Racing Sailboards v Racing Sailboats

Originally posted by Guest#260

Originally posted by Guest#260

Originally posted by G.R.F.

Between us we've got more 

National Titles than you can shake a stick at...

Yeah but back in those days windsurfing was a very young sport; the 

early adopter who could get around without dropping the rig all the time 

won easily  

I came down to watch the Windsurfer Nationals at your club; probably 

about 1985 with a view to perhaps having a bash at windsurfing racing as 

it was just starting of ... during the "racing" it was almost impossible to 

tell that a race was taking place, boards all over the place. I think Dee 

Caldwell or Stuart Sawyer won ... it didn't resemble anything I recognised 

as fleet racing at that time; I am sure people got better at it over 

time.

Then when the Div 2 stuff was the in thing we had a few events at 

WYC, seems like the one or two blokes who had the Turbos or M1's that 

no-one else had won easy ... they just had boards no-one else had been 

able to get.

Originally posted by G.R.F.

...and we've sailed by far the most competitive one 

design fleet there ever was

I never realised you'd been sailing Lasers before ... 

So one girls perception.

But that's not what it was like.

Windsurfing was a 'young' sport in 1976, by 1985 it had become pretty 

diverse in much the same way Dinghes are nowadays, but back in the 

beginning, when there was nothing else to do but course race, when 

windsurfing was run by the sailing and dinghy fraternity of the period, 

when Racing Sailboats was a shop in Battersea Park Road and the London 

Dinghy Centre were in Hither Green, the level of competition for the 

hearts and minds of the fastest growing class/watersport the world had 

ever seen, I can assure you was far more intense than anything sailing 

lasers threw up.

I could tell tales of 500 board start lines, of team tactics that included 

every dirty trick you can imagine and more besides of huge commercial 

rewards for sail & board makers if they won.

It was another time and back then I was another person, but the fact 

remains whatever it takes to win a dinghy event, it takes the same to win 

on a sailboard.

The principle difference? You learn to 'sense' the wind from the feel in the 

rig and your ears, no tac tic, no compass just hours of practise to gain 

experience.

 You do everything else a boat helm might do, practice for hours 

rounding marks, dial your lay lines, practice start after start, read every 

book going, get to be totally at one with your craft, learn to sail it as fast 

as the next man and faster than others. Train to be super fit, fit enough 

to pump 4 hours non stop for example fit enough before 1979 to race 

three races a day with mile beats with no harness, which would be like 

hanging onto the wire without a hook .

Back then, Dinghy Racing generally was much much bigger than it is 

these days, lots of classes had large fleets,  top helms from all manner of 

dinghy class came to try their hand but not many of them were fit enough 

to cope with the sports 'manual' nature, it was only when the harness was 

permitted in 1980 that a few of them managed to stand the pace when it 

got a bit windy.

The heady days were 78 thru 82, by 83 the so called 'funboard revolution 

broke and other forms of competition took over so the intensity of the 

regatta/course race circuit decreased and Pro circuits came about and 

short board sailing took a hold offering multi option competition, waves, 

slalom etc.

But even so the UKBSA retained a membership of 2000+ and still had 

start lines numbering in their hundreds even with the fleet split into 

weight group related starts which came about again in the early 80's they 

retained this membership level well into the nineties and really only fell 

into decline when they left the rig size open and Formula Boards with 

minimum wind limits saw increasing none events.

So wether you like it or not, my experience has always been that of 

certain superiority of the sailboard helm over the dinghy helm since most 

of these 'insurgents' used to be parachuted in to 'big' events with brand 

new kit and full sponsorship, only to get sent packing..

So does that explain the arrogance?      

Now that may have all changed now, it's probably true that it is  

more difficult to race an MPS than say a Raceboard, but the factors that 

define wether you win or lose, still remain the same for both.

Edited by G.R.F.