July has come and gone, and what a windy one it was! Looking back at the iWindsurf records shows that there has been wind every single day. The least windy day, so far, still gusted to 20 mph. Even with a little bit of heat to finish off the month, there still appears to be enough wind to call it a prefect month!
With big winds like we have had come big smiles and lots of happy river users. There has been lots of action on the waterfront since our last Ways of the Wind column. First up was the Columbia Gorge Windsurfing Association’s (CGWA) annual fundraiser, Beach Bash, presented by 10 Barrel, which took place at the end of June. The event kicked off with our Pray For Wind Party (which apparently worked), raising thousands of dollars for our kids programs, Gorge Groms and the new A-Team.
Next up, we threw a big concert at the waterfront park with Portland’s Dirty Revival rocking the amphitheater. Lastly, we had a two-day long beach party at the Event Site, which was packed with windsurfing and SUP vendors, food and beer, and capped off with an awesome throwback concert by The Ultronz!
Following the Beach Bash was the 10th Annual Kiteboarding 4 Cancer (KB4C) event. The consensus on the beach was that Year 10 was the best one yet. The weather was perfect, with steady wind all weekend allowing hundreds of competitors to tear around the endurance course, giving spectators plenty to keep themselves entertained with. This year’s event brought in almost $200,000 which will provide cancer survivors the opportunity to participate in survivor programs in Maui and on Mount Hood. Looking forward, KB4C has big things in the works, adding a San Francisco event to the calendar. Head on over to Kiteboarding4Cancer.org for all the latest.
A noticeable addition to the water this July has been the surge in downwind paddling. A weeklong downwind paddling festival, the Gorge Downwind Championships, brought hundreds of paddles to take advantage of our windy month! SUPs, surf skis, OC-1s, and outriggers all blasted from Stevenson to Hood River for a week. Event organizers were blown away by how well this second annual event went.
”In spirit with the Maui Jim Waterman style event, The Gorge Downwind Champs caters equally to SUP, surf skis and outrigger canoes equally,” said Carter Johnson, organizer of the event. “We gave out over $25,000 in cash this year, split across the divisions, as well as nearly another $5,000 of product.” Furthermore, they boast: “In 2016, 300 unique individuals did nearly 1500 downwind runs over the six days of the event. Between friends and family, this was nearly 500 people a day (30-percent international) for nine days doing commerce in the Hood River area. For most of these, it was a first time.” Needless to say, this event is one to keep your eye on in the future.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed for the good wind to continue and the great waterfront community to produce some more fun and entertainment. Coming up in August we have the Naish Columbia Gorge Paddle Challenge at the Waterfront Park (Aug. 20-21) and the CGWA’s fun, old-school windsurfing contest, King of the Hook, at the Hook on Aug. 20. We hope to see you down there!
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.