The first lesson at Big Winds is called Ground School. I used to teach ground school but it was at an airport for beginning pilots. I taught them about weather, navigation, regulations, aerodynamics, internal combustion engine principles — basically anything that applied to flying that could be conveyed in a classroom. There were usually between six and twelve students and it wasn’t any fun since they were in a classroom with books and models and not in the cockpit where sensory overload got everyone high.

Kite ground school involved flying the kite while walking around in the sand. It was one-on-one for me but Big Winds can teach two at a time, though only one student flies the kite at a time. My instructor was Max, a great character who I’ll write more about next time. We started with a Naish Xeon 2 meter trainer, a two-line ram air kite that can get off the ground in as little as four knots of wind. The control bar has a harness line but there’s no point in hooking in. To expedite the process, Max assembled the whole thing. The object was not to learn all about trainer kites but to simply fly the thing and get the left, right, up, down, crash, burn principles in place. We also covered the two simple hand signals for communicating with whomever is helping with launching and landing. And we introduced the kite’s wind window.

We only messed with the trainer for about five minutes, put it away and got out the real thing. The wind was fairly steady at 25 mph so Max picked out a 6 meter Naish Cult that was rigged with shorter lines for reduced power. Rigging this kite was a lot more deliberate. Max became more hands-off, allowing me a chance at more retention. Regardless, it was a process that he had been through hundreds if not thousands of times and working within a two hour timeframe demanded judicious use of time.

In my youth I taught sailing and too many students would too often rig their boats with ropes, despite my continuing admonishment that they were called lines. Thus:

Step one was to roll out the “strings” and untangle them. (Lines could not possibly get that messed up.) We laid them out with the control bar upwind, the blue string to the right, the red string to the left and the two white strings in the middle.

Next, we rolled out the kite well to the right side of where the ends of the strings were and went through the inflation process. The ‘08 Cult is a one-pump system, meaning you plug up all the strut valves and pump into the leading edge inflation valve which subsequently inflates the struts. The kite is held in place by being tied to the pump. Once firmly inflated the valve is closed, the kite is freed from the leash and lies on its back. Max taught me to grab it on one side and flip it over so that it came to rest on top of the strings, OK, lines. Wind blowing on the kite will mostly keep it pinned down but we piled some sand on it to ensure it stayed put. We hooked the lines to the bridle. Max went back to the control bar and got all hooked in. I held the kite while we repositioned ourselves perpendicular to the wind and with a thumbs up from Max I basically just let go of the kite and Max started flying it.

He reviewed the left, right, up, down and added the power functionality that comes from moving the bar in and out. Then he described and demonstrated the power stroke in which the kite lifted him off the ground, carried him about ten yards and let him back down.

We traded places by unhooking him, hooking me and then changing the kite leash from his harness to mine.

Having been designed by humans, the kite is inherently lazy. Like a teenager, it doesn’t want to work; it has to be told to. The kite is also a bit drunk. Without help, it will succumb to gravity eventually. But in general as in sailing and flying, few inputs results in relative status quo, though complete lack of attention causes problems.

Releasing all power in the bar encourages the kite to find its lazy position at the top or front of the wind window where it doesn’t have to work. With just a touch of left and right adjustment it’s pretty easy to keep the kite flying overhead or anywhere along the edge of the window, defying gravity. Pulling evenly on the bar puts some power in the kite but pulling excessively increases the wing’s angle of attack making it more of a wall than a wing. It stalls which makes it really drunk and subject to erratic behavior.

I flew the kite for a few minutes, moving it left and right along the window’s edge. This type of flying is essential but it won’t make anything go anywhere. To do that we have to tell the kite to get to work by putting it in the power window.

Small inputs to either side of the control bar move the kite along its lazy path. More abrupt, one-sided input gets it to turn more drastically and enter the power zone at which point it will pull on you, which is a good thing if you’re ready. Problems await if you’re not ready.

I was ready. I didn’t give it much, got a bit of a tug which brought the realization that the reflexive unhook used in windsurfing isn’t available in kiting. I gave it a little more and got a bigger tug. At this point, Max was behind me with a good grip on my harness. The kite would have to pull both of us. He encouraged me to put power in and quickly release it by letting the control bar forward. After a few repetitions, I got the feel for power on, power off.

