OK, apologies for bringing in something not a dinghy, but I thought you chaps would know how I feel.
I have pretty much ended up running the Windsurfer One Design class here. This is the updated version (same shape, construction and weight, different centreboard and rig) of the original Windsurfer, the first sailboard. It's like the Laser of the windsurfer world; not too quick but simple and cheap and while numbers are down from the 400+ we used to get, we still get up to 40-50 for some regattas, including a few ex-Olympians. See
http://cthom249.googlepages.com/
Anyway, I realised the other day (and have now confirmed with the last 2 presidents of the International Windsurfing Association) that next season's nationals (which I am organising) will be the first time ever that a windsurfer class anywhere has managed to reach 30 years of national titles. It's rare that you get to have a milestone like that for an entire sport (or section of a sport) I suppose.
At the same time, the original style of simple, cheap light-wind longboard has become trendy again and our fleets are growing.
So....it's only a minor milestone, but a little piece of history being made at a time when the sport as a whole is realising again the joy of simple kit. Rather nice, actually.
Now all we have to do is start a CVRWA!
Not a classic dinghy, but.......
Gosh....way back I had on original Windsurfer....including the teak boom and mast that broke practically every time it touched the water.
Went through various stages that board.....but I remember trying to put more rocker in it by heating it up with fans and hotairguns and leaving it with a pile of bricks on one end. Even ended up with crewd footstraps. Jeez to think how much boards have changed in a comparativly short time, compared with dinghies. At least sailing a 30 year old boat is normally a pretty pleasant experience. Those original windsurfers were just so hard work, it amazes me that we bothered at all.
eib
Went through various stages that board.....but I remember trying to put more rocker in it by heating it up with fans and hotairguns and leaving it with a pile of bricks on one end. Even ended up with crewd footstraps. Jeez to think how much boards have changed in a comparativly short time, compared with dinghies. At least sailing a 30 year old boat is normally a pretty pleasant experience. Those original windsurfers were just so hard work, it amazes me that we bothered at all.
eib
Ed Bremner
CVRDA
Jollyboat J3
Firefly F2942
IC GBR314 ex S51 - 1970 Slurp
MR 638 - Please come and take it away
Phelps Scull
Bathurst Whiff - looking for someone to love it
CVRDA
Jollyboat J3
Firefly F2942
IC GBR314 ex S51 - 1970 Slurp
MR 638 - Please come and take it away
Phelps Scull
Bathurst Whiff - looking for someone to love it
Does anyone remember the Windglider?
Even more cumbersome than the Windsurfer and made of grp.
Pulling the rig out of the water was backbreaking.
It seemed closer to a minisail than a surfboard.
I have fond memories of falling off one at Torre Abbey beach in Torquay and of seeing the first windsurfer in Torbay in 1974 not so much sailing off the beach but crossing the bay carrying a middle agd man in trunks.
Even more cumbersome than the Windsurfer and made of grp.
Pulling the rig out of the water was backbreaking.
It seemed closer to a minisail than a surfboard.
I have fond memories of falling off one at Torre Abbey beach in Torquay and of seeing the first windsurfer in Torbay in 1974 not so much sailing off the beach but crossing the bay carrying a middle agd man in trunks.
Yeah, sure......
also what was the name of that weird english board which had a boom with a squared off front?
They were all crap until the first Mistral turned up. That was so much better than anything else available at the time.
Very expensive though - never could afford one. Strangely enough picked up a little Screamer a month or so ago for £25.00 from the local dump, along with 3 sails, carbon 2-part mast and a MK boom.
I have often wondered what became of those early windsurf boards. What about the first short boards? Do you remember the weird board with a straight transom....looked like a normal board just cut in half....many were red. About the first production short board available in the UK.
cheers
eib
also what was the name of that weird english board which had a boom with a squared off front?
They were all crap until the first Mistral turned up. That was so much better than anything else available at the time.
Very expensive though - never could afford one. Strangely enough picked up a little Screamer a month or so ago for £25.00 from the local dump, along with 3 sails, carbon 2-part mast and a MK boom.
I have often wondered what became of those early windsurf boards. What about the first short boards? Do you remember the weird board with a straight transom....looked like a normal board just cut in half....many were red. About the first production short board available in the UK.
cheers
eib
Ed Bremner
CVRDA
Jollyboat J3
Firefly F2942
IC GBR314 ex S51 - 1970 Slurp
MR 638 - Please come and take it away
Phelps Scull
Bathurst Whiff - looking for someone to love it
CVRDA
Jollyboat J3
Firefly F2942
IC GBR314 ex S51 - 1970 Slurp
MR 638 - Please come and take it away
Phelps Scull
Bathurst Whiff - looking for someone to love it
I still have my first short board; a Bombora Mk 1, which was a Windsurfer One Design with the back 2-3 feet cut off, the nose bent up under heat lamps, and footstraps added. I must drag it out for the 30th anniversary celebrations!
They were hard work, but the intensity was fascinating. The current rig and centreboard makes life a lot easier but not too easy like with a slalom board, where you just cruise along and the rig takes all the feeling out. I've really noticed that even in 18-22+ knots of steady summer sea breeze and an open bay, the guys who just go back and forth on short boards still complain about the breeze. If it gets windier they say it's too windy. I think that underneath it all, they are just bored because just going back and forth, with your feet paint-by-numbered into the straps and the rig absorbing all the moving C of E etc, but they just don't realise it.
"All this modern stuff, they just don't know what they're missing!""
They were hard work, but the intensity was fascinating. The current rig and centreboard makes life a lot easier but not too easy like with a slalom board, where you just cruise along and the rig takes all the feeling out. I've really noticed that even in 18-22+ knots of steady summer sea breeze and an open bay, the guys who just go back and forth on short boards still complain about the breeze. If it gets windier they say it's too windy. I think that underneath it all, they are just bored because just going back and forth, with your feet paint-by-numbered into the straps and the rig absorbing all the moving C of E etc, but they just don't realise it.
"All this modern stuff, they just don't know what they're missing!""