How did u 1st learn about Windsurfing & get hooked

Great time in my life, made dozens and dozens of windsurfing friends from all walks of life. Watched the whole show unfold into many wonderful disciplines and personally experienced some really bad ideas, the worst was the infamous chest harness followed closely later on by the haircuts and over use of fluros and pink. Damn chest harness ruined my back which I still suffer from today! I reckon "inverter boots" was invented by a sailboarder. Came hand in hand with the chest harness was the single pin harness hook on a square plate, nearly drowned twice when held under the sail and couldn't unhook!

In hindsight it was a very interesting and exciting time. What surprised me now is how much has changed but is still the same. I think the best thing to happen to the sport is the return of the longboard for both cruising and/or wave sailing. If it wasn't for those boards I wouldn't have come back....maybe. But the "need for speed" still burns in me and that might be the underpinning of this return. Time will tell. Just need more wind when I have time off! One can only progress so much in under 10 knots! "Bring it on" as the seppos say.

Strangely enough, I hadn't even thought about windsurfing. I used to enjoy watching the kites flying off St Kilda Pier whilst drafting down Beach Road on my roadbike every Sunday. Thought I'd get some lessons and popped into RPS to book a package. The guy that works there, Adrian, said: ''you don't wanna do that, you wanna do this'' and pointed at the rack of sailboards in the shop. He explained that whilst windsurfing was more technical to learn, it was way more fun on the water and had a solid local (and friendly) culture behind it. He also reminded me how ridiculous I'd look in a wettie and boardies. He was dead right. So, in short, thanks Adrian. I love it.

I was the last person anyone would have expected to take up windsurfing.
I was very unathletic and uncoordinated and avoided sport wherever possible. I didn't like getting wet either. It had to be at least 38 degrees to get me into the water. I was fascinated by windsurfing though. I have holiday photos from years before I learnt that are of other people windsurfing.
For my first try I hired a sailboard at the rivermouth at Kalbarri. There was no instruction, and no small sails for beginners, and I did silly things like uphaul with the sail on the upwind side and of course I got flattened everytime. It was very unsatisfying.
Some years later I was running a sailing camp for Camp Quality. One of the activities was windsurfing and on the first day I was standing with the instructor on the beach watching the kids, and I said to him "I must give this a go one day." He said "Grab a board and hop on", so I did. Well, the kids were just delighted to see the camp organiser having a go, and they were even keener to see me fall in. I was happy to satisfy them on the first count, but my pride wasn't going to let that happen any more than absolutely necessary so I tried really hard, and with some excellent instruction I actually did rather well, and the kids were really impressed. Next day I fronted up for windsurfing again, and by the end of the week we had a core group of regulars and I was one of the crew, and I was hooked. We didn't want to stop windsurfing so a group of us got together to continue lessons with the instructor once a week. I had to drive past a windsurfing shop on my way to work and one day I stopped in and bought one for myself. It was so heavy I struggled to get it on the roof of the car, but I loved it.
That was about 15 years ago. I had to stop for about ten years when the kids were young, but I'm totally immersed in it again now and the kids sail too.
I have become coordinated and this year joined my first sporting team ever (Pinnas GPS team).
I still hate cold water, but I think wetsuits are the best invention ever (after sailboards)!

My wife convinced me to have lessons at 55. Loved it and got my grandson 11 involved as well.He literally hit the water running. I just seemed to hit the water, lots.

4 years later and I finally seem to be able to go out without injuring myself. I cant believe this is so much fun. The gps team challenge has been a great source of motivation. Thanks guys.

I now believe my wife encouraged me to start so I would break my neck and she would get my super money Ha ha I'm fitter than i've been in years. The physio and windsurfing shop look they will be the main benefactors of my superanuation payout.

Tempting, very tempting.

Ah, the saga of how I invented windsurfing. -
Are you seated comfortably?

