Hooked. Windsurfings untold stories

HOOK ED! Steve West Ulli Seer

Windsurfing’s Untold Stories

Huisman Publishing

Maui Glory Days: October 1st 1982 O‘Neill Invitational From left to right: Suzan Gedayloo (†), Peggy King, and Betty Birrell.

Peggy‘s husband Bill King started Sailboards Maui with Mike Waltze and Fred Haywood. Betty was one of the first woman windsurfers at Kailua and Diamond Head.

Steve West Ulli Seer Published by Ado Huisman

HOOK ED! WINDSURFING’S UNTOLD STORIES

Steve West Ulli Seer

HOOK ED! WINDSURFING’S UNTOLD STORIES

Huisman Publishing

CONTENTS

Imprint ...........................................................................................................................................................................

Foreword: Ado Huisman, CEO Mistral (2009-2022) ......................................................................................................

Prologue: Steve West ....................................................................................................................................................

Some key characters Chapter 1: Robby Naish: the Kailua kid ........................................................................................................................

Chapter 2: Peter Brockhaus: an alternative early European windsurfing story .............................................................

Chapter 3: Windsurfing Hawaii: pushing early boundaries ...........................................................................................

Chapter 4: Ulli Seer: how do photos influence perceptions of windsurfing?.................................................................

Chapter 5: Ernstfried Prade: his drawing board influence ............................................................................................

Building a brand image Chapter 6: Christian Müller-Kittnau: the hidden story of Mistral Sportswear ...............................................................

Chapter 7: Teddy Keifer: the World Cup dream team manager ....................................................................................

Chapter 8: Club Mistral: Yola Bichler‘s journey .............................................................................................................

Chapter 9: The Pan Am Board: the genesis of the Olympic one-design ......................................................................

Other personal influences and events Chapter 10: Charly Messmer and Pete Cabrinha: early greats of Windsurfing.............................................................

Chapter 11: I Sail for Smile: core cultural shifts ............................................................................................................

Chapter 12: Hansi Fichtner and Harold ‘Iggy‘: shapers and their influence .................................................................

Chapter 13: Peter Chilvers: a child’s invention shatters the patent ..............................................................................

Opportunities and threats Chapter 14: The US Market (1987): a new frontier ........................................................................................................

Chapter 15: Rapid Evolution: windsurfing’s over-development bites back ..................................................................

Chapter 16: Chocolate and More: from Jacobs to Boards and More ...........................................................................

Chapter 17: Olympic Choices: contentious Olympic decisions ....................................................................................

The journey to now Chapter 18: Rebuilding the Brand: Mistral’s return to the water ...................................................................................

Chapter 19: Hooked ... blast from the past ...................................................................................................................

Sources, Photo Credits .................................................................................................................................................

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CO NT EN TS

HOOK ED! Windsurfing’s Untold Stories

Published by: Huisman Publishing © 2023, Bedrijvenstraat 2, 7641 AN Wierden Netherlands www.hooked-untold-windsurfing-stories.com Researched and Authored by: Steve West Photography: Ulli Seer Editor and Supporting Text: Ben Oakley Book and Cover Design: Ulli Seer Cover Photo: Steve Wilkings / Rider Mike Horgan Supporting Photography: Carlo Borlenghi, Michaell Garff, Daniel Forster, Naish Family, Cliff Webb, Stephen Whitesell, Steve Wilkings, Darrell Wong ISBN: 978-94-91737-92-3 Printed by: F&W Druck- und Mediencenter GmbH, 83361 Kienberg, Germany ©Text, Design, Photography: Huisman Publishing, Netherlands, All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, nor may any part of the book be reprinted in newspapers or periodicals, used in public addresses, films or dramatizations or broadcast on radio or television without the written permission of the publisher. This applies as well to invidual illustrations and text passages.

Disclaimer: The publisher and the author have made every effort to ensure the information in this book was correct at press time. While this publication is designed to provide accurate information regarding the subject matter covered, the publisher and the author assume no responsibility for errors inaccuracies, omissions, or inconsistencies herein and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, disruption, caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident or any other cause.

We want to thank all the photographers and private individuals, who were willing to go through their archives of analog transparencies and prints some up to 50 years old - to contribute to this historic document.

Despite thorough research, we could not find some originators of photos or other artwork in some cases. We want to apologize for missing credits in these few cases.

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The untold story of the cover photo Rider: Mike ‘Thor’ Horgan Date: March 1975 Location: Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii.

Photographer Steve Wilkings was asked

by Hoyle Schweitzer to shoot two rolls of film to document the exciting action happening in Hawaii. Steve reveals that ‘This photo came from my very first roll of film. I chose to make my photos from the water using a 35mm Nikon camera (180mm lens) encased inside a water housing that I had made for photographing surfing. I had been photographing traditional surfing for almost 15 years. I generally used an inflatable canvas air mat to help keep my camera out of the water as I swam around in the breaking waves. I was very impressed with the abilities of windsurfers as they performed in the waves. The most exciting thing to me was the jumps they were able to make as they went back out through the breaking surf; something that traditional surfers were unable to do. When I completed shooting, I asked Hoyle if he would give me my own Windsurfer as payment. I was stoked to try this new sport’.

FOREWORD BY AD O HUISMAN

F

FOREWORD BY ADO HUISMAN CEO MISTRAL 2009 - 2022

ive decades ago, windsurfing went mainstream as it first appeared at the Paris and Dusseldorf marine trade (boat) shows of 1973. This wonderful book, through stories of influential individuals and events, explores what happened until 2022.

It covers new accounts you may know little about, such as the spread of the Windsurfer® in Europe, how Mistral, F2, Naish and Windsurfing Hawaii came into being, the ups and downs of board sales, windsurfing holiday clubs, the influence windsurfing had on other board sports (e.g., kiteboarding, paddleboarding, wing foiling) and more.

Beautifully written by Steve West and supported by editor Ben Oakley, the opening three stories from Robby Naish, Peter Brockhaus and Larry Stanley capture the unique Hawaiian and European blend that created many new products and trends. Initially, these creations thrived in a surging European market in which the German-Austrian-Swiss manufacturing technology (e.g., Mistral, F2 and Fanatic) also played its part.

I consider myself lucky to have been part of the original Mistral team from 1979 to 1990, probably the most instructive and exciting period of my life in my role as distributor in the Benelux countries and Vice President of Mistral at Head Quarters in Munich (1986-1990). I look back on this time with enormous satisfaction and a big smile. We were part of an exciting new sport that peaked in the mid-1980s.

Above: Ado Huisman CEO Mistral 2009 - 2022 with Martin Pestalozzi (left) CEO of ADIA (owner of Mistral from 1980 1991).

Reading the untold stories supported by the powerful pictures of Ulli Seer and others reminds me that windsurfing was selling a lifestyle, even if it was often on inland lakes.

Interviews and research into clothing, culture, equipment and Olympic developments all contribute to this narrative, and some of the behind-the-scenes intrigues and occasional legal battles have surprised me.

We hear how the sport’s rapid evolution and competition from other activities diminished board sales by the turn of the millennium. In 2005, hardly anything was left of the Mistral brand, having passed through four owners by 2005. I purchased the brand in 2009, and my tale of attempts to rejuvenate it and return it to its roots has twists and turns. But what about windsurfing now?

Later chapters feature the progress towards a more stable, optimistic future in the last decade. The final chapter brings all the book‘s central themes together and reflects what got us into the sport in the first place, ‘We were hooked!’

My final observation is that we reunite Peter Brockhaus, Robbie Naish, Rick Naish, Charlie Messmer and Ulli Seer in the early chapters of this book. This gang of five travelled together to Sardinia to work on one of the earliest Euro-Hawaiian windsurfing books in 1979; Robby was just 16. Here they are again together in the text.

Right: artwork by Pete Cabrinha

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I hope you enjoy this series of stories from the five decades of the sport and get as much enjoyment from it as I did in my experience of riding the wave back to the beach.

PROLOGUE BY STEVE WEST

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PROLOGUE BY STEVE WEST

PROLOGUE

BY STEVE WEST

W

indsurfing is a lifestyle sport, a ‘sport de glisse’ [sliding sport], as the French like to say. A génération glisse established itself in California with the introduction of surfing in the 1950s, spreading to Europe in the 60s. The counter-cultural nature of the sport appealed to anti-establishment youths setting in motion a bohemian beach culture. Gliding sports seek to harness nature in the form of wind or mere gravity in the case of skateboarding, snowboarding or skiing; indeed, surfing is merely a form of free falling. Long associated with escapism, surfing goes hand in hand with hitting the road like a stranger in a strange land, board in hand, nothing to do and all day to do it and where there are few, if any, stop signs or rules.

Kristin Iverson, in an article entitled aptly, ‘When the Ocean Meets Commerce,’ best sums it up. ‘Like drugs or religion, surfing makes you sound stupid when you try to explain its appeal, like you’re using the language of idiots, of the devoted. Probably this is because, as is also the case with drugs or religion, a real dedication to surfing could kill you a number of different ways, and not all of them metaphorical. And the spectre of death reorients you away from the intellectual and into the realm of the visceral. You start to speak in the language of the gut; your words loosen, and meanings expand.’

Above: Steve and Mandy West

Left: artwork by Pete Cabrinha

And so it is, or certainly was with windsurfing, a vehicle enabling deterritorialisation in breaking free, existentialism in rejecting reality so that you could replace it with your own. It aligned with a sub-cultural mindset from its beginnings in the late 60s to the mid-80s. Windsurfers found comfort in opposition to rituals linking them to a specific culture, rejecting their identity as urbanites or conformists, revelling in the notion of being outsiders. As this book’s title alludes, ‘Hooked’ is our metaphorical slang, by which the windsurfing experience grabbed ahold of you.

A feeling of difference has always been present amongst those who indulged in sports de glisse, an aloof individuality yet part of a collective which, like any religion, has its hard and softcore disciples. Whether at the beach or mountain slopes, surfers and windsurfers rarely consider themselves tourists but children of the universe, nomadic anti-conformists beyond the vulgarity of tourism. By today’s standards, travelling with your mobile phone

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PROLOGUE BY STEVE WEST

and sharing your life ‘on the go’ is not strictly dropping off the grid. Back then, ‘dropping out’ meant precisely that; today, it relates more to losing an internet connection, hardly the same thing.

Juxtaposed to this, with the genesis of windsurfing came an ugly set of caveats and legal roadblocks related to design and manufacturing fuelled by a toxic patent. Below the surface, it was nothing like surfing; patented, monetised, and buggerised. Brands existed in a raging war zone of court cases, litigation, and bankruptcy, world’s away from free-surfing’s laid-back mantel; only custom board makers enjoyed the same vibe as surfing.

While regatta-styled social racing, governed by rules and aligned with sailing, would be an early, integral catalyst for growth, as funboards and wave sailing emerged, it moved ever closer to surfing, and a new, ever more hardcore sub-culture grew exponentially. Many who raced would fall by the wayside. During the 80s, these anti-urbanites travelled to isolated windy, sleepy, simple fishing villages far and wide around the globe, putting otherwise no-name locales on the map within windsurfing publications and, with it, the tourist industry grew around the sport. By way of example, in 1982, I travelled to the island of Lefkas, off the West Coast of Greece, on a feasibility mission to the sleepy village of Vassiliki. From my report and recommendations, Vassiliki is now one of Europe’s premium destinations for water sports.

From windsurfing, many innovations and advancements manifested; performance apparel, roof racks and straps, fabrication techniques, sail designs and materials, mast technology, telescopic solutions in aluminium, harnesses and the creation of a tourist industry. Ultimately by 1999, kiteboarding would evolve for the masses, pioneered by windsurfers, consequently impacting windsurfing, a sport they helped develop, followed by stand-up paddling, foil development and the boards they attach to.

Above: ‘Wind propelled apparatus’ filed March 27th, 1968.

Note the wrong date stamped in the top left corner ‘Jan 6, 1670’.

‘FAR FROM BEING A REFINED ORIGINAL PRODUCT, THE WINDSURFER® WAS AS RUDIMENTARY AS IT WAS INDUSTRIAL, A STARTING POINT AT BEST FOR DEVELOPMENT, NO MORE, NO LESS’

Drake and Schweitzer manufactured their first Windsurfer® boards in their garage out of foam and hand-crafted parts in teak before moving to roto-moulding. The first international shipment of a container of boards went to Sweden. Early customers also included Lufthansa pilots, who had read about the board and picked one up on their return from Los Angeles International Airport, including them as hand luggage.

Calle Schmidt would be the first to import the product into Germany in 1972. From here, the windsurfing story in Europe commences and would evolve beyond what Hoyle Schweitzer and his team of lawyers or Jim Drake could have ever imagined. The property rights of Hoyle Schweitzer would be a constant barrier to entrepreneurs and designers until expiring in 1987. Far from being a refined original product, the Windsurfer® was as rudimentary as it was industrial, a starting point at best for development, no more, no less. It was ‘. . . a one-design class, amounting to a provisionally garage-made design’ as Peter Brockhaus describes it, and he was not alone in his thoughts.

Nevertheless, it got me hooked on the thrill of travelling at speed over water and hundreds of thousands of others. When design improvements were suggested by influential pioneers in the USA and Europe, they were rejected by Windsurfing International, which would become the catalyst for new brands to emerge for betterment and money-making.

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PROLOGUE BY STEVE WEST

In a rare and telling interview given by Hoyle Schweitzer with Windsurfing America Magazine, Vol 4 / Issue 4 1996, he states, ‘To this day I feel a lot of conflicts, between Jim (Drake) and I were the result of Uli Stanciu [publisher of German Surf Magazine] and a lot of people in Germany creating this. They liked conflict and created it to sell magazines.’ America Windsurfer Magazine replied, ‘You know, I’ve heard about the thing in Germany how the publishers made the battle between Jim and you.’ Schweitzer replied, ‘Also between the Windsurfer® brand and the Mistral brand. They loved that conflict.’

The idea of ‘liking conflict’ as the modus-operandi of Mistral or the German Surf Magazine and its editor Uli Stanciu to sell more significant numbers of boards or magazines is an over-simplification. In the early years, Europe’s affair with windsurfing and desire to improve upon the original Windsurfer® quickly emerged as each nation with access to water embraced the sport. Those licensed to manufacture inherited a benign business partner who took a share of their sales at the steep part of the sport’s evolutionary process.

In 1973, Aeronautical Engineer Jim Drake, the primary developer and designer of the Windsurfer® and the person credited with the terminology ‘Windsurfer®’, relinquished his claims to the patent, selling his onehalf share to Schweitzer. Drake recognised he was ‘probably no better than third’ behind Englishman Peter Chilvers and Mid-West-based American Newman Darby in his creation.

Above: Jim Drake († 2012) By his admission, the business world Windsurfer® inventor and was not his thing; mostly, he did not co-founder see the need for a patent. Patents were held in the Federal Republic of Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Japan.

‘EUROPE’S AFFAIR WITH THE SPORT WAS SADDLED WITH THE EVER PRESENT ISSUE OF THE INFAMOUS PATENT, WHICH CONSTANTLY OVERSHADOWED THE SPORT’S DEVELOPMENT’

bankrupt long before they got started, the result of poor manufacturing processes and materials, the crippling effects of the patent and a lack at times of sound financial management.

In fairness, the ineptitude of patent offices, officers and due processes in the USA and Germany contributed to the demise of brands. They should have been more competent in comprehending ‘Prior Art’ and formulating a reasonable means of determining whether previous incarnations were valid offerings. This lack of understanding contributed enormously to the conflict, confusion and, ultimately, the downfall of many companies before the patent ran out in 1987.

In Germany in 1976, Fred Ostermann would develop the Windglider and later Ernst Drexler, HiFly and Dr. Hans-Joachim Binder, Sailboard and partnered with the patent owner in being licensed and paying their dues. In France, where the patent was not registered, the market was wide open, and brands such as Tiga, BIC and Jet, mainly producing cheap plastic boards, catered to the windsurfing masses. Germany’s Sigi Pertramer from Surfsailer, Sigi Blech from BBS and Peter Brockhaus with his newly founded Mistral brand operated without a license, though Mistral capitulated in 1981 when purchased by Adia. The consequence of exercising this policy led to patent trials staged in German courts.

Names such as Newman Darby and Peter Chilvers would become synonymous with dismissing Schweitzer’s claims.

Ultimately, history recalls it was Schweitzer’s legal team who were in error with the validity of his patent. Englishman Peter Chilvers’ ‘Prior Art’ was recognised in a British Court in April 1982 (Chilvers - Windsurfing International vs Tabur Marine 1985) and then in Germany (Darby - Windsurfing International vs Mistral 1983).

Yet, Schweitzer remained constant regarding his assertions, affirmed by his consistent pursuit of makers.

Above: left to right, Ben Oakley, Steve West and Peter Caldwell represented the French brand Jet in 1981, racing on Lake Derwent in the Lake District of England

The wonder and marvel of windsurfing is the reality that it exists at all, given the hundreds of production brands which ended up

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PROLOGUE BY STEVE WEST

Brockhaus had a burning desire to improve upon the original Windsurfer® design and, more significantly, the details of its weak points and polyethylene manufacturing process. In addition, he never stepped aside from a good fight or challenge, of which he had his share. By 1979, philosophical disagreements with his Mistral business partners resulted in his stepping down from the brand and going on to establish F2, which went on to become the most successful funboard maker during the first half of the 80s.

Above: Steve West (19) and Mandy West (17) performing doubles-freestyle for fun. Like so many windsurfing romances, it led to a lifetime connection.

Historically, Mistral’s trump card can be traced back to the moment Brockhaus signed with Rick Naish to be lead shaper and designer, which by default included an individual revered and considered the best windsurfer to become test rider, competitor, leading light and star of the Mistral brand for many years; Robby Naish. Naish, as custom board makers, would emerge as a small local family concern in Kailua, Hawaii, and was to rise demonstrably as a brand name in its own right, fueled by the association with Mistral, a marketing juggernaut serving to spread the Naish name and reputation far beyond the shores of the Hawaiian Islands. As a family, the nucleus of talent has few comparisons.

Naish boards for Mistral presented an intriguing dichotomy, a complex tale of geographical separation, cultural differences and an entirely different approach to design, indeed, life itself. The Naish family were intrinsic to Mistral’s significant presence and influence within the windsurfing industry.

You would have to imagine when Teutonic business efficiency met bohemian Hawaiian ‘haole’ watermen; there would be levels of incompatibility, but by all accounts, it worked; juxtaposed to

Right: Steve West, West Pole, Hayling Island, England 1982, sailing a Brian Hinde sinker, given to him by a good friend, Angus Chater.

Ken Black designed the sails for Hyde Sails.

This image was part of a photo shoot with Chris Smith, one of the most admired and decorated sports photographers in the history of British newspapers. The image was used in the Daily Telegraph to support an article.

this, internal relations within Mistral could be said to be a veritable egocentric, agenda-driven, self-serving minefield. In my interviews with past Mistral staff, few had nice words to say about the people they worked with, one even going on to say, ‘The story of Mistral is not a nice one.’

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PROLOGUE BY STEVE WEST

When Mistral founded its design and test centre on Lake Garda, the contrast between the Hawaiian Islands, languishing in the Pacific Ocean, fueled by tropical trade winds and that of a large inland freshwater lake, powered by thermal winds, provided the polar opposites of environments. Hawaiian innovations would stir the imagination of European sailors and develop a growing thirst for custom equipment to emulate their heroes in Hawaii. In 1974, Windsurfing Hawaii was founded and quickly gained international recognition for innovative high-wind equipment. It would go on to serve the needs of over 10,000 custom board riders in Germany alone.

The funboard concept was to send the windsurfing scene into overdrive. It set in motion the catalyst for European surfboard shapers, sail and rig designers to innovate and emulate their Hawaiian counterparts, albeit sometimes with European flair resulting in complexities that would prove costly and problematic during production phases.

Sex, money, and power represent three fundamental drivers of adult life [so I am told] as reflected by the iconic brand SMP, established in 1991 in the heartland of Californian surf and skate culture. Windsurfing was sexy; there’s no escaping that reality, a sport of its time. Exotic, intoxicating imagery was a key marketing aspect of windsurfing, as seen in the book. As for money, in the 1980s, there was loads of it. As more boards and equipment flew out of the door, it soon became a time of reckless excess, and many in the windsurfing and related industries were making and losing fortunes. As for power, this was intrinsically linked with control and dominance of the specialist media, competitive events, the marketplace, or all three, which created income.

Recognising Mistral’s story was partly an anecdote of European windsurfing; I needed to broaden the research to embrace other leading brands of the time and pioneers. As odd as it may be, a European perspective can be understood with the added back stories of F2, Naish, Windsurfing Hawaii and the start point of Windsurfing International.

‘SEX, MONEY, POWER REPRESENT THREE FUNDAMENTAL DRIVERS OF ADULT LIFE. WINDSURFING WAS SEXY, THERE’S SIMPLY NO ESCAPING THAT REALITY, A SPORT OF ITS TIME.’

Below­: involved with outrigger canoeing since 1989, West added SUP to his portfolio in 2005, here paddling a Mistral inflatable in Fiji in 2013, given to him by Mistral in return for imagery, thus beginning a long association

The Hawaiian influence in Europe, the patent struggles, the manufacturing issues, the reliance on team riders, the close relations with designers, and the many other synergies serve as touchstones for the big picture. Notably, Europe needs its say to balance the American story. How you read and make sense of this book depends on which lens you view windsurfing through and your own experience.

One thing we can all agree upon and regardless of the behind-the-scenes issues, Jim Drake gave us the sport in its contemporary form irrespective of who did what and when. Hoyle and Dianne Schweitzer subsequently delivered it to the world and, in doing so, enriched the lives of millions ever since, be it directly or indirectly.

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R O B B Y N A I S H - T H E K A I L UA K I D

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ROBBY NAISH -

T H E K A I L UA K I D

CHAPTER 1

ROBBY NAISH

THE KAILUA KID

Above: Robby Naish 1980

I‘

ll begin with the road least travelled in introducing Robby; given you’re reading this book, you will know who he is. Robby is a car guy; had he discovered cars before windsurfing, it would be no surprise if he were as revered a racing driver as he is now a board rider. The sum of a person is only sometimes as it first appears; if you look at the peripheral edges beyond the polarised perception of a person, you’re going to miss out on knowing more. I’m a car guy. I get it.

Specifically, Robby is a Porsche guy. In an interview on the Porsche website titled: Robby Naish, LDB 343 (the car number plate), ‘When it comes to the feeling of driving combined with the power, Porsche is in a class of its own,’ gushes Naish. ‘I love the design integrity that Porsche has maintained through the decades and that you can drive them in races without changing a thing. Every manufacturer does races, but the amount of work they have to do with their cars before they’re ready to go! I’m shy and introverted, not very social, and I honestly don’t really enjoy having people around me. But looking at my cars, anyone would think I was some totally idiotic show-off ’. He ‘loves cars’, he says.

His favourite time to drive around Maui is at three in the morning when the roads are empty, and no one sees him.

In delving into this other passion, his distraction, his ‘time out place’, the essence of Robby can be appreciated more coherently, beyond what he does on the water, the domain and narrative of the few. Cars, by contrast, are omnipresent, readily attainable, and relatable, unlike what Robby has done on the water.

His appreciation of Porsche is mirrored in his views on board and sail design. He appreciates classic designs, sees no need for constant changes for the sake of change, and appreciates turnkey design icons. He has simple needs over complex. Wind, water and good equipment under his feet and in his hands, has been an eternal way of life counterpoised when seated in his beloved 1977 Porsche 911; hands wrapped around the steering wheel, foot on the accelerator pedal; a clear, quiet, fast open road ahead, which suggests few limits, an open horizon and the joy in simply being at one with an otherwise inanimate object.

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ROBBY NAISH -

T H E K A I L UA K I D

Left: Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo (both Infiniti Red Bull Racing) talk to Robby Naish in the garage during previews to the Malaysia Formula One Grand Prix at the Sepang Circuit on March 27, 2014 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Left: Robby’s workhorse, a Ford F-650 XLT truck

Left: Robby’s first car, a Dodge Charger, 1981

Far left: during the mid 1980s Robby was sponsored by Audi - here pictured with his iconic original Audi Quattro

Above: another toy from Robby’s car collection

Above: Robby’s 1991 Evans Series One (left) and his beautifully restored VW Bus, left in the background his Porsche 911 ‘Slantnose’

He is every bit as authentic and grassroots as his Peter Pan athleticism upon the water’s surface or when flying above it and it’s futile to compare him with his peers, as he remains the quintessential, ‘one of a kind’ who has inspired others to be his equal, rarely better: he set the bench mark for a generation. Talking with Robby was refreshing and I choose by design, not to be overly prescriptive with a line of questioning, opting for the organic approach of responding to where he wanted to go. My only distinct aim was to try to understand the emergence of the Naish name as a brand which lives on today. Naish is not some corporate juggernaut, nor is it a brand obsessed with image, nor is it answerable to shareholders. It’s as autonomous and free-spirited as Robby himself; not taking itself too seriously, always keeping fun and

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ROBBY NAISH -

the big picture of creating water toys for grown-ups who take growing up as optional, or at least something that can be parked to one side on weekends and vacations. What Robby has to say resonates an inner sincerity and perhaps reveals what makes him tick. Before you hear about our conversation we start by exploring his family influences.

FAMILY INFLUENCES His father Rick’s job teaching photography and marine biology at a Honolulu High School allowed him plenty of water time, and he added sailing to his list of hobbies. Living just two blocks from Kailua Beach, the family social life revolved around the beach.

Hobie Cat regatta’s dominated weekends for years.

Rick was State Champion in both the Hobie 14 and 16 fleets for several years, and won the National Championships in 1972. Robby and Randy, his brother, started surfing small waves at Kailua’s shorebreak beach Above: Robby 1972 at the age of 9 with as soon as their swimming his first surfboard skills were up to it and sailing was also part of their life. In 1974 they, as a crew, racing against adults, won the State Championships on their Hobie 12.

About this time the first windsurfers appeared in Kailua Bay, and the boys lost all interest in their Hobie 12. They met Mike Horgan and Larry Stanley at the beach and used their boards for a while.

All they wanted to do was windsurf. The Hobie was sold, and

Above: the Naish family with their Hobie 14 at Kailua Beach, late 1960s, Robby on the far left

Robby (at 12 years old) took his share of the proceeds and bought his first windsurfing board and rig. As Robby was developing his skills and winning races, Rick was also developing his skills as a board designer. Using the family garage as a workshop, he built

T H E K A I L UA K I D

boards for himself, Randy, Robby and a few friends. Meanwhile, mother Carol began international marketing of ‘Windsurfari’ trips to Hawaii. The first Naish Hawaii rental fleet consisted of 10 Mistral Kailua boards. Guest accommodations were arranged in Kailua in private homes, cottages, and B&B’s.

The performance of Rick’s boards was impressive and generated orders for more boards.

They eventually opened their own shop and, I found this suggestion startling; in the history Above: Robby and Rick Naish - the perfect of the shop over 10,000 father and son team Naish custom boards have been sold worldwide. Eventually this business would develop to become the Naish brand we know today.

In 1978 the Naish’s, and a group of friends from Kailua, organized the first Hawaiian Windsurfing World Cup Regatta which drew nearly 100 competitors to Kailua Bay for a series of course racing, marathon and surf slalom events. This amateur event later became the Pan Am World Cup which was the premier windsurfing event in the world until the professional world tour began in 1983. Rick’s boards performance at the Pan Am drew the attention of Mistral founder Peter Brockhaus (Chapter 2) and he was offered a contract to develop several new designs for Mistral.

TALENT AND STYLE There’s a sense that Robby has been a product of divine intervention from the moment he could swim, let alone haul a Windsurfer® rig out of the water on his own, just in time to win his first World Championship at a mere age 13. Under the wing of Larry Stanley (Chapter 3) and Mike Horgan, Robby won the Windsurfer® Hawaiian Championships winning a ticket to Berkeley, California for the 1976 North American Championships. Robby took second place and won a plane ticket to the Windsurfer® Worlds in the Bahamas where he became the World Champion winning another plane ticket to the 1977 Worlds in Sardinia, which he also went on to win. And so it went on.

Above: talent and style - as Robby’s skills grew, riding a board simply became an extension of him

As his physicality and skills grew, riding a board simply became an extension of him. His symmetry, form and riding style remain iconic, dynamic, intense, the personification of being at one with nature and often with equipment under his feet, honed and refined by father Rick and within his hands, a US-1111 sail

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ROBBY NAISH -

T H E K A I L UA K I D

Above: Robby aged 13 years, 1976, Flat Island, Kailua Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, original Windsurfer®

powering him over water, more often than not accompanied by the omni-present M-Dot during his years with the Mistal brand.

Watch Robby’s 1985 RIP movie and draw your own conclusions; this was a man that had only one speed on the water, flat out, giving gravitas to the ‘Go Hard’ or ‘Go Home’ mantra.

At full tilt, flat out, headed for the horizon, or tearing up the face of a wave or twenty-foot upside down over Hookipa, his level of control and natural ability was and remains astonishing and I can think of no other who delivered a sense of completeness when at his prime and surely the Above: Robby personification of the ‘master’. This is not some Naish Sardinia/Italy sycophant outpouring; there will never be an1979 other quite like him. Robby once commented, ‘Windsurfing is not sailing, it’s a form of flying’ and that’s exactly how it looks when you watch him; for most-everyone else, it’s sailing and therein lies the difference. In 1985, Naish shaper, Harold Ige said of Robby, ‘If you take the whole world, Robby would be here,’ Iggy reaches one hand above his head, gripping an invisible satellite, ‘. . . and everybody else would be here.’

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Robby says, ‘Footstraps were not invented yet, but I was still able to jump and get the fin out of the water. Wooden booms with harness lines sporting my very first harness that my dad Rick sewed for me on my Mom’s sewing machine. Harnesses would still not be legal in windsurfing competition for three more years...’ He is borrowing Larry Stanley’s storm sail ‘...with the nice big windows in my sail’ [sewn in by Pat Love]. Robby continues, ‘... this picture really showed where windsurfing was headed in the future.’

As a professional windsurfer, Robby maintained his reputation as one of the world’s best for over 15 years. He won the overall title on the PBA tour for six straight years. Sam Moses reported in Sports Illustrated (1985) ‘Competitors say Naish’s sailboard sense is innate and as unpredictable as the wind itself… and his competitive intensity can be explosive. He has been known to throw a fit after winning a race by half a mile instead of the mile he wanted.

But he doesn’t brag about his ability; despite what the record shows, he won’t call himself the best. He knows there are other, younger prodigies out there somewhere.’

But he is also a father and businessman as Ulli Seer observes.

‘My daughter Dani and Nani Naish are born in the same year and played together on the beach. Nani still talks lovingly about her Dad in Robby’s Film The Endless Wave. She says he was, “. . . just never there”, but without any bitterness. Robby was always conservative politically and privately in his whole life and extremely thoughtful and clever building his wealth. As a young 18 year-old he was already extremely grown up for his age, well organised, clear thinking, much more like a smart business-man as opposed to many of the other riders around him.’

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Robby, can you expand on your experiences, aged 11, not being able to pull the rig out of the water and Larry Stanley and Mike Horgan mentoring you?

‘I think it was more the case of me being a pestering little kid. I was a novelty as there weren’t any kids windsurfing at that point [1974], at least in Kailua. In hindsight, it’s cool they let me hang out at the beach with them and borrow their gear.

Below: Robby at Porto Pollo, Sardinia / Italy summer 1979 rail control and blasting on a standard Windsurfer®

Once I was strong enough to understand the leveraging technique to get the sail out of the water, I’d be down there after school and on the weekends, constantly asking people if I could borrow their board and go for a sail. When they were teaching people, they’d slowly drift down Kailua Beach, and I would run down to the end of the swimming area and ask them, “Do you want me to sail your board back up?” so they wouldn’t have to drag it all the way back up the beach. And so I’d get water time, just sailing people’s boards back up the beach for them when they were learning.’

You must have had a spark that said, “This is something I want to keep doing?” I know your Mum indicated you were a bit wayward with an attention span issue. Did windsurfing ground you and give you purpose?

‘Eventually, yeah. At that point, I was into everything. I paddled [outrigger] canoes and played flag football. But the things I really enjoyed were the things I could do on my own.

Skimboarding, skateboarding, surfing the Kailua shore break, sailing the Hobby 12. Things that didn’t require other people, I really loved.

Windsurfing was a real challenge; it combined all the sensations I found cool.

I loved sailing. My Dad, at that time, was a successful Hobby Cat racer. We were at the beach all the time. He was a surfer; I was a surfer.

Windsurfing combined all of those elements in such a way that when you made it work, the initial feeling of standing on a board, holding up the sail, sheeting in, catching the wind was fantastic. The fact that it was all going through your body to make it function, even the steering, everything was controlled through your body; there were no mechanical things that were making it work.

There’s no tiller, no sheet; I just LOVE the sensation of that when it all came together. The first time I could go five or ten feet in one direction was just amazing.

The tangible steps of progress every time you went out were addictive. I’m steering it better; now I can go upwind, I can go downwind. Learning to tack, gybe, and head dip, there were just so many incredible sensations as you’re learning; not mastering it but at least making that one move work. And that kept going; it’s not one of those things where you get to a certain level, and you peak out, and it gets boring. It continues to challenge, and when one thing would

‘THERE’S NO TILLER, NO SHEET; I JUST LOVE THE SENSATION OF THAT WHEN IT ALL CAME TOGETHER’

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Above: summer 1979 Capo Testa, Sardinia / Italy. 16 year old Robby jumping on the prototype of the Mistral Naish Board.

start to get a little boring, the equipment would evolve, which allowed you to progress further and challenge yourself in more ways.

Then by 1978, when we really started to push custom board thresholds and adding foot straps, that changed everything, being connected to the board and actually being able to jump and get it into the air and land and be in control. That opened up a whole new realm of possibilities and more learning. That constant challenge and that constant feeling of improvement are, for somebody like me, pretty addictive.’

‘LEARNING TO TACK, GYBE, AND HEAD DIP, THERE WERE JUST SO MANY INCREDIBLE SENSATIONS AS YOU’RE LEARNING’

Your mother, Carol and father, Rick, were very supportive and gave you lots of freedom; Carol managed your affairs and Rick, of course, through his early influence as a surfer and sailor, then later his designs and shaping with Harold Ige. ‘Both my parents were pretty amazing when you look back at where we were raised. The decisions they made to put us where we were, the opportunities we had to be raised in Kailua, the guidance and the freedom we were given. It was different to now. The world was a simpler, safer place and massively less crowded and complicated.

It was so much better than now, being able as a parent to give your kids more freedom, not to be too worried. The opportunities are endless. You don’t wanna overprotect, but you have to be extra

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careful these days; there are a lot of bad influences, opportunists and actors out there. By contrast, at that time in the 70s, we were living in an amazing place, at an amazing time, with parents that gave us a huge amount of freedom to explore life and challenges.’

Famously, your first significant race at just 13 would propel you to become a household name in this new sport and specifically within the Windsurfer® community.

‘My story really began the moment my folks let me go off to California for the US Nationals in 1976, where I won and received a prize of a ticket to the Bahamas, then letting me go to the Bahamas by myself at just 13. There was no internet, no guarantee of good communications and yet off I went.

I was kept an eye on by Steve Wilkings, a staff photographer for Windsurfing International. I slept on the floor of his press room. He lived in Honolulu, and it was not like we were super close friends, but he agreed to keep an eye on me. So that in itself is just amazing. It seemed totally rational and fine for me at the time at just 13, but in hindsight, how in the hell did my parents let me do that, and it continued; ‘77 in Sardinia, ‘78 in Cancun, ‘79 in both Greece and Florida. In 1979, there were two Windsurfer® Class Worlds because of the [cold war] split between Russia and the USA. Then back in the Bahamas in 1980.

Above: prize giving, Windsurfer® Worlds, Bahamas, 1976.

Derk Thijs (middle) is not amused.

Left: the smallest and the tallest! Robby Naish - the world’s best windsurfer at age 13 with German Competitor Tony Schütt at the Windsurfer® Worlds Bahamas 1976. His competitors were nearly twice his size and twice as heavy.

It wasn’t until ‘81, when I graduated from high school, that things started to advance to the point that the sport turned pro. The Windsurfer® Class was kind of a dinosaur by that point. The only time we sailed them was to go and compete. It was a perfect time to pursue the Open Class racing, which had started a couple of years earlier.

The first event we went to was in Jamaica in 1977, representing Mistral, together with my Dad, Denis Davidson, Pat Love and Larry Stanley.’

Left: at the Windsurfer® Worlds 1976 in the Bahamas Robby stunned the windsurfing world with freestyle tricks never seen before

‘WE WERE LIVING IN AN AMAZING PLACE, AT AN AMAZING TIME, WITH PARENTS THAT GAVE US A HUGE AMOUNT OF FREEDOM TO EXPLORE LIFE AND CHALLENGES’

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Your book with Ulli Seer and Peter Brockhaus photographed in Sardinia was part of your early sponsorship with Mistral - from then on, you spent quite a lot of time travelling in Europe in those early days, trips to Lake Garda and Sylt.

‘I had been to Sardinia in ‘77 for the worlds, in Baia on my own. We then went back in 1979 to do pictures for the book, “Windsurfing with Robby Naish”, with Ulli and took the whole family. It was a great trip. We had Ulli up on a crane shooting down to do some of the sequence shots; it was quite a production. We visited Lake Garda in Italy; it was part of the same summer trip where we went around Europe.

