Brian’s Windsurfing Kiteboarding SUP

Brian is an excellent instructor and helps in the community of kite boarders etc. he has a vast knowledge and is always helpful i enjoyed my lesson and would suggest him if you need a great instructor.

Brian showed up 15 minutes late. After showing up he asked me a couple of questions. He told me that he he had to go the bathroom. After 10 minutes he didn’t show up. The class was supposed to start at 10 am. At 10.30 with no sign of Brian I left. 5 stars for Poor customer service!

My daughter and I each had a few beginner lesson’s at Brian’s in 2008.
Summary:
* For an adult needing some beginning windsurfing lessons I think that Brian’s is a good option. I haven’t tried them for more advanced lessons, but might consider them. Three stars for adults.
* For kids needing some beginning windsurfing lessons, it will depend a lot on the kid. Two stars for kids.
Arranging the lessons was easily done by phone. The staff were good about contacting me early in the day if they didn’t think weather conditions were suitable for a lesson. This was nice since I live an hour away from Hood River. We had one of the hired instructors for two of the lessons and Brian for most of the third lesson.
You go to their rental site, which is at the east end of the Event Site. This is where you pay and get a wetsuit if you need it. The beginner lessons started out with a session on their dry-​land simulator at the same location. We spent nearly an hour each lesson with the simulator and the instructors did a good job of using it to show us the basics and allow us to practice the moves. I found this to be the most valuable part of the lesson, though my daughter stopped paying attention after a couple of minutes and got little benefit from it.
When you are done with the dry-​land simulator you’ll drive down river about half a mile to the Hook (an «L» shaped jetty in the Columbia) for the actual sailing. This is where most of the Hood River windsurfing schools conduct their beginning lessons.
Once we were on the water I found that the quantity and quality of instruction decreased. For the most part the instructors stayed on or near the shore.
I wasn’t having any significant problems sailing out, turning around, and sailing back. But I now know that I was doing a lot of things poorly or incorrectly that the instructors should have been pointing out and correcting.
My daughter was having a lot of problems. She would up-​haul her sail, drift downwind, jump off and then walk her rig upwind. Over and over. Not having paid attention to the dry-​land simulation she didn’t understand the basics of how to set sail or turn around. The instructors gave her some verbal instructions on what to do from the shore, but she was not understanding the instructions. Since that time, the instructors I’ve seen that are good with kids, stay close to the kids and talk them through each step until they’ve figured out the basic set sail, turn around, and set sail again.

Brian is a good friend of mine, so i am biased. that said he has a full range of windsurfing lessons for all skill levels as well as a few rentals.
check him out!