Well I were but a lad when I ambled gormless n care free by the windy sea. Then, all of a sudden SHAZAM! a man on a flaming pie said "You shall be Beatles". Well he were wrong weren't he for I am a singular mammal. That very day I was teaching myself to juggle when I had an idea. I juggled drowned sailors that I found on the beach. It were the war you know. It were a dirty job and entirely unnecessary but I did it with good cheer for I am a simple man. The idea I had made me pause and sailors fell about me in disarray. The idea was this - What the world needs most right now is a cheap sail boat to get to work on if you happen to work over the water. It needs a sail of course and we can stick it on a surf board for they are small and cheaper than a carbon fibre racing scull and faster than a pontoon. The sailor can hold the sail up so we don't need no standing rigging. I knocked it up in a trice that very afternoon for I was handy in them days.

I showed it to my friend Peter Chilvers and he said "That looks like the work of a pratt." He knew of what he spoke. "It obviously needs a 40 cm G10 pointer or it will sail like a freestyler and nobody can do that yet. What an utter pratt you are." Dazzled by his erudition and perspicacious insight I went back to washing cows for a living. He had his photo taken with it for a future patent royalty scam that was beyond the wit of me to foresee. The rest is disputed history.

No I never did learn to sail it. But if I had I would have learned to gybe by now. Such is life.

I think I was hooked before I started!

My Dad got a one design off a mate in about '84 when I was in grade 3. I was always hanging around him, going fishing and stuff or following him mowing the lawn with my little plastic lawnmower haha, so when he started windsurfing I was always there with him too. I can't remember much from that age but I must have loved it because a lot of my school projects were about windsurfing. When I was 10 my parents got me a battered old Tyronsea Moth for my birthday. 8'10" and probably about 120L, centre fin and thrusters with a 2.5m sail. Spent about 6 months on that in the lake at West Lakes in Adelaide (although probably didn't go too many times as that was through winter), then we found a new Tyronsea Wasp, which was the same board but with crappy rubber footstraps that twisted 90 degrees to lock into the board (which didn't last long when I started jumping it), but it had a 3.5m (I think, may have been 3m) sail with a batten. I learnt to waterstart on this and Dad was learning to on his Fun 11, then we started going to the beach. I was obsessed with windsurfing all through my teens and went as much as I could until work started taking over about 10 years ago. Still love it almost as much as back then and I could never imagine giving it up. Dad still sails too, more than me probably!

i started the same myself down at the beach have a swim ect,while dad was sailing.he got me on the front and we planed and it felt awesome as i stood up and held onto the mast.

it all started when i was 7 when windsurf Tasmania inc had the starboard starts + rigs in the garage.i was keen and dad got me straight on and learning quickly,after a while i got into the slalom/speed due to that what dad does.i eventually moved on from old free ride gear to 3 year old slalom sails when i was 12-13....(dads old ones). gradely was starting to get my own board/sails ect.then gps came along at 13yrs and was wearing that occasionally.then at 14 i joined GPS Team Challenge, witch lead to a speed board (carbon art speed 44) and now upgrading sails to (North Ram f8's) with my (fanatic falcon 91) still.

now nearly 16 and been to sandy point and all over tassie looking for speeds spots ect.just recently been sponsored by SHQ board sports, now riding NP RSR evo II's and jp speed 45 and soon a slalom board.going over to sandy point speed fortnight again and hopefully off to WA for ledge to lancelen classic and a look around.

how i progressed since i was 7 has been great due to i did it with two mates (one the same age) and the other a year older,we pushed each other and it was like first to plane,first to get in foot straps,first to jibe,first to get in the harness......and now we have great gear and are all looking for PB'S!.

thanks dad for buying gear and still is, as i pay off new gear.

The first windsurfer I saw was Peter Nitchke doing a demo in the very early 80s on the Tamar River in Launceston. Then New Years Eve 1983 road my Kwaka from Launceston to Devonport and saw a guy sailing in the waves off the beach and thought "how fantastic" . A trip to Fiji that year and a few attempts got me hooked and purchased my first Tyronsea battleship.
Used to drive from Launceston to St Helens (140k each way) nearly every weekend to sail St Georges Bay , still one of my fave places. Had a couple of mates all learning so we progressed together. I still have my first short board in the garage a 9'4" Island Energy sitting in the garage Circa 1988, can't sell your first love!
I agree it should be on the narcortics schedule and after 26 years my passion is still the same, only wish my skills had improved as much as I have aged.

love the bottom photo with the water shooting through the centreboard slot on the wally. Once made the mistake of towing one behind a ski boat and I sat over the slot. Industrial strength enema!!!!