Above: Peter Brockhaus and Ulli Seer taking pictures for the book ‘Windsurfing with Robby Naish’ from a home made platform lifted by a huge crane in the bay of Arzachena, Sardinia, Italy

We also made another trip around Southern Germany and up to Sylt as part of a promo tour. There again, we had the whole family driving around; we even had Mike Waltz with us for part of that trip, up to Sylt and down to Lake Garda.

Good times.’

Above: in 1981 the book ‘Windsurfing with Robby Naish’ was jointly published by Peter Brockhaus (text) Robby Naish (sailor and technical input) and Ulli Seer (photos and design). It was the first book to show Robby’s freestyle manoeuvres, racing technique and wave riding tricks.

In 1981, I understood Mike Waltz and Matt Schweitzer adapted a short surfboard, added straps and sailed Hookipa. Aussie Mark Paul did something similar in Australia. This was something of a seminal moment for the sport.

Later the books ‘Best Windsurfers of the World’ (Uli Stanciu/Ulli Seer) and ‘Robby Naish Superstar’ (Robby Naish/Ulli Seer) followed in 1983 and 1984.

Above: Randy (left) and Robby (right) on ‘Mark’s boards were really their first trip to Sylt (Gemany) 1979 different; they were his early

Bombora boards. They were not as short as the ones Mike and Matt were trying.

That really brought in that sense of, “OK, let’s try a surfboard and see what happens!” you had to water start it. Marks boards were a crazy shape; big round tail, still a little longer. I have a cover shot in Surf Magazine Germany, jumping on one of Marks really super colourful painted Bombora boards from when I took a trip to Australia in ‘80-‘81. He was defiantly a pioneer in those early days in Australia, and he used really long swept back sickle-shaped fins.’

This brings me to people like Larry Stanley and Pat Love and all those guys behind Windsurfing Hawaii who realised no-

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body was accessorising the sport. As much as we can thank Jim Drake and Hoyle Schweitzer for bringing us the Windsurfer®, you had these other guys pushing the envelope and designing for high-wind sailors in the waves. Were you helping those guys with design and testing?

‘No, not really, because it was sort of parallel to the point where I was already using Mistral accessories.

You know I started using Mistral aluminium booms already in ‘78 instead of the other stuff. Windsurfer® was still using wood at that point. When Windsurfer® did come up with its own aluminium boom, the Mistral stuff was far, far ahead of it. So were the Mistral bases. And so Windsurfing Hawaii started doing booms and bases, but their custom stuff was certainly no better, or not as good even, as the Mistral stuff that we were using.

It was a cool time. Pat Love was making harnesses. Then Windsurfing Hawaii started making harnesses and selling them commercially. In the early days, when there was an opportunity for small cottage industry guys to be able to get into it and start producing things for this new exciting sport, that was how the windsurfing environment was like back then.

Above: in 1981 Robby turned 18. By then he was 182 cm tall and had developped into a strong young athlete.

There were lots of opportunities for small custom guys to create niche products that didn’t exist until they started doing it. And that was all back yard manufacturing. They were bending tubes in Kailua, buying aluminium tubes and making bases. Not like today, where everything is made in China and Taiwan and it immediately goes into production somewhere else. You know, even Armstrong’s [foils] of today and all those people, they’re all in production in Asia. It was full on in your garage manufacturing in those early days.’

Larry Stanley posted something online a while back about Patent Sharks from Europe taking ideas and claiming them as their own.

Below: father Rick being a talented shaper and board designer was essential for Robby’s early career

‘We call them Patent Trolls; those guys are everywhere. They come up with a good idea just to improve things; what about this, what about that, and try it. There are guys sitting in their basements looking at things and thinking, “How can I improve this and cash in on it?” You get guys patenting things in which they don’t even do the activities; you know, do patents of off-shoots, of off-shoots. You create something and release it, and three years later, you find out some dick-head has patented it and is chasing you around.’

Speaking of patents, I met Matt Schweitzer in ‘81 at the Bacardi World Cup, held on the Isle of Man (UK). On a windy day before the marathon, he stood there on the beach and said to me, “God damn it!” I said, “What’s up?” He replied, “I’m gonna get my ass kicked, I’ve gotta ride this board (Windsurfer®),

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or my Dad won’t be too happy.” He saw all this other European kit and was frustrated he had to race the Windsurfer®. A fascinating period where equipment was designed around the Windsurfer® concept, yet so far away from it and superior.

‘It was cool in between ‘80, ‘81, ‘82 into ‘83 as the sport kinda went in two directions. There was still the Windsurfer® Class, people trying to keep that one design going. But then there were the funboards, as they called them in Europe and Pan Am Cup styled boards, planing boards, sinkers, the short board trend; it was all getting started.

‘PAN AM-STYLE BOARDS WERE FUN, THEY WERE FAST, AND THEY WERE GREAT IN 30 KNOTS OF WIND’

Then there was the formula one boards of windsurfing at that point, the Division II boards [also called Open Class]. I remember the round-bottomed Div II boards and racing them! That was interesting times because it was a completely opposite way of approaching the sport. Division II was basically yacht racing on a windsurfer, as opposed to the other stuff that was being created for planing in higher winds and waves. Planing hulls are the absolute polar opposite of displacement hulls. I remember going and doing the Tour de France in ‘81, ‘82, [Crédit Lyonnais Tour de France La Planche a Voile] and racing the first Mistral M1 Division II boards over there.’

An iconic image, amongst many others, is of you sailing the Pan Am board shaped by your Dad during the Pan Am Cup event in the early ‘80s. The Pan Am board would become a Mistral board; it launched open ocean racing.

Above: Robby Naish - one of the first to ride ‘Phantoms’ on the North Shore of Oahu

‘From a racing standpoint, the Windsurfer® one-design was amazing racing, everybody on the same piece of shit; you know, wooden boom, plastic board, that was great racing. But it was pretty low performance; body weight had a huge effect. Once I had won in the Bahamas [aged 13, weighing just 41kgs.] there was no overall World Champion anymore because they divided the weight classes, and we stopped racing everyone together because the heavy guys said, “Screw this; we don’t wanna race against the light guys!”

PanAm style racing kind of levelled the playing field, and it created a board that you could race in 5 knots of wind, and it worked really well. The sliding mast track, the complete retractable daggerboard into the board. You know, you could go great in 5 knots of wind, you could go great in 10 knots of wind, they were great on every point of sail, it wasn’t a beast to try and go off the wind like the way a Division II board was. They were fun; they were fast, and they were great in 30 knots of wind.

So, it really made the sport awesome from a competitive racing standpoint because you could take one board and a few sails and have the right equipment wherever you arrived, and it was 5, or 10, or 30 knots of wind, and really fun to ride for a 3.9m board, they were really direct to control. I think mine had ten foot straps’ (Robby and Steve laugh).

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The Pan Am board ultimately morphed to become the Equipe, and it seems that board became an extension of you; who can ever forget when you ‘looped’ it, all caught on film. I think Nevin Sayer contributed to the design?

‘Yeah, looping the Equipe! Well, Nevin was racing with us; he was coming to Oahu and testing. At that point, there was Nevin, Charly Messmer and Alex Aguera with us for a little while until he went to Bic. We all had a hand in evolving those boards with Rick and Harold. You know, the original Pan Am had a rounded nose into a planing hull and tail; we moved this design outline to the Equipe, which was then given a multi-channel planing hull design based on the Pan Am outline, but with more of a planing surface all the way to the nose.’

Below: Harold Ige (‘Iggy.’), Robby Naish and Rick Naish - the driving force behind the Pan Am-style boards in the early 1980s

Given all you’ve contributed to the sport and all the attention given through the World Cup years and after, it must have been a big task to sustain it. You must have the correct characteristics to deal with such adoration, or did you have to develop that?

‘Well, I don’t know, really. I do know I was in the right place, at the right time, many times over, and I think the one thing I did have, which maybe others didn’t to the extent I did, was having a good appreciation for how lucky I was to be doing what I was doing. The drive to keep focused, to try and perpetuate it as long as possible and to avoid distractions, such as other things that looked more fun, and would potentially take your eye off the ball and the focus on the objective.

That said, people say, “You must have to set goals for yourself ” I never did that. My planning ahead was as far as the next event.

What can I do today to make tomorrow the best guarantee that I can keep doing this because this is what I wanna do because I’m no

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‘I DO KNOW I WAS IN THE RIGHT PLACE, AT THE RIGHT TIME, MANY TIMES OVER’

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good at anything else. And I really don’t wanna do anything else.

I’m getting paid more money doing this than I’m ever gonna make doing something else that I’m not interested in. It was more just trying to keep, I guess, a level that was; one, respectable and two, competitive while trying to keep a persona that was at least humble enough that it was attractive so that people would like me enough and sponsors would keep paying me.

You know, you can look around, and there are really good guys that really don’t have much sponsorship because they’re dick-heads and aren’t particularly likeable characters. And there are other guys who aren’t really competitive, but they’re really good guys, that have good personalities that are attractive so that they have sponsors. So, I’ve just kept on navigating that as best I could, hoping to keep doing it next year, then the next year and the next year.

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‘I’M STOKED WITH WHAT I’VE BEEN ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH, I’M PROUD TO HAVE BEEN PART OF THIS AMAZING SPORT, BUT MOSTLY, I’M PROUD I’M STILL THERE ’

I never sat around and dwelled, “Oh, look how great I am” it’s more like, “Man, I hope I can keep doing this next year”.

It’s kinda how I’ve continued to go. Obviously there have been some other things along the way that have supplemented me and complimented my windsurfing, not taken away from it. I think kiting didn’t take away from my windsurfing persona, nor did stand-up [paddleboarding].

I’m prouder of this kinda thing, [Robby holds up two recent magazines, Windsurf and Surf 2022 Editions] that I can still get covers at 59 years of age in a sport that I’ve been doing since I was 11; now that I’m pretty proud of. I’m stoked with what I’ve been able to accomplish, I’m proud to have been part of this amazing sport, but mostly, I’m proud I’m still there; I’m still enjoying it and still appreciate it. I’m not that old guy that people think, “God, why doesn’t he go away, that friggin’ Robby Naish!” You know, there are people that when they see a picture of me, hopefully not many, they go, “Fuck that guy; he had his time 30 years ago!”

But there’s still an appreciation that I still enjoy it and that I’m still active. I’m not as good today as, say, Ricardo Campello or Marcilio Browne. But I’m still out there enjoying it, going through the motions, polishing my old tricks and high-fiving them on the beach and having fun today, not going out on 27-year-old equipment, but enjoying the sport on today’s level. That, for me, is satisfying.’

‘I’M NOT THAT OLD GUY THAT PEOPLE THINK, “GOD, WHY DOESN’T HE GO AWAY, THAT FRIGGIN’ ROBBY NAISH!”’

To still inspire people today is incredible because you’ve still got that special something. Here you are today despite all the injuries and turning sixty in 2023. Are you a natural high achiever setting the bar really high for yourself, which can be hard to live with? ‘[Laughing] As long as you don’t set that bar too high, so it’s unachievable. But again, I never really set goals. I’m a dreamer. I do today, tomorrow, and next Thursday. I don’t set myself up for a whole bunch of disappointments because I’m not setting realistic or unrealistic targets. My only target is trying to maintain an enjoyment, an ability that is self-respectable. If I went on and on and felt like a total kook, I’d have to stop doing it regularly.

But it’s changed, you know. I’m not going out as much as I used to.

I’m not going out every day just for the sake of doing it. I go out when it’s good, but I still just go out for fun. I’ll take my slalom gear

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and go to Kanaha, where everybody else is winging. There’s nobody else out blasting around on a slalom board. I’m not doing it cause I wanna race anyone; I’m doing it because I just love blasting around.

I don’t even line up next to other guys. If there happens to be another slalom guy out there, I’ll go in the other direction [Laughing].

I’m doing it for me. I’m going fast as shit. I don’t need to compare, “Am I going faster than you?” I don’t need to show you; I’m still faster than you. I don’t want anything to do with you. I’m doing it

‘I DON’T NEED TO SHOW YOU; I’M STILL FASTER THAN YOU. I DON’T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOU. I’M DOING IT BECAUSE IT’S FUN’

Left: Robby Naish on a Mistral Screamer, Kailua 1989

because it’s fun. Nobody buys my Naish slalom gear; I think we even took it off the order form. Nobody wants a Naish slalom board. I’m doing it because I love it, and it’s still there for me after all this time, like a lot of people.

Good friends of mine like Jason Polakow and others, they’ve got a camera, they’ve got a videographer, they’re out there because they need to record it because they need to make a video. They’re not out there on some random day because they wanna go windsurfing; it becomes part of something that you have to do for business, driven by the whole social media thing.’

I’m curious about your relationship with social media because your postings are sporadic and sometimes spaced many months in between.

‘I’ll go through stages where I’ll post a couple of things. Then I look at myself, and I just don’t wanna be that guy. I could monetise my material, make a YouTube channel, or create a podcast, but it’s not me, and I feel embarrassed that I’m even doing it. And so, I’ll do a few videos, and then I won’t do any. Currently, I’ve two videos I’m editing. One from my Diamond Head windsurfing session; it’s like 16 minutes long, covering the whole trip, flying back to Oahu, going back to my roots, and sailing with Scott Carvel; it was a great session. Then I have a whole video for the La Perouse [Maui] session,

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Above: Robby Naish and Pete Cabrinha, 1985. Two boys from Kailua and old friends from way back

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the one I got the cover shots on. Shit, they both happened in July, and it’s now October, and I’m still editing them! So, it’s not like, “Oh, I’ve gotta get it out!” make some clips and sit on my computer ‘till 4 am in the morning cause it’s like, “Look at me, look at me!” it gets done when it gets done. It’s just not how I am. I wanna be there, I wanna be present, but without the “Look at me” mindset.’

Clearly, you don’t have a marketing team kicking your ass saying, “We need footage to sell boards; get out there!” which is a constant pressure many brands live by. Let’s face it, it’s always epic when you share stuff and you receive untold likes and shares.

‘I enjoy that others love it, but I just can’t sit down and do it. My ego starts going, “No, no, no!” You know, you get into it, and you see people enjoy it. I do a couple of posts; then, I’ve got to step back.

I don’t wanna drive myself on account of that ego button that social media creates. Even if people say, “Keep posting; we love it!” it triggers self-absorbed behaviour, which I consider wrong, or at least a part of me which I don’t want to relate to. I would rather do things when they mean something. Put time into it, do it right. But not constantly for the sake of ego or because I think I’m amazing; look at me!

Even if you give me 5 minutes to tell you a bit about myself, I have a hard time with it. I struggle with the balance between staying active yet letting people know I’m still riding nearly every day, just for me, not for anyone else or even for the sake of my business. I really don’t need to tell everybody. So, I post occasionally to show I’m still riding, but not constantly, primarily because I hate the self-promotional aspect of today’s world.’

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Many would share your thoughts on this. When SUP arrived, it became the fastest accelerated board sport ever, driven by a digital promotion. With it, the ‘waterman’ tag was pushed, as if suddenly standing and paddling was a waterman ‘thing’ aided by brands like C4 Waterman, pushing the waterman wheelbarrow as marketing hype. Is Robby Naish a waterman?

‘People try to label me as a waterman, I say, “No, I’m a board rider; I’m not a waterman”. A waterman is someone who loves to dive, loves to eat fish, and dreams of getting on a boat sailing off into the horizon to explore Tahiti, Fiji or where ever. I can’t wait to get off the water when my session draws to an end; the water is my playground; I hate boats, I don’t eat fish, I hate being underwater, and I don’t like diving. I’m not a waterman; I’m a board rider. I love the ocean as a playground, but then I love getting outta the water at the end of the day. Last thing I ever wanna do is sail off into the horizon on a boat. I’d get seasick and end up slicing my throat and jumping overboard eventually. I agree completely; stand-up created this waterman thing.’

Talking with you, growing into an adult devoid of a sense of fun and play is something you’ve never aspired to. Playing on the water releases that inner child and helps to rage against ageing. You have that in bucket loads, making you who you are.

‘I’m just playing; that’s what I tell people all the time. The sports we do, allow adults to play. When you’re a kid, you do things; you fall down, you get up, you brush yourself off, you try again. You get older, you get a job, you have a family, and you forget how to play.

You might do sport or go to the gym, but the approach is different.

Below: Robby Naish and Jill Boyer, 1984

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Above: Robby at Peahi (Jaws), Maui, Hawaii, March 2010

‘I’VE TRIED TO KEEP A MINDSET THAT IT’S ALWAYS JUST ABOUT PLAYING’ 36

I’ve tried to keep a mindset that it’s always just about playing. Like I said, when I go out on my slalom board by myself, I don’t wanna meet others. I wanna go by myself, rig my stuff, go ride, I ride until I’m tired. I come in, I pack it up, and I leave. I don’t sit around on the beach talking to people about my gear, or tell them how great my sail is, or have a drink, and then go out for a second session.

Once I’m done, I’m done, I pack up and leave. I’m there because I’m playing; I’m not playing with myself! [Laughing].

I have a certain appreciation for immaturity. I still think farts are really funny. Maybe I did never grow up, I found a niche in life that allowed me to stay immature, fall down, get up, and try it again, and I enjoy that aspect, to a degree, of being outta control

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to tell someone what to do, be anybody’s boss. So, there’s some things that came along when getting into business, none of which I really like, but I love the fact that we are in this particular business.’

Brands in our industry require creative, playful, knowledgable, respected, spirited, yet youthful dreamers who can keep a brand upbeat and focused. This needs to be balanced by pragmatic others, grounded in the reality of commerce. Does that resonate?

‘There are different characters in every crowd, everyone is certainly not the same by any means. Different things drive different people. Even if you look at the business, it’s still a great business to be in, compared to others, because of the nature of the activity itself.

It’s not a great business to make money; it’s high risk, low margin, constantly having to reinvent yourself is a pain in the ass. But we’re at least making good things [products] that improve people’s lives, right?

‘I LOVE THE PRODUCTS, I LOVE THE ACTIVITIES, BUT I DON’T LIKE THE BUSINESS SIDE OF BUSINESS’

If you just wanna make money, you bottle water. You come up with a brand, and you sell water, which I still can’t friggin’ believe that people buy water in a plastic bottle! You know, water used to come outta drinking fountains; you didn’t pay for it. Somehow people have been convinced you’ve gotta buy water outta of a plastic bottle from the other side of the world, and somehow, that’s gonna be better for you than just drinking the water out of a tap! For sure, there’s other ways to make more money, but I love what we do.’

in an environment that’s always changing and always challenging you, that you don’t ever get perfect at. Yeah, it keeps it exciting.’

By contrast, the business world is very much the domain of adults of serious decisions, endlessly deep and meaningful meetings, and clashes of egos. I would imagine that the corporate world is close to the gates of hell for someone like you.

‘Yes, I aways tell people, I love the products, I love the activities, but I don’t like the business side of business. I love sharing what we do with other people. If you make money at it, that’s cool. But even that, I don’t like selling people things. I don’t wanna owe anyone money; I don’t want anyone to owe me money; I don’t wanna have

Looking back, what are your overriding thoughts from the sport’s early days, especially when the Europeans arrived in Hawaii and began taking ideas back to Europe and turning them into mass-produced products?

‘Egos were driving the decision making, a lot of egos, rather than economics throughout the decades, and you’re right, the GAS countries, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, where very strong driving

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forces in the industry, since the very beginning, ‘77 or thereabouts when the first European brands began to form. It was ego and sales volume above profitability. Making money wasn’t even a part of the equation; it was all about beating the other guys.

It’s been interesting to watch this over the years. The way I’m structured [at Naish] and from the very beginning, I have to make money. There were no investors, no deep pockets financing me; I wasn’t building brand value to spin it off and sell it to a venture capital group the way many brands do, so I’ve been a spectator to it all over the years. It has been an interesting industry to be a part of.’

Back in 1977, your Dad, Rick, signed with Peter Brockhaus to be Mistral’s shaper, and by default, you became a part of this Swiss / German brand at a young age. Brockhaus mentions he considered you a ‘dowry’ for the brand, at least in your teenage

Below: Robby at Diamond Head, Oahu, Hawaii, 1995

years. Although the income was probably very good as time passed, did you ever want to be an independent brand or do your own thing?

‘No, not in the least. I never wanted to do to my own thing. I hate the business side of it all, and I’m not a super tech-heavy guy. I’m not one of the guys that loves playing with my gear and looking to come up with the next big thing. I’m the type of guy that does it for the visceral sensation and enjoyment; I just love being on the water, I love board riding, and that’s why I did it in the first place; the whole business side of it came afterwards, through necessity; firstly, because you need good gear. But the gear was never and has never been as important as riding it well.

Even through my World Cup years, I was lucky that I was always provided with great equipment from which I could give input back to my father or whichever designer I was working with. I knew what I wanted, and I would get them to make it for me. I wouldn’t have made it myself. I wouldn’t want to spend my time sitting in a workshop, making my boards; I wanted to be out riding.

‘I WOULDN’T WANT TO SPEND MY TIME SITTING IN A WORKSHOP, MAKING MY BOARDS; I WANTED TO BE OUT RIDING’

I would rather ride my own board until it’s absolutely dead, my old sail until it’s tattered and worn out and just ride it and ride it and ride it until I know I’m riding it as best as I can rather than thinking, “Oh I can make another board, and I could do this or that different”. And that’s been a problem with our industry, this constant desire to change for the sake of change and to progress.

Windsurfing progressed itself nearly into extinction as a result where; if it just slowed things down and wasn’t in such a hurry to convince people they needed something different, that they could ride better if they had something better, we would probably have been a healthier sport, and it would be a lot bigger than it is today.

That’s a critical standpoint, but in short, I never wanted to do my own thing, and with Mistral, it was perfect.

The connection [with Mistral] was in having a sponsor, having good rig components; mast, boom, bases and things like that. The boards I was riding were custom in any case; no one was riding production boards, only for photoshoots. In competition, there was little that linked back to production products, and it was the same for all brands. It’s only been fairly recently that riders have begun riding production boards in competition, as a consequence of production boards being as good as, if not better than, custom boards; but that’s a really recent reality.’

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Several Mistral characters have commented that when designs arrived from Hawaii via your Dad and Harold [Ige], these were then unnecessarily meddled by adding deck fittings and other embellishments. This would have been an initiative from the production manager Ernstfried Prade together with input sometimes from Surf Magazine and Uli Stanciu.

‘If you look at the sport and especially the European markets, the German market being the biggest, and the most specific, they like

their tech, they’re sold on technical advancement, even if it’s not going to benefit them in the least. They want graphs and charts; they want to be sold too with test results. With German Surf Magazine tests, you either lived or died by how your test was in that magazine, and that’s just how they are, and it applies to their cars and, therefore, their car magazines and other interests; it’s just how the German’s are and how their culture has evolved; they’re technically driven, they love brands that are high tech.

Consequently, that was a necessary part of the sport at that point, even today. Who has the best sliding mast track and retractable daggerboard; all those little features made a big difference at the end of the day at the retail level where it counts. Fortunately, Mistral didn’t come back to us and say, “That board sucks” we had creative control over the whole shape, the design, and the rocker.

My Dad and Harold Ige did a great job at designing, shaping and fabricating the boards.

As for the graphics, the bumpers and so on, it would come from the technical side of things over there in Germany. But it was a pretty harmonious process, there was not much head-butting, and it went mostly very well through its lifespan until it ran its course and we found ourselves dealing with people we didn’t necessarily see eye to eye with, and that can happen over time.’

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Brilliantly summarised. Therefore, the internal rumblings told to me by various past Mistral personnel were more connected to ego rather than the overall bigger picture. You were with Mistral for many years, from 1977 to 2001, and some may wonder why you stayed so long.

‘With Mistral, it was fantastic up until the point things happened simultaneously, where they started to fall apart, as they moved between one owner to another [in the late 1990s] and they weren’t

Above: Robby at Diamond Head, Oahu, Hawaii, 1990. This picture was the cover of the Mistral Catalogue of 1991.

leading the charge anymore. For the most part, there was never any tension or thinking, “We should be doing this differently or with someone else or that we should have done it on our own”.

The business side of it was never my target. I loved what we were doing. I loved the sport, loved the equipment, and the evolution of developing the equipment was super fun when you didn’t look at it from a business standpoint; working with evolving technology and what we were able to do as we progressed through the years, that’s where the enjoyment and the drive came from.’

Your first separation steps could be considered when you formed Naish Sails Hawaii when still with Mistral. How and when did this come about?

‘It happened very slowly and gradually. Finances were never really a big deal, and we grew off our cash flow as things allowed. I never had to borrow money or apply for financing. We started designing

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and making windsurfing sails in the winter of ‘95-‘96 after I left Gaastra. Most of the major brands in the industry had their big moments through the mid-80s; ‘87-‘88 was the biggest for most, and for others, ‘84-‘87, depending on which brands we’re talking about.

Many were bought and sold, like Mistral; Gaastra was bought and sold a few times over.

When I was with Gaastra, and it sold, they wanted to restructure both the R&D and management. It had been bought by a Thai investor who wanted to move everything to Hong Kong, and it just didn’t seem to be a place I wanted to go. They wanted to dismantle the R&D Team I had put together, which included Don Montague and Pete Cabrinha, who was doing graphics and other things; we had a really good little team. They wanted me to go with these new guys, and I didn’t want to do it.

I had to consider my options. I could have gone to Neil Pryde, but having been with Gaastra for so long, that just wouldn’t be right; I was loyal to my sponsors, whom I had been with for a long time; I wasn’t one of those guys who jumped from brand to brand. It made no sense for me to suddenly sign with someone else, so I thought, why don’t we keep the group together and do our own thing; so, we started Naish Sails Hawaii on Maui in that winter of ‘95-‘96, doing just windsurfing sails, masts, booms and bases. It was a really simplified line; a couple of wave sails, a free ride sail and a race sail so we could keep the trajectory upwards and keep the group together.

It was a big decision and pretty scary at the time, and a reasonable amount of money was invested, but it looked like it would do fine and pay for itself, and it started us on that path.’

You were still with Mistral at this time, as were your Dad and Harold Ige, shaping boards. Naish Sails Hawaii was making good progress, and then kitesurfing became a going concern.

‘It was only a couple of years later that we started to develop inflatable kites, and we were the first brand to take a license from *Bruno Legaignoux on the inflated strut technology and began producing actual kitesurfing kites under the Naish label in ‘99 for the 2000 season. That boosted things exponentially, and in our first year, we were producing twice as many kites as we were sails, and that continued for the next several years.’

In 2023, there were well over one hundred makers of kites, boards and foils. Many of these can be regarded as spoiler brands founded upon an ‘Alibaba R&D Model’, so as they don’t contribute to advancing technology, they purchase pre-existing models from the efforts and investments of others. Of the more established brands with a long history of development and pioneering processes, only Duotone, F-One, Naish, Cabrinha and Ozone produce tube kites, foil kites, kiteboards, foil boards and foils. Some make boards or kites; only a few are considered kiting companies or brands in the full sense of the word.

Naish is the only household name from the windsurfing era that one can identify with, fully committed to kiteboarding from the very beginning and on all levels. Robby’s passion for the sport is self-evident and vital to the Naish brand. It is curious why Mistral and other prominent brands failed to seize the moment and dive into kitesurfing. Mistral sold to Boards and More in 2000, and leading up to its sale, Jacobs, the previous owner of Mistral, had no interest in investing, and neither did Boards and More. The

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*Two French brothers, Bruno Legaignoux and Dominique Legaignoux, designed a kite that made the kitesurfing more accessible. In 1984 they patented a inflatable kite design allowing emerging companies to improve on the Legaignoux brothers design.

‘I THOUGHT, WHY DON’T WE KEEP THE GROUP TOGETHER AND DO OUR OWN THING; SO, WE STARTED NAISH SAILS HAWAII ON MAUI IN THAT WINTER OF ‘95-‘96’

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Above: while still under contract with Mistral Robby started Naish Sails Hawaii in 1995/96. During the Mistral photoshoot in 1996 he already used his own new brand Naish Sails Hawaii.

time wasn’t right but possibly fatalistic to Mistral when it more or less departed from board hardware until the mid-2010s (see Chapters 16 and 18).

left at a similar time. Naish had grown to the point where it didn’t make sense for us not to make windsurfing boards; we were doing everything but the boards, even though we had designed and made all the boards for Mistral.

Your Dad and Harold Ige departed Mistral with the arrival of new owners, Boards and More (2000) around 2001. You too left, which meant your Dad could join the growing Naish business you had been developing back in Maui.

The financial reasons for staying no longer existed. We could do better just by doing our boards, by taking the Mistral branding off the boards and making them simply as Naish boards. We were producing at Cobra, Rick and Harold were doing all the designs with me, and it seamlessly transitioned so that Rick and Harold were working with Naish Sails Hawaii. All the development stayed in back in Oahu in Kailua until just a few years ago, and Naish Sails Hawaii remains on Maui.’

‘By 2001, my Dad was entirely focused on Naish. At that point, we were making kiteboards, kites, sails and rigs and so on; it was a natural evolution that ran its course. Yes, both he, Harold and I

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Naish was at the forefront of making kiteboarding a mainstream sport beginning in 1999. The timing seemed perfect for you.

‘Pioneering kiting was a lot of fun as had been earlier with windsurfing. But kiting was something in three dimensions with a wider wind range, which by then, it was not possible in windsurfing anymore when the wind was not strong enough for a short board. You could go out and jump and fly, and you didn’t need a wave to get into the air, so from the outset, it was just a compliment to windsurfing. It took little time or focus away from windsurfing; I had more time on the water in conditions in which I would no longer be windsurfing.

Windsurfing had evolved itself to such a point that many people did not have the conditions to go out; not enough wind to ride a small board, and a kite filled that lower wind gap once again. It was really fun; it was the ‘The Wild West’ with new things advancing every few months during the mid-90s, which kept it really exciting because as the equipment changed, what you could do with it changed, and as you progressed, you changed the equipment. Good times.

Kiteboarding was and is simple, not requiring a huge amount of gear, which has always been one of the shortcomings of windsurfing; the complexity of the equipment and the cost. At that point in the sport, buying a lot of gear and driving to the beach, waiting for the wind to blow enough to actually use it, was a lot of people’s issue. Going away for the weekend and sitting on the beach waiting for the wind to be strong enough to go out on your 80L board doesn’t happen that often in many places, so kiting was the right thing at the right time.

Above: a perpetual pioneer, Robby has remained engaged in board sports by a continual process of metamorphosis, forcing him to learn new skills, new limits and to fully engage with the development of new equipment. Mentally and physically, this has kept him in continual state of evolution and enjoyment for what he does.

The same thing happened with SUP. There we had a sport that was even more accessible; you didn’t need any wind with it, and you could go out when there was no wind onto the water and get some exercise on a paddle board, which had an even wider demographic appeal. We were in the right place at the right time as a brand many times over. Myself as an athlete, I got to reinvent myself professionally several times over. If all I did was windsurf, I think I would have been washed up long ago. This has allowed me to continue to evolve as an athlete and keep it all interesting.’

Windsurfing has declined from its peak in the mid-80s, but the numbers remain healthy enough for an industry and a handful of brands to survive. What’s your view?

‘KITEBOARDING WAS AND IS SIMPLE, NOT REQUIRING A HUGE AMOUNT OF GEAR, WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN ONE OF THE SHORTCOMINGS OF WINDSURFING; THE COMPLEXITY OF THE EQUIPMENT AND THE COST’

‘Windsurfing will never be as big as it was, as there are so many other options, and I always tell people, “That’s okay” windsurfing was most fun when it was a new sport, when people didn’t even know what it was. I just say that it’s more exclusive once again; it’s not necessarily that it’s smaller or out of fashion, just more exclusive and still just as much fun as ever, and it’s less crowded.’

Windsurfing became the catalyst for other board sports and industries. If you add all board sports participants, the numbers are rising consistently; how do you see the choice now available?

‘As long as people are getting outside out on the water, into the wind and waves on a board, I don’t care how they do it whether windsurf-

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ing, stand up paddling or kiting, winging or surfing, whatever, it’s all good. I’ve never held grudges in the way skiers and snowboarders have issues with each other; surfers hate everybody; windsurfers and longboarders. I’ve always embraced them all, it’s all good, and I understand people become polarised because not everyone has the opportunity to have the choice of four sports, they’re all expensive. You only have so much time and money to get fully involved with what you choose, and so you want the other stuff [i.e. board equipment] to stay the heck away; I get that too, but for me, it’s all good.

I still love windsurfing, and kiting is still the most incredibly accessible extreme sport and the safest.

There aren’t many sports you can take off and do front flips and back flips that you can learn when you’re 50 years old without killing yourself, and kiting defiantly offers that. Windsurfing still offers that too. The average age of the average windsurfer around the globe is probably older than me at the moment, which is a little scary. There’s not a lot of youth, but there’s some amazing talent and young people still coming into it, but they have a lot of other options now that are less complicated and less expensive.’

Above: as if to bring clarity to confusion over what defines a ‘waterman’; Robby makes it clear he’s not keen in being under or even in water; riding upon the skin of the ocean with a board under his feet, no matter what type it may be, defines him. By this definition, he refers to himself as a ‘board rider’; and a pretty good one at that. Photo taken at La Perouse, Maui, Hawaii.

How do the learning curves of these sports vary?

‘If you want to go out in light winds, wingfoiling is easy to learn, really dynamic, little in the way of gear and less expensive and a lot of fun in flat water. Kiting offers huge potential for extreme performance or for just “mowing the lawn” if you’re not super athletic, you can be like a big kid being pulled along by a big kite; that’s amazing just in itself. So, the appeal is really broad. Windsurfing is still a fairly tough, complicated sport, even in its simplest form of a big

‘THE AGE OF THE AVERAGE WINDSURFER AROUND THE GLOBE IS PROBABLY OLDER THAN ME AT THE MOMENT, WHICH IS A LITTLE SCARY’

Below: Robby loves the simplicity of the wing and here we see his languid surfing style in full view

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board with sail, boom and universal joint; it’s still not easy. You’ve gotta have some patience to call yourself a windsurfer, and a lot of people these days simply don’t have the attention span needed; they’re just not willing to put in the effort to learn something like that.’

How important is the European market for Naish for what is ostensibly a Hawaiian-based brand?

‘Because we’re not a European-based brand, we are not as focused on Europe, and we’re at somewhat of a disadvantage being so far

How has it been with Naish entering Wingfoiling?

‘We were the first guys doing a real wing foil four years ago [2019] with the ‘WingSurfer’; it’s currently quite a small sport in terms of numbers. Wingfoiling, although it’s growing amazingly fast, up until now, it’s still been fairly niche. It has guys like me coming from other sports crossing over and getting into it, and in the beginning, you need to be reasonably technically savvy; you have to know what you’re doing.

Because it’s a niche market, there’s an opportunity for little brands; I still consider Naish a little brand, like Alex Aguera with Go Foil, like Armstrong, like Lift. Lift has taken off because of their stupid E-Foil things; I hate those things, they’re rich boy’s toys, but they’re a small brand doing some cool technical stuff.’

There’s only a small window to develop, put to market and break even on a new investment. Does the clock rapidly count down towards the moment your original product appears branded up by a pretender courtesy of a factory in China offering your intellectual property to others?

Above: SUP foiling off the coast of Maui

away. Not being a European-based brand gives us a margin disadvantage due to shipping and distribution costs. The US is a bigger percentage of our turnover than it would be for the likes of Duotone, Fanatic, North or whoever, but so far as Europe goes, you live or die by being in that market without a doubt; we’d be a lot smaller if that European market were not there.

We’ve never been a huge brand in Europe; we’ve always been a bit ‘Fringe’ in terms of percentages, even with our kite business compared to the mass of European brands, so our market share is still small. Still, we’re healthy and comfortable and profitable, and that is one of our main goals. If you look at pretty much any of the major brands, some are independent, but the vast majority are financed or owned by shareholders wanting to leverage that investment through profitability and spinning it off to somebody else in a 3-5 year time period or whatever time line they set themselves. We’ve always been different.’

‘It’s neat because there’s opportunity in the beginning because you require technical knowledge and know-how and manufacturing. In the beginning, you establish yourself to a fairly small target group of users. Now it’s growing beyond that; everyone and their brother is making foils.

You can go on Alibaba tomorrow and buy foils which are copies of whichever brand you want, and put your logo on it.

Wings are the same thing; you can buy wings from friggin’ factories in China that God knows where they came from, but they’re also making wings. So, Wingfoiling is doing that full-on dilution thing [as happened with SUP] when all the big brands are doing it; every kite brand, every windsurf brand and every friggin’ wakeboard brand and progressively every foil maker; they’re all in WingFoiling now, it’s become a shit-show overnight. But for a while there, it was really cool, you know, cottage production doing neat little things for a fairly small target group of consumers.’

Was that your experience with SUP? How does it differ?

‘SUP was very different. When we got into SUP commercially in 2008, we had already been doing it for several years before this trying to convince our importers this was going to be something that would grow beyond Maui. At the importer meetings, they would be saying, “No, this is a Maui thing” it will never catch on, and we kept telling them, “No, this is going to catch on!”.

Finally, in 2008, when we launched our commercial SUP range, it took off and in Europe, it followed several years later after America,

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and in that sense, there was so much volume in this big mass market that many brands came and went as you mention and are long gone.’

