Jamming in the Hood

Duotone Kiteboarding Hood Jam Colleen Carroll

The Hood Jam, presented by Wind Voyager Authentic Apparel, just wrapped up its fourth consecutive contest in Hood River, Oregon. Held in the Slider Project Park – the world’s only public slider park, this is a favourite event amongst many contestants and is especially well loved by our Duotone Team Riders such as Colleen Carroll, Noe Font, Artem Garaschenko, Nicolas Gilloman and Xander , who all competed last week.

There are several components that make this event extra special. The first and foremost being its prime location; Hood River, Oregon. Hood River might not be well known amongst our readers who don’t reside in North America however, this little town tucked amongst the trees, far from the ocean is a mecca for kiteboarding in the United States. During the summer season, it is the most consistently windy place and often boasts strong winds 6-7 days a week from June – August. In addition to prime kiteboarding weather, it is a fun place to explore and offers loads of activities that you can do before or after your kite session.

In addition to the locale being somewhere that riders love to put on their travel schedule, the Slider Project Park is managed by the riders. This means more work for those who decide to participate in the event, but it also makes it more interactive because the layout of the park can be whatever the competitors deme most fun and challenging.

This year we saw a few different rail setups that hadn’t been used in competition before, like the Duotone Incline rail to flat corrugated tube, as well as a mashup of the Cabrinha Funbox with the Duotone Rooftop that made for one of the longest features ever competed on in the Slider Project Park.

This year’s Hood Jam, presented by Wind Voyager Authentic Apparel, started off with a classic ‘American’ party tradition by hosting the registration get-together at the local bowling alley. The Hood Jam continues to support its sister event, the Junior Jam, for riders under the age of 21, so the bowling alley was also the perfect location to invite the young riders for a night to celebrate the conclusion of their competition and award their winners – one of whom would earn their spot into the main event of the Hood Jam.

Duotone Kiteboarding Hood Jam Teamrider Noe Font

Duotone Kiteboarding Hood 2019 Jam Colleen Carroll

Competition kicked off on the first day of the holding period with typical strong Gorge conditions, where wind blew all day and allowed the competition to get off to a great start. Lighter winds came through in the middle of the week giving riders a day of rest and the opportunity to explore one of many nearby swimming holes.
The event finished off with a few more days of solid wind and granted the riders prime conditions to wrap up the finals. Noe Font and Colleen Carroll both had solid performances throughout the contest and guaranteed their spots in the finals after the first round, ultimately finishing the contest both in Fourth place for the Men and Women ladders.

A note from competitor and head organiser Colleen Carroll; “ Duotone has supported this event from its grassroots beginning when it was hardly more than a sophisticated game of K.I.T.E. Now, after it’s fourth year, it is one of the most sought after park events in the world. The event ran almost seamlessly and athletes from across the globe put everything they had into their heats with some incredible riding going down as well as some tricks that have never before been done in competition. In addition to pushing the sport forward on the water, we also had equal prize money for men and women (a standard that is forming amongst Kite Park League events). Huge thanks to Duotone for the support to help grow this event and discipline!”

Jamming in the Hood

2019 Hood Jam - Recap I

2019 Hood Jam - Recap II

2019 Hood Jam - Recap III