Not all tie on booms were 'orrid. Remember the Klepper, with the two little steps moulded on the outside of the front end?

All you needed was a fixed length loop of non stretch rope, the boom laid against the mast with arms swung up parallel with it, (back end removed to avoid having to take battens out of sail), and it was only a matter of seconds to fix. You looped the rope around the mast beneath the front end, slid the loop ends over the outside of the boom front end, and swung it down down, then slid the boom back end in.

Rock solid and quicker and less fiddly to do than my present clamp booms. Only problem was you couldn't adjust the height once fixed, and the tubing was 80's rubbish and bent in the surf.

That gear was much quicker than modern stuff in light winds (which is what we get, most of the time), and it went upwind, and you could lend your race gear to someone else so they could become intoxicated by the sport. It's no surprise that the sport was huge.

I started in 1978, after seeing a report on the Windsurfer in a sailing mag and seeing other dinghy/yacht sailors around Middle Harbour (Sydney) getting into it. The first time I stepped on a board, the metal universal joint snapped and the edge tore into my leg - the scar is still there.

I got a board (30872, brand new at the time - I still have the sail, CB and uni) and joined the first fleet in Australia, Long Bay, which raced in front of our house on Middle Harbour.

By early 1980, we'd got onto amazingly high-tech things like harnesses, small sails, storm centreboards, the Windsurfer Chopper (a One Design with the back cut off, extra rocker and footstraps) and the first "surf" regatta in Oz, the Wrigleys of early 1980. It was about the third wave/high wind regatta in the world, and probably the regatta that Nosinkanow saw.

I remember reading that Robby Naish and Mike Waltze were coming out for the regatta, and we were all going "wow, Robby Naish!!.... errr, who is he???" We found out pretty damn quickly.

From there, went into Div 2 boards, Pan Am boards (Raceboards), the early slalom years, wavesailing (my first board was a surfboard from a clean-up campaign on which I tried to use a Wally rig with wooden wishbones), my own Chopper, racing in Europe, overnight camping trips sleeping under sails, and later teaching the wife and kids.

It was a fantastic time, ruined only by the trendoids who inevitably move in and the industry's attempts to cater for them, which lead to the sport disappearing up its own whatsit for many years. Thankfully, it now seems that everyone has realised that the sport must pay attention to simplicity and light winds - for example Robby Naish said in a recent interview that the real market is longboards and light winds.

The thing that I still cannot believe is that 32 years after at age 47, I'm still getting such a rush from sailing a Wally - but now many of us are doing it with our kids.

Well 30 yrs later at 46, I still find anything over 100L to be big and cumbersome and not very interesting to me, though I have been looking at the GO type boards recently, hoping that the short length will disguise the bulk a lot. Moving to the Goldie has meant I basically needed to replace all my gear so I could sail at all. Everything I owned was just too small.
Wind strength depends a lot on where you live though, and broad generalizations about "light wind and long-boards" are probably very relevant to certain demographic groups ( polite talk for old farts) but are not the whole story.
I think it's fair to say that light winds and longboards make for a much more sociable experience, which has it's own importance.
I'll be the first to admit that the conditions I prefer are unsociable in the extreme and not conducive to a family experience of any sort other than ones leading to open warfare and divorce.

Arr when I was lad we kept warm by rubbing boy scouts together.

1979 - My Dad moved to Egypt to a place on the Med called Agami. The only other English speakers were 3 other families whose fathers were working on the same project. The Project Leader decided that everyone needed a common interest and so wrote into everyone's contract that they must purchase one of these new fangled windsurfers so we all could learn together.

Aged 9 at the time, I was too small to uphaul the aluminium mast and full size triangular sail. So I spent most of the time straining on the uphaul (we had never heard of beach/water starts) until a wave knocked me off. Then Kent cigarettes decided to do a advert featuring windsurfing and bought us all sails with the Kent logo on (including a small one for me) so that they could take some photos. From then on I was hooked (on windsurfing not Kent cigarettes), especially when my Dad was finally persuaded to buy me a harness a few years later...

Needless to say the 3 other families became friends for life.