We spent an epic weekend kiteboarding in the eastern Columbia Gorge Corridor at one of our all-time favorite spots, Rufus. Friday the 4th brought super gusty 7m conditions for the boys to enjoy. Even though it had a brutal northwesterly kick to it, the bravest guys were determined to make it look easy. Wally “The Gator” threw down some HUGE kiteloops for the peanut gallery to enjoy and even showed off his new Eclipse Full Throttle kites.

Teague almost nailed a handlepass on the first try too.


Photographer Jim Stringfellow was nice enough to get into the water to shoot the action and was unfortunately taken out by a novice kiter who didn’t get enough “pop” on his jump.



Here’s some more action of Jason, Lee, Kim, Teague, and Alex from Friday.


Jason rides blind on the 08 Crazyfly Bulldozer.

Lee from Portland throws down a huge Railey.

Kim Michaels boosts big and represents the ladies well.

Saturday started out light but was still kite-able and provided the steadiest 9m session I’ve ever had. Combine that with flat water, hot weather, and very few other kites on the water, and it was an unforgettable day. Wally was even nice enough to reprieve me from my spot behind the camera so I now I have some shots of myself riding! Later in the day the wind picked up to 7m again so the bigger guys that couldn’t make it out in the lighter winds were happy.
Me, loving my new Brunotti Princess Pro-X kiteboard (the women’s version of the Brunotti Pro-X)




All smiles after an epic day on the water!

Sunday turned out to be the best day of the weekend though. I woke up at 7am to kites on the water. Even though my legs, abs, and neck were super sore from pushing myself hard on Saturday, I couldn’t pass up the conditions. We fueled up on coffee and pop-tarts and hit the water around 9am. Jason headed out on the 7m Slingshot Rev and was so powered that I rigged up a 5m Turbo Diesel 3 and was juiced. It was the smoothest wind I’d ever kited in for being as strong as it was. Everyone had an absolute blast on the water. Even Wiley came out of the woodwork for the afternoon to join us! Wally did most of the photography again until the wind was strong enough to entice him out.


Me practicing my back rolls.

Jason with his favorite new Slingshot Lunacy kiteboard.

Kurt was having WAY too much fun in front of the camera!

Teague was also hamming it up for the camera!

Oops Wally! Looks like your kite leash broke!


Teague shows us how a railey is really done!

Wiley was all smiles to get a weekend off from the shop.

Hope you enjoyed the pics! We had a great time but its good to be back in the shop too. As always, we try to work hard and play harder!