pacifico Wave. [...]

Board Tested: 2008 Naish Stand Up 11′6″ EVA
Paddle Used: Werner Spanker
Date: April 2, 2008
Location: The Event Site - Hood River, Oregon
Conditions: Flatwater paddling, 0-5 mph
Rider: Dane
Gender: Male
Height: 5′5″”
Weight: 135 lbs
Skill Level: Beginner paddler, Advanced kiteboarder
Yesterday evening I had a chance to get out on the 2008 Naish Stand Up 11′6″ EVA board, and having never [...]