Is it surprising how many ‘no-name brands’ popped up to cash in on the SUP boom, and some have been hugely successful with no water sports industry track record? ‘*Jimmy Styks for example was huge in America. It had no team, no marketing, but sold through Costco, a nothing brand; no racers, no wave boards, just cheap Chinese paddle touring stuff, and they sold out to Vista Outdoor Group for $44 million, and eighteen months later, the brand was gone. If someone from Vista Group had come to me and asked my advice, I would have said, “There’s nothing there, there’s literally nothing; no brand equity and people are buying only on price.” They’re going to Costco and buying a beach toy, today it’s a Jimmy Stycks tomorrow it’s brand X; and that’s exactly what happened and the whole thing disappeared as most SUP brands did.’

Above: back to his roots - testing new windsurfing equipment off Kanaha / Spreckelsville, Maui, Hawaii

So how do you differentiate yourself as a brand in such a competitive market?

‘To be honest, I’m not sure; we’re just doing what we’re doing because we love doing it. Because we were out there, making the stuff, trying it, at some point, we decide, “Okay, let’s offer it commercially” there’s no big plan behind it; our lines evolve, and the commercial realities are usually secondary to the, “Let’s go have fun with this stuff and then, okay, now how can we sell it? What do people want?” and it’s usually different from what I want, and we go from there.

As a brand, we’re kind of in-between; we’re not Duo-Tone [Boards and More] or like the Starboard Group or Armstrong. We’re somewhere in between the little guys and the big guys, doing what we do, hopefully making good stuff that people appreciate. We’re definitely a board-riding brand.’

A sound brand philosophy has always been the guiding principle behind brand building. It’s very probable Naish intuitively knows its place because whatever is branded Naish reflects on you. But there’s always a temptation to take the easy money and lower the bar when a giant retailer such as Costco, Decathlon or Lidl calls you.

‘IF YOU WANT TO GO OUT IN LIGHT WINDS, WINGFOILING IS EASY TO LEARN, REALLY DYNAMIC, LITTLE IN THE WAY OF GEAR AND LESS EXPENSIVE AND A LOT OF FUN IN FLAT WATER’

‘I’ve had my share of being offered such deals, with Lidl, for example, and I know the guys who orchestrated it, and sure, it’s lots of units for a low margin, it’s a lot of money, but there’s a huge price to pay in fact. It’s a cash cow for a three or four-year contract; the novelty dies out, then what are you left with? Your reputation and brand equity are kicked in the arse and there’s no coming back from that.’ * Jimmy Styks relaunched in 2022

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There have been a lot of surfing-related apparel brands that have ended up in supermarkets and discount stores, many moving out of bespoke surf shops. Hot Tuna (Aust) 1969, Piping Hot (Aust) 1975, Golden Breed (USA) 1969, Hang Ten (USA) 1960, Maui and Sons (Maui) 1980, Local Motion (Hawaii) 1977, Hawaiian Style (Hawaii) the 1970s, O’Neill (USA) 1952, and Billabong (Aust) 1973 all found their way into hyper-markets of one form or another. Decathalon, Costco and Lidl have been doing deals with recognised brands in respect of both hard and soft goods. Good or bad do you think?

What about marketing?

‘People are buying on price in these outlets. There’s no brand loyalty.

If you’re buying on price, what-ever’s the cheapest on the day you need to go buy something, you know the cheapest is what you’re gonna buy. No matter what the brand is, you don’t care. You know

Social media seems to have accelerated the mantra ‘All the gear, no idea rider’ to new levels of incompetence. Everyone’s an expert, and even their buying habits seem to be aimed at overshooting their abilities, so as the kit they buy may only realise 50% of its design capacity being used.

‘Navigating your way marketing-wise, through the new world of social media is a nightmare. It was a lot easier when we had print magazines only. I could tell you exactly how we marketed ourselves and how we positioned ourselves back then. These days, it’s very difficult to do so, I don’t get it, and I don’t like it, so that’s a disadvantage as well; the fact that I despise social media and the whole concept of influencer-driven marketing hype and so forth. There’s not much good that comes from it.’

‘Yeah, and they can’t ride their way out of a paper bag, they’re not good enough to tell the difference between this one or that one, and yet they’re gonna go down to the beach [or on a forum] and tell everybody what they need, and this is why they need it and sell it to everybody.

They’d be way better off on some low aspect delta shaped foil than this HA [high aspect] thing that they’ve been convinced or convinced themselves they’ve gotta have.

Now they’re riding a 40lt board and sinking up to their chest, waiting for wind instead of going out on an 85 or 95lt and actually having fun. Yeah, I’m right with ya!’

From my perspective, Naish has always had genuine authenticity and has had family at its core; how does that influence what you do? it’s, “What’s the new $299, oh and look, that one comes with a paddle”. The $699 became the $499, then became the $399, and when your brand is connected as the cheapest thing you can buy at the lowest level retail outlet, you kinda can’t go any deeper; you can’t bring it back up again. When you’re selling to that customer, the customer doesn’t care; they’re buying on price. The store is hoping there’s still some residual brand equity left from the history and legacy of the brand, that the customer may recognise it and buy it over something else. The brand will then struggle to sell in a windsurfing or SUP specialist shop next to a Starboard, Fanatic, Duo-Tone or Naish brand because the guy that owns the corner store knows he may struggle to sell it.

So the best way to manage that is to put as little as possible into development and marketing and maximise turnover. It’s a different business model. It’s cool; someone’s making money there. I’m glad it’s not my business model. But it is what it is; they’ve killed the brand on one level and kinda resurrected it on another as something else to be a mass market-cheap price point brand.

And don’t go thinking there’s any brand loyalty from the likes of Lidl. They need to keep it fresh. They need to change to a different brand every couple of years. They need to maximise sales, so whoever brings the best package and where it looks like they’re gonna sell the most, that’s who they’re gonna go to.’

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‘The journey has been fun, and we’ve made plenty of mistakes; I’m the first one to usually tell people I don’t know what I’m doing! Half the time, we’re just trying to have fun on the water and hoping other people will too. We’ve structured ourselves in such a way if people aren’t interested in our products, we’re not gonna die; we’re not in it because there’s opportunity today and when the opportunity is gone, we’re gonna leave. We’re still in windsurfing even though we’re this big [Robby makes an inch sign with his fingers], and we love it!

We’re still making full-on composite SUP’s even though the market’s gone 90% inflatable beach toys [chuckles], we’re still there for the people who want to take up SUP. Naish is probably not the first one they buy, but it may be the 2nd, 3rd or 4th one they buy when they decide they really enjoy this sport, and we’ll make them a board they can use for the rest of their lives. That is what we’re still into.

Above left and right: Robby wing foiling in Maalea and Kanaha, Maui

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Above: Robby riper in years, but young as ever on the water Right: Robby Naish says about Wingfoiling ‘We were the first guys doing a real wing foil four years ago (2019) with the ‘WingSurfer’; it’s currently quite a small sport in terms of numbers. Wingfoiling, although it’s growing amazingly fast, up until now, it’s still been fairly niche.

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Main photo: La Perouse, Maui / small inserts right: Hookipa

Very occasionally, you hear people talk of Robby as if he’s no longer relevant to the big picture and young kids ignorant as to who he is. This is akin to not knowing the origin of the species or the possibility of the existence of a God; whomever that may or may not be to you. When you’re knocking on 60 and pulling stunts like this, you’re either on a death wish or master of your domain. You decide.

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‘I THINK A BIG PART OF IT AGAIN IS YOUR APPROACH. IS THE BUSINESS YOUR REASON FOR EXISTING, OR IS THE SPORT YOUR REASON FOR EXISTING? WITH US, IN EVERY DISCIPLINE WE’RE IN, IT’S THE SPORT.’

Above: La Perouse, Maui, Hawaii.

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As soon as the big money was gone from SUP in the States, everybody disappeared. At one time, there were maybe 100 brands. Now there are; I don’t know, 5? But we’re still there because we still love it, and we still have a full line of stock.

I think a big part of it again is your approach. Is the business your reason for existing, or is the sport your reason for existing? With us, in every discipline we’re in, it’s the sport. If we can sell a few and make some money doing it, that’s certainly helpful. But that’s not why we’re in it; we’re not in it because of the business. We’re in it because we love the sports that we do. And I think that’s the difference.’

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LAST BLAST Within a month after my interview with Robby, a press release dated January 10th 2023, announced Naish, the brand, had been acquired

by Netherlands company, Kubus Sports. Maui-based Nalu Kai Inc., the operating company of Naish and Pacific Board Sports, its US distribution company, were central to this purchase. Kubus has, for some 20 years, acted as a distribution partner for Naish Europe, and the acquisition aims to integrate their organisations to strengthen product development, product portfolio, sales and operations. Robby, it is said, will continue to drive product innovation and stay on as a brand ambassador.

Robby comments, ‘My parents started Naish Hawaii in our Kailua garage in 1979, making and selling custom windsurfing boards that were ridden and cherished all over the world. I expanded the reach of the Naish brand in the mid-’90s with the launch of Naish Sails Hawaii.

A quarter century later, the Naish brand has grown into a complete board-riding company with a full range of products for windsurfing, kitesurfing, stand-up paddling, foil surfing, and wing foiling.

The driving force behind the Naish business has always been a love for these sports and an undying passion for riding the wind and waves.

I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished. But I’ve also come to realise that I have taken the business as far as my passion, knowledge, and know-how will allow. For the Naish brand to meet its full potential requires a new direction, structure, and energy. This partnership with Kubus Sports will provide that and the resources and infrastructure needed to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing business landscape.

the water and riding for its pure fun and enjoyment. I look forward to sailing into the future with Kubus Sports and the Naish brand and continuing to share my passion for water, wind, and waves with people around the globe.’

My interview resonates many of Robby’s wishes, to step back, relax a little and get away from the day to day issues of running Naish; it may not have come naturally to him, but he had to be doing something right all these years. Mostly I sense he had surrounded himself with ‘good people’ and that’s important in any going concern.

The Netherlands has had a growing quiver of watersports brands in recent years, emerging either organically or through acquisition, and it’s undoubtedly ironic both Naish and Mistral now reside in the same backyard. That Naish would end up being a European-owned company is no big surprise. In my interview with Robby, he stated, ‘. . . if you’re not in Europe, you’re nowhere,’ also recognising doing business here was difficult when your operational base is in Maui.

Robby is much loved in Europe, and it’s been good to him on many levels, especially during all his years with Mistral.

Mistral’s investment with Naish certainly assisted in making both Robby and the Naish brand ever-present in Europe. He deserves this more than you might imagine. The only hope is that Naish, the brand, will thrive so as the legacy may continue in the spirit in which it was created, from the man considered the worlds most admired, respected and revered windsurfer and watersports innovator.

I am excited to see Kubus Sports push the Naish brand to the next level. I’m also excited to slow my life down a bit. This acquisition frees me up from the day-to-day operations and stresses and will allow me to re-focus on why I started doing this in the first place; getting out on

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Above: first windsurfing trip to the Bahamas 1974: Peter Brockhaus (red sweatshirt) and Chris Forstmeier (yellow t-shirt) later to be Peter’s wife.

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CHAPTER 2

PETER BROCKHAUS AN ALTERNATIVE EARLY EUROPEAN WINDSURFING STORY

P

eter Brockhaus’s lucid memory of the beginnings of windsurfing in Europe of people, places and conversations is quite remarkable. Here he reveals his thoughts behind some of the challenging circumstances he faced as an entrepreneur trying to grow the sport and his business interests. He started working in windsurfing in 1973 with ‘Windsurfing Deutschland’ as the distributor of Windsurfer®; three years later, he founded Mistral and, in 1980, the F2 brand.

His story covers the need to develop formal teaching for windsurfing (1973) and an early realisation that shorter boards with foot straps orientated to stronger winds (i.e., funboards) would be the future. He describes the philosophical disagreement with his Mistral business partners about a direction of travel, among other issues, resulting in his stepping down and establishing F2 (1980). Founding a second new company is also a rich story with many twists and turns.

Brockhaus was a tour de force in his field, and his insights make for compelling reading, opening your eyes to a seldom-told alternative windsurfing development narrative. The Americanization of windsurfing’s history, interesting as it is, often obscures the reality; Europe became the primary market and nucleus of the Above: Peter Brockhaus big brands and popularisation of the sport. His quest was to improve the original Windsurfer® design and board manufacturing processes and materials. In addition, he confronted significant business and growth challenges, often in very creative ways.

IN THE BEGINNING Brockhaus discovered windsurfing when working on the island of Sylt in Northern Germany in the autumn of 1972 as a consultant for the Government carrying out a feasibility study for tourism, where he met Calle Schmidt, who had imported the first Windsurfer® boards directly from Hoyle Schweitzer in America.

He purchased a board and learnt what trial and error means. ‘. . . in the packaging was this ridiculous piece of paper with some

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instructional match-stick figure drawings supposed to teach you how to master the sport. I will never forget shaking my head over this poor marketing from the USA.’ Calle Schmidt, Germany’s first importer and distributor of the American Windsurfer®

Calle Schmidt was from Hamburg, born in 1939 and regularly vacationed with his parents on the German Island of Sylt. He was a trained advertising specialist and owner of an advertising agency. Being a sailing and surfing instructor, in 1971, he moved to the island to open a sailing school. ‘One day before I wanted to buy my boats, I read the article [about windsurfing] in the magazine, Yacht, at the end of January ‘72.’ Calle contacted Hoyle Schweitzer in the USA, ordered two boards by air freight in early April 1972 and started his first shaky learning attempts.

This singular lack of a good instructional booklet was, in fact, seminal and a blunder of epic proportions on the part of Windsurfing International. Even its creators struggled with mastery of the contraption they had made. Yet, when sold to the general public, buyers were expected to know how to rig it and master the art of this new windsurfing sport in the absence of any formal instructional material save for a few random drawings. Consequently, when Brockhaus set out to resolve this issue, the resulting missing part of the sales and marketing strategy he helped kick-start windsurfing in Europe.

Schmidt’s distribution system was crude but effective, supplying to anyone willing to order five boards, making them pay for four.

No one was selling boards professionally full time, and Schmidt was failing to meet the sales figures required by Hoyle Schweitzer’s manufacturing licensee for Europe, TenCate, located in Almelo Holland. Ultimately, in November 1973, Brockhaus took over Schmidt’s Windsurfing Deutschland business as an importer and distributor of the original Windsurfer® into Germany. TenCate signed the German distributor agreement with Brockhaus’ GmbH (company). Brockhaus would then set up an instruction centre at Lake Starnberg with a partner, Hans Taubinger, who had designed his own board and built a few in polyester.

INSTRUCTION: ESSENTIAL FOR GROWTH It was clear that here was a sport technically challenging to learn, which presented a barrier to entry. Brockhaus wanted to reverse the usual buying experience through what he termed ‘Verkauf nur mit Schulung’ (instruction prior to purchase). Lessons had to be made part of the buying experience, presented in safe, efficient controlled and enjoyable circumstances.

‘NO ONE WAS SELLING BOARDS PROFESSIONALLY AT THIS TIME’

His vision also considered a key risk; over-crowded lakes in Germany could lead to local bans since German authorities are quick to rule on safety issues. There was also consideration of the difficulties young people without a car might have; therefore, included in the service was the storing of their board at the lake in a protected shelter as part of the package where possible. Lakeside windsurfing schools were ideally suited to this format.

The formalisation of this teaching methodology led to the founding of the ‘Verband Deutscher Windsurfing Schulen (VDWS)’ which centred around the teaching of safe practice, without which closure of the sport in key venues may have occurred and the belief that instruction would lead to buying, and it did. The outcome was a sustainable infrastructure for the sport.

As a result of this initiative, the resulting schools sold the sport through instruction, so retailers did not need to convince buyers to purchase, as they would have already been persuaded through instruction. The business model was a complete success in offering instructional courses as part of a service-focused business.

‘This decision encouraged young windsurfers to create windsurfing schools that popped up on every lake in Germany. I developed the simulator, which you still find in some places today, produced by

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my father-in-law, who had ironworks. It would be much easier to develop the sport if I seperated instruction as a paid service from selling the product and have the person pay first for the service. At this time, we had two different people selling the Windsurfer®. We had well-established equipment retailers and garage dealers, with whom I wanted to get better organised and become more professional. I had inherited the garage dealers from Calle.’

With the contract with TenCate signed for Germany, Brockhaus ensured the VDWS concept was implemented and invited seven retailers to develop a Windsurfer® marketing strategy centred upon his instruction-based approach. The VDWS was founded

Above: in contrast to many of the later managers in the windsurfing business Peter Brockhaus has always been a keen windsurfer from the beginning. This photo shows him on one of his early trips to the Bahamas sailing an original Windsurfer® reaching downwind with the old-fashioned wooden daggerboard halfway up.

Left: the Simulator produced by Brockhaus’s father in law. Some remain in use today.

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in 1974 by Brockhaus, Dago Benz, Horst Karrer, Klaus Gahmig, Ernstfried Prade (whose insight appears in Chapter 5) and the Charchulla brothers. The VDWS established their credibility with the authorities. Windsurfing schools signed a cooperation agreement with the newly created VDWS, agreeing to follow the rules of instruction and procedures.

Enthusiastic windsurfers who wanted to make a business from their sport were confident enough to invest. They secured a place on a lake and operated out of a hut or a truck. Schools opened up rapidly in Bavaria and elsewhere. At Lake Starnberg, there were eight or ten by 1975, all instructers using the same system. The VDWS offered instructor courses to train and qualify new entrants. Ernstfried Prade acted as the President of this VDWS, and his sister served as the Secretary.

Many of those who started running schools in Germany became retailers. Some schools would teach up to 300 pupils over the summer, then 500 the following summer, which led to an increasing number of instructors. ‘The next step was to open a shop, either at the lake or somewhere in town. The school with the shop was the place to go, so even if the person who tried the sport did not go on to buy, the owner still had 300 Marks for each weekend lesson given,’ Brockhaus recalls.

Some criticised the process. ‘Whenever challenged about this strict regime concerning ‘Instruction Prior To Purchase,’ I used the mitigating risk argument. It was a fascination for many as to how and why we separated the paid service from selling boards. In reality without this, the salesman in the shop would have had a tough time selling. This system worked so nicely that in 1975 we had sold more boards in Bavaria than Mr Schweitzer had sold in seven years since founding in 1968 in the US. From 1974 to 1980, instruction was the number one reason for such high sales figures in Germany.’

In contrast, Windsurfing International USA had no formal teaching process, which doubtlessly slowed the growth rate. After Brockhaus visited the first Windsurfer® One-Design World Championships on Association Island, Lake Ontario, in July 1974, this was to change. Invited by Hoyle Schweitzer he travelled with a simulator to demonstrate the instruction system to American dealers. Consequently, the simulator found its way to the USA, adopted as a teaching tool. TenCate would become instrumental in founding TenCate International Windsurfer Schools, with Janny Boonstra as its head, which aligned with the International Windsurfer Schools (Dagobert Benz) and the International Windsurfer Class Association (IWCA - Ludwig Graf von Seyssel).

Above: this was the first advertising poster for VDWS Windsurfing Schools.

The poster-girls were Mirka Taubinger (wife of Hans Taubinger) and Chris Forstmeier (later married to Peter Brockhaus). Schools opened up rapidly in Bavaria and elsewhere. At Lake Starnberg alone, there were eight or ten in 1975.

‘IN 1975 WE HAD SOLD MORE BOARDS IN BAVARIA THAN MR SCHWEITZER HAD SOLD IN SEVEN YEARS SINCE FOUNDING IN 1968 IN AMERICA’

MEETING THE NEEDS OF NEW PARTICIPANTS In the 1970s, 30 and 40-year-olds were, according to Brockhaus, the windsurfing pioneers who could afford to participate, adopting it as a ‘cool’ sport gaining the facade of being sporty and active. With boards on the car roof, which no one stole in those days, it became an iconoclastic symbol of being ‘on trend.’ Participation was made more accessible if you lived by the water or had equipment at the water’s edge to cycle, travel on public transport, or walk there. Globally, many of the former windsurfing locations disappeared in the ‘90s, and here lies the problem today, a need for infrastructure.

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The emergence of windsurfing in the ‘70s was a breath of fresh air. The first cover of the VDWS instruction manual featured bikini-wearing young women gliding over the water. The media in many European countries loved the novelty of this new sport with ‘surfing’ in its title.

‘In May 1974, I was invited to ZDF TV Sport Studio by journalist Harry Valerien wanting me to show the windsurfing simulator in action. He installed a giant wind machine in his studio, and one of the bikini cover girls, Chris, later to be my wife, demonstrated, how

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‘WINDSURFING IN ‘70s WAS EUROPE’S FIRST ACTUAL LIFESTYLE SPORT AND BECAME SYNONYMOUS WITH THAT DECADE. IT WAS SEXY AND COOL’ Above: Ludwig Count of Seyssel d’Aix was a dazzling figure in the bohemian-aristocratic circles of the wealthy Lake Starnberg jet set at the time.

As a hip, young fashion designer he was exactly the right figure to promote the sport as the new President of the International Windsurfer® Class Association. Subsequently windsurfing became the most fashionable sport with prominent singers, entertainers, actors and Royalty (i.e. Prince Charles / King Charles III and others).

Above: Ludwig Count of Seyssel d’Aix’s Porsche 911: With boards on the car you could suddenly be seen to be someone athletic and active. While in the early stages the Windsurfer® might have been considered the poor man’s sailboat, windsurfing had become a prominent, cool sport.

it worked; this was only two months after we founded the VDWS. I watched from the first row, sitting beside Franz Beckenbauer, the famous German soccer captain.

In Germany, we had TV coverage at every Windsurfer® race of national importance. In June 1975, we organised the Bavarian Championships at Lake Starnberg, near Munich and Hoyle Schweitzer and his wife and TenCate flew in. My Bavarian dealer, Graf Ludwig von Seyssel, was elected the President of the International Windsurfer® Class Association, which proved to me the success of our instruction model. In 1975, the world of windsurfing was looking to Bavaria because of such tremendous sales. We had a model for success. The early promotion culminated during the 1975 World Championships in Bendor, France. The Mistral wind [the strong

Above: Royal play. Prince Charles now King Charles III windsurfing in Mallorca, 1986.

Right: topless or bikini-wearing girls gliding over the water weren’t deemed as sexist. Indeed, windsurfing in the late ‘70s early ‘80s, resonated with the ‘60s flower power movement, transposed from the countryside to the beaches of Europe; peace and love replaced by a brand of bohemian aloha.

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Above and right: with Brockhaus’s talent for sales and marketing, he recognised the need to produce a regular magazine from which many spin-offs were to come. Peter is seen here sailing an original Windsurfer® during a 1974 photoshoot in the Bahamas with photographer Michael Garff. Many of these shots were subsequently published as covers for the newly established Windsurfing Magazine.

wind down the Rhone valley] blew continuously and was a fantastic staging for the Windsurfer® but exposed the weakness of the rig and daggerboard in these ideal conditions.’ We explore this further later in this chapter.

With Brockhaus’s talent for sales and marketing, he recognised the need to produce a regular specialist magazine. ‘It began immediately after founding VDWS in 1974 – we started by producing a windsurfing instructional booklet to improve upon the poor literature supplied with the board by TenCate. After this, I produced three more issues in what started as ‘Windsurfing Magazine.’

Ernstfried Prade would become intrinsic to Brockhaus’ plans of founding the VDWS, instructional materials, the magazine and later Brockhaus’s founding of Mistral in 1976. Their relationship would become a lifelong battle of egos and, at times opposing visions for the sport. ‘I hired Ernstfried Prade, a graphic designer I had initially met in 1973. I asked him to do the layout for my Windsurfing Magazine, which he did for a while. He had to work

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closely with me and two photographers, Michael Garff and Ulli Seer (see Chapter 4), on six issues per year from 1975 to 1976.’

THE ORIGINAL BOARD: DESIGN, PRODUCTION AND PATENT James Drake co-worked with Hoyle Schweitzer on the original sailboard concept and presented a paper to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics entitled: ‘Windsurfing - A New Concept in Sailing’ at the spring 1969 AIAA symposium. Eventually,

after trial and error attempts at manufacturing using hand laid fiberglass, Schweitzer turned to the more durable and cheaper polyethylene supplied by the Dupont (chemical) company. Dupont featured the new plastic Windsurfer® on the cover of their company magazine in 1971 with a 4-page feature inside. This article and Dupont’s short TV public relations film were very influential and created huge demand. In 1973 Schweitzer’s Windsurfer’s International Inc. licensed Ntjverdal TenCate of Holland for production and sale in Europe under German and UK patents. They created their plant in Almelo, Holland.

Despite the enthusiasm of TenCate, future quality control issues, together with Windsurfing International’s apparent refusal to challenge quality issues or implement design changes for improvement in the interim years, created a rocky road ahead for all parties.

Brockhaus recalls, ‘There were many problems, especially with the infamous yellow and orange boards first produced. The orange board had more volume than the yellow one, and the idea of it being a one-design identical manufacturer’s class was ridiculous.

From the first regatta at the European Championships held in 1973

on the island of Sylt, only the American white board was competitive. But they were hardly available. Nevertheless, the popularity of the Windsurfer® was immense. People liked the international nature of the racing calendar, and at every race, there were [after 1976] at least four men’s weight group winners and a women’s winner; there were many Champions.’

As participant skill levels improved, they were outgrowing the equipment’s capabilities. Sailing in winds of 15 knots and above exposed the weakness of the design. Everyone wanted a better design of the mast foot, mast and boom, and the poor daggerboard, amongst other things. The Windsurfer® Class officials in Germany proposed to TenCate and Schweitzer to alter the worst parts. ‘The wooden mast extension was always loose and unstable, which affected the sail shape badly. Schweitzer rejected all these good ideas of enhancing features. It caused endless discussions at regatta events, especially because, as I have said, the TenCate boards manufactured in Holland were not as competitive as those made in America.’

One of Brockhaus’ interventions came when he set out to improve Schweitzer’s patent. It was an inarticulate document registered in several countries, including Germany, the United Kingdom, the USA, Canada and Japan. ‘After I had met Hoyle at the 1974 Windsurfer® World Championships, he asked me to contact his patent attorney in Munich because his patent in Germany was not yet approved. My attorney found it weak when I started importation in January 1974. Hoyle wanted me to consult his patent attorney to improve the patent claim. The text was confusing: I did not understand a word. So, I asked the patent attorney to explain the contents of the registration documents; he could not explain the simple fact that the board was directed by shifting the sail back and forth, which meant he had no understanding of the functioning of a windsurfing board.

I invited him to Lake Starnberg and showed him the board’s steering in particular. After he saw it, he was able to improve upon the patent wording substantially. The American patent, once re-written, was accepted at the patent office, translated into German and submitted in Germany. I helped make sense of the patent; otherwise

‘THE PATENT ATTORNEY COULD NOT EXPLAIN THE SIMPLE FACT THAT THE BOARD WAS DIRECTED

BY SHIFTING THE SAIL BACK AND FORTH...HE HAD NO UNDERSTANDING OF THE FUNCTIONING OF A WINDSURFING BOARD’

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it was unintelligible, which I thought would be to my advantage, but it proved to be the opposite when I later founded Mistral. It worked entirely against me.’

HOW DID TENSIONS WITH TENCATE THREATEN DEVELOPMENT?

were manufacturers of products constructed of similar materials, the manufacturing of windsurfing boards may never have been viable as a stand-alone product.

‘As early as 1974, I knew Schweitzer was unwilling to accept the slightest change in design, so I changed my strategy in dealing with

The CEO of TenCate shared with Brockhaus that the purpose of gaining a license from Schweitzer to produce the Windsurfer® was to promote their TenCate sailcloth to the market. They wanted something on the water with the TenCate logo and contacted Schweitzer directly. ‘No one in Almelo [Holland] knew what they were doing. It was a nightmare. In the first year, I ordered 1500 boards for the 1974 season. I gave a firm order in October so they knew what to manufacture with deliveries for spring and summer.

They delivered only 50% of the total order. In 1975, the same story except I ordered 3000, and they delivered 1500, and in 1976 I ordered 6000 and by May / June, had yet to deliver half. We also had a severe quality issue in 1976. I remember the figures well because of the later lawsuit I would have against Schweitzer and TenCate.

The German Windsurfer® Class [the association of people who raced the boards] discovered many TenCate boards with uneven daggerboard cases. The tip of the daggerboard was up to ten centimetres off-centre. When I measured all boards in my warehouse, the problem became severe. I claimed hundreds of boards to be exchanged or credited by TenCate and returned them. They ignored my claims and sent the boards directly out to my main dealers, and some days later, they cancelled my distribution agreement without notice.

Regrettably, this is the sad story of early windsurfing, nobody could deliver a finished board with less than a twenty to thirty per cent claim rate for the first 15 years, including Mistral. Despite an excellent growth rate, companies would lose money as there was no profit to make with such claim rates as it took out the twenty-five per cent profit margin, so there was no profit on boards which became claims.’

Brockhaus suggested TenCate manufacture sportswear because customers were begging for tee shirts, sweatshirts, etc. At this time, fans wanted to have a Windsurfer® logo on their breast every day, going to the office, parties, and everywhere, to show they were windsurfers. TenCate, could not come up with anything of value.

Tensions over poor quality boards and questionable practices

by TenCate led Brockhaus to have a severe breakdown of trust and open lines of communication with TenCate and Schweizer.

Brockhaus’ biggest disappointment with Schweitzer came as a result of the cancellation of his contract with TenCate in July of 1976, in which he said to Schweitzer, ‘I am protecting your Windsurfer® One-Design by sending back sub-standard boards, and the only thing they can think to do, is to send out these same boards to my dealers and cancel my contract?’

Schweitzer claimed he could not do anything for Brockhaus and that he should talk to TenCate. But they were unwilling, and he later understood that Schweitzer had received a pre-payment on his royalties from TenCate. With all these significant issues, it’s a wonder the sport grew. Had it not been for big investors who

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Above: ‘I created a small line of high wind sails, selling them like hot cakes with the names ‘Mistral’ and ‘Scirocco’ on them. This was how the name Mistral came about, even though it was not a brand yet’.

‘MANY TENCATE BOARDS WERE DELIVERED WITH UNEVEN DAGGERBOARD CASES. THE TIP OF THE DAGGERBOARD WAS UP TO TEN CENTIMETRES OFF-CENTRE’

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TenCate and advised them to let Schweitzer be happy with the Windsurfer® and encouraged them to develop a new, more modern board. There was a significant danger for all of us in the windsurfing trade to lose market control; you did not need a vivid imagination to predict what would happen; competition between brands would intensify as they were able to improve upon the Windsurfer®

a designer, and listened to our ideas regarding developing a better product and meeting peoples’ needs, TenCate would have produced Mistral’s original first board [the Superwind].’

NEW BRANDS EMERGE Many boat makers in France began making boards where the sport was called Planche à Voile. In France, companies like Dufour/Bic had no patent registered and enforced. France exploded with brands. The sheer potential of the sport led to new competitors like Speedy in Switzerland, Alpha in Austria, Klepper, HiFly, Sailsurfer, and Windglider in Germany and Tiga, Sainval and Jet in France.

These brands emerged in Europe because of a need for a better design than the Windsurfer®, the companies invested vast amounts.

Windsurfing International seemingly kept its product rudimentary at best, while others took financial risks to improve upon the idea, bringing in royalty revenue; within Germany, at any rate.

‘In the beginning, everyone copied the Windsurfer® One-Design idea. When the Windglider was chosen as the first Olympic board for the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, Mr Ostermann wanted it to be the number one board above the Windsurfer® Class, the better one-design class, and he succeeded. However, that was the pinnacle, and at the end of it, he had overspent developing and building up the framework for an Olympic Class, but the market asked for funboards. Soon his company ended in bankruptcy.’

While German makers were paying out license fees per board (57%) for their worldwide distribution, it was different in the rest of Europe. The patent limited the sport’s expansion in the USA. ‘French brands BIC and Tiga and other non-German companies were not selling in Germany and had no license burden to carry. The most substantial companies were the German firms. Here Schweitzer enforced his license, and long before he lost the prominent German patent lawsuit [1983], Schweitzer received millions of dollars from the German top three; Windglider, Klepper and HiFly.’

design. I remember around 1980, being at the Paris Boat Show, and I counted 105 manufacturers with their products.

We also wanted to develop high-wind equipment. In 1975 we imported high-wind storm daggerboards from Hawaii. In the Windsurfing Magazine, we made an extensive report with photos of Mike Horgan, Robby Naish, Larry Stanley and Dennis Davidson sailing in the waves in Kailua using them. It was a small swept-back design with a ledge which secured it to the underside of the board.

We saw these high-wind sails and daggerboards that could not be purchased from TenCate.

Meanwhile, we shortened the booms and used better sailcloth; I created a small line of high wind sails, selling them like hot cakes with names like ‘Mistral’, ‘Scirocco’ and ‘Kailua’. This was how the name ‘Mistral’ first came into windsurfing consciousness, even though it was not a brand yet. The bottom line with this story of Schweitzer is that had he not reacted in the way that he did and worked with

Brockhaus resumed discussions with TenCate regarding a second board, but Schweitzer resisted. ‘TenCate knew my attitude towards having a second board to open up the market, suggesting they would not survive with only the Windsurfer®. All the other importers with whom I had close relations, especially my friend Charles Daher in France, the Italians, Austrians and the Swiss importer of the Windsurfer®, all thought as I did.’ TenCate would ultimately develop and produce new board designs in the 1980s, including the Windsurfer® Rocket, Beacher, Hunter, Rocky and TC Win, TC36, TC39 and other designs under license. They enjoyed mediocre success; ironically, Brockhaus’s F2 would be well in advance in design and gadgetry during the 1980s and contributed to TenCate’s poor sales.

Brockhaus recalls he was a one-design fan initially, and Mistral also introduced its ‘Competition’ class. ‘Racing with uniform equipment is fair and challenging. But it has to be a true one-design class. Schweitzer was fascinated with the Hobie, Laser and Sunfish classes in sailing and wanted to create a manufacturer’s one-design class like them; however, he overlooked the fact when he released the Windsurfer®, it did not meet the consistency standards, and scrutiny demanded of a one-design class, especially difficult with TenCate responsible for the whole European market.’

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When in 1984, the Windglider was chosen over the Windsurfer® as the Olympic Games equipment, this was one of the claimed criticisms. Additionally, the Windsurfer® rig was more or less Jim Drake’s handcrafted first attempt. Brockhaus suggests, ‘. . . he began this one-design class with an unfinished product.’

‘...THE WINDSURFER® WAS SIMPLY NOT A COMPLETED PRODUCT READY FOR THE MARKET.SCHWEITZER STARTED HIS ONE-DESIGN CLASS WITH AN UNFINISHED PRODUCT!’ A significant blow would come for Schweitzer in April 1982, when sailboard designer Peter Chilvers of Hayling Island, England, was recognised in a High Court patent case as the inventor of the sailboard (see Chapter 13). The judge dismissed the American firm’s actions with costs and allowed Tabur Marine a counter-claim that Windsurfing International’s patent in England be revoked because it was invalid. Mr Nicholas Higham, the acting solicitor for Windsurfing International, said the firm had 26 similar actions pending in the UK alone and would appeal (but failed). In 1958, a young Peter Chilvers, at just 12 years of age, conceived his sailboard and gained recognition associated with ‘Prior Art’.

EMERGING ALTERNATIVES TO A ONE-DESIGN By 1976 the landscape of the sport was rapidly evolving. Brockhaus’s future with the Windsurfer® was on very rocky ground. He decided to create the world’s first board review through his German Windsurfing Magazine in September of that year. Its primary purposes were twofold; to engage a broader readership and seek additional advertising revenue for his publication. It also explored alternatives to the Windsurfer®.

‘Collectively, a group of entrepreneurs who had pioneered the sport in Europe, putting energy into the market, now felt they were up against stupid people at TenCate and Schweitzer, square-headed, not seeing what was going to happen. We were afraid to lose our businesses and investments. This was one reason why Mistral was founded.

Left: Ernstfried Prade (left in red Mistral Jet-Suit) and Peter Brockhaus (right with blue Mistral 600 shorty): First photoshoot with the brand new Mistral prototypes during the Windsurfer® worlds in the Bahamas 1976, right under Hoyle Schweitzer’s nose.

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Imagine you were an enthusiast of the sport, buying a Windsurfer® in 1974. After your first sailing in Beaufort Force 4 plus winds, you were fed up with the board’s limited handling. Your hands would bleed from the square wooden wishbone boom, and the mast foot would pop out and hit you in the legs. To sail on a broad reach, you had to pull the daggerboard out of the daggerboard cassette; otherwise, the board would capsize. The daggerboard on your arm would spin and squeeze the blood circulation in your arm or bounce against your body in delicate locations.’

This description rings true to my experience of the Windsurfer® and for almost all participants.

‘The Mistral brand would be developed when I was still acting officially as a Windsurfer® importer in Germany during my last year in 1976.

I told TenCate and Schweitzer I could not go on running my Windsurfing Magazine devoted to Windsurfer®. I needed to make money with the magazine. I had no significant advertisers until this point; I funded it at a loss. Not even TenCate contributed to my costs, so I had to acquire adverts for the magazine to continue. I wanted it read by those using all brands’. By 1976 in Germany, Windsurfer® had only a market share of forty per cent, down from a monopoly in 1973, and it kept falling.

‘I assembled a team for the first-ever testing of various boards on the market on Lake Garda [Italy] in July 1976, which concluded the ‘Speedy’ board was the best, a copy of the Windsurfer® board in polyester. I had given a promise to the test team not to influence the test in any way. I let it happen, and it annoyed both TenCate and Schweitzer. After the test in my Windsurfing Magazine in 1976, we had the blueprint for the first Mistral board.

