For many people, especially longtime Gorge windsurfers, Bart Vervloet probably needs no introduction. He’s been active in the Gorge windsurfing and local recreation scene since the mid-1980s and has been a resident of the area for just as long.
The Columbia Gorge Windsurfing Association closed out the 2014 season with its annual end of season party and Gorge Windsurfing Awards last week at Springhouse Cellar in downtown Hood River. Nominees for five awards were selected, then winners were chosen by the windsurfing community via an online vote.
The Columbia Gorge Windsurfing Association announced with excitement this week that it had acquired a one-acre parcel of Columbia River waterfront known as Swell City. After a unanimous vote of approval last week from the CGWA board of directors, Executive Director Greg Stiegel signed documents Monday making the purchase official.
In an effort to “revive the stoke” in the Gorge as a world-class locale for windsurfing contests, the Columbia Gorge Windsurfing Association and the American Windsurfing Tour are teaming up this week to put on Freestyle Frenzy. The two-day event has a wind window of July 17-21 and will be held on the first two windy days within that range at the Hatchery (Spring Creek Fish Hatchery, 4 miles west of the bridge on Highway 14).
