Saturday

[BSMITH]

is looking sweet. I will be at work.

[Geo]

WOrk? You are saving up freetime for The Gorge, no? When are you going to be out THERE?

[windthrash]

Better yet, I'll be testing for my 1st degree black sash in American Kung Fu. So no sailing for a couple days after either...

[JERRY]

good luck on your test note to self: (don't f*** with Windtrash)

j

[steveb]

That's funny, we've all been scared to death of you Jerry for a decade +.

"If that guy smiles one more time......"

[JERRY]

What's scary Steve; is that I know you've been riding longer then me & that's 2 decades+

rIDE On

j

[BSMITH]

It's Summer Fest in Minnetonka Saturday. I get to drive around in a golf cart and tell other people what to do! Best fireworks show around Sat night.
Anyway, heading to the Gorge July 10 returning July 25. Chris Lock, Mike D, Little John, The Ironman, Wildman, and the Tonka Boyz? will be there around the same time.

[steveb]

Jerry. You're damned right it's scary.
I've been trying to do the math, I think I started windsurfing in either 79 or 80.......I was sent to the states in 83 but I'm struggling to remember how long before I came here I'd been sailing standing up. I was going through the boards in my mind trying to put time on them to give me an indication. First board a windsurfer ( surprise) then a sea panther a glass windsurfer with an alloy boom ( major upgrade), sailboard race as I wanted to do Div 2 racing, T C Win it came out and obsoleted all the excisting div 2 boards.Mistral Superlight as div 2 was dying. I remember the first funboards where coming out at this time and I was seriously considering a Mistral Pan Am.
Any one able to put dates on any of these designs?.I know a bunch of you were sailing then, Randy you were selling the things...

[avery]

The original Pan-Am boards were developed in 1983.

here's the link.


http://www.knowledge.lbwindsurfing.com/ ... pe-pan-am/

[JRN]

I guess I started around '88. I got a Mistral Taloa & Pam a Pandera from the Ski Hut in Mtka. I think the Malibu came out that year. My only sail was a 6.5 one design with 1/2 battens. I took lessons from Hi-Tempo, who no longer sell w.s. stuff, but still push Hobie Cats at the same location. Big Roger & the then future Mrs. Blain took pity on me after trying to uphaul in 30+ winds (without a harness) and tried to give me some pointers. My goal was to get as good as Blain, Randy, Teran, Judd, & Coach....Funny, it NEVER happened! JRN

[steveb]

Jim, Nancy has always said you're much better than me...I hope she's talking about windsurfing.

If the Pan Am was 83 ( Thanks Avery, the photo on that sites not the original pan am though) I think I must have started 79. scary.Theres been some developments in the technology.

Talking about 1/2 battens and no harness, Jim. I remember when harnesses came out, chest harnesses, we were all trying to get them out of America as they were here about a year before England. No internet then which made it much harder to find a source.Then sails with a full batten across the roach came out, but we still had to tie on the boom.
How many people remember the knot and the technique for getting your boom tight?.

[JERRY]

My first boom was the rope tie on thing. Geez...did that thing suck or what I probably learned some Kung Fu techniques by sitting on beach and trying to adjust boom on mast by heel kicking it. Thanks for the memories, Steve.

j

[Tighe]

I remember having a really loose tie on boom until some kind soul taught me how to tie the boom on with the boom parallel to the mast, then swing the boom perpendicular, and viola it was tight. I hope I bought that person a beer, cause it changed sailing for me. Must of been about 81-82 for me. I also remember those first harnesses. No spreader bar, so when you leaned into them they collapsed your lungs from the side. Prior to the first harnesses I remember having these plastic claws that would go into your palms and attach to your wrists. Helped you hang on for longer periods. Not sure how you let go.
I'll never forget my first planning experience though. To go from essenstially dragging through the water to releasing onto a plane was like taking flight.

memories

[steveb]

I remember the claws and the collapsed lungs, what a big deal the spreader bar was when it came out.There was also some guy tried to market a harness that had a hook sticking 12 inches in front of you from the middle of a chest harness, you then hooked over the boom. Imagine the damage to eggshell boards if that system had caught on.
It was also a big deal when booms started to have that groove indent built into them, so as you described Tighe, you could have the slip knot around the mast, put your boom paralel with the mast and put the knotted rope through the groove indent locking everything in position when the boom came down. What a big deal that was. All of a sudden you could put the boom on in a minute and it was tight.

