Jenna De Rosnay - beyond any scoring system in this universe!
If you are too young to know who she is, Google her right now and enrich your life! If we had a modern version of her, the kiting business would collapse overnight and windsurfing would have a massive resurgence.
if all you guys can come up with is some "hot chick", you must be old horny buggers
windsurfing is STILL evolving and has had SO many good things - these are just examples:
universal joint was REQUIRED for windsurfing to function
this allowed for a mobile hand held sail
first boards seemed to be round bottomed - flat bottoms for speed later
wider boards for earlier planing
footstraps for jumping
chest harness so your arms don't get too long
later seat and waist harnesses
full battens for shape retention
cambers for even more shape
adjustable downhaul for adjustment on water - Barry still workin on one ??
adjustable outhaul for adjustment on the fly
hydrofoiling is the latest ?? inflatables and WindSUPs too ..
sail materials went from dacron, mylar to monofilm , scrim and now new dacron @ HSM
fins went from tiny US base to trimm, power and tuttle
mast bases went from filling the "hole(s)" to standard mast tracks
and extensions went from eyelets / grommets to pulleys and US / Euro connections
people use tools to downhaul - less stress on back n legs
etc
etc
etc
2 and 3 piece masts - when are they ALL gonna go to CC ? constant curve ??
RDM masts
cutouts in boards and sail boom area
North has ratchet system for downhaul
neoprene for the cold
ice windsurfing
land windsurfing
MARK PAUL at Hookipa - April 1981 - using a converted surfboard
The shortboard revolution again led by Australians...
A defining moment in Windsurfing.
Early sailboards were easily broken. Malte Simmer, Mike Waltze and Mark Paul - Hookipa - April 1981
[b]The first "short" wave boards broke very easily - Hookipa - April 1981
[/b]
Mark Paul jumping at Hookipa - April 1981
Mark Paul sailing Long Reef Bombora Proto - circa 1982 Endless progression
The "Baja Fog".
A drink popularized by the earliest windsurfers to frequent Punta San Carlos, Mex.
A beer with added tequila and a twist of lime which fogs the beer. Served best in the beer bottle, but you have to take a swig out of it first to make room for the tequila.
The best thing to cut thru salt water mouth.
Joe: "neoprene for the cold"
Neoprene goes back way farther than windsurfing, Neoprene was invented by DuPont scientists in 1930, originally under the name "Duprene", the first wetsuit was in 1951.
Mast base protector pad (reduced big toe injuries)
Bucket harness as opposed to chest/waist harness (reduced low back strain)
RDM - so much easier to flip
The people who keep working to make the sport more accessible..... because they just love windsurfing, if they wanted to make money they should have become golf or tennis pros instead.
They might not be the best things in windsurfing history - though they show how far the sport has come !
Foots strap 9/10
Storm Sail 9/10
High wind daggerboard 5/10
"Wavejumper" 10/10
Bombora New Toy 3/10
Wild Winds anything 7/10
CNC machined fins transformed to mainstream surfing
the importance of sharp release rails transformed to mainstream surfing
windsurfing innovated that sh1t....
Pretty hard to go pass the introduction of the harness
As the biggest step forward along with the shortening of boards
And removal of centre boards.
The worst is far and away GPS.
The best, this forum along with the Flying Objects surf / seat harness.
Shorter boards of 230 cm have made a big difference to low end power and upwind.
Hydro foil...time will tell.
Surely the most significant change is the development of the shortboard in the early 1980s.
Without that none of the modern sport would be as it is.
The sub 9 foot /sub 8 foot and lightweight construction that is the biggest breakthrough of all.
Just as in surfing, I believe that "shortboard" revolution was invented by the Australians.
^^^
That link to www.stevewilkings.com is awesome aribenashner ! I had a look at the 1979, 1980 and 1981 photos and it's all there - the history of the windsurfing - and yes - I'd agree with you and Fast Eddy that Mark Paul was the pioneer of the short board!
The photos of Diamond Head in 1979, 1980 and Hookipa in 1981 show the evolution. How's the Australian 'speed board' in 1980 with the kanga cock - classic!
Your post above is correct - that is Scott O'Connor - I lived around the corner from him in those days and used to hope he'd stop when driving past when I was shaping my first boards (I used to shape them on the street as I wasn't allowed to do them in the garage) in 1982. I was in year 9 at the time and Midget Farrelly used to sell all the gear for the DIY board makers. My first boards were so bad (first one 9', second one 8'2") - though I put them in the 'Manly Daily' under 'Wavejumpers' and sold them both easily because short boards were only just evolving - and hot ticket items! I remember a guy rocked up in a Porsche and was desperate to buy them because windsurfing was so cool !
Those were the days....
I bought a couple of Scott's Hot Buttered boards soon after in 1982 - shaped by Terry Fitzgerald - one was based on Terry's Sunset guns. I took this board to W.A. on my first trip (for the '84 Windsurfer Worlds) and afterwards went to Lano, Gero and Margies - I could never ride that board! I think Scott was the first Australian wavesailing champion and the first 'pro' windsurfer in Australia? He would have probably been Neil Pryde's first team rider in Australia? I bought a Pryde Maui Tri-panel (which I think was the first Pryde / Maui Sails collaboration) off Scott back in those days and looked up to him and Rohan Cudmore who lived across the road from Scott - who also ripped!
Mark Paul used to be on the payroll of Sailboards Australia that had a big retail shop selling Bombora protos 'customs' near the factory in Dee Why where they were pumping out the rotomoulded Windsurfers and Bomboras..... Mark used to travel around the country in a new Volvo station wagon with BOMBAA numberplates. Several of the boards in the picture above used to be under his house at Long Reef.