Historic Hood River
“Gorge Girls”
5-15-2026
Notes
This submitted photo captures the “Gorge Girls”, a local windsurfing group in the 1980s and 1990s. Please help fill in the history of this group, and help put some names to the faces of these women.
To start with, can anyone identify the location? I don’t recognize that light.
starboard
Can’t help with the women, but that light used to be at the end of the spit, at the entrance to the marina from the river, privately maintained by the Port until they decided not to. Red-right-returning; the green mate was on the bridge side near the old Mid Columbia Marine building, now Port offices.
Erika Santacroce-Ammon
Bottom left seated on the rock looks like Julie that owned Second Wind Sports, Middle front but seated just above looks like Brenda that owns Chinook plumbing, all the way to right in front looks like Melanie who was a massage therapist.
Dale Nicol
Ruth Blackburn was one of the gorge girls back then but I don’t know if she is in this photo. Her husband Keith made her a motorized powered surfboard, powered by a Maytag hit-miss engine, sometime around 1992. It’s now on display at WAAAM…..the “sail” says gorge girls.
Ruth asked for the surfboard to have fun with on windless days.
Keith made the Maytag hit-miss motorized 3 wheel trike for her around 1985 and she rode it for many years until her health declined. My wife Judy started riding it around 2014-2015 to keep up with the tradition every Second Saturday at WAAAM.
Ruth was full of life and even though her health was declining, she still thought she was 16 years old and full of spunk…..a natural show off…..in a good way!
Brenda Wolf
I bought the poster at the antique shop that used to be in Pine Grove. My daughter-in-law called me and said that a friend of hers thought she recognized her mother mother-in-law. (Me) in the photo of the Gorge girls at the Oek Grove store. Sure enough it was me and I bought it. I’ve had it all these years and thought it should be on display at the museum. And they graciously have agreed to make a print of it and display it with the other windsurfing photos. It definitely is Ruth Blackburn in the picture, and Melanie Quigley, and myself Brenda Wolf. So many of the other faces look familiar but I can’t recall the names. It would be nice to make copies available for the other girls in the photo.
Lorraine Carlstrom
Fun Photo!
I think that the person in the
back row on the far left is Claire Griffin
Two over from her is Ruth Mitter Longland
Next to Claire is Gail (Canadian Teacher)
Standing in the back row is Joan Chase
Far right sitting is Trish Dixon
Lower right looks like Kelly Asbridge
Below Kelly is Lesley Russell?
Janice Tower is in the middle left of Brenda Wolfe