Claudia Nygard, founder of KiteGirl®
has been bringing women and girls into kiteboarding since 1999. She loves continuously sharing her passion for the sport as far as her travels will take her.

"Looking around at most kite spots today, I am happy to see how many women are now kiteboarding. Since the sport is starting to enter more of the mainstream, I feel a renewed calling to keep making the initial contact with the power of a kite a fun and safe experience for women."

After a 3 month long wavesailing stint in South Padre Island, Texas, Claudia had recently relocated to the Columbia River Gorge in June of 1999.
That's where she saw a notice taped on the glass door of Brian Hinde's shop Open Ocean, reading: “KiteSki Demo with Cory Roeseler, July 3rd at Bingen Point”.

Cory Roeseler and his wife Therese were teaching the demo; Brian Hinde was showing off the KiteSki boards he had been shaping for Cory.

There was Claudia, holding on to the first KiteSki reelbar and a 5 meter kite that created enough power to lift her off her feet.

"I still remember that day like it was yesterday. To feel the power of a kite for the first time was both exhilarating and frightening. I was hooked immediately."

One thing that did strike her though, was how few women were at this event.

That day the idea for KiteGirl® was born. She decided then and there that she wanted to bring more women into this amazing new sport.

It started with a women's kite demo at Lot 6 in Hood River later that year, where just by word of mouth and the Windwomen's endorsement, 60 women showed up wanting to get a taste of this exciting new sport.

She officially founded KiteGirl® later that summer of 1999. It started with KiteGirl Klinics, women specific kiteboarding demos and clinics.

The regional KiteGirl events Claudia Nygard held were so successsful that requests from women across the country and even Europe came in, asking for clinics in their area.

Claudia began the planning process for the KiteGirl Klinic Tour, a nationwide series of kiteboarding clinics and camps for women with her husband Christopher.

She kicked off the first KiteGirl Klinic Tour in Corpus Christi, Texas on February 23rd 2002. The tour route took her through Florida, continued into the Carolinas and all the way up to Cape Cod. She returned 'crosscountry' with a stop in Nebraska at Lake McConaughy to the Pacific Northwest for the Gorge Games, then headed south along the California coast.

For the next 3 years the KiteGirl Klinics brought her to over 40 different kiting locations across the United States where she taught more than 1200 women the basics of kiteboarding.

By emphasizing safety and kite control, Claudia continues to offer women the opportunity to learn or progress kiteboarding in a supportive and empowering atmosphere. Her true passion is to help women overcome their fear and embrace their own strength!

Over the years, KiteGirl Klinics have expanded even more. The curriculum now includes wave kiting clinics and snowkite clinics.

Claudia was chosen to become the first female Instructor Examiner for PASA in September of 2002, enabling her to share her unique teaching method with other instructors.

2003 brought her a nomination for the Action Girl '03 Award for her relentless efforts to bring more women into the sport of kiteboarding.

Claudia flew to Europe in 2006 in August/September for a short KiteGirl Euro Tour. She kited the English Channel near Calais in 30mph+ winds, checked out the small picturesque village of Campione at Lake Garda, Italy, where you'll find 30 kites stacked neatly on top of each other, and tried landboarding for the first time on the island of Borkum in the North Sea.
Having received so much positive feedback from the trip, she's planning on offering more European KiteGirl Klinics in the future.

In the last year, Claudia and Christopher have been relocating their home base from the Gorge to Kauai and then Oahu. They chose Hawaii for it's dynamic ocean environment as well as some of the most challenging wave kiting conditions they had found during their travels up to this point...

Lately she's been focusing on bringing more women out into the ocean, for wave kiting and on the snow to try snowkiting.

KiteGirl is about creating community especially among female kiters, preserving riding spots and helping each other perpetuate the lifelong sense of adventure and comeraderie that comes from participating in this sport.