Big Winds JET hosts BBBS event

Big Winds’ Junior Elite Stand-up Paddling (SUP) Team held its fifth annual SUP clinic for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Columbia Gorge and Mentor for Success on Aug. 13 at Nichols Basin. About 10 youth and their mentors from Hood River, Wasco, and Klickitat counties attended the event, learning the basics of SUP and mastering these skills in a two-hour paddling session.

Seven-year-old Little Sister Laila had never experienced SUP before, and she was admittedly nervous about standing all the way up. At the start of the clinic, she was content to sit or kneel on her board and paddle around. But after she got the hang of it, and got plenty of encouragement from her Big Sister Jeri, Laila was standing tall!