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Just been googling around today and found a link to a thread here on Starboards catamaran windsurfers...on the Victorian threads..
unfortunately it was only 3 months old and it said cannot posts as old news...what the heck..I've been gone a while and you cant post on slightly older threads..
anywho...It was on cat windsurfers..
As it is I have a fibreglass cat windsurder, was deciding to list it on ebay today with my Starboard Go as I need room although I didnt really want to sell it, but space is needed to relocate my vintage cars and parts from my dads deceased estate, upon googling this morning I found this link here to cat windsurfers...but maybe I should still keep it, I am yet to sail it , and like collecting vintage anything anyway..
I found a longboard with the same mast base system, which was missing on the cat...seen in the photo the longboard...it too has the same non slip top as the cat, and can assume it was manufactured by the same company.
anyone know history of cat windsurfer called
SUN TWIN by Windspeed
all fibreglass, all moulded in one piece, have photos
I am trying to stop myself selling it off with my other windsurfers...
any history or thoughts
Rustbucket,
don't sell it, keep it and the glass mini front too!
It would be great to see it up and running.
For the $50 bucks you'd get on ebay, I'm sure you could have a bit of fun with it.
Novelty value alone.
2c spent.
hee hee
this windsurfer is rare and I'd love to find out more but .... as crustysailer remarked on the car I realise the car in the background is probably kookier than the windsurfer to you, I am used to fibreglass cars littering my property...
Just for those wondering..."the glass mini"...is rarer than a mini as it is an australian car...does anyone know what it is...just curious of the old car freaks on here...
it is australian, it was made in SA, it completed the 1964 ..7,000 mile around Aussie Ampol trials to the humour of Australians at the time.
now any idea of the cat windsurfer...has anyone sailed one.?
Classic cat & car
It (the car) is a Lightburn Zeta.
Details:http://www.australiaoncd.com.au/bad_zeta.htm
Besides its unusual shape, the Lightburn Zeta was very much a mechanical oddity also. It was powered by a Villiers 325cc twin cylinder two stroke engine which drove the front wheels. A novel feature was that it could go as fast in reverse as it could travelling forward by reason of the simple design of the drive train. It has four gears in each direction, which was hardly a safety feature considering it had a top speed of around 95 km/hr. . Neither was a fuel gauge - it was in fact a clear glass section of the fuel line that Lightburn marketed the car through a network of Alfa Romeo dealerships he owned.
the mast base looks like an old tyronsea one which was generic in that area. you can still get parts on ebay for them.
I remember several old articals of people doing long hauls on them especially one punter who did an antartic or an an artic cat run. Also vaguely (very vaguely) recalled someone trying to do a Vic to Tas run (dont know of any success on that one)
thanks h20
h20 said "the mast base looks like an old tyronsea one which was generic in that area."
unfortunately it isnt [well not the tyronsea ones I found ]...I have been buying up mast bases for a while to try and find one..I have many old mast bases, and none fitted till I bought that longboard...you wont believe how many old style mast bases I bought online trying to find one...for this and my other vintage boards.
so many looking a like but with different diameters...
never the less I have one now and a matching longboard to take up more space...damn.[this was probably the reason I thought about selling it, for as a collector I wont dispose of the longboard due to it being...well old and collectable too me at least..[I love refitting old rigs back to original], I only wanted it for its mast base..but now its useleess without it so I gotta hold onto the board too..damn I hate obsessions. If you are a collector or like me a hoarder you'll understand the passion..or stupidity.
h20 said "I remember several old articals of people doing long hauls on them especially one punter who did an antartic or an an artic cat run. Also vaguely (very vaguely) recalled someone trying to do a Vic to Tas run (dont know of any success on that one)"
wow that would be interesting if its the same hull
wow wineman
got it in one
but i guess i gave enough googling info to find this
can you give me its actual model name
a Lightburn Zeta ..........?
and what was the company famous for making , that actually turned off people buying this car...
Also I have a complete Lightburn Zeta Sports [an actual sports car made by this company, different body, different engine, far rarer.]
Rusty.... just click on the link - it's all there. History, photos, all models etc
Such a dreamer was Harold Lightburn, whose Lightburn company of Camden near Adelaide, made of tools, cement mixers, washing machines and fiberglass boats.
...Called the Zeta, the car was a hideous assemblage of jutting, ill-conceived shapes and angles, with tailfins on the roof. There was no tailgate. In spite of its awkward shape,
thanks wineman for the link
but i already know the cars history hee hee..
all this is an aside to the first posters comment of the mini in the background..
I was just seeing who knew its history as an interesting sidebar while awaiting any info on the twin hull...infact the car company was famous for making washing machines and cement mixers..hence a public's reaction to a car made by a washing machine company was to shun it [even if not for its smelly little 2 stroke ]...the actual car was called a Ligthburn Zeta Runabout..mine has the first model which had the fins on the roof and bulbous front corners, the next model, these were removed to tone it down.
now if only there was info like this about the twin hull windsurfer , I could somehow justify keeping another space stealing hull.
anyone?