Next I sat in the sand and flew the kite overhead. Max had me give it enough of a power stroke that the kite would stand me up, a simulated waterstart. After a bunch of those I was beginning to see that this was going to be an easy game. No problem. How do we do loops and stuff?

In online forums there’s strong warning to take lessons and learn how to body drag upwind so that you can retrieve your errant board. So, while still on the sand Max had me lie on my side and fly the kite one handed while assuming an upwind body drag position. Using your free arm as a rudder (or more technically, a canard) you can make progress upwind, tacking back and forth until you get to your board — ideally.

Self rescue was the last procedure introduced in ground school. The assumption was that something went wrong (nah!) and that you’ve activated the Quick Release Trim Loop.

We’ve all seen a flag waving from a flag pole and we know what it looks like when one of the corners works itself free. That’s effectively what happens when the Quick is Released. The outer two lines on the control bar have long ago been eased when you let go of the bar. The QRTL frees the inner two lines from your harness, leaving only the harness leash attached to one of those inner lines. With only one line attached between you and the kite, the kite cannot fly and lies uselessly in the water. All that’s left is to clean up the mess and find your way in — ideally.

All you have to do is keep tension on that remaining line and wrap it three times around the control bar. This ensures that it will always have more tension than the other lines, preventing the kite from powering up on its own. Then, while treading water, ducking under waves, avoiding windsurfers, kiters, barges, powerboats, and if you’re in the ocean, sharks, you simply wrap all the lines around the control bar as you work your way toward the kite. That done, you secure the lines to the bar with the bungee cords on the bar tips. With the kite on its back, you climb in pull on one of the outer control lines (the one that’s on the side of the direction you want to go) to form a little sail. Then you just kick back, order up a nice cocktail and ride in. If the wind is offshore, order a really big cocktail as you’ll be out there for awhile.

But wait. This is just ground school. This is all happening while walking around on the sand. This is like a classroom discussion about what to do when your airplane’s engine dies. It won’t really happen — ideally.

It’s trivial to deflate the kite, roll it up, stuff it in the bag and walk back. Not so trivial is the subsequent disentanglement of the strings. That’s it: they’re lines when they’re working. They’re strings when they’re a mess.

Thanks to Ev for cranking this up.

Meanwhile, a little rain must fall but who cares if it dumps on your stand up session. David is our in house expert and dropped me this line about his experience on the Starboard Cruiser from a couple of weeks ago.

Conditions:  5-20 mph inconsistent winds, and flat water.

“I got my first impression of this board on a down-winder.  I was paddling with a buddy who is about the same level as me, and we were both amazed how much faster I was moving, and how far ahead I got in a short period of time.  The Cruiser is a super fast downwind cruiser, very maneuverable at the same time.  To stay on the swell you can step way back on the tail, and pivot the nose around to where you want it.  It responds well to cross-stepping up to the nose and trimming up and down the deck depending on the size swell you are on. The other great thing is that it travels upwind nicely.  It seems to have more momentum and glide once you get it moving than most of the other boards I have tested.  It’s a great all-around board: it accelerates well, goes fast and is totally legit in small surf.”

Werner Advantage Paddle

Conditions: Flat water, no wind

“First impression: very light, great balance, powerful!  I was amazed at how much water this paddle pulls and with zero flutter.  I almost got whiplash from the acceleration felt from a single stroke with the Advantage blade. It’s especially good for bigger riders, and riders looking for the ultimate in forward efficiency from their stroke.”

Werner Carve Paddle

Conditions: Flat water, and up 10-25 mph wind.

“First impression: light weight, great balance.  For those looking for a quicker cadence, this is the paddle of choice.  It has extremely efficient strokes and excellent flex.  I wasn’t sure how this would compare to other paddles I have tried but I was impressed with the feel of this one.  Dan Gavere says these smaller blades are the trend now, and I can see why.  You can maintain more strokes per minute with less torque and less fatigue.  Another plus I found was that bracing is more forgiving. ”

That’s it for today. Next time we’ll jump back into the kite boarding transition.

