I spent last week in Hood River, Oregon at the Starboard dealer meeting and the AWSI demo.
I woke up early on Tuesday and met the guys from Starboard for a SUP dawn patrol from the Event Site. After spending the day Monday traveling, the morning Sup session was a great way to start the day.
After breakfast and a shower, it was back down to the river for the Starboard product presentation and an afternoon of product testing. Not much wind but we spent the afternoon hanging out at the Event Site and playing with the big boards and big sails. The Event Site in Hood River is a beautiful grassy area, and one of the most user friendly launches on the river. However, to get from the grassy area to the water you still need to cross a very rocky beach and then wade out on an equally rocky bottom before getting on the board.
Tuesday night I headed up to Mount Hood to catch the sunset. Upon arriving at Timberline Lodge, I took off on a two hour hike on the Pacific Crest Trail in my flip flops. I got incredible views and some cool pictures for my effort, but between the rocky beach, and a rocky hike, I put a serious hurting on my feet.
Wednesday started with another early SUP session. We paddled up the Hood River a bit before being denied by shallow water and rapids. More product presentations followed by some wind and a good afternoon of sailing.
Thursday morning, myself and several other dealers were treated to breakfast and a tour of the Chinook factory. It was cool to watch them mold and assemble carbon booms, and some of the other windsurfing products they make. It makes the made in America sticker really mean something when you actually see it being done.
I spent the afternoon sailing several of the new 2010 Naish boards and sails. Awesome!
Friday was a beautiful day in the Hood, unfortunately there was absolutely no wind. Great day to demo SUP boards. I paddled from the Event site to the Hood River bridge a couple of times on different boards. A whole bunch of short spins (more foot abuse) , and then a long late afternoon paddle across the Columbia River to the White Salmon River. All in all, I paddled for more than 4 hours and I was a pooped paddler! I tried a lot of really good boards, but when all said and done, I really liked the Naish 12' Glide, but I still like my own 11'6 Naish better than anything. Cool! There was a big industry party Saturday night, but after a hot tub and a big bowl of pasta I was toast and crashed.
Saturday the wind was back, and I spent the final day of the demo re-riding the Naish and Starboard boards with a bunch of different sails. I met friends downtown for pizza Saturday night. Good pie, good friends, good day! Great trip!!
