after reading the OD thread it got me wondering how many people on this forum started on longboards then went to racing?
i recon the sport owes a lot to that form of sailing.
my hands up.
Believe it or not, I was racing at the time... only because in the old One-design comps, you had to race to enter freestyle. But I also liked the comp environment at the time, was fun.
Open class racing absolutely killed it for me and very many. I remember hugely popular Friday night races off Sandrinham (B.Bay). Died right off circa 1984.
I started on a OD, but never raced it. I raced dinghys, and windsurfing for me was a freedom experience that racing, with its rules and having a crew, didn't provide. I think that was its appeal.
And is it going to come back too? - www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=54328
Still got my Speed race board sitting under the house. Remember the Queensland titles being held at Queens one year, one of the days anyway. Good days but a **** load of travelling to events.
started Windsurfing as a distraction for the family while i was racing Catamaran's, gave longboard racing a go, never looked back, love it, wish is was still around. 
I never sailed a longboard until about a year ago. I started on a kids board at 10yrs old and grew into it as a short board. Last year I got a *board 12'6" SUP and have been sailing it occasionally in 10-15 knots and having a great time. It has got me thinking about going for a shorter SUP and getting a proper longboard for light wind sailing. I was camping at a reservoir in the mountain range near Mackay on the weekend and sailing around there was tons of fun. It would have been even better with a centreboard for some more upwind ability.
