Wow, what a season it has been, hard to believe it's already the end of August, guess time really does fly!  With so many awesome days on the water and great events, it's hard to find the right place to start.


June was a killer month, with days on end in the 20-25+ ranges.  From local sessions at the Hatch or Dougs to road trips out east to the Wall and Arlington, the whole Gorge was going off.  The demo van was typically empty of Legends 3.3-4.7.  I spent most days lit on 3.7!  The end of June saw the annual Windfest at the Event site.  Team Rider Ingrid Larouche hosted her coveted women's clinic with a great turnout of girls, and for the first time in a long time, the wind showed up too!

With no freestyle competition this year, in July I started up ‘Friday's at the Hatch,' an informal competition aimed at getting as many people on the water pushing each other to learn something new, every Friday.  Unfortunately, we should have gotten the show running in June, because July saw a little more hit and miss wind opportunities, with exceptional mid-week winds, but not really that great weekends.  That being the case, we did sneak out to the coast a few times to catch some pretty good wave-sailing days before the wind came rushing back to the Gorge later in the month for what turned out to be one of the windiest US Nationals in a long time.  It was great to see so many MauiSails from all over the country showing up for the event.  And the results were fantastic, with MauiSails' riders finishing in the top five in almost every division!  To check out more about the event results, go to: here and here

August shows no signs of letting up either, with not only great winds but also warmer waters!  We've had some of the windiest days of the season earlier this month with gusts spiking over 55mph!  Also, we are stoked to announce that as of last week, Gorge Surf Shop will be carrying a full lineup of MauiSails rigs.  Don't hesitate to check them out at www.gorgesurfshop.com or drop by if you're in town to see some awesome deals on 2009, 2008, and 2007 sails!  Big Winds also has a great selection of Carbon Booms, you can check them out at www.bigwinds.com.

That's it from me, hope everybody else is having an awesome summer season, and if you haven't, make it out here, I have a feeling we have a lot of good days left in the Gorge! Check out more photos from Paul Gardner and Jock Bradley.

Cya on the water,
Casey Hauser
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