I had invited Heinz Bader from Scobalit to the test, a plastics manufacturer who, at the time, made the Windrider board. I told him I wanted to create ‘Mistral’ as my new brand; would he be willing to give up Windrider, and would Scobalit be our producer in a joint venture?

We officially founded Mistral AG in October 1976. It was an equal 50/50 shared ownership of Mistral between myself and Heinz Bader. He would be responsible for production and finance, and I was in charge of products, marketing and distribution and Prade was commissioned on a royalty basis to design our board.’

HOW DID THE M-DOT LOGO ORIGINATE? Claims about who developed and designed Mistral’s logo, the now famous M-Dot, have been contested. Who cares? Yet this is where egos get bent out of shape. ‘I remember very well when we discussed the first drafts of the Mistral logo. My brief for the logo was to be marine blue and red colours and a clear distinctive symbol for the sails and on our sportswear. At the end of July 1976, Ernstfried came to my Windsurfing Magazine office to present it. He had a young graphic artist with him who had created the drawings. When we discussed the lettering for the word Mistral,

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‘A POWERFUL BRAND LOGO WAS BORN FROM A COLLECTIVE PROCESS OF TRIAL AND ERROR’

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the graphic artist presented several different fonts from a book and personally created designs. Finally, we picked the well-known letter type because of the roundness of the ‘M’ and the ‘Red Dot’ was added, jumping on the ‘M’. My later wife, Chris and Uli Stanciu, who were working for our magazine and Christian Müller Kittnau, our new Mistral Sportswear Manager [newly from Head Sportswear], were all present. A powerful brand logo was born from a collective process of trial and error.’ This all sounds plausible. In the following chapters, you will read other versions from Christian Müller-Kittnau and Ernstfried Prade.

INITIALLY, SUCCESS BUT A LOUSY PRODUCT As it turns out, the image of the new brand ‘Mistral’, which shone through at the release in 1977 in Düsseldorf, would ironically be due to the inclusion of Mistral Sportswear, courtesy of Christian Müller-Kittnau (see Chapter 6). It elevated the brand’s image and holistic approach together with the hardware with slick graphics, all colour coordinated, and an improved mast foot and boom courtesy of Ernstfried Prade, who had designed a system which he had patented and sold to Mistral. All these factors made a difference.

‘We launched Mistral in 1977 at the Düsseldorf Boat Show, where we displayed our first board, the ‘Superwind’, our all-round board as we liked to call it [co-named the ‘Superwind’ by Yves Loisance in France]. From the beginning, the Mistral brand had an impeccable image, in fact, better than the board itself, which is why we succeeded with a lousy product in the early days. You would have laughed if you had seen this first Superwind board. A thick rubber edging and poor non-slip, 23-25 kg of weight. The board was not fulfilling any of the wishes the windsurfing test team had outlined months before.

Bader promised to resolve all the manufacturing issues. The Superwind weighed 25kg or more and was not a dream board by a long way. Only the rig was reasonable. The rig was different as we had designed a mast that was longer than the Windsurfer® mast, a proper mast tip, and a nice vulcanised rubber-sleeved boom in aluminium, not wood; overall, the rig was much better than the Windsurfer®. I was utterly disillusioned, destroyed. We had to accept this horrible rubber on this first Mistral board, and Scobalit could not come up with a solution to secure the seam to be top and bottom together to make it water-tight. In ASA material, it is challenging.’

EXPANDING THE MISTRAL RANGE After the first board, the Superwind, Brockhaus needed another board designed, and after consulting Prade, he went to work developing the next incarnation. At this point, during the winter of 1977, the name of Hans Fichtner enters the picture. Brockhaus states, ‘Hansi Fichtner shaped and helped design the first Mistral Competition under the direction of Ernstfried. Hansi was the shaper. He also shaped the Mistral M1, the Open Division II Class all-out racing board, which was phenomenal, winning all the races at that time. Hansi was essentially an employee of Ernstfried, who paid him from his budget.’ This was a revelation regarding the Mistral Competition, where Prade has seemingly taken full credit for this second and ultimately extremely popular board.

Above: early magazine ads for the Mistral Superwind. Windsurfing instructor Christian Grümann and Ernstfried Prade as the designer are endorsing the product. While the Superwind was poor quality, heavy and slow Mistral always managed to keep an impeccable and professional image.

‘YOU WOULD HAVE LAUGHED IF YOU HAD SEEN THIS FIRST “SUPERWIND” BOARD!’

‘I WAS UTTERLY DISILLUSIONED, DESTROYED. WE HAD TO ACCEPT THIS HORRIBLE RUBBER ON THE FIRST MISTRAL BOARD, AND SCOBALIT COULD NOT COME UP WITH A SOLUTION...’

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Brockhaus clarifies with an illustration from his past. ‘Well, it would be the same as me claiming the F2 Lightening [designed by Brian Hinde in Hawaii] and the Strato, Comet, Sunset and Starlit were designed by me, and oh, I forget to mention, the shaper and designer, Jürgen Höhnscheid and the input of Hansi Fichtner. We were all testing these designs, which was also true of Hansi and the folks around him. Hansi was not an incredible sailor, but Charley Messmer [Open Division II Class champion] and others tested equipment before it went into production. I don’t understand Ernstfried’s position on this.’ In truth, the German media probably made assumptions about who did what in Mistral, which went uncorrected.

WHO TAKES THE FINANCIAL RISK OF BOARD DEVELOPMENT? ‘Following the poor quality of the Superwind in 1977, Scobalit was wrestling with its new epoxy technology. I contacted the Fritzmeier company, a significant manufacturer of plastic items for vehicles, producing famous boats and snow skis and asked if they could produce for us. Ruppert Fritzmeier became a co-owner of Mistral, receiving thirty-three per cent from our fifty-fifty shares, owned by myself and Heinz Bader.

We needed to know if the new board could be produced using decent technology. At that time, many big companies tried to find a solution for this formula, but nobody could present a solution. Snow Ski companies such as Kneissl and Fischer and significant concerns such as Laser [sailboats] and plastic moulding giants like Flachglas and Dynamit Nobel were trying hard to be the first.’ For a brief while in 1980, Laser produced a long racing board and later in this chapter you will see Brockhaus did have detailed discussions with them.

KEEPING A LOW PUBLIC PROFILE When the enhanced German Windsurfer® patent was approved in 1978, devised by Brockhaus, for and on behalf of Schweitzer, Mistral was in a difficult situation; as Schweitzer had communicated, he would not issue a license to Mistral, as long as Peter

*The Windglider was a pure polyester board, hand-laid in moulds with Gelcoat, cloth and resin, producing the two halves and then joining together and smoothing out the edges, followed by injecting with polyurethane foam. They experienced many of the same issues as every manufacturer; the seam was not water-tight.

The Board of Directors became three. However, it turned out Fritzmeier could not make it either. At this time, manufacturers consistently underestimated the pitfalls of producing a windsurfing board.

Enormous manufacturing companies such as Flachglas Germany, owned by Pilkington Glass UK, saw the sport, the boards and the growth and thought it was an easy task to make such a product.

This was the mistake, and it happened over and over again. All these manufacturers thought this was easy. They threw enormous amounts of money into manufacturing but failed to resolve the quality issues.

After the addition of Ruppert Fritzmeier to the ownership of Mistral, we now had a conflict regarding the ongoing financing of Mistral. How do we get the new capital required to build good boards and invest in technology? The Mistral Competition had initially to be produced in polyethylene. Ruppert Fritzmeier had promised us heaven on earth, “No problem, we can do that”. He started playing with styrofoam, but it did not work with polyester resin. He, too, had a connection with Ciba-Geigy, who produced epoxy foam used by Heinz Bader. Fritzmeier, in his secretive fabric business, told us little about what he was up to. He wanted it to be his problem to solve.

This would be the weakness of Mistral in not being their own manufacturer, as such, buying a service from Scobalit or Fritzmeier. Consequently, we could not get deeper into the process of board-making.

Fritzmeier did not let us see what was happening, nor did Scobalit.

We had to wait until they came out with something.

Not one of the existing technologies of the time could fix it, such as ASA technology used by Klepper and Sailboard or, later, our F2 boards. All ASA plastic boards had seam issues. They were never fully waterproofed and sealed. Small gaps and holes would lead to osmosis, so a hot board taken from the beach and put into water would cool, attempt to contract and suck water up through the pressure difference and capillary action in the foam. Later, you put your board on the car roof, and water would drip out of the board onto the car. Each time you used it, it got heavier.

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Brockhaus was involved. Following the TenCate decision to cancel Brockhaus’s Windsurfer® importer status and not to honour the replacement of defective boards, Brockhaus’s involvement with Mistral as co-founder and instigator was compromised, at least in public.

‘It was a real problem and handicap because I had to keep my involvement with Mistral secret because of my lawsuit with TenCate, which I started in July 1976 for not fulfilling their obligation to de-

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liver proper merchandise. For more than two years, I could not disclose my Mistral work. This situation led to a challenging role I had to play. I was responsible in Mistral for product development, marketing and distribution but could not act in public as a Mistral Director.’

Consequently, Ernstfried Prade would assume the brand’s lead role. ‘Heinz Bader and I had signed a contract with Ernstfried so that he was to be paid royalty fees against board designs, and we wanted him to develop a board different to the Windsurfer® and *Windglider as others were now appearing on the market. Ernstfried was an excellent flat-water sailor and did well racing on Bavaria’s lakes. He finished well at the first European Windsurfer® Championships in 1973 on the island of Sylt. He was an important figure in that racing Class.’

‘IT WAS A REAL PROBLEM BECAUSE I HAD TO KEEP MY INVOLVEMENT WITH MISTRAL A SECRET DUE TO MY LAWSUIT WITH TEN CATE...’

With the manufacturing challenges and the need to continue without a license issued to Mistral from Schweitzer, in typical form, Brockhaus opted to fight against the same patent he had strengthened. ‘It was a Sunday morning, and Heinz Bader, myself and our lawyer, Mr Löhr, were sitting in the office of Heinz Bader at the Scobalit factory. It was September 1976, just after a patent lawsuit had been filed against Siggi Pertramer, who had started his company Surfsailer, two years earlier. His business partner was Jochen Adamek. Sigi and Jochen were sued by Schweitzer for patent infringement, together with another small manufacturer. As they could not finance the process, Mistral signed a contract of cooperation, financing and controlling their defence with our Mistral patent attorney.

Pertramer had shown us a copy of Popular Science Magazine dated 1965, in which the Newman Darby Board is introduced along with its construction plans. Heinz Bader, myself and our lawyer with a copy of Popular Science Magazine on the table. Mr Löhr, our lawyer, says, Above: Newman Darby on his Darby Surfer as published in Popular Science Magazine (1965) “We should try to find Newman Darby and introduce him as a witness for this Prior Art”. I responded, “I’ll wait until 6 pm [for time zone reasons], and I will call Mr Darby wherever he is in America”. So, Consequently, the patent withstood the test, and Schweitzer won we called this number, and he answered, “Darby”. He was on the the case in Germany. Following the lawsuit in Munich in 1978, phone right away, after 11 years he was still at the same address.’

Sigi Pertramer and Jochen Adamek were out of business. Surfsailer stopped production, and both received an offer to work for A week later, after attending the 1976 Windsurfer® World Cham- Mistral, Sigi in sport and promotion and Jochen in production pionships in the Bahamas, Brockhaus flew to see Mr Darby in and development to compensate for their cooperation and sitVirginia. ‘Darby lived in a small wooden house, and we were sitting uation. Jochen would go on to patent many windsurfing-related on the carpet in his living room, with all of his plans and photos designs and other concepts. spread out on the floor, and I got his testimony as to how he created his prior art. With this prior art, I was positive we could win the lawsuit. Following this, we flew Newman Derby from America to Munich for the 1978 lawsuit. He waited in the hotel on the day of the hearing, and we attended the arbitration hearing in court in the gallery. As it turns out, the judge did not invite him to present his testimony. The judge was not interested and did not hear him because he said, “If the Darby board had been to the same level of the invention as the Windsurfer®, then why is nobody using it?”

This was his conclusion’.

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BROCKHAUS STRIKES GOLD IN TALENT Brockhaus’s trip to the Bahamas in 1976 came about because although no longer permitted to attend the distributor meeting hosted by Schweitzer, having lost his contract with TenCate, he wanted to be there to assert the legitimacy of his influence within the Windsurfer® class in Germany. This was his Swiss lawyer’s strategy, where the lawsuit was to take place in a Court of Arbitration. He had plenty of time on his hands to meet with the sailors.

Here, he would make his first contact with the ‘Kailua Kids.’

Above: Young Robby Naish aged 16 during the photoshot Windsurfing with Robby Naish, Sardinia, summer of 1979 (Naish/Brockhaus/ Seer, Delius Klasing Verlag, ©1981)

Windsurfing with Robby Naish, (Naish/Brockhaus/Seer, Delius Klasing Verlag, ©1981)

*In 1977, Rick Naish was formerly contracted as Mistral’s designer, specialising in longer ocean race boards and wave boards. Naish Hawaii began in 1979 and has teamed up with Mistral; the added workload of servicing Naish Custom Boards and Mistral was highly demanding. By 1982, to cope with the added workload, an unsung legend, the late Harold’ Iggy’ Ige, was hired by Rick Naish. Harold had been shaping boards since the late 1950s.

The first World Windsurfer® One Design Championship took place in 1976 with the discovery of a young Robby Naish. In 1979, the first Open World Championship was organised in Guadeloupe for boards keeping within class specifications. Open or Division II Boards as they became known, were typically 3.9m long x 63cm wide and 22cm in depth with a round bottom along the full length, a deep pointed bow or rounded and a minimum weight of 18kg.

The first World Champion was Karl Messmer sailing a prototype Mistral which quickly evolved to the Mistral M1 and dominated this class for the next 2 - 3 years. From 1988 to 1992, the Lechner Division II board was the Olympic Class.

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‘Robby Naish, during the races, came a couple of times to my boat, anchored near the finishing line, and after the light wind races under the Caribbean sun, he was thirsty, so I helped him out with a drink of water, and we talked. I also met Mike Horgan, Dennis Davidson, Colin Perry and many others. Robby’s father Rick was not present, but I understood he would be interested in talking. Eventually, we exchanged some phone calls and discussed cooperation with Mistral. He was keen to give up his dislike of being a school teacher. I later travelled to Hawaii in 1977, and a contract was signed.’ Rick Naish would be a Mistral designer and would receive royalties from sales for Rick Naish designs put into production. Robby was like a dowry for us, testing these designs and other products at Kailua beach. He was still too young to sign a contract.’

KEY INTERNAL DIFFERENCES AT MISTRAL In the maelstrom of lawsuits, production issues, new shapers and riders, Brockhaus began a book project with Robby Naish in 1979, which Ulli Seer describes from his perspective in Chapter 4.

Brockhaus recalls, ‘In the summer of 1979, the Naish family came to Sardinia and also invited was Charley Messmer from Switzerland, Mistral’s first team rider. Ulli came over, and we made many images for the book in high winds showing different manoeuvres.

The title of the book was “Windsurfing with Robby Naish.” I wrote it, and Robby was telling stories and giving input.’ The Naish’s travelled with custom prototype boards, including what would later become the Naish board in the Mistral range, which was the star performer.

This experience of Peter’s trips to Hawaii illuminated the direction of travel of the windsurfing scene. Brockhaus was convinced strapped boards, higher winds, and wave sailing was the direction windsurfing would take, in addition to embracing the Hawaiian image. ‘Ernstfried observed my Hawaiian connection with scepticism. He kept saying, “These funboards are not good for Europe”.

I never saw him on a funboard. Unfortunately, he was preaching his longboard faith to all and convinced both my partners and, by default, the manufacturers of Mistral that I was wrong.

They wanted to realise their investment and hesitated with new foot-strapped funboard designs. With the Naish contract signed, Ernstfried had to accept an additional designer in competition with him within Mistral. His strategy convinced Heinz Bader and Ruppert Fritzmeier that funboards were unsuitable for Europe and would be a one-way street with no future. For him, funboards were fine for Hawaii but not for Europe.’

Above: after the lost lawsuit against Schweitzer, Sigi Pertramer and Jochen Adamek didn’t have a business any more. They both received an offer to work for Mistral from then on. Jochen Adamek in production and development, Sigi in sport and promotion. This picture shows Sigi with his successful Mistral Open Class Racing Team during the Open Worlds in Israel (1980) with the legendary Mistral M1.

‘ERNSTFRIED OBSERVED MY HAWAIIAN CONNECTION WITH SCEPTICISM. HE KEPT SAYING, “THESE FUNBOARDS ARE NOT GOOD FOR EUROPE”’

From left to right: shaper & co-designer Hansi Fichtner, Marc Nieuwbourg (France), Frank Spöttel (Germany), unknown, Bernie Brandstätter (Austria), Philip Pudenz (Germany), Claus Köhnlein (Germany), Pat Johnson (USA), Charly Messmer (Switzerland), unknown, Thomas Staltmeier (Germany), Ernst Seidl (Mistral importer Austria).

Front row from left to right: Ernstfried Prade, Nancy Johnson (USA), Sigi Pertramer

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This would become a deep-seated conflict of interest. ‘I did not see a future inside Mistral. My two partners, Bader and Fritzmeier, were fighting for their own companies rather than the interest of Mistral. We had a specification book containing all the items we wanted for Mistral had criticised TenCate for since the beginning. A new board material was supposed to fulfil the “Magic Triangle”. I used to call it stiff, light and durable. As stiff as polyester, as light as a custom board, and as durable as polyethylene.’

It was becoming clear that with Mistral’s financial position, having paid for the manufacturer’s faults, there was an emerging need to sell to a financial partner. ‘I had nobody aligned with my perspective regarding product design. I could only work with Rick Naish, who was far away in Hawaii, and I was convinced funboards would take over soon. I felt uncertain about what the future with Mistral would bring.’

They continued to plan their second and third boards in their range beyond the Mistral Competition. Rick had presented two boards for Mistral to manufacture: the narrow Naish board for long-distance ocean sailing (with foot straps) and the wider, thinner, shorter Kailua (without).

Brockhaus’s pre-contract discussions with Rick Naish were focused on technology issues. Rick and Brockhaus rejected the idea that these boards should be constructed of polyethylene.

Brockhaus shared with Rick that Scobalit was working on advanced epoxy technologies using a styrofoam core, which Top and Above: the prototypes of the newly developed Naish Board were tested and selected during would be the future of lightweight, stiff, the photoshoot for the book-project ‘Windsurfing with Robby Naish’ in Capo Testa, Sardinia in the impact-resistance materials, the ideal summer of 1979. The pictures of Robby Naish sailing the red Mistral Naish prototype [top] were published by many magazines and in the 1980 Mistral Calendar long before the actual Naish board funboard technology. ‘Scobalit ultimately was released. The bottom picture shows Charly Messmer testing the green Kailua Prototype in Porto shared with us a 17kg epoxy laminated styPollo, Sardinia the same year. rofoam core Mistral Competition which Rick was impressed with, but could not be mass produced’. As much as Mistral did not want to make polyethylene boards, it looked like it was going that way for the first Mistral Naish (Scobalit) and Kailua (Fritzmeier) production run.

Fritzmeier finally returned to Mistral, saying we would have to accept polyethylene as it was the only thing he could deliver. ‘This was like swallowing a toad. We had to accept it; otherwise, there was no product to sell. I called our Hawaii-based graphic designer Russel Davidson and asked him to rush a Hawaiian-flavoured design for a new Kailua branding. I didn’t want to hurt the image of Mistral with polyethylene. The Kailua board became a sub-brand of Mistral [without a Mistral logo] and our best seller.

The demand for the Kailua board was such that Fritzmeier could not provide enough. Most of them went to Germany that year. Was

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I wrong regarding my feelings towards polyethylene? No, but nobody had found a better technology to date. It all changed with Mistral’s and F2’s epoxy production after 1982. Fritzmeier, who joined Mistral as a one-third partner in late 1977 with the promise to deliver Hi-Tech boards, failed. I will never forget my shouting at the Board of Directors when Fritzmeier declared that he could only manufacture the quantities we required in polyethylene.’

According to Brockhaus, the Naish board in the Mistral range suffered from the never-ending Scobalit attempt to get epoxy boards out of the moulds. It was not a good seller. Tellingly, it never included the Mistral logo, as Brockhaus wanted to maintain the Naish / Mistral reputation. By the time Scobalit produced the first Naish board in 1979, Brockhaus notes that square tail designs like the Naish were ‘out’ and pintails, swallow tails and diamond tails were now ‘in’. By the time I saw the Naish (in 1980), I would concur; surf-style tails were ‘of the moment’ for higher

‘BY THE TIME SCOBALIT PRODUCED THE FIRST NAISH BOARD IN 1979 SQUARE TAIL DESIGNS WERE OUT’

wind sailing, and we never saw square tails again on premium products in all the years since.

Above: by the time Scobalit delivered the first Naish Boards in 1979, Brockhaus notes that square tail designs were ‘out’ and pintails, swallow tails and diamond tails were now ‘in’

MISTRAL LOSE MOMENTUM. BROCKHAUS PREPARES TO DEPART The initial Mistral manufacturing issues continued and were crippling early on for the start-up of Mistral, and claims resulted. ‘There was conflict regarding the cost distribution of claims on faulty boards. Scobalit and Fritzmeier agreed on one point. They made Mistral responsible for the costs of handling the claims. However, the percentage of claims increased in 1978/79 to nearly thirty

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per cent of boards sold. If a board was returned to the dealer by the consumer, the salesman told the buyer to keep the board for the summer as he had insufficient replacement boards. They suggested using all kinds of tapes, glues or other repair kits to keep going. In the autumn, dealers returned truckloads of claims and didn’t pay around thirty per cent of their Mistral bills, arguing they had to replace the boards. The handling of claims, including the immense costs of staff and freight, ruined the profit of our distribution companies in Germany, France and Benelux, as well as the independent distributors.

Mistral lost momentum and an enormous amount of money with claims with dealers sending back truckloads of boards to the Mistral distributors in the wintertime. The conflict between myself and the two production partners of Scobalit and Fritzmeier became heightened. By late 1978, the three of us decided to try to sell the company, and I started thinking ahead. Though we needed to show people we were still on good terms, we were not.’ This loss of momentum in 1978/9 continued through to the early 1980s with hesitancy to embrace shorter funboard designs.

‘Mistral had no proper funboard available, which was a serious problem for them by 1981. The Mistral Competition was no longer popular in the way that it had been. People wanted boards for jumping and spectacular gybing, and Mistral faced difficulties getting such a product on the market. It took Mistral a few years to learn the funboard was the ticket to continued success. I recently read about it in Jürgen Höhnscheid’s book, “Der Wind ist Mein Arbeitgeber” who had worked in 1986 with Ernstfried and explained to me, “Ernstfried mostly enjoyed involving himself in technical issues”. It appears then that the early 1980s could have been a real time of jeopardy for Mistral without the financial security of Adia’s 1981 investment.’

Above: Mistral did not have a proper funboard until 1982 when finally the ‘Mistral Take Off’ was launched. The picture shows its production at the Fritzmeier factory.

A rejection of the funboard direction of travel by Prade and his influence with Heinz Bader (Scobalit) and Rupert Fritzmeir would ensure Mistral lost developmental inertia at a critical moment in the evolution of the sport. The credibility they could have had by grabbing the funboard concept early would have provided an invaluable early adopter advantage.

‘In the beginning, Ernstfried was of great help to me, and it was my problem that I could not act in freedom as Mistral’s Commercial and Marketing Manager in the way that I needed to due to ongoing TenCate litigation. Ernstfried helped me work with our dealers, the press, and the ideas behind our products. Later, when he started to oppose the funboard and the Hawaiian connection, I knew it was pointless to create a power play between us. I recognised the constraints with Scobalit and Fritzmeier’s manufacturing, which ultimately was unacceptable. With my early time at Mistral [1976 to 1979], I don’t recall Ernstfried Prade ever being in Hawaii during

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this early period. From sensing resistance to developing funboard designs and the additional problem that I had to keep a lower profile, including leaving being based at the headquarters in Zurich in 1978. It seemed clear that there was no future for my vision of Mistral in Germany’. But over the next year, the three partners still had work to do together before he departed entirely.

MISTRAL SEEKS ADDITIONAL FINANCING Brockhaus’s options seemed limited. He was still working for Mistral in 1979 but not at HQ to keep a low profile. He could not give up on his German claim against TenCate of ‘Fulfilment of Contractual Obligations’. ‘If I had sold my TenCate distributorship to someone else, the Swiss lawyers forming the arbitration court would have said, “The Captain has left the ship. Let it drown”.

We acquired some private investment, especially for Mistral Sportswear, which we outsourced for this purpose. Still, no one wanted to risk the considerable equity financing required for runs of productions of boards when claims were running so high. Fritzmeier found a buyer in Dynamit Nobel AG, a wide-scale plastic manufacturer of plastic car bumpers for cars. He expected to stay on as a manufacturer for a while. While negotiating the purchase, Dynamit Nobel clarified they wanted me to stay on as CEO of Mistral and Bader to leave the Board. The two manufacturers were offered a 2-year termination term. The sale was concluded and signed: we celebrated.

The deal was perfect.

It only needed the final approval of Friedrich Flick, the owner of Dynamit Nobel, a vast industrial complex and Krauss Maffei, known for its manufacture of weapons. Ultimately, Flick decided in favour of the weapons element of his business because, at this time, Saddam Hussein of Iraq was in conflict, starting the war against Iran, so Mr Flick stopped all excursions into the leisure industry, and we were left with a conflict of our own.’

MISTRAL GERMANY AND A FLEDGLING F2 Brockhaus was already at a point of no return. He had been the primary driver behind the creation of the Mistral brand, manifested out of frustration with his dealings with Schweitzer, TenCate, and the belief a better board design along with better quality, lighter materials, and rigging system could be offered. He was now in conflict with the brand he created; manufacturing issues, disagreements with his partners and philosophical differences with Prade.

The court had approved the revised Windsurfer® patent of Brockhaus in Munich; Mistral had no license and could not get one as long as Brockhaus remained. Christian Müller-Kittnau dealt with constant claims against the brand, managing sales and Mistral Sportwear. He was overloaded and frustrated, especially with the legal issues. Meanwhile, Prade acted as the frontman and enjoyed an inherited sense of being as Mistral’s man.

Right: despite the fact that both Scobalit and Fritzmeier were unable to overcome manufacuring problems and the Kailua had to be produced in polyethylene, the Kailua became a bestseller and the demand for the Kailua board was such that Fritzmeier could not provide enough

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‘With the court approval of the Windsurfer® patent in Munich and Mistral without a license agreement, Scobalit and Fritzmeier stopped delivering to the German market and continued looking for another buyer. I spoke to Rupert Fritzmeier, who agreed to buy my shares, and at the same time, I purchased Mistral Germany for 1 Swiss Franc from Mistral AG. We had a substantial separation contract. He got my shares; I got my money and the distribution rights for Mistral in Germany for one year under the terms of patent legal advice of selling boards/rigs separately, of which more follows below.

Additionally, due to my successful lawsuit, I won and received 2 million DM [c. $1.17 million] indemnity fees from TenCate.’

With Brockhaus considering his departure, there is the question of why he did not approach and develop a future business relationship with the Naish’s. ‘I maintained my loyalty to Mistral even though things were not going to plan. I, therefore, did not want to take anything with me and undermine their efforts to develop it. I felt Rick and Robby would be strong enough to convince the new owners of their worth and find happy cooperation. Additionally, because I sensed an emotional detachment of Naish towards Mistral, it would have been counter-intuitive for me to pursue something with them. Also, communicating with Hawaii from Europe was not as easy as today; even Fax machines did not appear until 1985.’

At the same time, we sold Pat Love Sails and accessories such as foot straps, daggerboards, fins, rigs and other items, including booms and masts, under the new name of F2, “Fun and Function.” No F2 board existed at this time. Separating windsurfing hardware items and delivering boards separately would be a stroke of genius.

‘Soon after establishing F2, Schweitzer filed a lawsuit against my Mistral venture in Germany. My Munich patent attorney clearly explained that selling the board and rig separately from different manufacturers would not infringe the patent. The lawsuit took only a year or so, and in 1981 Schweitzer lost it; his first patent lawsuit.

The court ruled that only complete units of a sailboard infringed the patent. Beforehand, he had sent spies to my dealers to find evidence for infringements on ‘one box board/rig’ sales. In some cases, he was successful, but when he started to sue dealers, the Windsurfer® distributors suffered so much from the negative image they gave up.

For this fake exclusivity, brands had all paid a licence fee and royalties since 1975 for worldwide distribution.’

This lack of ‘emotional attachment’ he speaks of between the Naish family and Mistral is a subjective opinion from a long time ago. In speaking with Robby, there was no apparent sense of a shortfall of reward. In fairness, the contribution of the Naish family (and Harold Ige), in any case, transcends any monetary compensation.

Brockhaus knew little about the financial arrangements after his departure. ‘I don’t know when Robby got his first proper contract in being the Mistral star and, in doing so, saving Mistral. Remember, in 1976, when I first met him, he was 13 years old, then I wrote the book with him, and he was 14, maybe 15, and by the time I left Mistral, he was 16. He was two years away from being old enough [18 years] to sign a contract. Robby was giving Mistral incredible publicity and impact but was not paid directly as he was too young, and the agreement did not favour him; today, it would be very different as you would have an agent, but at that time, it was different.’

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Above: the Kailua was initially sold as a different brand not showing the Mistral logo. Nevertheless it became a bestseller as it was targeted to a younger age group. As Brockhaus recalls: ‘Mistral wanted to get all European Robby fans of a younger age crazy for the board.’

Considering Brockhaus signed up Rick Naish and, in his own words, saw Robby as a ‘ . . . dowry for Mistral’ [i.e., an inclusive bonus], he is, in effect, critical of a contractual arrangement he created. Further, ‘Rick Naish has never seen many royalties and few boards of his were ever produced. During my three years, Rick and Ernstfried were designers with royalties, paid by the number of boards Mistral sold of whichever design. Ernstfried was happy to get lots of money through the Mistral Competition, Rick got something for the Kailua board, but I am unsure what he got after I left.’

Brockhaus founded F2 in Austria, just 5 km from the German border. It distributed complete units worldwide and never paid a dollar to Schweitzer. The German competitors of F2 all suffered from their license agreements, paying at least 5-7% on all turnovers worldwide, contributing to many of their early bankruptcies. No brand could build up monetary reserves for development or when the market declined. Klepper, Hi Fly and Windglider all went down in the 80s.

For the one year in 1979 when Brockhaus managed Mistral Germany, ‘Bader and Fritzmeier expected I would fail. I founded “Surf and Ski GmbH” and told them, “You will see. I will sell a lot of Kailua, Naish and Mistral Competition boards without rigs as dealers and purchase them elsewhere”. Brockhaus delivered thousands of Kailua and Mistral Competition boards to German dealers. ‘That year, I made more money than ever before. Some dealers would arrive the night before factory deliveries, and we would be unloading Mistral boards directly from the back of our truck to theirs before they reached our warehouse. There was a massive demand for the Kailua and Mistral Competition.

‘The typical box which contained the board and rig did not exist in my company and was the beginning of the funboard market. The retail dealers bought masts directly from mast manufacturers, booms from whoever offered them, small sailmaker lofts opened up, or they bought directly from Gaastra or Neil Pryde. Suddenly, in Germany, we showed that you needed to avoid selling a complete unit and supplement with items from different manufacturers to sell a sailboard. The dealers loved it; this was preparation for the funboard business, and it happened this way because Mistral did not receive a license. At the time, Bader and Fritzmeier wanted a license for security. I told them, “Schweitzer’s license is ruining our business.”

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By exporting a complete board with the rig in a box from Germany, they infringed the patent, even though the importing country was patent-free. Regardless, they were willing to pay the fees. I knew it would ruin the business of everybody; it could not work because they faced competitor brands that do not pay 5-7% royalties.’

When the Adia Group took over Mistral around this time, they capitulated and signed with Schweitzer due to a lack of foresight of the coming funboard market and, no doubt, poor internal advice. It proved to be an expensive mistake.

Brockhaus’s plan for F2 was to keep it small and to be the ‘The Porsche of the Boardsailing World’, with a clear focus and image of sporty funboards avoiding family boards in particular. They had found their niche, and the formula worked, and F2 would eventually become the world’s most popular brand for a short time.

FROM F2 ACCESSORIES TO F2 BOARDS Jürgen Höhnscheid was a unique individual on the European windsurfing scene and an excellent person for Brockhaus to ask to design and sail new funboards. He was an exceptional waterman and athlete, spending time designing and shaping boards in Hawaii and was a genuine hardcore sailor and pioneer.

Above: one of Brockhaus’ magazine ads for Pat Love Sails published in German SURF. Brockhaus was one of the first to sell boards, rigs, sails and accessories seperately. What started out to circumvent the patent later became standard procedure in the funboard market.

‘I contacted Jürgen, who was shaping boards for Hannes Marker, the former owner of Marker Ski Bindings. He was a regular visitor to Sylt and would sail with Jürgen. He was an older man but supportive and enthusiastic about the boards of Jürgen and the type of sailing he was doing. He was sponsoring Jürgen, who was making ‘Marker’ boards. I managed to persuade Jürgen to join F2 because “I will not do anything other than fun boards, and for every board, you suggest to be produced, I will accept it.” I wanted a quiver of boards.

He first came up with two boards, Strato for men and Comet for ladies and lighter winds. I also had a longboard by Brian Hinde in Hawaii, as Jürgen had no focus on how a longboard should work; this was the F2 Lightening. We aimed to enter the market with these boards.’

The next issue Brockhaus tried to solve was the dilemma of who could produce the new designs. He saw no reliable manufacturer in 1979, and by chance, the owners of the Laser sailboat company in Canada were interested in speaking with him.

Above: Jürgen Höhnscheid’s input was essential for the success of F2

‘They invited me to Canada to the Laser headquarters, and we spoke for a whole day about the windsurfing industry, and I analysed the different brands and situations with technology. Laser already sold a European sailboard,- and an open class race board through their daughter companies. We agreed in principle on the same deal as years before, with Mr Bader/Scabalit: a 50/50 partnership for developing funboards, and no other types of boards allowed. But when I met the Laser people in Switzerland, responsible for the future sailboard business, I could see they had limited interest in funboards.

By the summer of 1980, I had to deliver the shapes for the boards.

We wanted to be on the market with the three funboard designs; the Strato and Comet of Jürgen Höhnscheid and the Lightning, designed

by Brian Hinde. But I had no manufacturing option left. It was a big dilemma. These three boards were excellent prototypes, high-performing and outstanding on the water. They were all hand-shaped and were supposed to be developed and produced by Laser.

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They failed me completely. How could I escape from this trap? I never in my life felt more alone. Finally, I faxed the Laser owner in Canada and terminated our arrangement as I saw no future.

‘IN A GREAT RUSH I THEN WENT ON AN AMBITIOUS JOURNEY TO LAUNCH THE F2 BRAND AT THE ISPO FAIR IN MUNICH, SEPTEMBER 1980’

In a great rush I then went on an ambitious journey to launch the F2 brand at the ISPO fair in Munich, September 1980. Our slogan was “Small is Beautiful,” a white lie because we presented ourselves as a small business with a niche product, but the interest from the market was not small at all. Shortly after the fair, I met with Flachglas, linked to Pilkington in Germany. Flachglas produced for a few manufacturers [e.g., Sailboard, Marker] and became the only alternative for F2. We ordered the Lightning, Strato and Comet to be produced at Flachglas. Like all the others, this company promised much more than they could ever fulfil. I was in the same position in April as TenCate and Scobalit/Fritzmeier. We had ordered 5000 boards in November 1980 to be delivered in spring and early summer but received only a couple of hundred.

I was again in a severe crisis, not receiving what I had ordered. The people from Flachglas had accepted so many new customers that they were in chaos. If you called a technician to talk about technical detail, you could be sure he was talking about a different item from some competitor. It was frightening. I contacted their mother company, Pilkington, Germany, and the CEO came to my office in Munich to get to know me. I asked him to please listen to my story and told him about the TenCate and Mistral experience with delivery and claims.

He knew of my firm orders from the autumn and the shortfall delivery numbers. I clearly said if he did not change the situation, I would close my company, send my employees home and concentrate on a lawsuit against Flachglas. I showed him the order book with our dealers and the shortfalls. He understood, and from then on, we were in pole position at Flachglas and could no longer complain.

However, ASA boards from Flachglas were never our goal at F2. I wanted light, stiff and impact-resistant boards. I wanted Epoxy boards, better than those of Mr Bader and Scobalit. We decided to start with two short boards, Starlit and Sunset, designed by Jürgen Hönscheid. Soon, I would buy a production facility in Kirchdorf, Austria, due to insolvency [Eumig film cameras]. Here we started our Epoxy board production.

Above: a smart way to get rid of factory seconds: sell them at a low price, add a repair kit and arrange a design competition.

With F2, when I started manufacturing in epoxy in Kirchdorf, Austria, I was the company’s sole owner. But we had the same problem as Scobalit [with Mistral]. We produced beautiful light and solid Sunsets and Starlets, stiff, durable and water-tight, excellent boards; however, the same manufacturing problems. When removing them from the mould, you had at least 3-4 palm-sized spots without gelcoat on the board. It stuck in the mould because we couldn’t find a release agent compatible with epoxy. We had many boards we could not sell and many claims for faulty ones.

We needed a solution.

After much thinking and talking to my dealers, I invited my best five F2 dealers from Austria and Germany. I proposed, “What if we

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Above and right: Björn Dunkerbeck was F2’s most successful team sailor winning 41 world titles over three decades. More than any other windsurfer, more than any other sportsman.

