Hood River

Kite surfing day! It was still blowing a hoolie. My smallest kite is a 9m and I knew that still had a puncture in one of the struts, so first stop was Airtime Kites, perhaps the world’s leading kite repair centre, conveniently based right here in Hood River. They fixed me up with a new strut, so off we went down to the launch site. So many hyper-cool dudes and girls all in one place, just like every other kiting spot in the world I’ve been to. It can be pretty intimidating, especially in a fairly hardcore spot like this, where the wind is cranking, the river current is running and the launch is on a cross-wind sandbar which you have to wade across to. At least all the riders head way upwind once they’ve launched. Even though there must have been over fifty kites on the river, it wasn’t a crowded launch zone.

Pumping up on the grass by the river, it didn’t take me long to find out that one of the other struts also had a delaminated valve. Ugh. Back to the repair shop. Repaired the valve and bought plenty more repair kits – it’s only a matter of time before every valve on my ancient kites has the same problem. Hopefully not when I’m out kiting…

Hood River town is full of dudes driving beat-up trucks with some kind of extreme sports accessory on the roof or on the back; windsurf, kite or bike gear. It’s got a relaxed feel about it, with a bunch of nice cafes, and everything (in the centre at least) within walking distance. I could definitely see myself spending some time here.

Back at the launch zone it was still blowing well over 30 knots; really too much for my 9m kite, but there’s no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to have a session at a spot I’ve been reading about ever since I started kiting. I launched the kite, and yes it was a struggle to hold it down but I was on the water! The experience from the middle of the river was amazing. The white snow-covered peak of Mount Hood rose above the southern edge of the gorge, and the view both up and down river was dramatic – cliffs and forest right up to the water.

At one point I got caught by a strong gust, was hoisted into the air, and lost my board on re-entry. The current runs upwind, and I’d heard horror stories of people losing boards for ever, so I went into body-dragging overdrive, swimming hard upwind to get it back. Back on the board I decided it was really too windy for a 9, so headed in. Great to get a session though.

We drove down the I-84 a short way towards Portland and stopped in another State Park campground, again with a train track running along just behind the van!

The van’s been a bit cramped and cluttered so I spent some time making a couple of extra storage areas for the things we use frequently; a shelf on the dash for books and a shelf in the back for cooking stuff.