Seasons change.

Leaves change.

Regimes change.

Careers change.

Perspectives change.

We change.

One requirement for this job was a level of ability in one of the big three water sports. I can ride Gorge waves and jibe in forty knots without much difficulty but I’ve never sailed a coastal break and the air I get (sometimes involuntarily) is measured in inches, not mast lengths. The only trick I know is a duck jibe. That’s about the extent of my windsurfing except that I like beer.

Working at Big Winds affords (and nearly demands) an opportunity to make the leap, as it were, to the wickedly growing kite game. This represents a significantly large change in attitude for me. The first kiters I watched took some serious abuse from the equipment, the beach, the ocean and all of us in the cheap seats. It was 1999 on the beach at Los Barriles when a couple of hilarious Bay Area Guys (BAGs) in their mid to upper forties were taking a shot at the game without any experience or instruction. They probably would have died right there except that they spent hour after hour untangling their lines. Soon enough cocktail hour arrived giving them a respite until the next day.
The only benefit I could see in what they were doing was that they didn’t need an expensive boat to get pulled around on their wake boards. It didn’t seem to bother them that it was a one-way ride as it was impossible to go upwind with a parachute like that. Once the BAGs got everything lined up off they went in a chaotic storm of sand, spray and shouting. They had a least figured out a way of collapsing the thing so they could stop, but even that was sketchy. Usually, they disappeared downwind and returned an hour later for another go.

That provided momentary comic relief to our windsurfing vacation. I filed it as another impossible endeavor in the same manner that I filed windsurfing in 1977 after first trying it, and the same way I filed texting once I heard about that. Why would anyone want to take the time and trouble to punch little keys on the same device with which they could speak to someone? Ludicrous! That’s me though, the visionless, great un-innovator, marketing genius.

Returning from vacation I related the story of the BAGs to friends only to hear over and over, “Oh yeah, that’s really going in Maui.” Uh huh. Maybe it was time to become an orthopedic surgeon or start a rescue service. Maybe not. The sport would self-destruct after a few fatality stories hit the web.

The vacation in Los Barriles served a far greater purpose than just momentary kite entertainment. It led to the abandonment of the high anxiety, high traffic, low wind, southern California lifestyle in favor of all things Gorge. I brought less than adequate windsurfing skills along and started windsurfing at the Marina where I could completely figure out the game. While that was going on, kiteboarding was gaining in popularity, if not sanity, as day after day we would rescue kiter after hapless kiter after they’d been dragged across the sandbar on their way to the Hood River bridge. No one was making a solid case for kiteboarding. What we were witnessing coincided with what we were hearing and reading online. Things were too dangerous and the return on investment was miniscule.

Life progressed with the expected improvements in my windsurfing that come with living in Hood River and spending all summer on the water. Then in 2006, something changed. The number of kiters in difficulty requiring some sort of assistance dropped way off. I had moved my usual sailing spot west to sail in waves between the White Salmon bridge and Swell City and the kiters I saw there were having loads of fun, going wherever they wanted, riding waves, getting big air, smiling and leaving anti-windsurfer angst on shore, well, for the most part. This continued in 2007 allowing me to wonder for the first time what it would be like to kiteboard. Fortunately, these thoughts occurred at the end of the season and wouldn’t have to be rekindled for at least six months.

2008 continued where 2007 left off, with respect to my personal observations about kiting. Kiting popularity was increasing and in spite of various negative in-person and online conversations, windsurfing was doing just fine too. By early July every sailing site with wind was blanketed with sails both on the water and on land. The sand spit was spewing kites out like a volcano or, more appropriately, a fireworks show. And again, kiters sharing my particular space were all smiles, at least when they were low enough to the water to be seen. Regardless, I only had occasional, distant thoughts about trying it.

==

There’s a lot of noise on the web about Baby Boomers finding a second career in less stressful jobs. Mainstream media calls them “encore careers” and I’ve seen several friends take this path. After highly successful careers in Silicon Valley or in the finance world, they’ve traded the traffic, pace, tension, angst, frustration, devices and big money for something more sane. They’ve parked it in Hood River and most all of them work for wineries now. Easily spotted, they’re the ones zig-zagging up and down Oak Street. They sail, mountain bike and play a lot of golf.

