Just reading that thread on the YPSI oldstyle mastfoot reminded me of the good old days on my Windrush storm 10, storm 8 and windrush 14 cat. They were great bits of gear in their day and gave me a heaps of fun. I think the company was in West Oz , anyone know what happened?
I think it might be that anyone who sailed the Storm 8 ended up with their arms pulled out of their sockets, so they eventually killed off their client base. Maybe? 
i worked last winter at windrush.
The boys there sill make the odd 14, but the prices these days mean that the market is no longer there. They do lots of the real high performace yacht, motorsport gear.
If you need something made out of composites these are the guys to see. from a 17m carbon mast to a hull respray.
Storm 10 was my intermediate board in the early 80's.
Good fun, great spin-outs but the non-slip was like a cheese grater.
my second board was a windrush fun 11. "smallest board with a centre board". top board , strong and.....fun !
....(mind you that was in 2004 !!!)
....(mind you that was in 2004 !!!)
I never owned a Windrush board but sailed a few of their beginner boards when I was learning. It was the board with the handle molded into the board if i recall correctly.
Bummer how there were a few mass production Australian board brands back in the 80s and now there are none. I guess the Germans can say the same thing with F2 and Mistral now made in Thailand. Crazy old world we live in. They were the boards I dreamed of owning, Mistral Malibu and Maui along with F2 Stratos and Lightning or even the Mistral Diamond Head or the F2 Sunset Slalom.
When I was a youngster i use to read this Australian mag which i think was called "off the beach" which had windsurfing and cat sailing in it. They used to have dozens of board profiles of all these bizarre brands of windsurfing gear that have long disappeared. I used to love checking out all the wicked gear. Speedos and giant sunglasses seemed to be one of the major criteria for board reviewers. I might have to have a hunt around and see if i can find them around and post up some scans.
My first board was an elvstrom 330 circa 1985. It was 3.3 long an 59 wide with a massive long pintail it looked like a cigar. (plus it had six footstraps and a centreboard, you really got you moneys worth in footstraps in those days!!!) Not sure what year Elvstrom disappered but it probably wasn't much after 1985. I still have the product brochure with the full range of boards.
Mike Davis boards seemed to be popular for a while, what happened to them?
Cheers
Hi Sailpilot,
I worked at windrush factory in O'conner Wa between '85-'86 during my school holidays as a ta.Jay and Richard Mcfarlane owned and ran the show.At this time Richard was starting to develop his computerised foam cutting machine(run off an apple pc) under the name of Wintech.They attempted to start making epoxy boards around this time,storm 9 and a surfboard,but I think due to companies like cobra starting to make epoxy boards they couldn't match pricing due to labour expenses etc,also there was a high failure rate in the process(something like only 1 good board out of 3 made) so I think they gave up to follow other buisness ventures $$ .Jay went on to start (1987ish)the first for Wa laser cutting buisness in Belmont Wa "Lazer and allied cutting" I think? it was called,and Richard with Wintech foam cuter-now in Bibra lake Wa .Both have sold there companies and retired-I still see Jay once in a blue moon down at safetybay he still sails a cat and on the odd occasion a sailboard and has had a dabble in kiting.Richard I believe is tinkering on a new project??
The board range was,
Clubman - beginner board
storm 10 - early wave jumper/funboard
storm 8 - wave board
fun 11 - eurostyle funboard
xp - long course race board with centerboard
storm 9 - slalom board
They also supplied Tyronsea with there sliding mast track.
Hey guys so after reading this i remeberd my dads storm 8 so i took a couple snaps on my phone (not the best quality) of the old beast, ive only tried it once about a year or so ago when i was first starting (i only just got 21st century gear the other month) and obviously didnt do that great im curious though know i would take it out but can't be stuffed finding a decent rig for that base and using that god awfull itchy fiberglass mast again. Now dont go all nostalgic on me know
That brings back some old memories. First ever job in the summer holidays in 74/5 or 75/6 was with Windrush. Jay or Richard (can't recall which) driving us to work thru the pine forest in the little Suzie 4WD on 3 wheels half the time. Fun things like scrubbing spars and tramp frames with wet and dry and hydroflouric acid to get the oxidation off. I remember the plugs for the Windrush 14 had just been built and they were being French polished - beautiful craftsmanship. 50c per hour to work in a boat factory - heaven for a young sailor.
