The WKA

tonia · Since 15 Jun 2005 209 Posts The Gorge Stoked

Hi Gals! (and Guys)

Tonia here from the WKA. First of all, in answer to your question, Bettyboarder, about your membership -- were you at our clinic that weekend? Because we have a number of gals down who received their WKA packages at our clinic in Hood River, but paid online. We gave many of the women packages (with t-shirts and magazines) simply on the honor system that they would pay online, hence your name may have been in this group from PayPal. If not, please let me know and I'll get your package out to you, no problem. Feel free to contact me offline as well if you have specific questions: tonia@womenskiteboarding.com or call me at 541-490-9621. Stacy is also available too: stacy@womenskiteboarding.com.

The WKA was founded by Stacy Lowery and I about a year ago to provide a channel for more women to comfortably enter the sport and find other women to learn and progress with. Without any financial support, we have spent our own time and money to get it off the ground, proud and excited that we could do something with nothing. Stacy and I both have full-time jobs, which creates a challenge in committing as much time as we would like in the WKA. Although we've been talking about having someone step in to do WKA fulltime, it's not realistic financially.

We are aiming to put on clinics that are either free or very affordable to get into the sport, so membership dollars contribute to WKA's ability to achieve this. Insurance, port/beach/event fees, travel, gear, etc.. are all very expensive, and we aim to keep costs down so we can get more girls involved.

The organization is very grass-roots, to the point where the majority of our role lies in simply supporting, assisting, and motivating other women on the beach on any given day. For anyone who has waited to receive their t-shirt, I apologize. We'll get it out asap. For any of you who would like to volunteer so that we can get memberships processed faster, or help with a future clinic, please email me!

If you have any other questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to call me: tonia, 541-490-9621 or you can catch me kiting in the Gorge quite frequently.

Thanks from the Gals at WKA,

Tonia & Stacy