The Big Winds weblog has moved, and now has a permanent home over at www.bigwindsblog.com.

Thanks for reading, and we’ll catch you at our new digs!

Big Winds is running a bunch of different promotions right now, and sometimes it’s difficult to keep them all straight! As of today, this eighth of May in the year two thousand and seven, these are the deals we are currently offering:

Free shipping on all 2007 windsurf sails

Free shipping on all Sailworks sails (2006 sails, too!)

Free shipping on all 2007 kiteboards

Free shipping on all 2007 kites

Free shipping on all O’Neill product orders over $100

Free shipping on all Dakine product orders over $100

In addition, we also offer discounts for windsurfing/kiteboarding packages, and multiple sail/kite purchases. If you’re interested, give us a call and we can put together a quote for you!

* Now for all the gritty details. “Free Shipping” applies only to orders within the contiguous United States (also known as the Lower 48). All items will be shipped via UPS Ground, which takes from 2-6 business days depending on your distance from Hood River. Expedited service (including UPS 3-Day, 2-Day and Next Day Air) is available for an additional charge. Very large items (including Dakine’s 60/40 Split Convertible Luggage, and Dakine’s Single-Wall Windsurf Bag) are considered “oversized” by UPS and cost significantly more to ship, and thus are not included in our free shipping promotion.

As always, please visit our company website for the most current and accurate information regarding our promotions.

Phew! We’ve been getting a lot of phone calls about these guys, but finally they’re here! We just got our first shipment of Pro-Limit’s kiteboarding harnesses for 2007, and man are these things comfortable!

For guys we’ve got the Felix Waist and the Kite Seat Pro, and for the ladies we’ve got the Pure Girl Kite Seat and the Pure Girl Kite Waist.

When comparing Pro-Limit harnesses to other brands, keep in mind that these guys include a kite-specific spreader bar!

Okay, we’ve talked about this on our parent site, but perhaps it also bears mentioning here… we’ve cooked up a new virtual tour of our retail shop, so ya’ll across the world can check us out all “brick and mortar” style. Yup. Rather than some big and heartless e-retailer, Big Winds is actually a locally owned and operated shop located in Hood River, the high-wind sailing (and kiting!) mecca of the contiguous United States.

It’s strange to say, but we’ve got booty coming out of our ears over here at Big Winds… wetsuit booties, that is! We’ve got a bunch of different styles from previous years, in a wild amalgam of sizes, and we’d like to clear out the lot of them!

If you’re interested in protecting your fine footsies this season, bop on over to our fine selection of closeout wetsuit booties and browse around. Some of these booties are only available in a small smattering of sizes, but here are a couple styles that cover a wide gambit of sizing:

Neil Pryde 4000 Hi-Cut Zip Boot Sizes 6-14 $47 $39

O’Neill 3mm Evo Round Toe Boot Sizes 7-13 $55 $40

Pro-Limit 6mm C1 Round Toe Boot Sizes 5-13 $50 $30

Alright, this is it. We’re five months into 2007 and it’s high-time we move our 2006 windsurf boards on out of here. They won’t last for very long at these prices, so if anything looks enticing we recommend that you call us now! In about two weeks, the little town of Hood River is going to be bumpin’ and stylin’ with recently-arrived windsurfers who are looking for deals, and those of you in outlying areas might be out of luck when trying to score one of these boards.

…and to answer some common questions: Yes, we ship boards! How much does shipping a board cost? Typically $75 to the west coast, $95 to the rest of the Lower-48. Larger boards (120 liters and above) cost an extra $25 to ship because they’re, well, larger.

So without further ado, here are our final 2006 sailboard closeouts!

Wave Boards

2006 Starboard Pure Acid 73 DRAM $1,359.00 $999.00
2006 Starboard Pure Acid 73 Wood $1,539.00 $1,099.00

2006 JP Australia Real World Wave 76 $1,649.00 $999.00

2006 Mistral Syncro Fish 83 $1,399.00 $999.00

2006 Mistral Beast 85 $1,699.00 $999.00

2006 Starboard Evo 83 DRAM $1,359.00 $999.00

Freeride Boards

2006 Starboard S-Type 93 DRAM $1,389.00 $999.00

2006 Starboard Kombat 96 DRAM $1,389.00 $999.00
2006 Starboard Kombat 96 Wood $1,559.0 $1,099.00

2006 JP Australia X-Cite Ride 95 ES $1,349.00 $849.00
2006 JP Australia X-Cite Ride 95 FWS $1,349.00 $949.00

2006 JP Australia Super-X 96 FWS $1,599.00 $1,099.00

2006 Starboard Carve 101 DRAM $1,359.00 $999.00

Beginner/Light Wind Boards

2006 JP Australia Young Gun 114 $899.00 $599.00

2006 Mistral Explosion 155 $1,299.00 $899.00

2006 Starboard Go 170 $1,029.00 $899.00

Everyone is abuzz about the new stand up paddleboard phenomenon, and we have a number of people here at Big Winds who are completely stoked on the sport. Here in Hood River, it’s a great way to get out on the water when the wind isn’t cooperating, and even in light wind these boards can be great fun in a small bit of chop.

David, who will run down to the Event Site on his lunch break to cram in a stand up paddleboard session, says he’s had a ton of fun catching and surfing even the smallest swell.

The Pacifico is Mistral’s answer to the whole paddleboard thing, a huge board that’s great for paddling flatwater, playing in chop or surfing waves. What’s more, the Pacifico has a windsurf mast track, so when the wind starts blowing you can make the conversion from stand up padding to full-on windsurfing. Go ahead and check it out!

Hey, this is kinda neat. We now carry custom directional kiteboards from North Pacific, a custom surfboard shop located right here in Hood River.

Our current stock includes a couple of Tuna Fish 5′3″ boards, the Squash Tail 5′8″, and the Round Squash 5′6″. Check ‘em out, these boards are gorgeous!

Tuna Fish 5′3″

Squash Tail 5′8″

Round Squash 5′6″

What fun, eh? Makes us wish the Columbia River would get a bit warmer than 49 degrees. Soon though, soon!

Good news! We just received a shipment of new boards from Jimmy Lewis, and they’re now available on our website. First up are his Kite/Surf directional boards, which we now have in stock for the 5′2″ and 5′8″ sizes.

The second board we now have is the Jimmy Lewis Flight Deck, which is a large 147 cm twin tip board designed especially for light wind conditions.

Anywho, figured we’d let ya’ll know!

Hello, and welcome to the Big Winds weblog. We’re still in the process of getting this bugger off the ground, but thanks for visiting!

We hope to make this a casual space where we can talk about all the cool stuff that we’re doing, without going through all the professional mumbo-jumbo that’s involved with publishing to our business website.

Sounds good, eh? Well, yeah. Talk is cheap, however, and the world is littered with abandoned weblogs. We’ll try our best to avoid going down that road.