My encore career is at Big Winds. A lot of clichés apply: “kid in a candy store” comes to mind and I’m not referring to Mac OS X. I “fell off the fence” by being surrounded by all this kite energy and decided to investigate.

“Never too late.”
“Attitude is everything.”
“You’re as young as the women you feel.”
“Just do it,” and we don’t even carry Nike stuff.

All those.

Activities change.

Step One: lessons.

These two warnings appear on page 3 of the Naish Sigma / SLE Kite User’s Guide.

And this sign

is displayed proudly by the state of Oregon along Highway 26 as you make your way south from Mt. Hood toward Bend. Having departed Hood River on Highway 35, we had evidently missed where the safety corridor begins. There must be a cadre of people in our government who decided that a certain stretch of highway had become dangerous and that by declaring it a safety corridor people would pay more attention and not crash as much. Or maybe people would get confused and think it was like the Comfort Zones in Mt. Hood Meadows ski resort where everyone is supposed to go slow, thereby making the beginners comfortable. Maybe the Highway 26 safety corridor is supposed to be where everyone can relax because it’s so safe. Either way, it ends at that sign, so now what? Is it unsafe the rest of the way to Bend? Are drivers allowed to be less conscientious without penalty? Does that sign signify the beginning of anarchy where safety no longer matters? I imagined having to sit through the meeting in which someone came up with the concept of a safety corridor and worse, where its boundaries should fall.

That sign got us noticing other idiotic signs.

Cows, next thirty-five miles. Was a cow going to bolt out of the forest and land on the car? A deer might, but a cow? Thirty-five miles worth of cow threats and outside the safety corridor, no less. It’s a treacherous trip to south through central Oregon.

Through the expanse of the central Oregon desert we needed a break and found a Shell station in the middle of nowhere. It had one of those food marts and a little hut that served espresso. There were about twenty parking spaces, a couple of cars getting gas and three in line for espresso but only two of us parked under this sign:

Since the nearest town was ten miles away I wondered who else would park there. “Hey, Jimmy. Let’s drive out to the Shell and nab a parking space — see if we get away with it.” Or, the espresso store owner calls the towing company. “Yep, gotta Humvee taking up one of my twenty empty spaces. Come git it.”

“Caint. My lot’s full from all them hummers ah dragged outta there yisterdee.”

And finally this one on the climb out of a gorge near the Warm Springs reservation:

Now, what’s the typical southbound driver supposed to do with that information? Someday, someone is going to completely forget that they’re outside the safety corridor, read that sign, slam on the brakes and cause one of those California I-5 tule fog pile-ups.

I had some difficulty coming up with a title for this project. “Bridging the Gap” and “Making the Leap” were possibilities. But after finding this card

in my new Naish Cult kite, reading the warning pages in the owner’s manual and seeing the “End Safety Corridor” sign, the title became obvious.

It’s unlikely that the kite designers or Robby himself came up with the idea of putting this note in the kite and including all this language in the manual. It had to be a team of lawyers huddled up in a palapa near Paia poring over the thousands of pages of testimony from the hundreds of lawsuits heaved at kite manufacturers by all the 80+ year-old ladies who bought a kite without these current warnings and lost fingers, dislocated shoulders or landed in trees because they assumed that kiting was safe.

Everyone has been warned. But I went out there anyway. After twenty-one years of windsurfing, six years of shaking my head at kiters and three of watching them get a lot better and do cool stuff, I decided to learn how to do it.

At fifty-three it was time to step outside the safety corridor and tangle it all up.

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!!

Waterfront Park website

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.

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!

• $100 off all 2008 windsurf boards!
• 8% off one sail, 12% off each for two, and 15% off each for three, on all 2008 windsurf sails!
• 10% off all windsurfing masts and booms!
• 15% off all 2008 harnesses!
• 10% off one kite, 12% off each for two, and 15% off each for three, on all 2008 kites!
• 10% off all 2008 kiteboards!
• 15% off all 2008 kite harnesses!

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