If you want to learn to kite, you want to learn from the best, and around here, that’s Cascade Kiteboarding. Why? On-the-water lessons take place at the west end of Well’s Island, away from the chaos of the sandbar. Your lesson will be one-on-one, with radio helmet instruction, this year’s gear from Da Kine and Liquid Force, and dedicated jetski assistance. And let me point out that Cascade Kiteboarding is the ONLY school with those radio helmets, so it’s the one school where you won’t have an instructor yelling at you while you’re learning. One of the lucky people on the email version of this forecast will win a two hour kiteboarding lesson later this week.
As expected given the kiteboarding event going on, the wind is holding off again this morning, although they did get some heats off in yesterday’s east wind. We’ll see light westerlies slowly building today, picking up to 15-18 in Stevenson mid-afternoon and filling in towards Hood River in the early evening. I’ve got my fingers crossed that the wind picks up early enough to get all the heats done.
Tomorrow looks a bit stronger as a system makes its way inland. The wind should be out of the west at 15-18 early, picking up to 22-24 by early afternoon. Because there’s a cold front in the picture, we’ll probably see a couple of hours of steady wind at Hood River before the focus shifts to Stevenson and the eastern Gorge.
The Clymb: free membership.
Access to super cheap gear including Trew, Zeal, Sierra Designs, and many more.
We’ll have low pressure off the coast on Tuesday – yes, the dreaded upper level low – so we’ll start off with light wind. At this point, it’s looking like all we’ll see is westerlies in the 5-10 range in the afternoon.
In events, the Bridge of the Gods kitefest continues today, but the kiteboard blowout is cancelled. The Gorge Paddle Challenge also continues today. If you’re a dirt biker, you’ll want to make the Joe Lawry memorial ride today, meeting at the Mud Lot at 10:30. Everyone will be celebrating Joe’s life and his contributions to trails all over the Valley.
Coming up tomorrow, it’s free Tai Chi at 5:30 at Wilson Park and the Alternative Ride leaving Mountain View Cycles at 6:15.
And finally, in the “just plain interesting” category, the Western States Blacksmith Conference is going on in Government Camp today. Head on over for the blacksmith wars this morning, starting at 9am.
In continuing PSAs, it’s time for the CGWA yearly windsurfer awards. You can send in your nominations here. I’m suggesting everyone nominate Dave Brown for the Dale Cook award. Dave’s the one out there on the 1990-something Hot Sails throwing huge port jumps. Other awards: Most stoked, most selfless, best grom and windsurfer of the year.
Also, if you’re around September 5th, you can help CGWA get some cash by volunteering as a semi-lifeguard for the Roy Webster Cross-Channel Swim. CGWA gets $50 for each of you who signs up to volunteer.
Have an awesome day today!
Temira
p.s. If you find this report useful, entertaining, or just want to recognize all the hard work that goes into it, please take the time to make a donation by clicking on the link below. For a suggested donation of $10, I’ll add you to the email version of this list ‘til August 2012, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors. If you don’t PayPal, you can send a donation to PO Box 841 in Hood River, 97031.
