I am looking for the best place to take kiteboarding lessons on the Columbia River. :puzzled: I know that Hood river is supposed to be the place to go. It looks like there are several schools. I am looking for opinions on which school is the best. A couple of friends and I want to go, probably 4 of us. We would need to rent equipment so that must be available as well.
Thanks.

I don't know much about the Gorge. I have taken lessons from a number of different people though. Each had a bit different style.

Be sure that you ask for an IKO card ( or Pasa ). If you don't take all 3 lessons at once you will need it to prove your level. Without it the instructor will have to waist a lot of valuable time taking you through the intial steps the next time.

I found I got the best results with jet ski assisted lessons. Having the intructor right there yelling at me + the added feeling of safety made for a great lesson. ( at Nitinat B.C. )

I haven't a clue... but could try nwkitedotcom, the forum for the area...

Okay - forgive me, my brain is quite foggy but I looked into this last spring and heard rumor that the Gorge can be a dangerous place to learn (this info is all second had from me so take it with a grain of salt). There's a guy on here goes by the name USA_Eli...you'll probably find him active in the SOBB thread or the NABX threads. Some "stuff" going on so he's sadly not around much which is too bad 'cuz he's a straight up guy IMO.

ANYWHO, I called and chatted with him about lessons in the Gorge and he alerted me to the risks (shifty winds / bumpy water etc) and said if I could get to Seaside he'd get me rippin'. Worth a shot but at the very least try to fill in the gaps on my fogged brain. There's a reason I didn't make a trek to the Gorge and it was something that was said when I called him. I was sold on Seaside over the gorge hands down.

I know Eli and would trust what he says. Seaside is about 6+ hours from my house but hood river is about 2. I was hoping to go closer to home. I will be in Seaside in March 27-April 4th but Eli isn't at AIAK anymore so maybe he will be on the forum sometime.

Has anyone actually gone to the Gorge? I don't want to learn in a bad spot but if there is a good teacher there it might be worth it.

Not all of us can go to Hawaii to learn

I wish I had learned more in Hawaii to be honest. Don't make the same mistake I made out there. I split the lesson with a guy we were with and the result was half a lesson. I didn't achieve much more success than I had achieved on my own back home other than learning how to hold onto a monster kite and how to body drag. Valuable lessons for sure. Sure would have liked to ride though......the biggest issue was an inability to relaunch the LEI. Each crash resulted in a 10-15 minute drift back to shore only to drag out, slide into the board and crash again ; )

No matter where you go - if you can find someone with jetski assist, or a launch right off the beach (we had to drag out 200 yds from the beach in Hawaii) you'll have more time with the kite in the air and the board on your feet.

I just noticed that I will be in Seaside during NABX. I doubt Eli is going to be willing to skip NABX to teach me to kiteboard. I will just have to concentrate on buggying while I am there.

So it looks like I am back to the Gorge.

But what about other areas? Is there anything in the Seattle area? Maybe I need to start another thread.

Nitinat on Vancouver Island is a good spot. Reliable winds in the summer. Same with Squamish B.C.

These places + the Gorge all depend on thermals created by warm weather so none of them work well off season.

With your dollar being so strong getting lessons up here is like getting them on sale ! Lodging can be as cheap as free at the Squamish + Nitinat, if you want to dry camp.
BOTH have jet ski assisted lessons.

WOW, google maps shows 9 hours to get there. I haven't been to Canada before though so that would be cool. It definately makes it much bigger of a trip. Any recommendations about a good school that I can look up?

Hit Nitnat for sure. I hear its kitesurfing paradise!

Quote:

Originally posted by stetson05 WOW, google maps shows 9 hours to get there. I haven't been to Canada before though so that would be cool. It definately makes it much bigger of a trip. Any recommendations about a good school that I can look up?

Are you talking Nitinat or Squamish.

Squamish has Colin kiteboarding and skypilot kiteboarding.

Nitinat has Maria ( my favorite ) and another fellow , Don ? . I'm stuck for both of their companies names right now?

All 4 of these are jet ski assist.

Maria won some big contests for North kiteboarding this past year and is the best instructor I have had. Google Nitinat kiteboard lessons and she should come up.

Nitinat is very remote and VERY beautiful. The whole experience is something special. There is a reason people go there is the spring and stay for the summer. It has a Motel for non-campers right near.

Squamish is just outside of Vancouver. Less remote and far but not as nice a camping experience. It is right on the spit , for free though. Pay camping around Squamish can be very nice. Hotels are plenty.

I looked into this a while back and was planning to head to the george in the sprig with a half dozen other folks to take up some water activities. I haven't taken a lesson out there yet but I made a list last year had with ranks of the schools; when I was at Anini on kawai a great teacher there helped me put the list together. I'll see if I can find what the heck I did with it

The open water there is choppy, there's fast current, oh yeah boats, and the wind can blow 20+ without breaking a sweat. But they teach complete beginners there all the time. The trick is that there is a huge sand bar and water break up current so that the water in that "learning area" is virtually still with no boats. Of course you still have to contend with the wind. But go on a less wind day I'm sure they'll use tiny training kites anyway. and if you're "new" to the sport you won't have a kite for the first part and you won't have a board the second.

Here's a link to google maps areal where you can see the learning area. The shallows are also even bigger now, this is probably an old photo.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&...

I second what someone else had mentioned. Go to NWKite and do a search on there. You will see a few good references which will be good and safe. The good thing is, once you have your knowledge under you, your not far at all from Roosevelt, which is a sweet spot. Secondly, if you get ahold of Eli, he is a straight up dude,(thanks for the round at Dundees on New Years) but last I talked to him, he was actually over closer to PDX. Last but not least, if the winds cooperate when your in Seaside, I would pass on my knowledge to you, but im just a participant, and not an instructor. But I do live just up the road from one of the best beaches on the coast to learn.:wee:

sounds interesting Loop. I will be there at the end of March but I don't have any gear besides wet suits. I have thought about trying a skim board with my fixed bridle kites but other than that I am pretty limited. I would be interested in meeting up while there if it will work out.