‘WE ORDERED THE LIGHTNING, STRATO AND COMET TO BE PRODUCED AT FLACHGLASS...

BUT DID NOT RECEIVE MORE THAN A COUPLE OF HUNDRED BOARDS IT WAS A NIGHTMARE...’

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supply you with these factory seconds and sell them with a minor repair kit and a description for the young buyer?”. They loved the idea from the start. I created a brochure and a competition to create the nicest Bullet, Sunset or Starlit. We sold these factory seconds from our warehouse like hotcakes, and people began making their designs. The only competition rule was that you had to have a big F2 on the board. With the sales of these boards, I could overcome the enormous loss on defective boards and avoid putting them in the shredder. We created incredible enthusiasm amongst students and young people buying these F2 boards.’ In 1982 Joachim Adamek (formerly of Surfsailer, then Mistral) joined F2 as the technical engineer responsible for F2’s epoxy technology breakthrough.

FINAL THOUGHTS: WINDSURFING THEN AND NOW Brockhaus has left his mark; there can be no question about that.

But all good things end and it was a roller coaster ride by his admission. ‘You know, all these years from the beginning of my time with the sport from 1973 until 1989 when I finished with windsurfing, I never had more than a year of normal, quiet business time. It was always ‘crisis business management’, always things to overcome. I was fighting this horrible subject of the patent, production issues and the resulting claims and businesses going bankrupt because of the claims. In the first half of the 80s, German SURF magazine and others promoted an exaggerated view of most new products produced. The demand collapsed in 1985. It was the last year we had a growth rate in production; after that, it was a never-ending story of decline.’

we leave the final words to Peter Brockhaus. ‘Windsurfing became a destination sport, where you would travel to a nice, windy place and find affordable, good quality equipment to hire. And so we have windsurfing holiday destinations. Today there is the competition of kiteboarding, and sometimes they exist together. Sometimes they compete with each other, but kiteboarding seems now to be more popular, and now we have wing foiling, of course. Some five years after the introduction of the mountain bike to the world, I became nervous about the future of windsurfing when every second weekend, we would travel to Lake Garda from Munich, and you would see mini-buses and transporters loaded up with mountain bikes. There seemed a shift from windsurfing to mountain biking, as the area was ideal with its superb trails. People now took boards and bikes with them. They could ride mountain bikes daily and did not need to wait for wind. Then other sports appeared, like roller-blading and kiteboarding. Today windsurfing has a hard time recovering to where it once was because when people return from a windsurfing holiday they find minimal local infrastructure.’

Above: article about entrepreneur and businessman Peter Brockhaus in ‘Lui’ Magazine

Then there were the media pushing the sport ultimately down the pathway of extremes. In contrast, mid-range funboards sat nicely between the longer racing and radical wave and slalom boards appearing on the market. To coin a phrase, the sport ‘ate itself ’, and it was not perhaps until around 2005 that boards became broader and more voluminous in an attempt to reignite the sport and find a new wider audience of beginners who could quickly learn to sail and have fun.

The sport had reached its peak sales in the 80s; what was the new normal? Society has changed very much by now. It’s appropriate

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Right: Peter’s wife Chris Brockhaus was an excellent sailor in strong winds and successful in several championships of the early days

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CHAPTER 3

WINDSURFING HAWAII

PUSHING EARLY BOUNDARIES

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indsurfing Hawaii was an iconic early group of 4-9 riders, a group think-tank initially operating out of a garage in Kailua where no new technique or design modification was off the table. The genesis and impetus for experimentation originated from the experiences and thinking of two Vietnam Vets (Mike Horgan and Larry Stanley), anti-conformists of the creative kind, who sought to take the windsurfing concept on a journey of exploration from calm waters into the trade winds and surf of the Hawaiian islands.

Such was the group impact that a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researcher would later study them. She described their unique activities as different from conventional business wisdom since they developed equipment in a new sport outside of any existing manufacturer. She says, ‘Innovations were instead developed by [these] . . . . lead users who built innovative equipment for themselves and . . . built businesses focused on producing it . . . to benefit from their innovations and establish a lifestyle around the sport.’ (p.2, Shah, 2000).

That is some impact, but how did this come about?

Above: Larry Stanley & Mike Horgan, co-founders of Windsurfing Hawaii

Their windsurfing and design exploits were spread worldwide through magazine coverage, posters and photos by Steve Wilkings, Ulli Seer, and John Speer, who showcased a new way of windsurfing to the world.

In summary, they helped evolve the sport from regatta-centric to wave sailing-focused designs, manifested in high-wind daggerboards (Mike Horgan, Larry Stanley), scooped noses (Mike Horgan, Larry Stanley, Warren Aitken), the harness (Ken Kleid, Pat Love), full-window sails (Pat Love, Mike Horgan, Larry Stanley) and footstraps (Larry Stanley).

YET AGAIN: 1973 Like other significant developments, it all began in 1973 when Mike ‘Thor’ Horgan of California sailed one of the first Windsurfer® boards in Kailua Bay on the island of Oahu. He was ‘Hooked’ on the new sport and became the Windsurfer® distributor for Oahu, naming his business ‘Windsurfing Hawaii’.

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Stanley was living in Kailua on Omao Street, a block from the beach where he regularly surfed, when Mike Horgan first appeared, windsurfing in the shore break in 1973 on an unusual craft. ‘I introduced myself and, without pleasantry or pause, inundated him with a hundred questions, which forged the beginnings of a lifelong friendship. Our BS radar was similarly tuned; we both had recently returned from military service in Vietnam, living on budgets that barely covered rent and food expenses. We had come to Hawaii intending to luxuriate in our oceanic passion until circumstances demanded otherwise.

I offered to teach him how to surf if he would teach me how to windsurf.’

So much was to come from their meeting. Two veterans collide in paradise, seeking to cleanse their lives via the warmth of Pacific winds and water and the distraction of learning new skills, and the rest is history for the contributions made to the sport.

Larry recalls, ‘On that day in Kailua, it became a day of revelation for me. Thor had me watch him for a few minutes and then gave me the rig, and we pushed it out until the daggerboard cleared. Side-shore north wind, 12-15 knots, pretty flat in that part of the Bay. Thor says it took me an hour to go straight out a half mile toward Birdshit Rock and back; I remember 30 minutes, but he’s probably right. I remember getting onto the plane during that first run; it was instant hookage!’ This very description here is the inspiration for the title of this book.

‘Within a week, I was totally immersed in the exhilaration of windsurfing and the beginnings of a lifelong friendship. Thor’s roommate, Andy Chaffee, was a University of Hawaii student and semi-pro tennis player whom Thor had also hooked. Thor and I sailed every day from the shorebreak at Pilipu Street, a short jog from my house and right in front of his rental, to the Kailua boat ramp, a mile and a half each way, frequently accompanied by Chaffee.

We spent most of the day encouraging the locals and tourists to try windsurfing in the hopes of getting some sales for Thor. It was slow going at first, not altogether unexpected, but it wasn’t depressing because, when business was slow, we got to explore the wonders of Kailua Bay: sandbars and reef passes and shore breaks.

Thor sold only a few Windsurfers the first year, so he joined me working in Lanikai as a carpenter for a custom home contractor.

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Above: 1975 Kailua Bay. From left Pat Love (white sail), Larry Stanley (red) and Dennis Davidson (blue) testing themselves during a small craft advisory i.e., storm.

‘I REMEMBER GETTING ONTO THE PLANE DURING THAT FIRST RUN; IT WAS INSTANT HOOKAGE!’

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After a few months, we were fortunate to connect with a new contractor in Lanikai who lived on the beach a half mile south of the boat ramp. Dave Purington was a great person and boss in every way, but we appreciated him letting us keep our carpentry tools and work clothes at his house so we could sail to and from work. Half the commute was in the exposed waters of Kailua Bay, and the other half was inside the barrier reef [see picture on the right].When so inclined, we’d rise early, rig and sail two miles to Dave’s house, work our eight hours, sail back to the boat ramp to pitch quick passes at the tourists and locals if it seemed worth it, and then play in the Bay on the way home if conditions were ‘cooking’. Our time on the water was enormous.

Soon Mike Horgan, Larry Stanley, and Andy Chaffee, as good as lived together in the Kailua house and were later joined by sailmaker Pat Love (California) and Ken Kleid (California).

Dennis Davidson (Kailua), John Speer (Kailua via the US Navy), Colin Perry (Kailua) and Hugh England were also part of the scene but did not live with the group and let’s not forget the family Naish also lived close by seeing all the innovations first-hand. Into this mix would be Nalani Heen Stanley, whom Larry would marry, a poster Queen of the sport at that time.

Above: Larry Stanley in the shore break at Kailua. Larry recalls: ‘...we could sail to and from work. Half the commute was in the exposed waters of Kailua Bay, and the other half was inside the barrier reef.’ The scooped nose of his modified Windsurfer® is very visible (1975/6).

In late 1974, Stanley and two friends, Ken Kleid and Tom Marciel, bought Windsurfing Hawaii from Horgan. When Pat Love joined the crew, his creativity and sewing ability added a new dimension to the design talents of the group. The MIT researcher explains the next stage. ‘As people who saw or heard about their advanced sailing techniques and equipment asked to purchase the equipment, they made and sold hand-made copies of their innovations from their house for the next two years.’ (p.11, Shah, 2000) In time, the photos of their exploits created international media coverage, including articles in major magazines and book covers; the coverage opened the eyes of the world to what was happening in Kailua. As a result, hordes of mainlanders and Europeans descended on Kailua beach to visit this growing Mecca of the sport and demand for their products grew.

To quote the Windsurfing Hall of Fame, ‘This group of vagabonds that looked like something from an episode of ‘Survivors’, [some] lived in the same house a block from Kailua Beach.’ Every day was an adventure trying to sail the Windsurfer® in the wind and waves of Kailua Bay. It wasn’t designed for that, so they set about modifying the various parts of the board and rig to make it so.

Left: The ‘Hawaii Vagabonds’ at the Open Class Worlds in Jamaica 1977 From left to right (standing) : Rick Naish, Dennis Davidson, Pat Love (sitting) Robby Naish, Dave Foy, Larry Stanley (sitting)

‘HORDES OF MAINLANDERS AND EUROPEANS DESCENDED ON KAILUA BEACH TO VISIT THE GROWING MECCA OF THE SPORT’

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WINDSURFING HAWAII TAKE-OFF Larry Stanley describes the ownership arrangements which eventually stimulated the company’s expansion. ‘Ken Kleid and I had already opened the Hamakua shop in 1976. In 1977, we sold controlling interest to two entrepreneurs from Honolulu. Ken subsequently moved away to Maui.

Pan American airline pilot Colin Perry, an avid windsurfer, was convinced the ‘The Kailua Kids’ were on to something and ‘he bought the controlling interest from the two Honolulu guys and gave shares in Windsurfing Hawaii to Thor [Horgan] and me in ’78’. In March 1978, Windsurfing Hawaii Inc. moved very much into the public domain. As the sport grew and diversified, so did Windsurfing Hawaii, earning an international reputation for product quality and innovation, notably their harness [1975], footstraps [1977], high wind sails [1976], adjustable booms [1979] and an adjustable mast base [1980]. Demand for their products and accessories grew the world over.’

What follows are a series of anecdotes from Larry Stanley that gives a feel for how this group worked and what they achieved. To our knowledge, it is the first time these stories have been shaped into a narrative of innovation.

TAKING TO THE WAVES: IMPROVING EQUIPMENT Above: poor deck grip was always an issue. The Windsurfer® non-slip was adequate on flat water but useless in the waves. Nothing would stick to the polyethylene, so they tried roughing the deck with sandpaper, wood chisels, and wood rasps.

‘EVERY DAY ON THE BAY REVEALED A GLIMPSE OF WHAT MIGHT BE . . .’

‘Sandbar’ was a rarely-surfed break a couple of hundred yards offshore of Kailua Beach, where small waves rolled in, making the sailing and surfing of 12’ Windsurfer® boards with full daggerboards possible but problematic. More appealing was ‘Jump City’, about halfway between Flat Island (Popoia) and Sandbar. Here, where surfers never ventured, the swell bent by the topography resulted in ramps you can charge head-on at full speed, hence the name.

Stanley recalls, ‘Every day on the Bay revealed a glimpse of what might be. Every day, wanting to turn imaginings into reality, we’d fuss with our somewhat less-than one-designs. We needed sail-making and board-building expertise but needed things to work on. We concerned ourselves with how to make the boards work better in waves and rough water; we weren’t interested in racing. So, how much scoop and how small a daggerboard could we get away with?

We still had to sail home at the end of the day, sometimes upwind, so it didn’t appear that we could do away with daggerboards entirely.’

‘We also recognised we needed to make parts stronger and safer.

Laminated teak ‘T’ mast bases with stainless steel through-bolts.

Marlow pre-stretched polyester line for all hauls, replacement of the Mini-cleats with Junior-cleats [with fairleads] for more secure rigging. Reinforcing the masts in the tie-on boom area, vinyl windows to see what was to leeward, bungee-up hauls for a quicker recovery in critical places and ways to secure the mast foot better. It was a long list.’

Poor deck grip was always an issue. The Windsurfer® non-slip was adequate on flat water but useless in the waves. Nothing would stick to the polyethylene, so they tried roughing the deck with sandpaper, wood chisels, and wood rasps. They cut the fin down for faster turns, shortened the waterline by scooping the

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Above: “Hugh England and a friend or customer outside the Windsurfing Hawaii shop in Kailua before the 1979 or ‘80 Pan Am World Cup, before Hugo DeVries and I came up with the last WH logo. Two Windsurfer Rockets are getting scooped noses on a jig using dark material to heat the polyethylene boards from the sun.”

noses, and even attempted to add graphics and colours to the otherwise bland white hulls and paint the wooden accessories. With all this tweaking, the expression, ‘It’s hard to polish a turd,’ comes to mind, given that the Windsurfer® was not designed for what they intended.

‘By 1975, we were using cut-down Windsurfer® fins and swept-back high-wind daggerboards, scooped nosed, harnesses and custom Pat Love® marginal sails, bungee up hauls, stronger base and tee. We were busy little beavers, and it just kept getting better. For about a year, there was a stretch where we wanted to see how high we could get. After a while, we tried to see how far off the board we could get and still land flat on the deck. Then crashing got old, and the search for a way to put footstraps onto the board began.’

Right: Larry Stanley on one of the Windsurfer® Rocket Prototypes

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‘...WE NOTICED HOW IN CONTROL ROBBY WAS WHEN HE USED OUR RIGS, WITH THE BOOMS UP AT OUR NORMAL HEIGHT, SO WE RAISED OUR BOOMS AND NOTICED SOME IMMEDIATE BENEFITS...’

Left: seeing how far off the board we could get. Larry at Flat Island early ‘76 in 20+ knots, chest-high waves with cut-down fin and swept-back hi-wind daggerboard, scooped nose, harness, custom Pat Love® marginal sail, bungeed uphaul, stronger base and tee.

Beyond the tweaking of equipment, there was the not unimportant matter of adapting techniques. ‘When we came across a young and small Robby Naish, within a few months of teaching him, we noticed how in control Robby was when he used our rigs, with the boom up at our normal height, so we raised our booms and noticed some immediate benefits, especially when pointing upwind; keeping the sail as vertical as possible at all times is, in my mind, a significant contributor to sailing efficiency.’

THE PROGRESSION TO FOOTSTRAPS Larry Stanley has long been credited with added footstraps to windsurfing boards, but just how did this come about? ‘Gary Seaman made a 10’ [3.05 metre] prototype for Hoyle Schweitzer’s Windsurfer STAR beginner’s board in about 1975. They called it the Chip. It was at least 28” wide by 6” thick and close to 24” wide at the tail, and it was half the weight of most boards at that time, 20-25 pounds [9-11 kg]. Andy Chaffee was visiting the Windsurfer factory when he saw the Chip languishing. He asked Hoyle if he could take it to Hawaii, and Hoyle graciously gave it to him or sold it for a nominal price.

Shortly after returning to Kailua with the Chip, Chaffee asked me if I wanted to mess around with it. The centre of the bottom was round, running nose-to-tail like a Div II board but with outside rails like outriggers. It was stable when not moving, great for firsttime sailors, but it had a lot of wetted surface with minimal rocker.

The tail was too wide for me, so I took a hand saw and fibreglass to it, creating the rocket shape and rechristening it the ‘Rocket Chip’.

The new shape allowed me to sink the tail a bit, which raised the nose a bit, reducing the wetted surface, making it faster and reducing pearling. It still needed to be more precise and easier to turn, though, not a design for the future, but it did prove invaluable in finding the solution to the problem of staying on the board in rough water and jumps.

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We had tried various contraptions to keep our feet on the plastic production boards; surfing booties and sailing shoes; ridges ploughed into the deck with wood rasps, lines of boogie-board foam (boogie bumps) and other materials glued on as best we could; velcro-soled booties, nothing worked well enough. What was needed was a way to attach something similar to water ski bindings, but no adhesives would stick well enough to the polyethylene skin, and through-bolting things to the board was a sure way to kill it. However, fibreglass skins could be cut, drilled, glued to, and re-glassed, so the ‘Rocket Chip’ seemed a good candidate for footstraps.

I glassed six surfboard leash inserts into the deck and tied three hand-made webbing straps with neoprene tube covers over them.

They were ugly, floppy, and non-adjustable and worked better than I expected. Somebody probably has photos of the board on the beach. I didn’t own a camera in those days, so there is no known photo of the first footstraps. All straps that followed, including mine, were of different construction.

Sailing with footstraps for the very first time was a revelation! I could go faster than I had ever imagined and my feet remained firmly attached to the board. It must have looked pretty cool to the Kailua crew and others because, within days, everybody had footstraps on their boards. A new era of windsurfing was launched.’

John Speer photographed the ‘Rocket Chip’, the first board to have footstraps added, and Peter Brockhaus used the image for the 1st World Cup, of which Stanley was the rider; the location was Flat Island Kailua circa 1977.

‘I broke the ‘Rocket Chip’ in half-jumping at Flat Island. I kick myself now, but I hauled the pieces off to the Kailua landfill and immediately commissioned Peter Trombly to custom make a new board for footstraps. ‘Old Yeller’ 10’ x 24” x 3”, the first board explicitly built for footstraps, was made for me by Peter Trombly shortly after I broke the ‘Rocket Chip’.

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We were developing smaller, lighter, narrower ‘sleds’ with slightly pulled-in tails, the wide point aft of the middle, and footstraps.

They planed sooner, were wicked fast compared to anything I had ridden before, and jumped high and far with more control than previously possible. They could have been better in waves; we worked on that later. I rode this board for almost a year.

In ‘77 or ‘78, I took Old Yeller to San Francisco for the Golden Gate crossing with Pete Cabrinha and his buddy Brett. I remember being somewhere between 3rd and 5th to the windward mark, then absolutely flew across the Bay and was first to the Fort Baker side. I turned around then and sailed back to Chrissy Field without finishing the first leg because the wind was too light for me to get into the Fort. The few other footstrapped boards were 12’ or longer and were slower on the reaches because of their length and weight, so my sled got a lot of attention.

During Old Yeller’s time, worldwide board development just exploded. Everybody tried their friend’s new boards and used that experience to build the next generations ‘sleds’ [squared-off tails], ‘go-carts’ [somewhat narrowed tails with rounded corners], ‘pumpkin seeds’ [wide point very far aft, no nose, and round tails, a la Aussie Mark Paul and Mike Maguire]; dedicated speed boards and hi-wind/rough water race boards.

This revolution was worldwide and led to the most diverse production of shapes the sport has ever seen. Toward the end of that period, Hugh England and John Paskowski, both from Kailua, put mast steps and footstraps onto actual surfboards and pointed us in a direction from which we have yet to diverge.’

THE COMING OF CUSTOM BOARDS As Larry Stanley had found, custom boards were the obvious choice when developing a board, first for jumping waves and eventually for proper wave riding in true surfing style.

‘We needed to figure out exactly what we needed, so we tried everything. Half the fun of going to the beach was seeing someone show up with a new design or variation of a recent design and watching them put it through its paces. Some boards were incredibly strange-looking, inviting a lot of fun-making, but when you got a chance to ride the board, it’s incredible how often you came ashore with a huge grin and design tweaks already spinning in your head.

‘SOME BOARDS WERE INCREDIBLY STRANGE-LOOKING, INVITING A LOT OF FUN-MAKING...’

Above and Left: one of these strange looking creations was Mike Horgan’s ‘The Box’. It was hollow and built from marine plywood on wooden frames.

Its long narrow nose was later cut off to reduce the weight. It was a spectecular new design and inspired lots of windsurfers in Europe to build their own custom boards.

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Above: Mike Horgan and John Speer building ‘The Box’ Left: a later shot of Mike Horgans strange looking ‘Box’ with the shortened nose

LARGER WINDOWS

Above and right: pages from the Windsurfing Hawaii product catalogue showing popular mast extensions, universal joints, boom ends, storm sails and uphauls used by most wave sailors in the 1980s.

The move towards shortboards wasn’t a big surprise. We had been headed in that direction for a while. It took some intrepid guys to do it, though. The first time we saw John Paskowski come around the corner from Lanikai on a screaming reach with his 7’ surfboard, flying through the air, taking off on the smallest bumps and carving jibes like a downhill skier, we all yelled and jumped around and thought, ‘Duh!’ And then, Hugh England blew everybody’s mind at the Maalaea Speed Trials on his surfboard. He would have done much better if the wind had been steady.’

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‘The original factory-produced US Windsurfer® sails had only one little square window above the boom, but as soon as you leant back, there was a blind spot 100 degrees wide. Pat Love started adding windows for the Windsurfing Hawaii crew’s sails, and later the factory came out with more oversized windows on the storm sails after we pleaded at length about the safety factor. What convinced them was that when pictures began circulating of the extra windows, we were adding ourselves, as in Thor’s and my sails’ (see photos in this chapter).

PATENT SHARKS ‘The problem is that we didn’t professionally document this stuff because we didn’t think it was the end of the improvement process.

Hannes Marker from Germany, for example, came to the Pan Am World Cups in Kailua and took pictures of everything he saw. He then returned to his castle and hired a bunch of artists and patent lawyers to patent everything. The Euros call these people ‘Patent Sharks’.

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Years later, we began receiving letters from these rancid pieces of shit demanding that we pay them royalties. I personally wrote to each of them telling them to ‘Fuck Off! Luckily, there had been enough pictures and articles in US magazines to argue that there had been prior art. That kept them out of our hair; however, they continued to practice their unprincipled vampirism in their home continent.’

THE UNTOLD INFLUENCE OF STEVE WILKINGS ‘Surf photographer Steve Wilkings and I worked together in the middle of the ‘70s. Early on, Steve often came windward side to shoot the Kailua crew. By ‘76, we were beginning to find and sample spots far from Kailua, wanting to play in waves with a side-off wind.

‘NOTHING WAS GOING TO BE LEARNED SITTING ON THE BEACH, SO WE LAUNCHED’

Steve was well known for his surf photography, unsurpassed for the quality of its timing, colour, and intensity. Positioned on his surf mat as close to the danger zone as he dared, surfers in critical positions on intimidating waves passed close enough to hear the whirr of his motor drive. Getting the shot without blocking a rider’s escape, being run over, or getting sucked over the falls is comparable, I think, to shoot the running of the bulls from a milk stool in the middle of the street.

Whether or not he imagined wave sailing’s potential the same as we did, his prodding and encouragement hastened the inevitability of its impact.

We all knew, and he knew, that the day would come when we would have to decide exactly how committed we were to that surfing path. There were no examples to follow that we knew of, no one to teach us, so Steve, with his intimate knowledge of Hawaii’s waves and conditions, was an invaluable influential ally in our quest.

Steve and I usually reviewed the hundreds of slides he’d taken before sending them off to Windsurfing International. We were looking for something new, images not similar to the multitude we’d seen before. If we got 2 or 3 that caught our attention, that was a good day of shooting. For example, someone at Windsurfing International liked our efforts. Although I didn’t go to the World’s at Cancun in ‘78, I was there, in a manner of speaking, on the event poster.’

Larry describes a day when they began to ride larger waves. ‘I’m glad Steve’s call came in the morning; had it been the night before, I would not have slept [with anticipation]. Dennis was at my door a few minutes after my call. We loaded the truck - simple and fast in those days of only slightly modified one-design equipment, had a quick bite and took prophylactic measures to cope with the interminably long drive to Haleiwa. We arrived about mid-morning to meet Steve at Alii Beach Park.

Above: around 1980 Larry Stanley commissioned Kailua-based Dutch graphic designer Hugo de Vries to design a new logo for Windsurfing Hawaii. It was to become one of the best known and most iconic logos of the windsurfing industry. Note the big windows in the high wind sail as mentioned earlier in this chapter.

On a beautiful, sunny day with nobody out, our heads were full of the anticipation and chemical confidence that propels one forward, ignoring the lizard brain’s urging to run and hide. Haleiwa was showing decent size, but the break wasn’t inviting: gusty trades, closing out on the lefts and rights, and lots of backwash. Steve point-

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ed to our left, outside and to the west of Haleiwa and told us that Avalanche looked to be the better choice for our first go [on big waves]; it broke in deeper water, so our equipment was more likely to survive our mistakes, the wind was a steady 15+ knots side-offshore. We had previously dabbled with sailing small waves in offshore wind, and the results were not promising.

Above: this 1978 photo of Larry Stanley jumping at Flat Island / Kailua became the advertising poster for the Windsurfer® Rocket - a stock Windsurfer® trimmed and tuned for strong winds

The right at Avalanche in trade winds was straight downwind and would require kicking out of close-outs in shallow water. Nothing was going to be learned sitting on the beach, so we launched. We were equipped with lightly scooped one-design Windsurfer® boards, prototype high-wind daggerboards, and newly-designed Hawaiian chest harnesses; everything else was as it always had been [i.e. no footstraps]. A couple of familiarisation runs led us to the take-off place that seemed our best chance of making the wave. We watched for each other, working our way deeper toward the somewhat friendly peak. It was a mostly uneventful session, with no jaw-dropping images, but it revealed the direction we wanted to go and some idea of how to get there.

The next step of bearing off and surfing down the line only happened when somebody redirected us to Kuilima Bay on the north shore. There, and later at Cliffs at Diamond Head, we acquired the skills we needed in consistent, shapely, often playful but sometimes serious waves. Steve and his good friend and collaborator, Yuri Farrant, hung with us throughout, capturing images that inspired so many guys and gals to try for themselves one of the ultimate thrills in windsurfing. Steve exhorted us to go for it. We all need a friend like that in our corner.’

‘IN 1977 OR ‘78, WINDSURFING INTERNATIONAL ASKED ME HOW THEY COULD MODIFY A ONE-DESIGN WINDSURFER® TO MAKE IT BETTER FOR THE KIND OF SAILING WE WERE DOING’

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THE WINDSURFER® ROCKET Along with Windsurfing Hawaii’s creations, rather than putting a patent on their accessories, they persuaded Hoyle Schweitzer to adopt many of their ideas onto what would become the Windsurfer® Rocket, a stock Windsurfer® trimmed and tuned for strong winds.

Stanely recalls, ‘In 1977 or 78, Windsurfing International asked me how they could modify a One-Design Windsurfer® to make it better for the kind of sailing we were doing. I gave them my thoughts on mast step, daggerboard, and foot strap placements, suggesting we try twin fins. The result, which happened very quickly on their part, was the Windsurfer Rocket, the first production Sailboard with footstraps. Suddenly, jamming in waves, jumping and landing, and rough water high-speed runs became possible. It didn’t take long to

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Above: these photos show the conlighter boards. One of these shots of cover of German SURF Magazine in

realise you didn’t need that much board for those activities.

The quickest, most straightforward way to see if that was true was to cut 2 feet [.7 meters] off of the tail of a rocket, leaving the foot strap, daggerboard, and mast step positions where they were, seal up the cut, glass in some fins, and see if the remaining 10’ [305 cm] ‘Chopper’ worked or not. It did, but it needed to be lighter, the tail was too wide, and it was challenging to modify for further experimentation.’

A FIN/SAIL DISCOVERY Larry on his quest for fin perfection and a discovery that resulted from this. ‘In the early 1980s, many sailors experimented with different fin designs and foils to stop, or at least reduce, spin-outs on the much faster custom boards we were all sailing. Remember donkey fins, kanga cocks, football fins, and fence fins? None of them made much of a difference, so we kept looking.

One morning, on the way to the Windsurfing Hawaii Kailua shop, I stopped at a 7-11 for coffee. As I waited in line, I saw a Popular Science magazine with an F-15 prototype jet aircraft on the cover.

The article featured the canards [a small winglike projection for-

tinuous development from a cut-off Windsrufer® Rocket to smaller and Craig Yester jumping near Flat Island / Kailua was published on the July 1982.

ward of the main wing] they tested to increase manoeuvrability. I wondered if a canard might reduce the turbulence of the main fin at high angles of attack by straightening the flow over it. I ran the idea past a couple of folks at work, and Mike Todd [UK] and I made our first prototypes. We felt enough benefit to pursue the concept.’

However, he later discovered that, all along, it was the sails that made the difference. ‘When Spanier and Bourne developed their RAF sails with a much more locked-in CE, we realised that it had been as much the sail’s faults as the fin designs that caused spinout. I never felt any of these fin experiments were stupid ideas just because they turned out to be different from the answer.’

FEEDING THE EUROPEANS WHAT THEY WANTED The exotic imagery from the islands of windsurfers jumping, riding storm-driven mountains of water and harnessing warm trade winds meant Europeans were desperate to live vicariously through their heroes. It was creative visualisation at its most potent; every adventurous windsurfer wanted to be at one with the idea of being somewhere else and even someone else.

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Above: this well known shot of Larry Stanley taken by Steve Wilkings. It was used multiple times as a cover for German SURF Magazine and as a poster for the Windsurfer Worlds 1978 in Cancun/Mexico.

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Incredibly, in 1981, an estimated 8,000 windsurfers built custom boards in Germany alone; 10% of the total board sales in the country for that year, to have what they wanted and what they saw in publications and from travelling. It was a clear message to the industry. With the explosion of ‘build-it-yourself ’ and the demand from sailors wishing to improve their rigs and equipment in general, Windsurfing Hawaii’s accessories met their needs, and soon the company found its way to Europe; the Hawaiians stuck on their rock in the Pacific understood what was going on in Europe. The United States mainland was still asleep at the wheel at this juncture whilst the European market became a juggernaut.

Significantly, during the early part of the 80s, Dutchman Geert Steenhagen had stepped in to create ‘Windsurfing Hawaii Europe’ and, by 1986, had the License for 18 countries in Europe.

It included a factory in Holland housing soft goods, foot straps, booms and mast extensions, including 18 staff members to handle imports and produce 7,000 booms annually. France and Germany were the primary markets for their goods, followed by the UK, Holland and Italy. Licenses to market Windsurfing Hawaii were also granted in Japan, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, and Brazil.

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The license was for windsurfing products for use on the water, such as booms, extensions, mast feet, harnesses etc. and for trade mark products which were purchased directly from Windsurfing Hawaii’s principal manufacturers or produced locally to exact specifications; wallets, bags, jackets, sweatshirts, hats, mast protectors. Harnesses and foot straps were primarily manufactured in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and the spreader bars came from Australia. Special plastic mouldings came from the USA, ProGrip from Brazil and Clamcleats from the UK.

‘WE ARE WINDSURFING HAWAII, AND OUR GEAR IS NOT FOR PONDS IN ENGLAND OR EUROPE’

When Windsurfing Hawaii was asked about the suitability of their equipment for European conditions (a ridiculous question), the answer was simple, ‘We are Windsurfing Hawaii, and our gear is not for ponds in England or Europe or similarly for Lake Garda, so we don’t make the lightest possible gear. In extreme conditions, you survive on quality, which is our product.’ Their boom ends were omnipresent on many custom-made booms, and Europe represented the biggest seller of all their accessories.

Mistral was the supplier of these front and rear boom-ends to Windsurfing Hawaii and sold them as an accessory upgrade or complete with the WH boom.

FINAL THOUGHTS In 1990, Windsurfing Hawaii moved to the Columbia River Gorge for economic reasons connected with the manufacture of equipment. It was sold in 1995 to Jon and Michael Davies. Within a couple of years, the Davies brothers sold the name and all rights to another entity and Larry says ‘In effect, that was the end of authentic Windsurfing Hawaii products’.

There is a genuine fondness and nostalgia for the Windsurfing Hawaii brand, as you can tell from some corners of the web where their distinctive wave logo is still visible on a clothing line. However, what lingers in the memory are the epic pictures of Larry and his pals leaping off waves with huge heavy boards and baggy rigs. We all remember the fear of launching in a high wind, ready to do battle with the elements, but we were comforted by the fact that we had seen others do it before. Imagine launching into a large swell, not quite knowing what would happen to you or your equipment. No wonder they could not sleep before some sessions!

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CHAPTER 4

ULLI SEER HOW DO PHOTOS INFLUENCE THE PERCEPTIONS OF WINDSURFING?

W

e know the perception of windsurfing when it very first started was of being slightly maverick. Soon, images of beach life resembling a surfing vibe emerged. Windsurfing brands all interpreted this in their style, but what can we learn about the early growth of the sport by looking more closely at Mistral’s approach? Fortunately, one person was at the centre of this to explain the Mistral journey from 1976 to the late 1990s: Ulli Seer. It is rare for one person to stay connected to a windsurfing manufacturer for so long and for their image library to be so large.

In time, he would become the behind-the-scenes creative cog who effectively became Mistral’s one-person marketing team. He was a professional photographer and a designer. The story of his journey from Bavaria to this role is an illuminating example of seizing life’s opportunities. The power of striking, vibrant images never fades. If ‘A picture is worth a thousand words,’ Ulli Seer has written the most words about the Mistral brand through his imagery.

You’ll see which image motivated him to take up windsurfing and which of his photos he has chosen to illustrate his path. His story reveals his passion for creating and sustaining one of the world’s leading windsurfing brands. He was constantly problem-solving to develop pictures from perspectives that defied explanation at the time. For example, perhaps he was one of the first to create a ladder system set on the seabed to capture bird’s eye view images to present a new and refreshing perspective.

Above: Ulli Seer on Hawaii‘s North Shore, 1981

There’s no doubt he made a pivotal contribution to forming and maintaining the Mistral brand, staying longer than most, making the wheels go around bringing Mistral to the pages of their catalogues, and magazines of the world.

EARLY INFLUENCES Ulli lived up in the Bavarian mountains, far away from the sea, but was always around boats since his early childhood. His dad was a keen sailor and the family had a weekend place on the small

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island of Fraueninsel on Lake Chiemsee, one of Germany’s significant lakes, where he spent most of his summer weekends and holidays (you may recognise the lake name is also used for a clothing brand). In his teenage years and early twenties, he had his own Korsar, a fast dinghy similar to the former Olympic Flying Dutchman sailing class. His crew was a German Ski Team member. They would feature well in the annual German rankings for several years. With the mountains on his doorstep, Ulli was also a keen skier, skateboarder and mountaineer.

Around 1974, a friend showed him a copy of ‘Windsurfing Magazine’ which featured a double-page spread of Steve Wilkings’ famous photo of a Mike Horgan (our cover image on left) with an orange sail lifting off the wave in front of a dark Hawaiian sky. ‘It stayed in my mind to this day, and I think it triggered me to start windsurfing. Much to the surprise of my parents, friends and my sailing buddy, I sold my boat and ordered a TenCate Windsurfer®, and I specified wanting an orange sail. From that moment onwards, my life changed completely. Together with a friend, we packed our brand new boards onto the roof of an old VW Beetle and went straight to Sardinia.’ Other contributors to this book, including myself, vividly remember the life-changing moment we became hooked by the new thrill of windsurfing. The author remembers, ‘When I was just 18 while paddling my sea kayak; a Windsurfer® flew by me and I immediately recognised what I would rather be doing!’

BUILDING A NETWORK AND INCREASING IMPACT Being sailors, skiers and skateboarders, he and his friend learned quickly around the bays and islands of Sardinia’s Costa Smeralda.

‘The Windsurfer® was, in contrast, to a high-performance dinghy so incredibly simple; no ropes, no rudder, no trailer, just the wind in our hands. It was fantastic!’

Ulli was a photographic and graphic design student back in those days who took some photos of their trip to Sardinia and offered them to Brockhaus’ Windsurfing Magazine after returning in September 1975. At the age of 21, this was his first contact with Peter Brockhaus, who was open and welcoming and happy to publish his pictures and a short story he had written about his exciting trip.

Following this, on a grey autumn day that same year, Ulli got a call from a friend who owned a sports shop in his home town, asking if he wanted to take his place in the first windsurfing instructors training at Lake Starnberg, organised by Ernstfried Prade and Dago Benz the following weekend. He did and so became one of Germany’s first certified windsurfing instructors.

Life’s journey throws up unexpected opportunities and contacts: the saying that ‚‘you make your own luck’ perhaps applies to Ulli in what unfolded next.

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Right: ‘In the early 1980s I went to the people who had built the underwater film equipment for famous film-maker Jacques Cousteau and had a camera housing, wireless remote control and camera mount built to attach my camera on to windsurf boards and rigs, boats or helicopters. In my long carreer as a watersports photographer this equipment gave me the possibility to shoot from lots of different new angles never seen before’. This picture taken off Kailua Beach 1984 shows Pete Cabrinha chasing Jill Boyer on Mistral Tarifas.