Details of lapsed US Trademark Appplication Serial Number 73475907
Mark: WINDSPEED
Goods and Services (ABANDONED) IC 012. US 019. G & S: WIND SPEED CATAMARAN AND ACCESSORIES.
FIRST USE: (In USA) 19820100. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19820100
Filing Date April 17, 1984
Current Filing Basis 1A (Based on actual use in commerce in US)
Owner (APPLICANT) WINDSPEED INTERNATIONAL INC. CORPORATION CALIFORNIA 3302 JEWELL ST. SAN DIEGO CALIFORNIA 92109
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Abandonment Date April 22, 1985
Source: USPTO TESS database
Couldn't find any US patent or design protection in the name Windspeed, and no other trademark registrations/applications.
rustbucket,
why don't you drag it down to the local sailing whole and see if anyone has anthing to rig with it? consider it a group project. Surely there's the resources here to rescue it?
I want to se it go
(oh yeah, this is coming from someone who still has the first car they ever bought at 18, 71 capri.ie a horder)
wow mikey
thats great info thanks...my googling bought up nothing, other than a company in Qld building composite cats but looks totally unrelated..just the name. Windspeed
crusty..I have everything for it to sail..
I bought the longboard to get the missing mast base and it came with original rig...plus I can use any of my rigs with it. I have some matched fins too, I managed to find for it.
what I have been lacking is the time to trailer it, manhandle it and gumtion to get it to the water
due to only having half my lungs working [50% damaged] getting a longboard to the water knocks the ****e out of me let alone a catsurfer...and I am sailing less and less each year..because of it. But I havent given up yet..but definately getting less due also to a 2 hour drive to my sailing spots.
and I'm wondering whether in a capsize this will act like all cats and simply blow away..due to my lungs my swimming ability is now very poor, a downed windsurfer in a lake..stays within grasp for me, fortunately I spend less time in the water on my selected rides so I feel safe sailing...but a cat just blows away in the wind, . Will a windsurfer cat do the same leaving me in deep trouble [although I would sail it in shallow lake for my own safety.]although I think it should be very stable..but if it did capsize I could be in trouble
Unfortunately having damaged lungs reduces manhandling a large board like this..although for its size it is very lightweight..
I am keeping it now...and hope to fly it sometime when I can get a suitable trailer for it.
crusty...a 71 capri...good stuff..like them a lot
I am after the first capri [around 63 / 64], before your shape., called a consol capri..it has fins and looks like a small yank tank. a bit like a cortina streched and americanised I guess. Pretty much small ford mechnicals.
i'll bet there is a lot of classic car owners on here?
You serious? Geez you learn something new every day.
yes that is correct, you simply turn the key backwards reversing the electricals..and simply running your two stroke backwards.
I have a few cars that do that, my messerschmitt,my isetta , but my goggomobils although 2 strokes cannot do that, they actually have a four speed gearbox that shifts sideways...it is the quickest gearshift I have ever encountrered, that with a [400cc motor ] a car of only 350kg's and like a motor bike I have beaten V8's, and a porsche at take off...its power to weight is incredible..but within seconds they were off and gone...so I had to look quick to see the surprise on their faces..
I stopped doing it because I was concerned how the clutch would take it [especially as I hadnever rebuilt the motor and it was a good chance the motor had not ever been rebuilt in its 50 years of life...it is not like a normal clutch plate...but that initial takeoff surprised the pants off them...it will go around roundabouts virtually at 60k's on its little 10" wheels.
something older than a dynamo?..
sorry before my time.
no airbags then? Abs? traction control?dsc?hill descent?
I experienced the reverse stroking of a two stroke motor when once riding my motorbike. I was riding up a hill and stalled in a rut. I pulled the clutch in and the bike started rolling backwards, the clutch was released to stop it rolling down the hill. Upon releasing the clutch the motor started. The clutch was engaged again and the bike stopped but when I gave it some gas the bike took off in reverse!
Scared the hell out of me. The bike was a Kawasaki KDX 200.
Where is the hysterical laughter icon when you need one ??
I've done crap like that, piss funny !!
Anyway, back to the question.
I remember a windsurfer cat design released by New Zealander Ron Given, who designed the Paper Tiger Catamarans and many cruising and racing cats since. Couldn't find anything on Google about it, but it was a long time ago.
The Hulls look very much like the Paper Tiger cat hulls.
I hope that leads somewhere.
thanks peter
that sounds promissing
I will keep that info and do siome searching.
thanks
moby
that was really interesting...as a two stroke car owner I think in terms of cars
but finding ouit that someone can come across it by accident is interesting...makes sense though
on the car side just so people know the motor must be completely shut down...then the key turned in the opposite direction..it can actually be a pain in the exhaust if your motor is sick and you're trying to keep it running, turning it off inevidably leaves you stranded..
