Locust Beach, Bellingham, Washington, United States!:o)

bulae99 · Since 12 Jul 2006 1691 Posts I give out bad advice.

This is my summer of love!! I love kiteboarding and I love it a whole lot more when I leave my local area, The Columbia River Gorge, and venture into NEW exciting places. My latest experience has been Locust Beach!!! This place and it's indigenous people have a real love of kiteboarding.
I'm up here taking/assisting with a Pasa class and staying at Andy's, Thanks, casa. I got to tell you that the vibe up here is really fun. When you walk down to the beach people are kind and they greet you. The feeling is that you're lucky to get a good session so celebrate and be happy, I like it!! They smile and make you feel welcome and they answer questions and asked if they could launch and then catch my kite. It's a nice vibe and the indigenous people, though burden with heavy accents, are very cool, LOL.

Bellingham, Washington is the home of http://www.kitepaddlesurf.com/

If you have the urge to explore this region make sure and give Andy and his crew a call, email or just drop by the shop, posted above, and get some advice on the local sites. The staff at the shop are helpful, cheerful and knowledgeable. They also have a crapton of cool kite, paddle and surf gear, nice shop for a small hamlet.

So, after my experience at the local teaching beach, aka, Locust I'm ready to explore the other sites, wind permitting. I guess when I see all of the folks coming to The Gorge from British Columbia, and Warshington State I never really thought it would be fun to go the other way, wow, I was wrong. It's a blast!! What a cool place.

erikm · Since 17 Apr 2012 12 Posts Pullman

I couldn't agree more with you.

I recently had lessons with KitePaddleSurf, what a great experience. The value to knowledge ratio is incredible. First off, they allow you to add a friend for $100, so $399 for 2 people for 3-4 hours with jetski assistance if needed. Second, they provide all gear. Kites, thick warm wet suits, vests, booties, helmets, everything to keep you comfortable so you get hooked on the sport. Third, the instructor was patient, thorough and adapted well.

The vast shallow water space that Locust offers is quite amazing, and surprisingly when you get out of the water you don't feel salty or dirty, thanks to the mouth of a river near by. It seemed everybody who was out on a kite that day was super happy, polite, and friendly. Some stopped by to ask how our lessons were going.

All in all, shout out to David (who scheduled us last minute) and Alex (our instructor). If you check out Locust, be sure to support NSKA (http://www.nskite.com), and park without worry ($5/day) in private parking. We will be returning for more lessons weather permitting this July, and that's a 400+ mile drive.