‘ULLI IS A YES MAN WHO SAYS ‘YES’ TO LIFE. HE HAD A GENUINE PASSION FOR CONCEIVING AND CREATING THE WORLD‘S BEST WINDSURFING BRAND IMAGES’

‘Only a few months later, I got a call from Ernstfried Prade. He was looking for a windsurfing instructor for the summer season of 1976 for his windsurfing school at Robinson Club Jandia Playa in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands. Would I like this job? What a question. Only a few weeks later, I was on a plane to Fuerteventura. The airport was a small wooden shack. There was no road, only a dusty dirt track to Jandia, the Southern peninsula with just two hotels on the island.’

It turned out to be one of the most exciting summers of his life.

‘Not only did I have to learn to windsurf in high winds, but I also had to learn how to run a windsurfing school, teach and motivate people, earn respect, and run a business. It was a ‘School of Life’, and I made my very first money from it.’ A working relationship with Prade had also been established.

When he returned to Germany, he offered his latest photos of Fuerteventura to Windsurfing Magazine. By then, the magazine had grown into a bi-monthly publication working from Munich.

The graphic designer for the magazine at the time was about to quit his job. Peter Brockhaus was looking for a replacement and offered Ulli the job. ‘Once again, I had been given an excellent opportunity to advance, learn, and collect experience. I was still at University and had never done a layout for a whole magazine. But I accepted the challenge and started my new job on January 1st 1977.’

There were two prominant editors. Another Uli (Stanciu), who was to become the editor-in-chief of SURF Magazine and Chris Forstmeier. Ulli worked at Windsurfing Magazine during the day and did University work at night. ‘At 23, one doesn’t need much sleep. It was an exciting time because Peter [Brockhaus], Ernstfried [Prade] and Christian [Müller-Kittnau] were in the middle of launching the new Mistral brand.’

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Above: UK sailor Guy Farrant during a Mistral photoshoot in Kailua; Oahu, Hawaii 1983-84 Above right: fooling around during a photoshoot for Mistral in Costa Rica, 1997 Middle right: Photoshoot for Mistral at Lanikai Beach 1985 Right: in the 1980s and 1990s Hawaii was the stage for various TV- and Filmproductions like Magnum, Hawaii-Five-O etc. Along with the perfect infrastructure with film studios, camera equipment rentals, film processing labs, model agencies and production companies, Hawaii offered the perfect West Coast/ Polynesian surfer-style setting and almost unlimited sunny weather. Many Mistral Sportswear advertising campaigns were photographed here (1986).

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As it would turn out, Ulli learned more on the job at Windsurfing Magazine than at Uni, and after about six months, he realised a regular office job was not for him. ‘I wanted to be a full-time professional photographer. So by July 1977, I quit my Windsurfing Magazine job to spend the summer in Corfu, Greece.’

Before he departed, Christian Müller-Kittnau, the first manager of Mistral Germany, equipped him with a brand new Mistral board, including different sails and some new Mistral wetsuits.

‘Somehow, he seemed to know I would return with some good photos needed to promote the new Mistral Brand. Once in Corfu, I met a nice-looking girl who was Miss Germany on a holiday village [Robinson Club] promo tour. I took some photos of her in one of the new Mistral wetsuits. The pictures were great and used for Mistral posters and brochures.’

‘AS IT WOULD TURN OUT, ULLI LEARNED MORE AT WINDSURFING MAGAZINE THAN AT UNI, BUT AFTER ABOUT SIX MONTHS, HE REALISED A REGULAR OFFICE JOB WAS NOT FOR HIM’

Left: Robby posing for the world’s first autophocus SLR camera (Minolta 7000) during a photoshoot for a Penthouse promotional windsurfing story set in Kailua, Hawaii 1985

On that same trip, Ulli discovered the spectacular little bay of Paleokastritsa on the West Coast of Corfu. ‘The wind was howling, the water was turquoise, and I was desperate to take photos, but I had no one to sail my board. I set up the Mistral board on the beach and my camera on a tripod on top of a cliff ... then preset the exposure and focus and asked a guy I‘d met to keep pushing the button when I sailed through the viewfinder. In the end, I got an entire roll of great shots, and to this day, they are some of the most published pictures from the early days of Mistral.’

Later that year, after a short trip to Dinard on the Britanny coast (France) to the Open European Championships, he travelled to L’Armor Plage on the French Atlantic coast. Armed with a new Nikonos underwater camera, he took photos of Yves Loisance riding the waves of L’Armor Plage, which were used for several early Mistral brochures and leaflets. On his return to Germany, he packed up the van owned by Windsurfing Magazine, a small inflatable dinghy with an outboard motor and set off for the 1977 Windsurfer® Worlds in Baia Sardinia (Italy). It was a massive event with hundreds of young sailors from all over the world, and this is where he would meet Robby Naish, Ken Winner and all the great names in windsurfing for the first time.

‘But all that turned out to be a side-show in comparison. On the press boat, I met a beautiful young lady, Jill, from Australia. Our

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first salty kiss happened in my little inflatable rubber dinghy, and she is today my wife of more than 40 years and the mother of our three wonderful children. As it turned out for me, windsurfing was not only good for my career, but it was also good for my heart.’

‘OUR FIRST SALTY KISS HAPPENED IN MY LITTLE RUBBER DINGHY SHE IS TODAY MY WIFE OF MORE THAN 40 YEARS...’

Above: Ulli‘s girlfriend and later wife Jill sailing a Kailua board in Providenciales/Turks & Caicos during a photoshoot in the summer of 1981.

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After Sardinia, Ulli’s professional life seemed to gain significant momentum. Only days after returning, he had to pack his bags for his first considerable photo assignment outside of the windsurfing scene involving a two-month trip to Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Fiji for various magazines. Then in 1978, he started with a trip to Seychelles with his new girlfriend, Jill, followed by trips for Mistral to Malta, Sylt, Portugal, Fuerteventura and Saint Jean de Luz (France) for the first Mistral European Championships, and a great trip to USA and Alaska for several German Magazines, including clients such as Diners Club Magazine and Vogue. What a summer!

‘In the autumn of 1978, I made a trip to Hawaii with Peter and Chris Brockhaus and my girlfriend Jill, who was now modelling for Mistral Sportswear photos. This was the first time I met Robby Naish’s parents, Carol and Rick Naish and all the top names of the time like Pat Love, Larry Stanley, Colin Perry, Mike Horgan, Dave Foy, Dennis Davidson. I met up with photographers John Speer and Steve Wilkings [see this book’s cover]. I also got to know Kay and Russel Davidson, the designers of the 1980 Mistral Naish board and sail graphics.

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Above: Pete Cabrinha (foreground), Charly Messmer (background, left) and Frank Maass (background, right) sailing off Kahala, Oahu, Hawaii.

This is one of the ‘ladder shots’ mentioned on page 97.

Right: Robby jumping with the mast mount camera 1986

Below: Joe Mendes sailing the ‘sticky’ Kailua board in front of architect Jørn Utzon’s world famous Sydney Opera House (see story on page 104)

Above: Ulli‘s daughter Daniela in Porto Pollo, Sardinia, Italy, 1983

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We managed to get the famous surfer Buzzy Kerbox to model our Mistral sportswear. Buzzy later went on to have a fantastic modelling career, becoming the face of Ralph Lauren for almost 20 years.

We came home with some great photos; most of them went into the 1979 Mistral brochure, calendars and posters. The beauty of the Hawaii beach lifestyle immediately cast a magic spell on me. I returned eighteen times in the following 20 years. It sort of became a second home’.

BRINGING NAISH AND HAWAII TO A WIDER AUDIENCE Then an influential new project with Peter Brockhaus happened.

Peter had decided to publish a book with Robby Naish, and Ulli was assigned to take the photos and design the book. Peter rented a house in the bay of Arzachena in Sardinia and flew the Naish family, Rick, Carol and their four kids, to Europe. They brought a variety of prototype boards, including the Naish board, which later would become selected for the Mistral range.

The idea for the book was to show and explain Robby’s tricks and manoeuvres. For that, they wanted to use multiple exposure stroboscope techniques. The problem was that this technique only worked in the dark with a bank of strong strobe lights. ‘I wanted to shoot the manoeuvres from above to get the best possible angle. Peter had a massive metal platform built by a local blacksmith, which had to be lifted by a huge mobile crane parked at the Bay of Arzachena. To get the necessary power for my strobe lights, we brought a robust electric generator with us from Munich.

As it turned out, there was never any wind during the nights, and to make bad things worse, the village policeman arrived on the second night and told us to stop. In his opinion, we distracted the shipping traffic with our strobe lights. Ultimately, our photos did not live up to our expectations and turned out to be an expensive photographic experiment.’ However, it helped build a rapport with the Naish’s.

‘ULTIMATELY OUR PHOTOS DID NOT LIVE UP TO OUR EXPECTATIONS AND TURNED OUT TO BE NO MORE THAN AN EXPENSIVE PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPERIMENT...’

Around this time, Peter Brockhaus was about to launch the new Mistral Kailua board and was desperate to get some photos. He air-freighted a Kailua and Mistral Competition board to to Ulli in Melbourne. ‘When I picked up the boards from the airport, I discovered the Kailua was only half finished. The Kailua was supposed to have a red fin, rubber nose, mastfoot, mast and boom. However, our prototypes arrived with all these parts in black. So we bought some red paint and started to paint all these parts red. I spilt the can of red paint over the carpet of our hotel room. It was a disaster.

This picture shows Ulli on a Kailua

We left the hotel very quick- prototype board. It was taken by Ulli‘s wife Jill in the Coorong / South Austly the following day, never to ralia for the first Kailua brochure and be seen again. We were then ads in 1980. In 1981 it was published confronted with the next prob- as the cover of German SURF. lem. The paint wouldn’t dry. It stayed sticky for weeks, and the poor Australian guy who sailed for our photos returned with red, sticky hands. Despite all the obstacles, our photos made it onto different brochures, book covers and the cover of SURF Magazine [see above].

Another photo I took of our ‘sticky’ Kailua board in front of Sydney Opera House made it onto the 1981 Mistral Calendar. Shortly after the calendar was published, I received a phone call from the famous Danish architect, Jørn Utzon, who was the architect of the iconic Sydney Opera House. He had left the building project after a major dispute during the building process and had never returned to Sydney to see it finished. This great man rang me to tell me that he thought my photo was the best he had ever seen of his famous creation. Forty years on, I am still proud of this compliment.’

In April 1980, when Ulli returned from the trip to Australia and the Pacific Islands, the Robby Naish book project was still unfinished. The focus on windsurfing was shifting more and more towards Hawaii, and they realised they urgently needed pictures of the latest windsurfing manoeuvres in the waves. Ulli packed his bags again for Hawaii to finish off the project.

‘Hookipa on Maui had yet to be discovered as a top windsurfing spot, so we concentrated on shooting at Diamond Head and Kailua. Robby was still going to school. He had plenty of time for our photo shoots, and it was great to work with him. He was focused and cooperative, and his physical agility was at its peak.’ Ulli was still learning to take photos in the waves, but Diamond Head was still empty and great in those days. ‘On occasion, Robby and I were completely alone out in the waves.’ Diamond Head would become crowded just a few years later.

‘When visiting Hawaii, I stayed in a magical spot at the beach in Lanikai at Marsue McShane’s house, Robby’s former school teacher.

I returned to her place, time after time in the following years, and

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Above and left: These are only a few examples of a number of pictures by Ulli Seer published on magazine covers and magazine ads worldwide.

Major Publication include: Time Magazine (USA), Sports Illustrated (USA), Nautical Quarterly (USA), Surfer (USA), Windsurf Italia (Italy), SURF (Germany), Funboard (Germany), EPOCA (Italy), Aka Skidor (Sweden), Stern (Germany), Esquire (USA).

Right: Jill & Ulli Seer Kailua Boat Ramp (March 1981)

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it always felt almost like coming home to Mum. We stored tons of windsurfing equipment at her house and in her garage. The smell of her freshly brewed Hawaiian coffee, toast and papayas for breakfast in the morning, the song of the gently lapping waves and the rustling of the palm leaves on the roof are still vivid in my memories.’

THE GOLDEN YEARS The years which followed were the high time of windsurfing and the most successful for Mistral. The images captured represented why windsurfing was the fastest-growing water sport. The carefree image epitomised the sport and a particular Mistral lifestyle.

The superiority of the Mistral World Cup Team with talents like Charly Messmer, Robby Naish, Pete Cabrinha, Jill Boyer, Natalie Lelièvre, Nevin Sayre, Tomas Persson, Tim Aagesen, Frank Maass and many others completed the outstanding image of the Mistral brand.

lem: Bernard had never been on a windsurfing board and had no idea what was happening in the windsurfing world. So he came up with the glorious idea to sign up the famous playboy, industrialist and erotic photographer Gunter Sachs for a new advertising campaign for Mistral.

Gunter Sachs had as little to do with windsurfing as Bernard Appia, and as a result, he photographed one of his usual semi-erotic pictures of a model lying on a mirror with a giant, big rope between her legs. As there was no Mistral board to be seen in the entire photo. A tiny little Mistral sail had to be copied into the background on the far horizon. The campaign, which had cost Mistral a giant sum of money, was not surprisingly a total flop. As a result, Bernard Appia was not marketing manager for much longer, and after he left, I had more or less complete freedom at Mistral for years. Ernstfried and I got along well, and we supported each other but never got in each other’s way.’

As for Brockhaus’ departure from Mistral, ‘Peter had left Mistral in 1979 and founded F2 in 1980. Even though I always liked Peter as a person and admired his creativity and great marketing talents, it was not always easy to work with him. It was often a stressful and inconsistent experience and there were often problems with the finances. After Peter Brockhaus left Mistral, there was nevertheless, a vast void.’

In 1981, ‘Windsurfing with Robby Naish’ was finally published by Delius Klasing publishers in Germany. It was a big success, and the book was published in English, Dutch and Italian in multiple editions. Adia Interim had just bought the company, a new Mistral CEO had to be found, and the whole company structure had to be rebuilt. Ernstfried Prade, who also had his controversies with Brockhaus, would stay with Mistral, responsible for selecting designs and production.

ADVERTISING DESIGNER, PHOTOGRAPHER AND MORE ...

‘After Peter’s departure from Mistral, the whole marketing and advertising department was utterly inoperative. I was only 27 but had a well-connected network. With my photos and advertising designs, I had shown that I knew what I was doing, and this was my chance.

I made myself known to Martin Pestalozzi, Adia’s CEO, and Albert Gaide, Mistral’s new Manager. Both were noble and generous gentlemen but had no idea about the windsurfing sport. Fortunately, they realised it would be helpful to have a guy like me on the team, so without much discussion, I took on the role of advertising designer and photographer of Mistral on a freelance basis. I never regretted my decision not to follow Peter Brockhaus to new horizons but to do my own thing at Mistral. Once again, I had been fortunate to be given a another opportunity, and I only had to grab it. It was my most fantastic career move for the next two decades.

The new marketing manager at Mistral was a lovely Frenchman by the name of Bernard Appia. Bernard had been the marketing manager at DeBeukelar, a Dutch cookie manufacturer. Bernard was the most pleasant and civilised guy to work with, and whenever we met in my office in Munich, he brought along his concert flute and played beautiful classical music. He would take me to dinners in Munich’s top restaurants in the evenings. There was only one prob-

Above: more than once Ulli Seer’s photos appeared on the front and back cover of SURF at the same time. Here on the back cover in form of a Mistral ad.

Ulli experienced the comings and goings of nearly ten different Mistral managers, some successful and talented, some less so.

‘There were many ups and later, primarily downs, over the following years, but a fantastic journey I never wanted to miss. In my opinion, the early and mid-’80s were the high time of windsurfing in general and the entire Mistral brand. As a stroke of genius, Ernstfried designed the Mistral multicolour sails, which were a huge success and distinguished the Mistral brand and my photos for years. The other brands tried to copy these sails but never managed to match their success.’

WINDSURFING‘S DECLINE THROUGH ULLI’S LENS Towards the late 80s and into the 90s, all brand’s sails became more technical, with more transparent materials, including full battens, camber inducers and other technical gimmicks. The sails became less attractive and photogenic. At some stage in the 90s, windsurfing sails were almost entirely made of transparent material and devoid of colours.

‘Windsurfers became virtually invisible on the water, and photos became boring, except when the action was extraordinary. This brought a new problem to the sport in the battle for market share in a diminishing market; windsurfing equipment became increasingly

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‘WORKING WITH ROBBY HAS ALWAYS BEEN AN ABSOLUTE PLEASURE...’

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‘Working with Robby has always been an absolute

pleasure. More than once his sharp fin sliced only millimeters past my head, without ever touching me.

His jumps and transitions were placed so precisely that I could always rely on him and be sure to get my shots.’

This picture shows Robby at Diamiond Head / Oahu on a Mistral Take-Off 1983, one of the less glorious Mistral products. It was released too late, it was too heavy and overloaded with unneccessary technical gimmicks, soon to be nicknamed the ‘Mistral Break-Off’.

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Ulli Seer’s photos did not only create a strong brand image for Mistral Windsurfing products but also for Mistral Sportswear, Mistral Snowboards and Skiwear in the 1990‘s.

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Above: Ulli Seer and Robby Naish on one of their first photo shoots for the book project Windsurfing with Robby Naish Sardinia, 1979

technical and complex. The average windsurfer would not arrive on the beach with one board and sail like in the early days. He would have two or three boards for every type of condition, a whole quiver of masts, sails, booms and fins.

Rigging the sail became even more complicated, sometimes requiring two people and making it almost impossible for most women. I think this was a turning point when people started to lose interest in a sport that was so weather-dependent, costly and complicated.

Kiting, skateboarding, inline skating, mountain biking, tennis, golf, free-skiing and snowboarding were the new great thing. Most windsurfing boards disappeared into garages, many of them still hanging there 40 years later under a coat of dust.

After Mistral came under the roof of Jacobs Holdings in 1997 and, later on, other brands, Klaus Jacobs unsuccessfully tried to start a new era in windsurfing. I took my last windsurfing photo for Mistral in Costa Rica in 1997. Since then, I have done many exciting jobs and campaigns for well-known companies. Although successful and financially rewarding, I have never again felt the complete excitement and freedom of those early windsurfing years. It was a great sport and a magical time.’

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CHAPTER 5

ERNSTFRIED PRADE THE MAN WITH THE DRAWING BOARD INFLUENCE

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rnstfried is a man well known to me, or at least I see a part of him through working together for a decade. Our professional relationship is related mainly to collaboration on design and production matters. He has been Mistral’s longest-serving member. He was there when Mistral was founded, and at times he’s been absent, but like a Bavarian bratwurst in a revolving door, he has managed to keep coming back, each time a little more eccentric in his ways but razor sharp for a man of his years. He is a good man to have around in some technical matters, and his network remains far-reaching.

Prade began as a graphic artist who windsurfed.

He initially worked with Brockhaus on his German Windsurfing Magazine in 1974/5, assisting with the layout and applying his visual art skills from his kitchen table in Münsing. The drawing board was, and still is, his domain. For instance, Prade states ‘When Mistral was founded, Heinz Bader produced the product; I made the technical drawings for the board shape and my boom and daggerboard patents, which they bought from me, and Brockhaus took care of the marketing.’ Prade was not an owner of Mistral, but he did influence design.

Above all other skills he possesses, corporate survival is what stands out most; having ridden the fluctuating fortunes of the company, convincing each successive CEO, he held the key to Mistral’s good fortune; for some, and in his mind, he was indispensable to the brand. The ‘Godfather of Mistral’ is a metaphor sometimes applied to him; perhaps advisor and counsellor to whomever was the biggest fish in the pond at the time would be more appropriate

Above: Ernstfried was a successful sailor in the early days of windsurfing placing well in several championships.

FIRST STEPS

Prade first came into contact with windsurfing at the end of 1972, when he read the US Chemical company Dupont’s company 1971 magazine about the story of the Windsurfer®. The company supplied polyethylene for the manufacturer of the boards and this front page influenced many. Reading

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Above: this image shows the opening page of the so called ‘Emissions Prospekt’ (share prospectus) trying to persuade active windurfers and Mistral clients and dealers into buying Mistral shares. The shares were offered at 550 Swiss Franks. In the picture Ernstfried Prade sailing on the first Mistral prototype during a photoshoot in the Bahamas 1976.

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this article in August of that year, the importer (Calle Schmidt, see Chapter 2) visited Lake Starnberg to demonstrate the Windsurfer®, and Prade ensured he attended.

Next spring, in 1973, he purchased a Ten Cate yellow-coloured board and headed for Biarritz in France to immerse himself in mastering his new acquisition despite his diminutive size. On his return he was a lot better than everyone else. In 1973, he won at the German Championships on Lake Chiemsee, where 120 people took part with limited experience. He finished the year with a 3rd at the first European Championships in Sylt. The following year, weight divisions were introduced to help equalise competition on such a weight-sensitive craft. 1973 as an early sailor, was Prade’s best year for podium finishes in competition.

During some time in California, Prade had several conversations with Hoyle Schweitzer regarding his ideas for windsurfing designs and suggested he make some designs for him to apply his graphic art skills. It came to nothing for various reasons, including the potential conflict of interest with Ten Cate in Holland and their licensing agreement.

Prade joined Peter Brockhaus’ Windsurfing Magazine, then Peter’s founding of Mistral, by putting himself in the right place at the right time. Brockhaus was the entrepreneur and marketing genius on a mission, while Prade, in essence, became a Product Manager with a keen eye for detail. As discussed later in this chapter, it is sometimes erroneously claimed or assumed he was the principal board designer, often fuelled by the media.

In Chapter 2, you heard about the first board test on Lake Garda (Italy) stimulated by Brockhaus and his magazine in which the five boards on the market in 1975 were compared: the Windglider, Sailboard, Windsurfer®, Speedy Sail and Windrider.

Brockhaus was genuinely interested in seeing which board would win out as best. Invited as part of the test team was Dr Richard Hämmerle, who attempted to supervise the objectivity and validity of the process with Peter Brockhaus, Karl-Heinz Stickl, Malte Simmer, Uli Stanciu, Sigi Hofmann and Ernstfried Prade.

The test criteria included performance, quality of components, ease of rigging and attention to detail of the various key features.

At the end of the test, the Speedy Sail (from Switzerland) came out on top as the winner; its relatively lighter weight helped, apparently, just ahead of equal point runners-up, Windsurfer® and Windglider. There were significant issues with all the rigs and sails, and Prade had ideas about improving these.

From this test day onwards, it would be the nascent beginning of a new brand and the legacy that would become Mistral. At this point, the separation of fact from fiction becomes problematic as accounts differ. Following this test which included a meeting with Heinz Bader, who owned Scobalit, a plastics moulding company,

a trip to their works in Switzerland saw contracts drawn up and signed, with Prade tasked to design the first board for the brand.

Prade recounts the company was officially founded in October 1976 and that a few months before this, he had applied for a patent for a mast foot, swivel daggerboard, fin and boom. These he would subsequently sell to Mistral.

BRAND IDENTITY: CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS Prade admits that Brockhaus was the catalyst with the vision and drive to establish a windsurfing brand in competition to the Windsurfer® since he believed the sport deserved better. ‘Yes, this is true. Peter was the guy with his character and drive; you could not compete with him.

We went on the market in ‘77 with our first board [the lousy Superwind: see Chapter 2], and it failed. I had measured up the Windsurfer®, and I thought it needed to be wider for German people to make it a nice board. For Peter and I, it was not clear to us how Bader at Scobalit would produce the board; he did not tell us much. He just told me to bring him a prototype from which they made a plug from ash wood.’

Eventually, when the product was launched, ‘...it turned out the Superwind board absorbed water over a few months of use and was very heavy, 22 kg even Above: The important front page of the 500,000 circulation Dupont Magazine before water entered; it (July-August 1971) featuring Bruce Matlack was a disaster’. Brocksailing, with the photo caption ‘Windsurfhaus and Prade agreed ing: No Waves Needed’. Diane Schweitzer that Mistral’s first announced that “...this skyrocketed us to fame”. Many people saw this first worldwide board was a long way promotional image of the new sport due to from what the brand the reach of a multi-national corporation and wanted in respect of were prompted into action. the quality of finish to help build a strong identity.

The question of who named the brand and created the famous M-Dot logo is not so easy to agree on. It’s logical to assume Brockhaus may have arrived at a possible name early on in his mind, probably during the periods he was considering his options to create a brand; after all, he was a good marketer. Prade’s versions of events are, however, clear.

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‘The combination of name and typeface was interesting because when I worked with Brockhaus at one time, he requested we make some storm sails. I had a sailmaker nearby who made them for us.

I asked him to print the word ‘Mistral’ in a flame-red graphic on the sails, and they sold very easily. When later Bader and Brockhaus asked me to find a name for our new company, I had this sail in my head, ‘Mistral’ the wind in France - and that was what I recommended. I then made the lettering of the logo.’ As for the

M-Dot logo, Brockhaus says Prade commissioned a young artist to develop a logo, but this is Prade’s account: ‘I had several M logo ideas. At first, I had‚ M1 because Bader and Brockhaus told me to take inspiration from an Olympic sailing class logo. I tried all combinations with sails and so on, but when I looked at it, it did not stand out. I thought, why not have a sun represented by a red dot and put this beside the M, and that’s it. Brockhaus was good at telling different stories and splitting friends, making them turn on each other. It is like it is.’

Above: the very first advert for Mistral published in Windsurfing Magazine of January 1977. The board was initially called ‘The Mistral Surfer’ later it was the idea of the French Mistral distributor Yves Loisance to call it ‘The Mistral Superwind’ a name the board could never live up to. The ‘Superwind’ was a dud - heavy, slippery and slow.

Part of the problem is that you have Brockhaus and Müller-Kittnau, highly driven, talented individuals, who, based on Prade’s account, had no input on what to name the brand or how the logo should look; we don’t know the reality. Logos must also work on apparel in varying forms, from screening to embroidery, on equipment and print. Was there no cohesive analysis of this?

Prade has spent much time and effort convincing Germany’s Surf Magazine and the like that he originated both the name and logo exclusively. When pushed, Prade becomes quite firm in his re-

sponse. ‘They both know where it came from. You know both these guys [Brockhaus / Müller-Kittnau] went out of Mistral very early, say 1980-’82, and I was the one all the years in Mistral, and the brand took off, and for sure they are a little angry about the success of the company and that I did a lot for it.’

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THE SECOND BOARD: THE MISTRAL COMPETITION Over the winter of 1977, Prade would set about addressing a new design that would launch the brand to far greater heights in combination with its sportswear collection. But, like so many projects, it seems the Mistral Competition was not through his solo efforts but a design in which he would seemingly take singular credit and substantive royalties over time.

He rented a place on Lake Starnberg where he lived; an empty guest house. He purchased two styrofoam blanks in 1 m x 4 m x 0.50 m size and secured a drawing of how to make an electric saw. He describes the process, ‘The board, I made thicker. When shaped, we laminated it, and Bader came from Switzerland to visit me at this guest house workshop, and I showed him the new Mistral Competition. He was amazed and said, “Prade, this will be our board.” He took my board and made a wooden plug and then the moulds’.

The Mistral Competition would be released in 1978, and the Superwind dropped. It was a forgiving market since the demand was so strong. This second board proved a significant leap in quality and performance with high sales supported by a clothing line. ‘Schools and individuals accepted this board extremely positively. It was a big success, selling 6000 units in the first year and 270,000 over its production lifetime.’

The first Mistral boards adopted Prade’s folding fin and detachable mast foot, which had a lock and release mechanism. Worldwide, Prade claims, ‘This patent alone poured millions into the Mistral coffers. For 20 years, each board brand had to pay royalties for its use‘.

WHO SHOULD BE CALLED THE DESIGNER OF SOMETHING? One can surmise that Prade’s legacy is equal parts myth and reality regarding board design. The home country bias from German brand followers may have fueled this. For example, when German Surf Magazine interviewed Prade, they asked, ‘Rick Naish and Harold Iggy were soon active as shapers [but] the designs came from you, didn’t they?’ This is a leading question and not a balanced one. Reinforcement of information like this has often been allowed to perpetuate in the media.

When pressed on this sensitive matter, here is Prade’s response: ‘With the development centre on Lake Garda and Rick Naish in Hawaii, there was a little competition between us. Rick Naish was the best shaper and he worked with Harold Iggy, who sadly passed away a few years ago. He was a very good shaper, and we learned from them because we travelled twice a year to see the Naish’s to bring all the details of our needs. I fed Rick all the details of what we had discovered in Europe with our boards, but the shape, Naish did. He made the Naish boards, Diamond Head, all the programs, everything was from Rick Naish.’ There is a recognition here of how ideas were shared. Perhaps it depends on how you view ‘shaping’ and ‘design’ as joined-up processes, but in the overall process, shapers are designers by default inherent in the task except where given exacting design details, which was not the case in this instance.

Above: in the early and mid 70’s Ernstfried Prade was a successful sailor on the race course, winning the German Championsships in 1973 and coming 3rd in the European Championships in Sylt / Northern Germany.

In the picture above he is sailing on his home waters Lake Starnberg sporting a sail with advertising for Hans Taubinger’s local Windsurfing school in Seeshaupt at the southern shore of the lake.

Below: Ernstfried Prade was well connected in the publishing and television industry. In the 70s and early 80’s he published a number of books and was protagonist and advisor in several TV productions about the new windsurfing sport.

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Design collaborations are synomous with the industry. One of the most notable raceboards, originated with the 1982 Pan Am board, shaped and designed by Rick Naish and Harold Iggy. After 1988, it was replaced by a Harold Iggy / Nevin Sayre-designed Equipe II, and in 1989 it became the International Mistral One Design (IMOD), the Olympic board for 1996, 2000 and 2004).

One more team rider had something to say during my research.

Charly Messmer, Mistral’s original test pilot, mentions that he came up with the idea of the adjustable (telescopic) boom after breaking a leg and having to use telescopic aluminium crutches.

The idea was seized upon by Prade, who patented the concept. So, the discussion gets muddier: can you separate ‘idea’ from ‘shape’ and ‘design?’

THE SPORT EVOLVES As we have heard, Brockhaus’s earliest trips to Hawaii meant he was inspired by what he saw and the sport’s trajectory was towards equipment orientated to higher winds and rough open waters.

‘In 1978, we went to Hawaii on our first trip [Prade’s first trip, not Peter’s] and took with us 20 Mistral boards, which was crazy because our boards had no foot straps, no rocker and everyone was laughing at what we had made’ [suggesting Prade saw for himself, longboards were not singularly the future].

In a promotional video, ‘Windsurf Mistral, February 1978, Promo Part 1 Competition Naish Board’ (still available online) the narrator says, ‘It’s a perfect day to begin testing 20 prototype Mistral Competitions under the sometimes extreme and varied conditions of the Pacific. Dennis and Annette Davidson, Ken Clyde and Dave Foy were the testers. Master sail maker Pat Love has cut special sails for us, out-performing everything we’ve tested. Their centre of effort is so well balanced that it doesn’t shift so that the Competition sails easier and more efficiently. In Kailua, custom boards are designed to ride waves and Mistral, as part of its extensive international testing, wanted to know more about this specialised approach.’

In this video, we hear one of the earliest uses of what ‘fun’ means, used by a windsurfing marketer describing the rider’s experience.

‘The Naish board accelerates at the slightest push of the wind and is easy to steer on any course where a regular board ceases to be fun [i.e., it becomes harder to handle], the Naish board begins to be fun.’ We know how the ‘fun’ word was overused in windsurfing, i.e., funboards.

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‘IN 1978, WE WENT TO HAWAII ON OUR FIRST TRIP AND TOOK WITH US 20 MISTRAL BOARDS, WHICH WAS CRAZY BECAUSE OUR BOARDS HAD NO FOOT STRAPS, NO ROCKER AND EVERYONE WAS LAUGHING’

Above: Jill Boyer on the Mistral Competition - in its revised final SST-version - a well designed, well balanced board ideal for the recreational windsurfer, families and as a club racer. With more than 270.00 units sold the Mistral Competition was at the time, the most successful sailing craft ever produced, according to some sources, even topping the Olympic Laser class.

Left: the Mistral Competition Class was organized by IMCO (International Mistral Class Organisation) responsible for setting the class rules and organizing the annual IMCO World Championships (last held in 2005).

Read more about the Mistral One-Design in Chapter 9.

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The Pan Am Cup event was the catalyst for developing high wind racing, especially on fast, broad, and close-reaching race courses over distance. When asked to comment, Prade recounts, ‘Yes, it was unbelievable. When Peter left Mistral, I made [i.e., led the production of] the first Mistral Pan Am board, a wonderful board.

Rick did the shaping [designing]. With this board, we took this design to spread the idea of ‘Pan Am’ racing in Europe’. When Prade uses the first person ‘I’ and third person ‘we’, you can spot how ambiguity could arise for those listening.

In the context of what would be chosen for Mistral production from 1980 onwards, Prade was the one calling the shots, but there’s no escaping the fact that Prade was no match for the likes of Rick, Robby and Randy Naish, Fichtner, Messmer, Sayer and a long list of designers and influencers who excelled on what worked under-foot. Prade certainly obsessed over technical details, but whether they made much difference to performance or sales is unclear.

sistance from Prade, and in turn, Prade influenced Brockhaus’ partner, Heinz Bader, not to invest in such a shift. Even by 1981, European custom board makers were already well advanced in creating wave and funboard shapes; Mistral would not fully enter the funboard market until 1984. As a brand, they nearly fell off a cliff in being closed to new ideas. Prade was not an open water sailor used to ocean swells. His world was the longboard, a world in which he felt comfortable, but the writing was on the wall.

When Prade was asked openly if he was against producing shorter funboards for Mistral, he responded, ‘It is true, that I held the idea and belief in longer boards, firstly for the Olympic reason and second we were well placed in the One-Design and from this I got a reputation in the market, “Prade with his longboards.” This is true.’

Mistral was rapidly being left behind and had lost momentum.

As a brand, they ran the risk of becoming uninteresting. Look through old windsurfing magazines, and you will see from 1980 to 1983, by the time Mistral finally got up to speed, many other brands were technically more advanced, more relaxed and sexier, and the likes of F2 through Brockhaus were now metaphorically speaking, kicking sand in the face of Mistral who had much catching up to do.

RECOUNTING SOME OF BROCKHAUS’ JOURNEY Prade states, ‘Brockhaus was already thinking of having his own company in 1978, but not telling anyone. This was in his head. In 1978, he said to Heinz Bader, “You know you need a really good importation company into Germany of our Mistral Competition product. Why don’t I form Mistral Germany?” At this time, Windglider were licensed, as were all the other brands, but in France, there was no patent, and for almost ten years, many brands started up here.

It was still 1979, and Brockhaus said to Bader, “Look, if you get in trouble with Mr Schweitzer, you will have to pay a lot of money; much better I get in trouble with Schweitzer. So, if you sell to me for 1 German D-Mark the German rights, Mistral Germany and I will deal with Mr Schweitzer as the front guy for Mistral in any legal cases”. And so this deal went ahead.

Above: Mistral Competion boards photographed at the venue of the 1980 Mistral Worlds in Sardinia, Italy

A EUROCENTRIC PERSPECTIVE? We know it frustrated those around him, but Prade was perhaps Eurocentric in his early thinking. His input was centred around what would work in the biggest market, Europe. Brockhaus differed since he embraced the idea that Europeans would want the authenticity of what the Hawaiians were working upon and developing, but with some refinements for high wind course racing.

Within this mix of individuals, Prade was perhaps not always a good fit at Mistral in 1980-83, with his focus squarely upon longboards and conventional triangle racing. Indeed, this genre was essential for Mistral in the early formative years. With royalty arrangements for the Mistral Competition, it was perhaps advantageous for Prade to nurture and keep the longboard Mistral Competition as the primary product for Mistral for as long as possible.

We heard in Brockhaus’s Chapter 2 how he wanted to make shorter, funboard designs, as he called them; however, there was re-

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‘I had a friend close by in a small town, a farmer with a huge building. Brockhaus asked if he would rent the building and he agreed.

Mistral Germany was created and the farmer became employed by them to manage the stock, packaging and logistics; even his wife joined in. Mistral Germany existed for many years from this building.’

In his central Mistral role, Brockhaus had to assume a low profile in the last part of his tenure due to the litigation he was involved in, and as a result, Prade was asked to be the front man for Mistral during this time, which elevated Prade’s position. Oddly, Brockhaus was rarely able to assume a robust managerial presence, even though he was still making the big decisions. In an interview in German Surf Magazine in 2020, Prade stated that Brockhaus was ‘...a gifted marketing man and the rapid spread of windsurfing [in Europe] should be attributed to him, but he had a few misfires’.

Prade goes on to explain ‘Brockhaus, after the court case, quit with Mistral and opened F2. This was good and bad because we had Robby and Rick Naish under contract, and Brockhaus had been our marketing guy. We had Ulli Seer as our in-house photographer, who

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stayed with us for many years, but despite that I had everything on my shoulders from day one in 1979; making the prototypes, organising the exhibitions, as had Brockhaus before this’. F2 rapidly became a more prominent brand in board sales, overtaking Mistral because of its focus on funboards, mainly concentrating its effort away from longboards.

With Jürgen Hönscheid’s designs, Brockhaus became the founder and promoter of funboards, and funboard racing in Europe and everyone acknowledged what he was doing for the sport. ‘With F2, let’s say he was unlucky because he did not have the support around him. Some say no one drained more money out of the windsurfing industry than Peter.’ This may be so, but Brockhaus was prepared to invest and take risks to follow his vision for the shorter funboards investing his own money into F2, money he had won in damages from TenCate.

