Winds of change transform Hood River

HOOD RIVER, Ore. — They are returning now, the wind worshipers who swarm into this scenic Columbia River town every year from all corners of the world to squirm into their wet suits, hop onto their windsurfing boards and go tearing across the whitecaps at 30 mph and more.

Some will stay the weekend. Some will stay the summer. Others may stay forever. There are plenty who do.

Sitting on a bench in front of a popular downtown coffee shop is local windsurfer Bart Vervloet, a 43-year-old who came here nearly two decades ago in search of the perfect wind, found it and made Hood River his home.

Vervloet is fond of pointing out that the first three digits of Hood River phone numbers — 386 — spell "FUN" on telephone keypads.

"This is a play zone," says Vervloet, the voice of "Bart's Best Bet," a local radio program that broadcasts the day's expected wind speed, weather forecast and other data crucial in a town known as the windsurfing capital of the world.

"You do whatever it takes to stay here," says Vervloet.

Everyone knows Vervloet, who also manages Windwing, a downtown shop that sells sails of its own design and other gear. He is a strapping man with bushy eyebrows and a puckish smile. Windsurfers stopping at the coffee shop give him a hearty "Hey, Bart!" as they wander by.

Among the windsurfers who pull up in front of the coffee shop are a businessman from Michigan who spends summers here chasing the wind, a twenty-something who sells Toyotas at a Bend car dealership, and a man who tends bar at night and windsurfs during the day.

There are more coming — many, many more. By the height of summer, this town of just under 6,000 will be swelling with throngs of athletic visitors.

It started two decades ago

Ensconced in the majestic Columbia River Gorge, Hood River has an embarrassment of recreational riches.

Windsurfers began coming here about two decades ago, drawn by winds of 25 mph and higher that constantly blast down a natural wind tunnel created by towering basalt bluffs framing both sides of the Gorge.

The windsurfers have been followed by legions of outdoors enthusiasts pursuing other sports: kayakers and rafters who plummet down tributaries feeding into the mighty Columbia, mountain bikers who race through foothills of the Cascade range, cyclists who speed along back roads that wind past pear and apple orchards.

There's also salmon fishing and golf.

The latest craze in Hood River is kiteboarding, which is similar to windsurfing. The whole point of kiteboarding is not so much speed, as becoming airborne. A large kite captures the wind, propels the surfer across the water and plucks him as much as 40 feet into the air, depending on wind gusts.

You don't have to be an outdoors enthusiast to appreciate Hood River. Downtown buildings, some more than a century old, have been renovated. New restaurants and bed-and-breakfasts have opened in the past several years, catering not just to the sports set but also to tourists.

Leaving from a 1911 train station, the Mount Hood Railroad takes visitors on a four-hour journey along the scenic Hood River Valley and over hills lying in the shadow of Mount Hood, Oregon's tallest summit.

Scattered along the Hood River Valley are more than 300 fruit farms. Motorists follow what's called the Fruit Loop — a tour of fruit orchards, country markets, wineries and roadside stands.

The Gorge Games

Windsurfing and recreation have totally changed Hood River, which in the 1980s was struggling because of the decline of the timber industry.

Now lining Hood River's streets are businesses with names like Big Winds, Windance, Kayak Shed, Storm Warning and Renegade River Rafters, as well as boutiques and galleries.

Many of the largest designers of windsurfing gear are located here, making Hood River a hub of innovation for windsurfing technology.

Peg Lalor, a Canadian, started coming to Hood River for windsurfing in 1982 and moved here 10 years later. She is the founder of the Gorge Games, what has been an annual summer sports extravaganza with events that have included windsurfing, kiteboarding, kayaking, climbing, mountain biking and sailing. The games, which started in 1996, have attracted top athletes from all over the world.

The games have been canceled this summer because of troubles arranging sponsors. It's a loss for Hood River. But Lalor is determined to get them back.

"We have something nobody has in the rest of the country. We have the best venues for all of these sports in a very short circumference of the river," said Lalor, who is putting together a coalition that would coordinate and organize athletic events in Hood River.

It's too early to say how much of a financial impact the absence of the Gorge Games will have on Hood River.

There's still a full schedule of events this summer — a windsurfing race series called the Gorge Cup, a marathon, an annual equestrian competition, golf tournaments, sailboat races and a four-day, five-stage cycling road race with a $10,000 purse.

The town can also rely on the thousands who come here each year to pursue windsurfing and other sports on a recreational level — and to soak up the natural beauty of the Columbia River Gorge.

It's like Bart Vervloet says. This is a play zone.