Which company or product do you think you owe the most to for the amount of fun they provided by their wind products. For me it has to be Seatrend.

[Tighe]

Yeah, I'd have to say Seatrend as well. I rode with Hoofers in Madison my first year on a YPSI (Young Persons Sailing Instrument), then with Isthmus (they sold hours on the water). My first board was a Seatrend 9'4" 1983 maybe??? To me it was a Porsche. It was the first board I planned on. Rode it all over the Midwest, Colorado and California.

Then in 90 I bought my first Mistral Screamer. Some incredible sessions on that with my 6.2 Waddel. Loved that board.

Then I got a Real Wind Wave TIger...nothing like the feel of that board on the water. Was like it was kissing the water.

Oh yeah and Ezzy sails. They helped make sailing in nukin conditions enjoyable.

Scott and I were hanging at Waconia the other day and realized we'd been coming to Waconia for over 21 years!

[Tom L]

Started in '77 -'78. Bought my first board from Mike Fox when he had a shop in South Mpls. The first real "crew" I sailed with hung out at the Rose Gardens at Harriet. The biggest innovation the first few years was a "high wind" dagger board. The regular dagger board was big enough for a keel boat. One sail, one board for all conditions, what a work out! Man we've come along way. Anyone else here ever windsurf back then at Harriet? I've run into lots of people from the Calhoun/Bavarian surf era.

[Chris Lock]

Wow, the Rose Gardens, I remember sailing there on south winds, I dont remember why we went there instead of the north side of Calhoun, anyone?
I do remember my first board though, an O'brien Sensation bought new on sale from Midwest Watersports for $350 complete, which weightwise, worked out to about a buck a pound. Sailing it was similar to piloting an oceangoing oil tanker, you had to plan any change of course several miles in advance. When you got back to the beach after an exhausting session (which they all were), you just prayed for the strength to be able to lift it onto your roofrack with your still quivering muscles while trying to avoid causing extreme damage to your or someone elses vehicle. Dang, dem was fun times.

[Professor Robae']

Man, what a bunch of old farts!

I bought my first board from 7-Hi ski shop. A Magnum Nova; that was presented as a revolutionary breakthrough to the only established brand; the original windsurfer. I believe it was a solid piece of polyurethane. An object that will never decompose in what ever landfill it currently lives in.

That was 1980 or so. I bought the board at full retail (ouch for a young punk) and was confident that all my regular sailboat sailing would serve me well. Lessons? I don't need no stinking lessons! Had quite a few rescues at sea and walks of shame on Lake Minnetonka before I got her going. Good times!

[steveb]

Just the mention of polyethylene, Rob, and my mind jumped to the Tiga 260. What a board that was.
We had one come off the trailer at 50 odd miles per hour, I ran back , picked it up off the road and put it back on the trailer, good to go. The road had a nasty ding in it but the board was fine.

At the beginning I was still in England, so I don't have the apres calhoun memories, some good apres wbl at the spinackers bar but thats in the 90s.
One of my best memories was the UKBSA div 2 nationals at Abersoch in North Wales. 350 boards.The start line was full contact. I remember Mike Budd on of englands top racers at the time grabbing the back end of a guys boom and pulling hard to pull the guy off of and away from the start line, so he could get a gap on the line. I'm not sure the rules even say anything about pulling a boat( board) outof the way.
Any way the memory is going around the windward mark, later looking back up wind and seeing 100s of white sails going dead down wind on a beautiful sunny summers day, cool sight.

[Dave Z]

How 'bout some love for the East Siders?! I remember being 16 and going into Windsurfing St. Croix to lust after all the Glass Hi-Tech short boards they used to have. I paid my dues on a 12' Kerma I bought from Randy at Sailboard Warehouse and then graduated up to a 9'6" Hi-Tech. What a trip going to a short board the first time!!!! Will never forget that first rush of getting back in the straps and gliding over the water.