‘I HELD THE IDEA AND BELIEF IN LONGER BOARDS, FIRSTLY FOR THE OLYMPIC REASON AND SECOND WE WERE WELL PLACED IN ONE-DESIGN AND FROM THIS I GOT A REPUTATION IN THE MARKET, “PRADE WITH HIS LONGBOARDS” THIS IS TRUE’

VARIED MISTRAL OWNERS: PRADE’S EXPERIENCES We must note that Prade is a more cautious and conservative businessman who never took financial risks. Mistral, with him as a top influencer, was not owned by an individual or partnership, but since 1981, by a vast corporate conglomerate which knew nothing of water sports. Mistral may have been a tax loss or a toy in the other companies’ grand scheme and concerns.

‘Adia were the first purchasers of Mistral in 1981.

Martin Pestalozzi was the Chairman of Aida.

They owned 50 companies, and Mistral was one of them. They had a 3 billion turn-over. Mistral was a small concern, but everyone in Aida liked Mistral; the board business, the nice colours and so on.’

With Brockhaus gone, Prade could step up as the leading man. Using his experience of being with the brand from the start, he made it his mission Above: Frank Maass launching his Mistral Diamond Head at Lanikai Beach, 1984 to become the central figure in Mistral, not as a General Manager, but in terms of control of the products and design matters. ‘With Pestalozzi, I had a fantastic ‘WITH BROCKHAUS GONE, PRADE relationship. He was so supportive. In 1981, I told him I had shares COULD STEP UP AS THE LEADING and I could sell him some as I needed money to buy a house. He agreed and he paid me the money; 250,000 D-Marks (c. $146,000) MAN. USING HIS EXPERIENCE OF (shares from royalties on board sales)’ BEING WITH THE BRAND FROM THE During Adia’s ownership, Prade would gain considerable wealth from his relationships with the brand; then, in 1996, when Mistral came under more direct control of Klaus Jacobs, things were to change, but Prade ensured he was suitably compensated. ‘In 1996, the owner was so weird that many of us could not work with him; he was crazy. This was a very wealthy Swiss family-owned company which also owned Suchard. The father had bought Mistral for his son, who was just 22 years of age. But the son had no genuine interest, and they failed. Robby Naish was the king of windsurfing,and nobody would tell him you need your board wider or smaller, but this guy did. He came to us with all sorts of crazy ideas.

See Chapter 16 for full details of Jacobs’ ownership which Prade and many others were not aware of at the time.

START, HE MADE IT HIS MISSION TO BECOME THE CENTRAL FIGURE IN MISTRAL...’

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I had considerable trouble with these new owners as my contract was ending in 1998-99, and a year later, they told me they did not need me. I struggled with the CEO because I had a fantastic contract in which I would get money when it ended. This guy told me maybe you get 100,000 D-Marks (c. $58,000). I was being paid a lot of money per month, so I went to my lawyer, who said I should get millions for what I had done for Mistral. It went to court, and he managed to secure me a substantial amount of money - which I still benefit from today. It turned out to be an excellent deal for me.’

able to leave his mark as one of the longest-serving contributors.

He’s mostly been a product manager and, by default, a design ‘tweaker’ in addition to putting his drawing board and graphic design staff to good use in creating the brand’s look. At times, he’s been a designer in the full sense of the word, but by and large input has been employed for specific designs.

Overwhelmingly, one is left thinking the contribution of others has at times been under-recognised. Since 2014, I have been at the forefront of designing Mistral SUP race and recreational boards, amongst other things, yet, when Prade was interviewed in 2020 in Germany’s Surf Magazine, he seemed careful to avoid mentioning my existence, which is not to say there has been an active part on Prade’s part to deceive, but when there’s a passive response to correct the facts or a failure to tell the story in its entirety, it seems a convenient way by which to embellish a sense of importance.

This apparent failure to nurture close, trusting relations and an evident lack of mutual respect between fellow creative people within Mistral raises questions about the culture during those formative years. Given the position Prade has held within Mistral over the years, I can attest that he has often set both the internal and external tone of the brand.

Above: Frank Maass, Charly Messmer and Jill Boyer 1984 off Kahala, Oahu, Hawaii, sailing the new boards of the Mistral board range of 1985

We can perhaps begin to see how this might support Prade’s mindset of his impact. When a lawyer describes in writing what you have contributed, the whole narrative would look impressive with over two decades of work and development; it might influence your perception.

Prade also had a lucrative contract with Fritzmeier to prevent him from leaving and sharing trade secrets with opposition companies. Prade departed in 1999, and when in 2004 - a year after Boards and More had changed ownership, they approached Prade, and he then worked again for Mistral in Munich.

FINAL THOUGHTS It’s difficult to overstate Prade’s commitment to Mistral over the years, but fair to say, it’s been very good to him. He’s been adept at creating contracts and negotiating his way into deals that pay out handsomely, while many contributors to the brand have seemingly been less than well rewarded, let alone acknowledged. His career has been founded upon Mistral’s existence, and he’s been

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Right: One of Prade’s major merits remains the creation of a coherent line of board graphics and 1980s multicolour sail designs. While the first rather psychodelic sail designs of the late ‘70s were not everyone’s taste, the multicolor designs were a big success and formative for the general image of Mistral. Mistral’s multicolour sails where style-defining over many years but the high recognition-value was lost when Mistral switched to mostly transparent sails in the early ‘90s. From left to right: Charly Messmer, Ernstfried Prade, Frank Maass.

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CHAPTER 6

CHRISTIAN MÜLLERKITTNAU THE HIDDEN STORY OF MISTRAL SPORTSWEAR

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here is a name many people outside Germany may not have heard of in connection with Mistral’s early years: Christian Müller-Kittnau. He was initially employed to develop sportswear, and perhaps because of his past business competence, underpinned with an MBA (Masters in Business Administration) qualification, he acted as Mistral’s General Manager in Germany.

He was the best qualified to take them on a journey of self-discovery and expansion on home territory.

Here we focus on his hidden story and especially the sportswear aspect. This is important since the photos in this chapter show how the clothing lines helped create a distinct beach vibe, different from surfing yet equally appealing to its target audience. Two other short examples show how successful his sportswear became. Firstly, when Mistral was seeking finance in the early 1980s, the sportswear side of the business immediately attracted multiple investors while the hardware side struggled to find interested parties. This implies that the sportswear business was proven, and others also considered it significant. The second example, which shows how far-reaching the clothes appealed, was on July 13th, 1985, when the Live Aid concert featured the Canadian singer and songwriter Neil Young wearing a prominent M-dot logo t-shirt on stage. You can find the video online.

It perhaps shows Mistral’s continued fashion Above: Christian Müller-Kittnau profile (albeit after Müller-Kittnau had left). It transpires that Neil Young was a keen windsurfer at the time, and accounts suggest he voluntarily wore it rather than any arrangement.

Müller-Kittnau was at the coal face working alongside Brockhaus and Prade, yet his name seems all but forgotten by them. It was notable that Mistral had developed a sportswear line from day one to compliment the hardware far more so than other early brands. Yet the mystery remained: where had it come from, how was it implemented, and what was it’s impact?

To set the social context: Windsurfing was proving to be more than just a sport. For some, it was a social statement reflecting a source of identity as the late ‘70s turned into the ‘80s. Non-windsurfers would wear windsurfing-related tees and sweatshirts simply as an iconoclastic representation of freedom, good times,beach life and all it represented. I claim this based on what a men-

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tor and accountant for Billabong revealed to me; 70% of Billabong sales were to non-surfers, making a viable downtown New York store possible. Mistral Sportswear was the first windsurfing brand that launched a complete collection of apparel in line with the boards and equipment simultaneously. A brand selling a lifestyle and identity by taking a holistic approach.

When did you meet Peter Brockhaus and how did your relationship with Mistral grow?

‘I originally learnt to windsurf at Hans Taubinger’s Windsurfing School in Seeshaupt, Lake Starnberg around 1973, with my wife and a few of my friends. I met Peter for the first time in March or April of 1976. He asked if I was the guy from HEAD. I was HEAD’s Sales Manager for Europe at the time and knew most European sports importers. Peter was initially interested in functional clothing using materials like neoprene, so we created a high-quality wetsuit from the finest neoprene of the time with a very well-made Lycra® lamination. It was a high-end product, and I calculated it would cost about 600 Deutsche Mark (c. $350), so we called it the ‘600’, which also resonated with the 600 Pullman Mercedes. Following this, we went on to develop more products. As it turned out, Peter was the dreamer with big ideas and plans, but I did most of the groundwork, and I had to take the financial responsibility for many things.’

Were you still employed by HEAD at that time?

Above: early Mistral Sportswear ad in 1977

‘No, I had just resigned from HEAD to start my own business. I was importing Italian sportswear products. I was starting my new business as an independent sales representative when Mistral interrupted my plans, but I immediately jumped on board.’

Did the name Mistral and the logos already exist when you joined?

‘PETER WAS THE ‘DREAMER’ WITH BIG IDEAS AND PLANS BUT I DID MOST OF THE GROUNDWORK AND HAD TO TAKE THE FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY’

‘The name Mistral was already conceived. We were based in Munich in the office of Peter’s Windsurfing Magazine. At that time, we were still tinkering with the logo; Ernstfried Prade was involved with the typeface. When it came to the matter of the ‘M’, I remember it was my idea to place the ‘Red Dot’ above the ‘M’ to create the M-dot logo. Ernstfried had selected the typeface for Mistral. After that, the products progressed very quickly. The first Superwind board was launched in January 1977. At this early stage, I was encouraged to also act as a salesman for the boards as well as manage and develop the sportswear line.’

So boards were not your primary interest?

‘No, I wanted to develop sportswear, but I was overwhelmed by the pressurised timelines we had set ourselves. In September 1976, we created the Mistral Sportswear line, including swimwear, sweaters, shorts and so on and all these things were developed and defined as a collection and ordered so that in January 1977, we were ready for the Boat Show in Düsseldorf with the whole Mistral Sportswear and hardware [board/rig] product. It was to be a real sensation.’

Were you from a fashion background?

‘Yes, I studied at Nagold Textile Technical College, and it is worth highlighting that I studied women’s wear and textiles and had an MBA.’

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Above: first Mistral Sportswear photo shoot in Jamaica (1977)

So the idea to create a Mistral Sportswear division was from whom?

‘That came from Peter Brockhaus, and he wanted me to coordinate and manage this. It was first called Mistral in September 1976 in Munich. At this time, my title was General Manager.’

Did you travel with Peter Brockhaus and Ernstfried Prade to Italy to purchase from Italian manufacturers and suppliers in early 1976.

‘WHEN IT CAME TO THE MATTER OF THE ‘M’ I REMEMBER THAT IT WAS MY IDEA TO PLACE THE RED DOT ABOVE IT’

‘Yes, we all visited the manufacturers I had used when I was with HEAD, together with my contacts in Florence. Ernstfried had done some graphics for T-shirts and developed some other items; however, in my professional opinion, his clothing designs were debatable and there were always conflicts regarding them.

How did the Mistral Sportswear designs and styles develop?

‘I had support in creating the designs. Mrs Frank and Christine Schmidt were from my time at HEAD, and I told them what I wanted and guided them. We did not care about any general design

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Above: Mistral Sportswear pictures from the first photo shoot in Jamaica (1977). You can see the ugly moulding seam on the Superwind board (photo top left).

trends of the time and developed the collection purely with windsurfers in mind. It remains my philosophy to create a product which dealers would not only be able to sell for just one season but for a more extended period.’

Why was Mistral the only windsurfing brand with a substantial sportswear division?

‘WE DID NOT CARE ABOUT ANY GENERAL DESIGN TRENDS OF THE TIME AND DEVELOPED THE COLLECTION PURELY WITH WINDSURFERS IN MIND’

‘It was advantageous to have sportswear and hardware products because we had the same clients, dealers, and consumers. At the time, with our boundless arrogance, we didn’t notice the competition. The competitors in the hardware sector only had some promotional T-shirts, but we were selling hundreds of thousands, including sweatshirts on top of our regular collection.’

The colour palette was often closely matched to the boards and sails. Was there cooperation between Mistral Sportswear and Mistral Windsurfing Divisions?

‘No, there was no close cooperation. Maybe some of the colour schemes we used for Mistral Sportswear were influenced by Ernstfried’s choice of colours for his sail designs, but generally there was no discussion to coordinate. However, whenever possible, I integrated Mistral sails or board imagery to ensure the synergy was clear.

It was evident in my mind to bring the two together, but this was not a focus for Peter or Ernstfried.’

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‘OUR COMPETITORS IN THE HARDWARE SECTOR ONLY HAD SOME PROMOTIONAL T-SHIRTS, BUT WE WERE SELLING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS’

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Above: more photos from the first photo shoot in Jamaica (1977)

Charly Messmer suggested the creation of Mistral Sportswear was essential to building brand recognition; boards alone were not enough.

Below: Mistral Sportswear Catalogue 1980. ‘Some of our models we had to find on the beach’

‘That is a fascinating observation. I would say the image of the Mistral brand was created by combining sportswear and the windsurfing lifestyle presented by Mistral. I saw it as my aim to create Mistral’s easy going, casual style. Charly Messmer and Robby Naish contributed to the athletic success of the brand, but we also wanted to promote the happy lifestyle and beach life as a basic philosophy and part of the brand values.

I never wanted too many dealers. I knew everyone personally, and they were devoted fanatical Mistral fans. It was all about maintaining quality relationships by keeping these numbers down to remain personal and manageable. After I left, the turnover of Mistral hardware was less than half of what it was before; because of a lack of attention to the dealers.’

What was your relationship with the Naish family?

‘Positive and amicable, and to this day I have absolutely no reason to have stress with any of them. When I first met the Naish family, I was on a trip back from Hong Kong, where I had designed and ordered some of our sportswear. Peter Brockhaus knew them, and he had told me to stop by in Hawaii to talk to them. When I arrived

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because, at that time, he had some casual arrangements with him.

At this time Schweitzer and Brockhaus were already in a legal fight about Windsurfer® (see Chapter 2) but Schweitzer did not know that Brockhaus was the driving force behind Mistral yet. So without much fuss Schweitzer gave me his OK and all the guys from Hawaii including Rick and Robby Naish, Dave Foy, Larry Stanley, Dennis Davidson and Pat Love, immediately jumped on a plane to Jamaica. The trip to Jamaica was incredible. We more or less filled a whole plane. Our youthful nonchalance made us do all these financially risky things back then.

Just as incredible is the story of how the first Open Worlds in Jamaica came about: as the head of Mistral I was attending a sports fashion fare in Florence, where I met this super nice guy from Jamaica, Mr. John Hutton. As it turned out he was the President of the Royal Yacht Club in Kingston. He was as excited about windsurfing as almost everybody else at the time and immediately offered me to organise the first Open Windsurfing Worlds in Jamaica. We agreed on a date and he kept his promise and perfectly organised the event with race committee, race course, safety boats, prize giving, etc. Ulli Pürschel from Hamburg, with his company Surf Tours, acted as the tour operator and filled two plane loads of windsurfers and equipment going to Jamaica.

John Hutton also happened to be the manager of Bob Marley and he asked me if I wanted to support him promoting Bob Marley in Europe. We knew what Raggae was but nobody knew Bob Marley.

I declined his offer with the excuse of being too busy with my job at Mistral. Thinking about it today I realize what an idiot I was!’

Later, in 1979, you also travelled with Charly Messmer to the Open World Championship in Guadeloupe with the original M1 race board.

Above: the 1992 Mistral Sportwear catalogue was photographed in Cuba.

Ulli Seer comments, ‘As soon as the communist world had collapsed we jumped on a plane and flew to Cuba’.

in Kailua I had no address and no phone number of the Naishs but by accident I found Robby playing in a puddle of water near the beach with a toy sailing boat. I asked him, ‘Are you, Robby?’ He then took me to his parent’s house.’

You arranged for Robby and a whole group of Hawaiian windsurfers to come to Jamaica for the first Open World Championships in 1977?

‘After meeting the Naish family in Kailua I flew to Los Angeles, where I met up with Hoyle Schweitzer, who picked me up from the airport in his white Jaguar and took me to lunch. I had to ask for his consent for Robby to take part in the Open Worlds in Jamaica

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‘Yes, we went there, and he won the World Championships on a Mistral M1. We were a one-person team. One board, one sailor, and after Charly had won the race, regrettably, Mistral Headquarters did not refund me for any of the costs as I had funded the trip.

Following the win and on our return, I invited the Mistral staff to the Hamak Hotel, where shortly before the World Economic Summit had taken place. We set up three Mistral sails right behind the speaker’s desk where a few days before Jimmy Carter, Valery Giscard d’Estaing and Helmut Schmidt had spoken. This is how fanatical we were and how we used every chance to show off.’

Mistral was one of the first lifestyle brands; how do you think Mistral Sportswear contributed to this?

‘I have never thought about it, but that’s reasonably accurate. I believe it is also essential to mention that we never really had much money or budget to work with, which fuelled our creative thinking.

We did fly once to a photo shoot in Sardinia in a private plane, but it was a friend’s plane. It was glamorous but cheap. When we got there, we had to find our models on the beach, which brought a casual creative nonchalance that was authentic. We never had to set it up. It was how we lived and did things. It was not artificial; it was an actual lived experience.’

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Above and below left: early Mistral Sportswear catalogues of 1980 and 1981

‘WE DID FLY ONCE TO A PHOTO SHOOT IN SARDINIA IN A PRIVATE PLANE. BUT IT WAS A FRIEND’S PLANE. IT WAS GLAMOROUS BUT CHEAP! WHEN WE GOT THERE WE HAD TO FIND OUR MODELS ON THE BEACH!’

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In the beginning it could be argued that Mistral Sportswear was more successful than its hardware. In a dual role you were also the Manager of Mistral Windsurfing in Germany during a time when you sold more boards than anyone else.

‘To me, Mistral Sportswear was always more important than the hardware. I was interested in business, and that was fascinating for me, of course, and it was fun. Mistral Sportswear SA was exporting into 16 countries and was based in Lugano. I was always overwhelmed by the hardware and the endless fights about the patent, which was a permanent burden for me, and they dragged me down. I was General Manager of Mistral Windsurfing GmbH in Germany, and as such, I was also the defendant of Hoyle Schweitzer’s patent claims against Mistral. It was a constant annoyance, expense and distraction. I wanted only to be focusing on sportswear. Ironically, I was the most successful seller of Mistral boards with the highest turnover compared to other regions, including France.’

Why was Mistral Sportswear SA founded in Lugano?

‘That had a practical reason. As the General Manager of the German Mistral Windsurfing GmbH, with all the patent violations, I was no longer allowed to distribute Mistral hardware.

As an alternative, I founded Mistral Sportswear SA with a starting capital of 1 million Swiss Franks which I had very successfully raised from different investors. Lugano is near the Italian border near many tax-free warehouses from where we could export. Lugano was the ideal location near Milano, and most of my manufacturers were in Northern Italy; also, Chiasso is one of the most prominent tax-free storage locations.’

At one point, you purchased the Mistral trademark for use with the sportswear.

‘Mistral Sportswear SA was founded in 1981 with a subscribed capital stock of 1 Million Swiss Francs collected from four or five investors. Amongst them were Mistral’s patent attorney Charly Brose, Grabert and others; all in all, several lawyers who I assumed knew about patent affairs. I bought the trademark rights for Mistral Sportswear SA from the lead company, MISTRAL AG, Nürensdorf, Switzerland, for 1 Million Swiss Franks. It was a crazy set-up.

Mistral AG had the right to repurchase the trademark, depending on my turnover. The deal was constructed by an attorney, Mr Löhr, whose son, a judge in Basel, was our acting President. It was unfair, but I was happy to sign it because I thought we would see growing turnover and make a nice profit. We paid for the rights, and following this, Mistral AG refused to transfer the ownership. We tried everything with four of my investors, who were lawyers, but we still didn’t succeed in clearing the case.’

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Above and right: double pages of the 1992 Mistral Sportwear catalogue photographed in Cuba

a loss. In Switzerland, I had Mistral Sportswear SA selling it, which was making a profit.’

Why were the rights not transferred?

Is it this conflict and its complexity that led you to leaving Mistral?

‘Mistral AG, owned now by Adia through a deal arranged by the Schweizer Bankverein, had entered the payment details as a ‘Licence Fee’ [i.e., pro-rata on items sold] rather than a ‘Purchase’ in their books. At the time, I was only about 30 years old and was not knowledgeable enough to spot this and make the right strategic moves. The whole thing was complicated by the fact I had two companies. In Germany, I had set up Surfclusiv GmbH, which acted as the company that developed the sportswear, which was running at

‘Yes, Mistral AG came up with 200 witnesses against me. People whose names I had never heard of, and to cut a long story short, the message was, “give up; you have no chance against us”. That was my exit from Mistral, and I was left with 1 million in debts which I paid off for the rest of my life. I felt abandoned and let down

by Prade, Brockhaus and Fritzmeier, who promised to support me.

In the autumn of 1982, I started my new career in the real estate business.

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‘...I WAS INTERESTED IN BUSINESS AND MISTRAL WAS THE MARKET LEADER AT THE TIME. THAT WAS FASCINATING FOR ME AND, OF COURSE, IT WAS FUN’

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The spell of the Hawaiian Islands languishing in the Pacific Ocean, fuelled by tropical trade winds and supported by sexy, evocative imagery, were a main ingredient to the immediate success of Mistral Sportswear in the early years.

The photo shows the Danish Mistral World Cup Team member Tim Aagesen with his girlfriend in Lanikai / Oahu, Hawaii modelling Mistral Swimwear.

TEDDY KEIFER - THE MISTRAL DREAM TEAM MANAGER

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CHAPTER 7

TEDDY KEIFER THE MISTRAL ‘DREAM TEAM’ MANAGER

W

hen ‘Teddy’ Keifer joined Mistral in 1981, he had a background in sailing, and when he first saw the novelty of windsurfing, he described it as, ‘a sailing sport for poorer people.’ Windsurfing was taking off at a small chandlery in Switzerland, and someone had to take the lead in managing this side of the business, which fell to him, having drawn straws for who would take on the task. He took up the sport and racing, winning some local races and then working for Windglider, followed by an offer to coach the Swiss Olympic Squad (then sailing the Windglider Olympic board), which he did up until the time he received a call from Mistral, suggesting that working for Mistral might be a more exciting job.

Accepting the offer, he had no idea he would go on to lead the most recognised and famous ensemble of windsurfing superstars ever. When he arrived at Mistral, nothing was organised; he had no job description, and all Mistral knew was that they had a growing stable of riders who needed structure, and their office was too busy to deal with it. In some respects, his career in windsurfing could be seen as accidental rather than planned.

Teddy’s optimistic, happy-go-lucky energy is the first thing that strikes you. Back when he worked with Robby Naish, Peter Cabrinha, Jill Boyer, Natalie Siebel, Natalie Lelievre and others, he would no doubt have been a calming organiser out of the chaos. Here was someone whom they could confide in and rely upon to navigate them through a busy schedule. Overall, this would have been a logistical challenge in working with super-charged racers, board designers, sail makers, photographers, the press, a hungry marketing department, international travel, and often freighting an enormous amount of equipment between international venues.

Above: Slalom World Cup at Diamond Head, Hawaii, 1985.

Bic, Tiga, Mistral, F2, HiFly, Fanatic and Alpha were key members of the World Cup at the time. With the red and yellow sail Pete Cabrinha (US 111), far right Ken Winner (US 1).

Arriving at Mistral, Teddy saw the need to bring in more girls into the Mistral Team and recruited some talented individuals towards the end of his time; he even succeeded in bringing in Jürgen Hönscheid away from F2 to join the team. Ultimately, the Mistral World Cup ‘Dream Team’ dominated over approximately five years. The collective group was a ‘Tour de Force’ who thrived on the slalom and race courses and in the waves. The image they projected was of excellence, as you will see in Ulli’s photos – there is a sense of camaraderie, good times, and powerful Mistral branded chic, from clothes to helicopters.

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Above: the 1983 World Cup ‘Dream Team’ at Diamond Head, Hawaii. From left to right: Jill Boyer, Nevin Sayre, Randy Naish, Charly Messmer, Robby Naish, Frank Maass, Tomas Persson, Tim Aagesen, Pete Cabrinha, Nancy Johnson

Top: Robby Naish (1985) sanding his race board outside the Naish Hawaii shop at 155 Hamakua Drive, Kailua Above: World Cup Winners at la Torche (1984) Natalie Lelièvre, Pete Cabrinha, Tim Aagesen, Robby Naish Left: Robby Naish signing autographs at the World Cup Guadeloupe (1987)

‘SO POWERFUL WAS THE EFFECT OF DOMINATING THE WORLD CUP AND THE POSSIBILITY OF CAPTURING POWERFUL MARKETING IMAGERY, THE RESULTING PUBLICITY WAS PRICELESS’ 140

TEDDY KEIFER - THE MISTRAL DREAM TEAM MANAGER

TEAM OR THINK TANK? They had a specialist sailor for each discipline and situation. He had, in addition, a small army of designers and test riders from Hawaii and Europe, who freely competed for the most innovative ideas. It would be safe to say that no one board or product was ever 100% the result of any singular individual thinking but the result of multiple inputs from a pool of multi-talented individuals.

The Mistral World Cup Team ultimately morphed into a think tank, a dream machine of creative and athletic talent, constantly evaluating equipment, pushing not just themselves but one another and the equipment they used from which they could immediately pass comment as to whether it did, or did not work and what changes were needed for improvement. This information would eventually filter down to Ernstfried Prade, who would have to decide which design would move to production and how best to make it appealing with graphics and visual presentation.

WSMA was named the World Boardsailing Association (WBA).

Access to World Cup events was simplified to bring more money into the organisation and reduce competition running costs.

‘The number of manufacturers present was far less than in previous years but was more than compensated for by lavish presentation; in particular, the amount of money being spent by Mistral and Tiga makes one aware of how much importance they attached to this competition. One only has to look through the Mistral Team list to get some idea of the cost of their operation. Robby Naish, Pete Cabrinha and Nevin Sayre from the USA, Bruce Wylie from Australia and Thomas Persson, Tim Aagesen and Jürgen Hönscheid

PRICELESS PUBLICITY One thing was clear, Robby was always on another level in respect of his talents and in having the skills of father Rick and Harold ‘Iggy’ Ige back home in Hawaii, affording him ideal trusted shaping, designing and creative relationships. As Teddy confirms, Robby was, above all else, intelligent and wholly dialed into his windsurfing experience, which uniquely transcended being just another team member or, indeed, just another windsurfer, as his legacy attests. While history shows Bjorn Dunkerbeck won more titles than Robby, it would be Robby’s domination from the mid‘70s through the ‘80s which makes him akin to being the first man on the moon and the sport’s first globally recognised rider.

A potent lasting effect was gained in dominating most events, and the powerful marketing imagery created priceless publicity. At the time, these individuals and indeed Teddy and Mistral, helped elevate windsurfing professionalism to a status akin to Formula One (F1) racing on water, the likes of which the sport has never seen again since. Mistral during these years became synonymous with windsurfing and was on everyone’s lips as being the pinnacle windsurfing production brand; a brand manager’s joy which perhaps still leaves a reputational mark.

MANUFACTURER’S GLOBAL TOUR COLLABORATION The foundations of the World Cup were from two competition disciplines (course racing and slalom) with the premise that sufficient wind would be needed to make it attractive (i.e., a minimum windspeed was adopted of 15 knots). Manufacturers created the World Sailboards Manufacturers Association (WSMA) and the World Cup Series, held in five or six countries. This format shaped the professional side of the sport from the early 1980s until 1987. Only sailors that were part of a ‘Brand Team’ could enter the events run by WSMA. Windsurfing, using all-wind course racing at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, boosted the sport’s visibility. However, the 1984 Aloha Classic, Maui, put wave sailing on the map, and where possible, wave sailing was part of World Cup events. In 1986, the

Above: this aerial shot shows the HiFly paddock at the World Cup in La Torche, France, 1984. The entire HiFly team was sponsored by Audi and they made sure everyone noticed their brand new Audi Quattros. Compare the frugal Tiga paddock in the foreground.

from Europe; seven top-class sailors who were all jetted together with mountains of equipment, with Mistral designers. The pleasant surprise at La Torche was that most of the [Mistral] team used standard Equipe [shapes]. One exception was Robby Naish, who favoured a double concave custom board based on the Equipe.’

(Boards Magazine, 1986).

In 1987 after the World Cup in Zandvoort, Netherlands, the riders wanted a change as they were dissatisfied with being subjugated to companies and brands, event conditions and prize money.

Consequently, in 1988, at the World Cup in Guadeloupe, competitors created the Professional Boardsailors Association (PBA) and set minimum prize money for registering an event as a World Cup event. Participant numbers quickly increased with up to 40 annual contests, with prize money as high as $250,000.

The PBA World Cup lasted seven years (1988-1995). Its primary guideline was simple; no limitations on equipment; sailors could use whatever sail and board they preferred. Inevitably it became an equipment ‘arms race’, with athletes needing new boards and sails each year to keep up with developments. Then in 1995, the PBA was liquidated due to over-indebtedness, and the Professional Windsurfers Association (PWA) was formed.

Now the background to the World Cup team has been outlined; it is time to hear how Teddy responded to my questions when we met.

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When you arrived at Mistral in 1981, what was your job description and the team’s status?

‘Robby was already in the team with Charly Messmer (Switzerland) as Mistral’s original professional, Peter Cabrinha (USA) and Jill Boyer (USA). The CEO had no job description for me. “You’re a sailor and have been organising the Swiss Olympic Squad; just do it,” was the instruction. I had a small team, but it was very mixed up, so I had to organise things better. I was learning on-the-job, day to day. Then, I travelled worldwide and fortunately had an outstanding secretary assigned to me, which I needed to keep on top of all the details. At this time, Mistral’s head office was in Switzerland, but you could say the other head office was with the Naish family back in Hawaii.

Quite soon after joining, the Pan Am Cup came up on the calendar in Hawaii, and the boss said, “Go with the team”. We had lots of equipment already in Hawaii with the Naish family, but we still had to travel with a lot of new equipment for the European sailors. We had perhaps fifteen boards, masts and booms; the airport lobby was full of all this equipment. Fortunately, we were guests of Pan Am Airlines, so they had to accommodate us.

We delayed the flight an hour and a half while they loaded everything, and then there were customs issues at the other end. It was not that glamorous in terms of the logistics.

The World Cup in San Fransisco was another unusual challenge, as it was always cold, with many shifting winds and currents, with which the team Above: Jill Boyer, World Wave Champion was unfamiliar. There was 1984 lots of marine traffic and large boats; all these obstacles were something new, and considering whether to go ahead or behind passing traffic and judging what best to do was something we talked about. Of course, you would have no wind on the lee side of large boats, so riders always tried to make it across the bow, which sometimes made it tense.

Whenever in San Fransisco, many people knew of our now famous Mistral Team and its team members; “My boys and girls”, as I used to call them. I met a lovely family in San Fransisco on a previous holiday, and on our first visit, since the husband was the primary BMW dealer in San Francisco, he had many friends who organised for the whole team to be billeted to families rather than stay in

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hotels. As guests of these families, the team was looked after very well, and everyone got a BMW to drive. Incredible when you think how long ago this was.

I and a few others were in Sausalito, on the other side of the bridge from the event location, so we had to cross the bridge every morning and back again later in the day. Our vehicles would be packed with all our equipment, and amazingly, we never had to pay any fees going across the bridge; everything had been paid for because of the status of the Mistral Team; everyone knew who we were. They treated the team like rock stars’.

Were you particularly keen to sign up new female riders?

‘Yes, I brought in the French woman, Nathalie Lelièvre. She was just a young kid, but so good. Natalie Siebel (Germany, who grew up in Barbados) and Nancy Johnson (USA) also joined us. They were by far the strongest female team in the World Cup’.

And more male riders were recruited?

‘Later Tim Aagesen (Norway), Tomas Persson (Sweden), Jürgen Hönscheid (Germany), Frank Maass (Germany), Nevin Sayre (USA), Randy Naish (USA) and Olaf van Tool (Netherlands). I formed the best team to win all the races across all the disciplines.

During my time there we won every discipline except on a few occasions, which was unbelievable. Being a positive person, I motivated the team, and no mountain was too big to climb’.

How did Jürgen Hönscheid contribute when he joined?

‘Yes, I eventually had Jürgen join, which was quite a thing, and I took him away from F2 to Mistral. He designed production boards and boards for himself, of course. When he joined, we had no problems with his boards being used, and he was very forward-thinking.

He brought the idea of the board with the springs in the tail based on the “Tinker Tail” [or Flex tail]’.

What input did the riders have regarding board and equipment design?

‘Tim Aagesen (Norway) and Tomas Persson (Sweden) were very involved in developing boards, especially Slalom boards. Rolf Messmer joined the team as a designer and board maker for the European team on Lake Garda, where Charly Messmer was based.

Through Tim Aagesen and Tomas Persson, they added another Swedish designer who brought in ideas, so we had a network of designers who created competition between each other. There was a competition between the Naish family and their developments and the Europeans working on Lake Garda, with Rolf Messmer and the Swedish guys challenging everyone moving forward’.

How easy was it handling the different sponsorships?

‘I had to find sponsors to cover some of the costs. Fortunately, it was quite an easy job during this time. Carlsberg Brewing was a big sponsor for us. It was my job to handle all the contracts made with the team members and Mistral, except for Robby, who was under a separate agreement. I had, in addition, to coordinate testing days and keep the team in shape, but as you can imagine, they were mostly very fit’.

TEDDY KEIFER - THE MISTRAL DREAM TEAM MANAGER

Below: World Cup Sylt, 1985, Robby Naish attracted crowds and cameras wherever he appeared

Above: Sylt, Germany, 1985, Robby Naish launching his raceboard

Above from left to right: Cort Larned, Suzanne Gedayloo, Robby Naish, Pete Cabrinha, Randy Naish, Maui Meyer, Olaf van Tol, Craig Yester at Torquay, Australia, November, 1983

Right: Maui Grand Prix, Hookipa, 1992

Right: Rick & Robby Naish at Diamond Head, Oahu, Hawaii, 1995

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Jill Boyer, World Wave Champion 1984

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Did you work closely with the Mistral marketing department?

Were most boards prototypes?

‘I was involved closely with them, as I had to sell these guys and girls to them to promote the brand. Two ladies handled the marketing, and we had, of course, Club Mistral located worldwide, which was a powerful brand statement and marketing tool. We had to coordinate photo shoots and sometimes TV appearances. We were often at Lake Garda. Time-scheduling of the team was a big part of what I had to manage regarding who was available and the logistics of getting them there. Although I was coordinating the team, the exception was always Robby, who did his own thing very often. Robby did whatever he wanted in a very positive way; the Naish family were always well organised.

‘Yes, they always raced on prototypes especially made for them, never on production boards. They were too slow because of the weight.

When it came to significant World Cup events, the whole team was required to be available, no matter where the event occurred. When there were local races in Hawaii or Europe, the riders living in these areas would attend. Naturally, this was important for local importers and dealers as it was good PR for their businesses and Mistral’.

Is it fair to say that it took Mistral some time to warm to the funboard concept?

‘Yes, that’s true, I remember that. Peter [Brockhaus} was firm in pushing the funboards, and in this area, Mistral was well behind.

With Peter and F2; on this, he was right. F2 and Mistral ultimately had similar production techniques, leading the world in epoxy technology. Eventually they became very close in design and technology’.

Was there a unique formula beyond raw talent for dominating these events?

‘We had to be successful at the races, which required significant coordination and planning, taking care of the equipment, travel arrangements, and liaising with event coordinators and importers.

Our design team contributed by having the best people give input.

Tactically, I had to provide input during wave and slalom events, discussing tactics with them to ensure the best outcome. I would inform them about their competitors if they looked tired or struggling. Robby was always interested in feedback regarding how his next competitor was performing, any tactics I saw, what sort of shape they were in, and the moves they could or could not do. Robby would not always go out at full power. He would hold back and save his energy, perhaps for the final. He always had a thoughtful approach to competition’.

Were there tensions between the riders, romances even?

‘No romances. We ate together and had fun, yet in other teams, there seemed to be a more significant amount of clashing of egos and tensions over performances and equipment. We had a compact, happy unit. There was undoubtedly competition between the Hawaiian and the European members on the water and regarding board design.

We always had several different boards for slalom and waves. Robby had his wave and slalom boards which he organised with Rick and Harold Ige back in Hawaii. For the race boards, there was a competition between the European and Hawaiian race boards and sometimes the same situation with the slalom boards.

The Europeans were more attuned to the race boards, and the European designs were advanced. Between the racers, they were constantly comparing and looking to take note of which sail and fin someone might use, especially what Robby was using. There was rivalry in who got to use what prototypes, but we never had serious problems, just the usual healthy rivalry between young athletes’.

Above: World Cup course race in Maui, Hawaii, 1989

Was sail design highly competitive?

‘The team as such, had nothing to do with the commercial part of production and sales. Some riders were using North Sails and some Gaastra. If North, for example, developed something good we would use it. Robby of course was always riding with Gaastra, whom he was with for a long time. All the sailmakers were competing to supply the best designs for the team. They wanted to create the fastest sails for the riders and gain sales, even the smaller independent lofts. Sails were in constant evolution’.

The Japanese fans were fanatics, were they not?

