Remember the good old days of windsurfing when all you needed was a single board, sail and a zephyr of breeze to have endless fun?
Easter at Marlo, early '80's:
And then, along came the short board revolution and all of a sudden we had to have more gear than we knew was good for us.
Sandy Point, late '80's:
Thank goodness with modern gear I can get by with only ................ um..........6 or 8 boards and half a dozen sails????? 
I wasn't around for the 'good old days', they look good, that sort of one board & sail simplicity appeals to me, someone should bring the 'good old days' back.
Sailquik,
What was the fuel economy of that old kingswood all geared up like? 
Thanks for the photos of ye old days. Great set of pins too on 334546
can i spy an AMPRO mast on the roof rack sailquick? they where the beez kneez
i backed my car over mine
I am surprised the old Ampro didn't survive the backing over!
Great stuff.
Is that Phil Lynch on 327840?
I remember measuring the hire Falcodore being driven by some US pros in a mid '80s Sony - the stack of gear on the racks was taller than the car itself. The pros had about 12 boards each on the World Cup circuit, IIRC.
My gear for each regatta in that year was 1 Div 2 board, 2 Raceboards, 1 or 2 slalom boards, 3 waveboards, 8,7,6m racing sails, D2 sails, 3 slalom sails, 4 wave sails; and we'd normally have 3 complete rigs set up at any moment.
Great days, but the One Design/one sail stuff is soooo much easier!
pretty cool old school photos sailquick - do you have anymore of SP (or is that a totally stupid question...)?
Yeah Im amazed at the size of the dune too!
pretty cool freestyle moves on those old boards! did you actually plane on those old school boards?
I remember doing a road trip to adelaide with frank hammond from Horizon sails - he reckons back in the day he made tons of those triangular sails.
You'll easily plane on an "old school" board; we've only put a GPS on one once (AFAIK) with a top verified score of 25.4 knots. There's a lot more speed to be found in better conditions.
I am certain he still has a OD tucked away somewhere in his shed.
cool pics mate, g i think i was a kid back then about 6. but if i was old enough to drive i would of joined em with a full blown V8 kingswood station wagon and 10 pintail sailboards ect.. Where did you get the pics of windsurfing sandy point in the 80s from?
Sail #3xxxxx = 1983, perhaps 1984.
That sort of freestyle is not beginner, esp. on the first pic, so it must have been a local comp of sorts? Don't recognise any of them's blokes (nor sheila).
To me, windsurfing is every bit as much fun now as back then, in fact a lot more. Small gear for stronger winds and freestyle, old ** gear for lower winds and freestyle and fun and teaching newbs.
But nowadays, many sailors around me (and in fora) are much, much less happy - forever bitching about conditions and not having the very latest gear as pushed down their throats by magazines. That's their collective problem. A few still enjoy conditions and gear at hand.
In those days everyone could learn easily, even though it was terrible gear to learn on. Most could do some tricks and hold those ugly boards in strong winds. Nobody hoped that changes in equipment would gybe in their place, since it was all the same. Nowadays, I find people rely on their latest purchase to do freestyle and gybe for them. It prevents them from trying and introspection - after all the magazines and web sites tell them it's gonna be easier to gybe. Right?
So that's the diff, and happiness and fun to be had is a matter of personal choices. It's gonna spring here soon. Many sailors will lay out yet their latest acquisitions on the beach for a month before even considering sailing. By then the spring winds will have abated, and then they'll bitch they're too good for the summer winds. Ironic, huh?
Anyways, Sailquick, where is this at, Gosford? And who are they, and what was the occasion? Just curious...
Woops, one more: one can very definitely plane on them's boards. Requires a lot of strength and specific skills, as I find there is much aft resistance even on a plane on those planks. Nowhere like shorter boards. Would you agree WOD?
As a dare, I was able to plane one for a local freestyle show last summer, sailing back to the sail - had never done that before. Everyone had a good laugh at this. Coming from a freeride small board, it took me 15 minutes just to get used to sailing one again...
Its easy to plane an original windsurfer, i do it all the time and im no way a highly skilled windsurfer, they are much easier to ride than a short board
"The good ol days", when boardies were shorts not these stupid half way down your calf "boardlongs" of modern times.
Aloha...Tina here in Hawaii. I stumbled on to your blog and, much to my pleasant surprise, found old photos of Gene, me and others posted on this site. What great memories of my times in Victoria! I'm adding this old freestyle photo of me doing splits on the rail from back in the days. Tell Gene and his family g'day and here's wishing you and yours all the very best from Hawaii.
Hi Tina,
That looks like a shot from the Mistral Worlds in Tunisia 1984.
I will post some more shots for you tonight.
great pics
I still have fun on one board (evo 75) and four sails (4.2, 4.7, 5, 5.7) though
if that aint working I allways got a 9m kite and one board,
and allways got a few surfboards handy.
I started sailing with a Tencate Runner (eighties, back in the day) - what a total dog of a rig and board - weighed a ton - left it on the verge for collection
