Hood River
Hood River, Oregon (USA) — the Columbia River Gorge wind mecca and home of the AWSI industry show, and the show’s single most important away-location. The Hatchery is the local spot. The hosts made two big trips here (2024 and 2025), turning it into an interview factory.
- First trip (2024): first day at the Hatchery with Wieger Buurma of Appletree (Ep 78), AWSI first impressions (Ep 79), and a run of stateside interviews including Paul Martin (Ep 80) and Ken Adgate & Luke Atkinson (Ep 81).
- Second trip (2025): “Back in Da Hood” (Ep 116), the Slingshot offices with Jeff Logosz (Ep 127), and Ewan Jaspan’s house as a base (Ep 123).
- Where the hosts borrowed Downwind Boards from Aidan Nicholas (Ep 103) and met Simeon Ke-Paloma (Ep 96).
Ripple additions (batch 2, 2026-07-20)
- Keahi De Aboitiz (Ep 6) singles out Hood River as an especially strong downwind spot — outgoing tide against the wind stacks bigger bumps; describes riding wakes behind the sternwheeler paddle steamer there.
- Ep 84 (Fred Hope) recorded live at the AWSI event site, on a balcony at Slingshot’s Hood River office; rider skill varies sharply by location within Hood River — ‘hatchery’ riders are far more advanced than those at the main event/waterfront sites.
- Ep 123: Ewan Jaspan’s house/office was used as the hosts’ base for this leg of their 2025 trip.
- Julien Salles (F-One, Ep 47) calls the Hood River/AWSI trip his favourite event of the year, citing the collegial cross-brand vibe.