‘Every country has a story, but Japan was unique because they were fanatical in supporting the Mistral Team with their photography and demands. It was hard on the team riders, as the fans always wanted to get close to them. There would be crowds of up to 100,000 at the Japanese events, and they would travel from Tokyo for a long weekend. We had never seen so many people on the beach. One time we arrived in Omaezaki with all the equipment, but there was no place to store it. We decided to build something so our designers quickly built a storage shed’.

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Was it something of a travelling circus?

‘Wherever the Mistral Team was in the world, we generated lots of interest, and it was great for the dealers and the importers. For World Cup events especially, we would have to meet VIPs in the industry, inviting us to parties and stores to meet and greet, sign autographs and so on, which was all a part of the PR we were there to deliver for Mistral. Parties were always on our list of things we had to attend. As you can imagine, the national Mistral importers were particularly demanding to take advantage of promotional opportunities so local sailors could meet our riders. From this, they could make their marketing for their region or store’.

What about the overall marketing of the team?

‘Ernstfried Prade was the person who mainly seemed to be handling the marketing and working with different departments. Whenever we were testing prototypes, he would invite a key member from the German Surf Magazine, the essential windsurfing publication in German-speaking areas of Europe. This guy from the magazine was a good sailor, so he too would test, and Ernstfried would ask him what he would change about the design and invite others to decide on any changes. When the magazine finally reviewed the board, it was always positive because the tester had contributed some design elements and therefore took some ownership of it’.

We discovered this was not always popular with some Mistral members who felt designs should not be influenced by a magazine.

Top right: members of the Mistral World Cup Team, La Torche, France 1984. From left to right: shapers/designers Rolf Messmer and Rick Naish, Tim Aagesen (Denmark), Frank Maass (Germany), Pete Cabrinha (USA), Nevin Sayre (USA), Charly Messmer (Switzerland), Robby Naish (USA).

Middle right: World Cup 1984, La Torche, France, more than 100.000 spectators crowd the rocks along the coast

Right: La Torche, France, 1985; Robby signs - crowds wait their turn Right: World Cup La Torche, France, 1985 - top start for Robby Naish

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The Mistral World Cup ‘Dream Team’ celebrating their success in La Torche / France 1986.

In the helicopter from left to right: Robby Naish, Natalie Lelièvre, Jill Boyer, Pete Cabrinha.

On the ground from left to right: Tomas Persson, Tim Aagesen Charly Messmer, Jürgen Hönscheid, Mistral Team Manager Teddy Keifer, Nevin Sayre.

Above: World Cup Scheveningen 1985, from left Above: World Cup Scheveningen 1985, from left Above: media team, World Cup Scheveninto right: Pete Cabrinha, Robby Naish, Jill Boy- to right: Robby Naish, Bart Niessink, Pete Cab- gen 1985 er, Ado Huisman (Mistral Importer Benelux), far rinha, Charly Messmer right Heinz Schoefer (CEO Mistral)

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Above: Jürgen Hönscheid, Charly Messmer and Frank Maass sailing without boom clamps, basic harness lines; it mattered not, the fun factor was and remains about as good as it gets. In Europe and the world over, windsurfing holidays in warm, trade wind areas, were at the top of the list for almost all dedicated windsurfers, especially during the long, dark, cold, dismal days of winter.

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CHAPTER 8

CLUB MISTRAL

YOLA BICHLER‘S JOURNEY

Y

ola Bichler had a 30-year career, creating, shaping and selling the Mistral brand as experienced through holiday destinations, centred on the typical Mistral lifestyle. The venture was founded in 1985, which was, in essence, an expensive marketing exercise; it certainly raised the brand profile but made no money, but it would take Bichler’s understanding of end-users needs to make it succeed. Between 1985 and 1989, Club Mistral reinforced the values and authenticity that Mistral stood for, and no other windsurfing manufacturer could get close to this unique holiday-based add-on.

Club Mistral, for me, was as familiar a name as Club Med. It triggers thoughts of wind, water, windsurfing, beautiful beaches and above all, guaranteed quality equipment. Windsurfing holidays had never been so easy or accessible, provided you had some disposable income. So, how did she end up owning Club Mistral, and what has she learnt about managers, the sport and its participants?

Above: Yola Bichler at the start of her journey in 1985/86

Yola, tell us about the start of your extraordinary windsurfing journey.

‘In 1974, I purchased four Windsurfer® boards and worked out of Robinson’s Club, a German version of Club Med. The Club was in Calabria, Italy, also the home to the Ndrangheta Mafia. I was 23 and all Robinson’s resort managers at the time learnt windsurfing through me. Mine was the first windsurfing school in Robinsons, and nobody knew about this sport; it was new. I had a constant waiting list for people who wanted to learn, teaching two times a week, eight people at a time, using my four boards.

Incredibly, for that whole summer, I did not have a single woman who wanted to learn or try it, only men. I was always fully booked, and it was a windy place, not ideal for learning. After six weeks of instructing, I informed the Robinson’s manager how difficult and dangerous it was for teaching. I came up with anchored buoys and ropes to attach the boards so that my pupils would not be blown away [tethered boards became a popular method of containing learners]. Then, I went to my Manager and discussed the wind issue and told him I had a solution, and if he helped me, I would stay and continue. About 30 km from where I was based, there was a

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Reethi Rah, Maldives, with its bright turquoise waters was one of the flagship destinations of Club Mistral in the 1980s

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lovely bay with much better winds, and I suggested we transport the students using the resort bus as part of the adventure and that I would transport the equipment using my little car. He agreed, and it worked well.’

After the summer of ‘74, what then?

‘At the end of the summer, I came back to Germany. I had a good connection with several of the Robinson’s Managers, having instructed them. They contacted me, wanting to set up Windsurfing Schools in their resorts. Through ‘74-‘76, there was consistent demand for new schools. I established ten schools over the years in Spain, France and Greece, and by the time Mistral was founded in 1976, all the equipment from that moment on was purchased through Mistral.’

So how did it progress?

‘From 1976, I purchased only Mistral equipment for Robinsons, supplied directly from the Fritzmier factory in Germany. Club Mistral was established in 1985 and was exclusive, new and exciting; of course, it had the advantage of being a windsurfing brand and therefore had the best equipment possible.

Some of my instructors from Robinsons went to work for Club Mistral.’

Whose idea was it to create Club Mistral?

‘MANY MISTRAL BOARDS WERE SOLD, AND THERE WAS A LOT OF MONEY AROUND IN THE ‘80s. CLUB MISTRAL WAS A PURE MARKETING EXERCISE.’

‘Club Mistral was an initiative of Mistral’s Marketing Department, owned by Adia in Switzerland, and money seemed to be no object.

Mistral board sales were Above: the name ‘Club Mistral’ was alstrong, and there was a lot ready used in 1981. This shot - published the 1982 Mistral Calendar - was taken of money around in the ‘80s. in in Porto Pollo/Sardinia long before Club Club Mistral was a pure Mistral was officially established as an marketing exercise, and my independent company. link person was a Marketing Manager, Peter Hence. Beyond 1985, Mistral sales figures declined [as was the case for many brands], and Club Mistral was an expensive project costing them a great deal of money to keep going.’

Did this result in you being offered to purchase Club Mistral?

‘Yes, so in 1989, the Director of Mistral asked me if I wanted to buy Club Mistral. I asked to see the figures, which when I received, I noticed within five minutes they had an income of say 1 million Swiss Francs with outgoings of the same amount and I also saw equipment costs were not included. Therefore, with these added in, Club Mistral was running at a substantial loss. It was embarrassing to mention this because afterwards I heard stories of how a young woman, me, had pointed this out to the director, but it was correct.

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Indeed, it was costing them double once you added in equipment costs, 1 million income, 2 million costs. So, I went back to them and said I had an idea of how to make the Clubs profitable in the same way as I had managed with Robinson previously. They agreed, we formed a company in Germany, and I made it profitable for them.

During that transition, in 1989, I came to work with Club Mistral as an advisor. Club Mistral Windsurfing GmbH was the company that we founded in 1990. One of the primary issues for their lack of profitability was the rental agreements they had in place; the rental terms of the properties they used were often crazy. Additionally, they would have all new equipment at the beginning of the year, say in April and change it again in August, which was unnecessary. At first, it had been an expensive marketing toy but with all these high outgoing costs, it did, of course, help to make Mistral and our clubs famous.’

I remember in the middle of a show he sacked the head of fashion, as if to make a statement; he was a bully. At this time, it made me feel uncomfortable.

In the beginning, we were a subsidiary company of Mistral Sports.

The Clubs did not make any money, so Mistral agreed we would have to exert more control to make them viable. It took a few years to turn things around. After four or five years, there were more changes within Mistral, and the incoming management wanted to make more changes. When Mistral meetings were held, I attended as a subsidiary company, representing Club Mistral. All the others attending were salespeople, distributors and retailers, which was a different business function from what I did. I was in the tourism industry, and when boards did not sell well, the Swiss owners would say, “No investments or expansion to be allocated to Club Mistral”.

It was difficult for me to achieve what I wanted for reasons which had nothing to do with Club Mistral’s performance.

Mistral’s head office was located to the south of Munich. I suggested to the Manager, Michael Kamm, “Do you want to sell Club Mistral to me?” He was shocked, and I told him I was serious and that if he did, I would buy the company. We ended up negotiating, and they eventually made a deal with me and I would would use the Mistral name under a licensing agreement.’

Charley Messmer refers to Mistral’s brand as offering holistic products associated with a way of life. Is that accurate?

Above: Yola Bichler, when possible, would relish ‘sailing for a smile’ as an antidote for the hard work put in to establish Club Mistral venues, having access to the very best equipment and conditions as a reward for her endeavours.

How did you change the business model to make it viable?

‘I changed a lot in the beginning. I closed some destinations. For example, at Lake Garda, where we had a lovely place, the rent was very high and was in line with our turnover, so it could never become profitable. Only the property owner made money and for doing nothing. The same was true of Sardinia, which was a shame as it was a nice place.

We set up new destinations in Egypt, Cape Verde, Turkey, Venezuela, Barbados, Tarifa, Tunisia and others. Mistral’s view was that certain places must have a Club Mistral at any cost; Lake Garda and Sardinia as examples’ [where new arrangements were made].

Within Mistral, did internal issues have any impact?

‘Yes, there were, as always, lots of changes going on in Mistral. When Jacobs became the new owner, many new people became involved, and managers and heads of departments were sacked. The Jacob’s family member running Mistral seemed to lack ethics, dismissing loyal, hard-working people in the company and not in a good way.

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‘Yes, I would agree, and of course, from windsurfing, so many other sports have come about, including kiteboarding, SUP to some degree, foiling and so on. Mistral is, for me, a success story regardless. It was and remained an excellent brand despite all the turmoil behind the scenes. It became the champion company amongst all windsurfing brands, a true lifestyle company.

We started with kiteboarding at the end of 1999, and by 2010 it was already 40% of our turnover. Our infrastructure was in situ; we had to pick and choose correctly which sports we add relative to demand and what works at any venue. It’s been good to provide options. When we moved into SUP, it was difficult, as we were deliberately in windy places. In the beginning, we could sustain the business from windsurfing; but as our clients and our sport aged and other sports arrived, it got more challenging. When kids come to the Clubs, many wanted to kite, not windsurf.

We introduced our own name for our kiteboarding offer: ‘Skyriders’, but after five years, we realised it cost a lot of money to have two brands and learnt from this. It was an excellent decision, to begin with, as kiting increased our appeal to a broader clientele, a younger element. Our fixed costs were the same as we had the venues, infrastructure, staff and administration in place. Many other operators that stayed with just windsurfing do not exist anymore; they failed to change.’

What are your thoughts on wing foiling?

‘Wing foiling is now becoming trendy, which as a wind sport will help our centres. With kiteboarding, you have 20-30 metres of kite line, and the mechanics are complicated compared to wing foiling.

Kiteboarding is quite scary by comparison. With wing foiling, the

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kite is right there with you in your hands. Kiteboarding has more significant safety dangers, and wing foiling has far fewer.’

You reached over 20 Clubs eventually, is that correct?

‘Yes, that is right. The political situation across the world has often forced us to close various centres. 2008 was the best year we ever had, but the 2009-10 global financial crisis followed this, so it slowed down a bit. Also, In 2010 the *Arab spring occurred, and in Egypt alone, we had seven Clubs and had to close them all, eventually reopening two. We then had to close in Morocco and Tunisia. In **Venezuela, we also had to close because of the revolution in that country.

‘In the 90s, half of our centres were licensed, and the other half was owned by us. This was a philosophy and the business plan at the time used to enable us to grow fast. By the mid-90s, we decided we wanted to aim for high quality. The licensed centres did not agree as they had to spend more money to create the quality we wanted. So, we stopped all the licensing by about 1998, so we had centres only owned by us and with partners, and this is still the case because with this in place, we can control the quality, which means it builds and protects our corporate identity.’

Did your philosophy change over the years?

We had very good experiences in the Caribbean; Barbados, Dominican Republic, Saint Lucia, North Africa, Greece, Spain and Turkey. It has been fantastic. But when there are revolutions or political issues in other countries, tourists stay away. When we closed centres in Egypt permanently, we opened two in Fuertaventura, which were very successful and reasonably compensated for the loss. But it always means new arrangements, new investments, new staff which takes a lot of management time.’

Did Mauritius become a successful venue for you?

‘Yes, I went there in 2002 on a holiday away from Club Mistral, but when I saw La Morne, it was such a fantastic spot. At the time, there was a small school run by an unfriendly guy, and it was a mess. He told me I could not go around the corner to Manavia with his rental boards. I went anyway; it was the best place I had ever seen. I saw a hotel under construction, so I went and found the Manager.

We made a draft agreement, and one year later, when the hotel opened, we opened Club Mistral Mauritius in 2003.’

Was it always your plan to work towards owned centres?

* The Arab spring was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. ** On 2 June 2010, Chávez declared an economic war due to increasing shortages in Venezuela. The crisis intensified under the Maduro government, growing more severe due to low oil prices in early 2015 and a drop in Venezuela’s oil production from a lack of maintenance and investment.

Above: dynamic imagery spoke a thousand words about the sport, combined with vivid contrasting colours against a cobalt ocean. Marketing windsurfing holidays would have been relatively easy during the sport’s peak as it was as powerful a summer endeavour as snow skiing was in the winter. Snowboarding would indeed become the preferred sport d’glisse of the windsurfer. Many windsurfers enjoyed winter snow sports, while others chased an endless summer between hemispheres.

‘Not really. It’s simply a question of being aware of the people we are working with and understanding the diversity of different populations. We had something like twenty-four to twenty-six different nationalities working within our Clubs, although English remained the primary language so that everyone could communicate with each other. It’s also essential how we treated our staff which is reflected in how they treat our guests. If they feel good about themselves, they are happy and that’s important for how they interact with customers.

Maintaining a high quality of our lessons, venues, equipment, ambience, environmental aspects and passing some of these beliefs on to our guests, have been important. We had to take an interest in

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the country and the cultures we found ourselves in, and although we were often situated in hotels, my preference was to be amongst the local people, away from the artificial reality that a hotel often sets out to create.’

Were your managers locals?

‘Initially, our managers were French, German or English; later we used local managers from Turkey, Egypt, or wherever a Club was based. These locals may have worked on the beach or in local hotels but worked their way up to become managers. Many were multi-lingual and learned many skills along the way, including dealing with local laws, licensing issues, etc. We also made sure managers visited other Club Mistral Centre destinations to learn from one another and, of course, attend our annual meetings which helped in getting to know each other. This created a very positive work culture.’

SUP seems almost “anti-instruction” compared to other board sports. What are your thoughts on this?

‘Buying SUPs, putting them on a rack and not offering tuition, as some hotels do, is a massive mistake, of course. The best part about SUP is paddling with a group of people and discovering the surrounding environment. During this process, you provide some technique tips, but a formal course is not very successful [learning through informal discovery is a vital aspect of learning SUP].

But to be honest, our company missed out on the SUP explosion.

We ended up providing SUP boards to use for free. Interestingly, in a centre you make more money providing lessons than renting.

Windsurfing was 80% renting and kiting, 80% lessons.’

Were you involved in the selection of equipment for centres?

‘No, this was the task of centre managers who would order to their local needs. Our clients often wanted a specific board, especially for the better sailors. A good wave sailor, who came to Mauritius, would reserve a specific board based on their ability and weight, and that’s how it worked.’

Were your clients Mistral equipment owners?

‘Yes, because they did not want to travel with their equipment, some no longer owned equipment and only sailed during their holidays.

Travelling with equipment was more common at the beginning of the sport, but as time passed, higher cargo costs and some airlines had stopped taking equipment, which had a big impact. With kiting, carrying your gear is much more manageable.

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Above: German-based and owned, Club Mistral readily exploited the German, Swiss and Austrian markets in which, as a brand, it had associations since its formation. Visitors benefitted from familiarity with the equipment even before arriving, pre-ordering hire options relative to their skill levels.

When SUP came into the picture, it was embraced by Club Mistral, but it was problematic in having venues located in high-wind areas; additionally, visitors did not want lessons but preferred discovery learning. There’s less money for hiring and more in tuition; these factors all made for a counter-intuitive fit for SUP within the centres.

It is interesting to see North Sales featuring in this photo which indicates it is after Gaastra stopped working with Mistral

‘JACOBS WANTED CONTROL OF THE ENTIRE MARKET, WHICH WAS NOT VIABLE’

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‘JACOBS MADE MANY MISTAKES FROM THE BEGINNING. THEY THREW OUT THE BEST PEOPLE WITH ALL THEIR KNOWLEDGE...’

Above: Club Mistral venues worldwide helped develop a truly multi-cultural brand image for some thirty years. What started as a costly marketing exercise would become a profitable going concern. This story was buried when it morphed into Club Ion (2014-15).

Ion was founded in 2004 and focused on performance water sports apparel. Boards and More was founded in 2000 and is a one-time owner of Mistral and has, under its umbrella, as of 2023, Duotone, Fanatic, Ion and SQlab.

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Some years Mistral blamed us for their lack of sales because sailors were no longer buying equipment and realised they could travel to us and use the equipment. But I think it was an exaggeration of the situation. Of course, many people do not want to buy new every season. Some did, but they are not the type of guest that come to us.

We have some excellent sailors who would come to Club Mistral, but not those who constantly wanted the latest equipment.’

costs in new equipment that helped develop Club Mistral into a premium brand. Together with the sportswear, photography and the World Cup Team, these brand enhancement activities helped define the Mistral image and influence public perception of the sport in the first two decades of its development.

What was your experience of the company’s highs and lows?

‘The biggest mistakes were made when Mistral came under the roof of the Swiss investor Jacobs and they went on to buy the brands Fanatic and F2 (see Chapter 15). The same company now owned three different competing windsurfing brands and this was damaging to all of them, especially Mistral and F2.

Jacobs wanted control of the entire market, which was not viable.

It’s far more natural to have healthy independent competition between brands. Jacobs made many mistakes from the beginning.

They threw out the best people with all their knowledge, and the owner wanted to treat these brands like toys into which he could dip and play. It proved too much for one company and an inexperienced management team.’

Final thoughts My discussion with Yola provided some valuable insights about how little some companies know about their costs (e.g., Yola’s dealings with the Director of Mistral), how the blend of kiteboarding and SUPs helped them survive, and the geopolitical influences impacting any global business.

Footnote: Merger and acquisition activity was a relatively new thing in windsurfing, especially when the three brands Fanatic, F2 and Mistral remained just about intact with their own identities. Part of the ambitious Jacobs plan was to manufacture these brands mainly from the one factory, which became a part of their strategy to feed hungry, expensive moulding processes that needed to be profitable. Before long the question that needed resolving was: which, between Fanatic, F2 and Mistral, was the stronger brand in the longer term not by sales, but greater prestige and desirability amongst participants? Being the supplier of Olympic equipment helped Mistral but for how long would this sustain them against stiff competition in a falling market?

Above all else, here was a woman who, like other protagonists in this book, started out teaching windsurfing and, through initiative, influence and hard work, became a leading light in building Mistral’s story and marketing impact. Ironically, the poor early profit/loss accounting at Mistral largely hid the huge investment

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CHAPTER 9

THE PAN AM BOARD THE GENESIS OF THE OLYMPIC ONE DESIGN

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ooked in and taking up the force of the wind in my rig, I reflect upon the irony of what’s under my feet; a new 366 cm long Mistral Windsurfer LT, here in the 2020s. Its heritage DNA represents the genesis of the original Drake / Schweitzer board, reborn and improved; a bit. It took from 1968 to 2016 to address inherent design issues of the Windsurfer®, but it represents the rebirth of the original longboard Windsurfer®. With its recent reincarnation, it brings attention to the fundamental simplicity from which the sport would be most popular and accessible, as only the longboard could provide. This chapter focuses on a particular 1982 longboard and its development that eventually led to Mistral’s prestige and image enhancement when selected as the Olympic board for the 1996 Games and beyond.

What design features should be included to create longboards to thrive over rough, windy waters while retaining upwind capability, was a question considered by designers as an advancement of what was available. Initially, the Windsurfer® Rocket emerged as one of the earliest incarnations of advancing the original Windsurfer® into a wave riding, open-water craft, complete with custom sail, daggerboard, foot strap plugs, twin rear fins and added nose rocker.

To me, longboard windsurfing makes sense. There’s a certain grace, elegance and poise about the design elements and the feel under your feet that’s more grand tourer (GT) than sports car. The range of foot straps positions, a retractable daggerboard and that long nose, seemingly stretching out forever, taking you across deep water channels far out toward the thin blue line. ‘There is eternal beauty in length,’ as England’s windsurfing educationalist and author Peter Hart states and I could not agree more.

Regrettably, since the early ‘80s, the longboard has been under constant threat of extinction. Too long to be practical, uncool for some, too expensive to be affordable, too many moving parts and sluggish in comparison to shorter boards, this breed of the board was all but forgotten except amongst course racing sailors. The longboard’s use as a class racing board and at the Olympics from 1984 to 2004 helped keep it alive.

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THE BIRTH OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE LONGBOARDS After 2004 technological advances in the fin industry largely prompted the disappearance of racing longboards over 3.5 metres. We cannot overestimate the impact of producers being able to produce huge fins (up to 70 cm) that were able to resist enormous forces from increasing sail sizes of 9m2+. This led to higher speeds from shorter board lengths which negated the need for a daggerboard. As it became known, the Formula Class of boards arrived in 1998, followed by the Olympic class moving in a similar direction when the Neil Pryde RSX board (with a small daggerboard) emerged in 2005.

Let’s go back to one of the beginnings of performance windsurfing over distance. One of the sport’s most revered characters, Franco-Mauritian (Baron) Arnaud De Rosnay, turned his attention to long windsurfing journeys with one of his first being in 1979, over 1380 kilometres between Nouadhibou (Mauritania) and Dakar (Senegal). He refined open-ocean journeys, completing a series of headline-worthy first crossings: the Bering Strait, the English Channel, and the Straights of Formosa, often using a long Tiga custom board. Then in late 1984, attempting to cross the Taiwan Strait, Rosnay was lost at sea. He, of course, used longboards for these adventures and believed wholeheartedly that the beauty of the sport resided in being able to travel over great distances and, for him, a far nobler and a purer form of the sport than playing in the waves, sailing one hundred metres out and back. He was the ultimate adventurist in this respect and drew substantial international attention to the sport and the idea of ocean crossings. He also raced between islands in Hawaii.

In that polaroid era, summer holidays were always sunny, and windsurfing events in tropical places were always windy, or so it seemed. And, although such a high wind minimum was unrealistic, the wind sometimes blew for the Pan Am Cup. ‘All it took was one extraordinary photo … of a youthful Robby Naish leading the fleet through monster swells around ‘Bird Shit Island’ in Kailua Bay, and our perceptions of what was possible changed forever.’

(Peter Hart, Windsurf Magazine, 2018).

The Pan Am Cup, set in Kailua, Oahu, lasted just a short time, from 1980 -1983. Its effect as a catalyst for change was powerful. Sailors flew in from across the globe, from Australia, GerBelow: Robby Naish sailing the last of the square tailed boards à la Kailua / Naish models during the Moloka’i Speed Crossing 1981, before the rounded-pin Pan Am board evolved in 1982

In 1981 De Rosnay established the Maui to Molokai Speed Crossing won by Robby Naish, De Rosnay, runner up. It pushed the envelope on ocean race board design and in 1982 at the Pan Am Cup, Rick Naish’s Pam Am board raced by Robby, would see the birth of a seminal shape.

THE LEGACY OF PAN AM RACES: IMAGERY AND BOARDS Rick Naish created the Hawaiian Windsurfing ‘World Cup’ Regatta in 1977, and it would later become the Pan Am World Cup in 1980, being sponsored by this major US airline of the time.

This singular event was a catalyst for minds to conquer wind and water in an extreme environment, and there’s nothing like a great sporting challenge to nurture creativity in working overtime to generate design ideas (i.e., think of motorsport). Like the Ford vs Ferrari war of the 1960s, brand against brand, designer against designer and riders (drivers) providing constant feedback casting aside bad ideas and nurturing good ones while never being fully satisfied. And so it was during this time.

The Pan Am Cup took place in the very early ‘80s on the island of Oahu. It predated the Euro Funboard and World Cups, and also the Professional Windsurfers Association (PWA) and was the first multi-disciplined professional event comprising wave performance, course racing and long distance. The difference was that competition would only take place in a minimum of 17 knots, which would have been a maximum for some recreational racers back then; the aim was to showcase windsurfing as a high-action, dangerous, appealing and highly televisual sport.

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Above: Robby Naish ’In the Blue’ sailing the legendary Pan Am board in custom form, debuting at the 1982 Pan Am Cup. A seminal shape that would be tweaked to go ever faster and point higher.

many, France, Japan, Holland, England, America and elsewhere. Entries were on a first-come, first-served basis, and the 160 places filled quickly. Designs became ever more advanced and refined. Yacht and Boat Owner Magazine (1980) summed up the Pan Am Boards of the time, ‘The majority of boards competing were custom specials built on the islands. Strength and lightness were the primary requisites, while shaping didn’t go beyond a flat bottom and turned-up nose. With no racing under 17 knots, there is no need for the European boards designed to plane in marginal

Right: Rick Naish passing Birdshit Rock, the windward 1980 Pan Am Cup, Kailua, Hawaii

mark at the

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conditions. All the winning boards used daggerboards, generally designed to kick into three positions: beating, reaching and running. Fins varied from a single one to two tiny cut-offs.’ Sails usually favoured a concave leech and seldom with battens.

At the 1980 event, Rick Naish had designed and built Robby’s board, much along the lines of the Naish board released by Mistral in 1979. Conceptually the basic board shape idea had existed since 1977. His custom board was a relatively simple flat shape, with ‘...much of its speed due to the lightweight construction; the board weighs 30 lbs (13.5 kgs). Kevlar sandwich is the main material, with the boards selling for around USD $1,000.’ A lot of money in 1980.

The conditions in 1980 were, as photographer Alastair Black commented, in a later edition of Boards Magazine UK, ‘Windblowing, wave-blasting, mind-boggling, this one event created the legend of 30 knots and 12-foot waves. Spectacular, challenging, hazardous. The myth was born. Hawaii is the giant amongst pygmies for waves, wind, warmth and wonders, the El Dorado of windsurfing,’ That said, seminal moments come but once and none more so than when another Rick Naish and Harold Iggy race board debuted as a custom design at the 1982 Pan Am World Cup. This Pan Am board was to become the genesis for boards such as the Equipe series, the Mistral One-Design and ultimately, the road to being the Olympic board (1996, 2000 and 2004). The Mistral Competition had, of course, been Mistral’s bread-winner up to this point, a higher volume and better version of the Windsurfer® and served the brand well through One-Design Class Racing, use in schools, resorts and with recreational sailors in particular, but it too by now was becoming outdated in what experienced riders wanted in higher winds.

The 1982 Pan Am Cup was described by Australia’s Mike Maguire, ‘With the wind blowing 25 knots and pushing 10-foot walls across Kailua Bay, the stage was set for perhaps the most testing and spectacular sailboard regatta ever. The innovations matched the depth of talent in their equipment. Robby Naish sailed on a kevlar custom board, and his simple two-stage kick-back daggerboard undoubtedly enhanced his performance.’ The board Robby used went into production; the Mistral Pan Am. It was long, with a narrow nose and light. The production specifications were 3.85 m x 64 cm x 12 cm x 200L x 14.5 kg.

and a slightly rounded forward hull section. A key difference was a rounded tail rather than the previous square tail of 1980.

It became an iconoclastic cruiser and symbolised long-distance sailing in control and comfort, a ‘Hook-in and Hold-on (HIHO)’ speed machine. (For interest, HIHO became the name of a Caribbean island-to-island race and, later, a clothing brand). The Pan Am retailed at $1,890, reassuringly expensive and out of most people’s pockets. It was, in short, futuristic, but looking at it now, we’d realise it would need two tweaks: the addition of concave underside sections and chunkier rail thickness to aid performance across the wind range and upwind bite.

Events such as the Pam Am Cup, the Euro Funboard Cup and its evolution to the 1983 World Cup, stimulated equipment designs. Equipment was unrestricted, and advertising, pumping and touching marks were permitted. Performance racing longboards, for windier conditions, of between 365-380cm were now in use, and Mistral would label the Pan Am board as a funboard, but its intent was all business trying to reclaim lost momentum and build image (see Chapter 2). The original Mistral Pan Am board was only in production for approximately two years. Even today, the originals remain sought after. Those lucky enough to own one rarely sell; it is somewhat of a collector’s item.

Above: Tomas Persson and Tim Aagesen on Mistral Equipes LCS-XR of Hawaii in the summer of 1987

LONGBOARD PROGRESSION

‘IT BECAME AN ICONOCLASTIC CRUISER AND SYMBOLISED LONG-DISTANCE SAILING IN CONTROL AND COMFORT, A ‘HOOK-IN AND HOLD-ON’ SPEED MACHINE’ As a result of his victory in 1982, for 1983, the Mistral Pan Am production version would be recognised by many as the forerunner to all modern-day longboard race boards. Elegant, streamlined, a true gun-runner, festooned with foot-straps, a multi-positional mast foot track, a relatively small retracting daggerboard,

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Two new designs came and went between the Pan Am and well-known Equipe boards. The Mistal Maui was launched with much fanfare in 1982/3 but had too much rocker compromising its speed. Then a development from Robby’s 1983 World Cup course racing equipment emerged, which was much faster: the Mistral Malibu. It was short (353 cm), low in volume (175L), and had a small daggerboard but soon did not compare well against the F2 Lightning, which was far more versatile.

The first of the Mistral Equipe series of boards evolved as a prototype in 1985. Tim Aagesen of the World Cup Team used a lightweight version successfully in the latter part of the series, enabling him to become the Course Racing World Cup Champion.

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Mistral took this board and used it as the plug for the Equipe.

It was released in 1986 as the Mistral Equipe I, with ASA outer skin/epoxy glass and carbon inner skin / EPS foam core. This design ran from 1986-88.

This original Equipe was considered innovative and ahead of its time in performance. It featured concave hull sections, a squash tail, sharp rails, thick slab sides through the middle, and a large daggerboard. Subsequently, an Equipe 1.5, seemingly retaining the Equipe I name, would emerge between 1989-1994. It became slightly narrower but thicker to create more volume at 372cm x 63.5cm x 235lts and subsequently became the Mistral One Design. This superceded a revised One-Design brought in for a brief 1986-89 period called the Competition SST, which had foot straps and a different funboard-influenced shape, but in hindsight, this was a stopgap until the Equipe series influenced One-Design board.

Above: a super-fit Stephan Van den Berg won his Olympic Gold Medal, aged 22, after a string of successes in earlier years in Windsurfer®, Mistral and Open (Div 2) Classes.

In 1985, after a year off from sailing, he won the 1986 and 1987 Course Racing World Cup titles sailing with Bic and North Sails.

He also became a steady performer in slalom and waves. His racing career started in adolescence (16) and he was inspired by the achievements of Robby Naish.

After the World Cup racing, he could not resist trying for the Olympics in 1992; he won selection to represent Holland again and finished 7th at the Games on the Lechner equipment (Div 2). He retired from racing aged 30, and now his greatest pride is his family and helping his surf and snow retail/ online stores thrive, with his son Kai as part of the staff team.

The first-ever copy of ‘Hooked!’ was presented to him in Amsterdam at the launch in April 2023.

‘OLYMPIC EQUIPMENT DECISIONS COULD NOT KEEP PACE WITH THE EVOLUTION’

Left: the mid 1980s where the high time for the Mistral Pan Am and later the Equipe I and II. The picture shows Tomas Person and Tim Aagesen training in Hawaii, 1987

SELECTION AS THE OLYMPIC BOARD The minimum windspeeds of 15 knots at the Games were not practical since it may have prevented racing from happening. In reality, as long as a consistent wind blows, racing can take place in 4+ knots to 25-30 knots on flat water.

Windsurfing had been fast-tracked into the Olympics. The International Yacht Racing Union (now World Sailing) recognised windsurfing in 1977 and by 1980 had enthusiastically put it forward to the IOC as a new sport after 6-7 years in the public consciousness. Remarkably it was approved by all 74 voting members of the IOC. IOC.‘This was the fastest time any sport had gained Olympic status. World Championships in various classes were [already being] held, and each one broke all records for numbers of countries and competitors participating in any previous sailing event in history, the ‚bush fire’ of board sailing became a roaring inferno.’ (Nigel Hacking, General Secretary IYRU, 1983).

The kudos of being the equipment used at the Olympics makes its selection a politically hot issue, particularly when the equipment is a mass-produced consumer product, unlike most sailing classes. Windsurfing was an energetic and vibrant new sport compared to traditional sailing in the 1970s. Most windsurfers celebrated the sport’s new Olympic status. With Olympic inclusion as a unique event, the speed of design, technology and performance nevertheless progressed in the sport over the next 15 years, creating significant problems for its credibility amongst windsurfers. Olympic equipment decisions could not keep pace with the evolution. Olympic organisers were required to inform the 200 nations worldwide what equipment would be used at least four years ahead. When the IYRU chose Windglider as the equipment in 1981, by the time of the Games in 1984, funboard racing was already very popular. The Olympic racing was a success, and some competitors went on to compete in funboard and World Cup racing successfully, most notably Stephan Van der Berg (Gold medalist). In a bizarre quirk of windsurfing evolutionary progress, the original rules of the Windglider Class did not allow harnesses, which made for some very fit sailors who could endure a lot of pain in trying to grip for up to 60 minutes races.

After the 1984 Games, “World Sailing” (we will use this term from now on) thinks, ‘OK, what is the premier equipment now for which

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we have a sound set of international rules that we might use in 1988?’ Open Division II Class is credible and quite popular. Consequently, the Division II class was voted in. Thankfully, they did allow harnesses. In 1988, not many people outside an Olympic squad were sailing the equipment since funboard racing was the premier circuit. Three-time Olympic windsurf medalist Barbara Kendall (New Zealand) explains in a 2010 interview ‘The old guard of sailing often didn‘t understand us’. An expert observer (Wheaton, 2011). ‘Olympic windsurfers, despite their athleticism, were ‚ . . . marginalised within the broader windsurfing culture’.

Games equipment supplier boosted Mistral’s image. In chronological order, the Mistral board’s were the: Competition, Naish, Kailua, Pan Am, Maui, Malibu, Competition SST, Equipe 1, Equipe 1.5, the IMOD (Olympic) and Equipe II. Overall, it is a shame there are so few clubs, lakes and beaches around the world where people can sail long boards together as a collective. Unfortunately, many windsurfing clubs have largely died, but new digital networks are helping revive them and the Windsurfer LT, in its simplicity, is a breath of fresh air.

Division II and the Lechner board used did not attract the support of either core windsurfers or mainstream viewers, but windsurfing did gradually gain credibility within World Sailing based on its credentials as the most globally practised, youthful, exciting, and athletic form of sailing.

Barbara Kendall’s slight unease about the old guard of sailing was probably influenced by not being allowed to compete in 1984 or 1988 since it was a men-only event which seems crazy now and shows how different the ‘80s were. She trained on the Lechner Division II board and won gold at the first Olympics she was permitted to enter in 1992. Her brother Bruce had won silver in 1984 and gold in 1988. This combined New Zealand success went on to influence a whole generation of young New Zealanders, and their input to the Olympic class continues today, as you will see.

By 1992, the gap between Olympic windsurfing and what everyone else did was a chasm, although the sailors were supremely talented, super-fit athletes. Bruce and Barbara Kendal carried the NZ flag at various opening and closing ceremonies. Perhaps, the Mistral One-Design heritage from the early 1980s helped persuade sailors and World Sailing that the new Equipe style One-Design might be just the thing they were looking for as the 1996 Olympic equipment. Also, it was widely used both recreationally and for racing. The Mistral Class was pushing against an open door at World Sailing, and there was also a readiness from sailors and the Class to embrace the acceptance of pumping the rig – a traditional sailing rule which had been so difficult to enforce in the early days of windsurfing’s history. A brave new Olympic windsurfing world beckoned.

The brand enhancement this brought to Mistral was considerable, and the IOC must have been pleased to see competitors from 46 Nations participate in the 1996 Atlanta Games, including Barbara Kendal, who returned this time with a silver medal. No doubt, when new corporate buyers considered buying Mistral in the next decade (see Chapter 16), the Olympic rings must have piqued their interest. There was a global performance brand, or so it seemed.

However, the inherent problem of a sport still rapidly progressing in designs and genres of racing remained, whilst the Olympics needed a four-year equipment commitment cycle. Old equipment in a young sport was a potential threat to the future.

LONGBOARD HOMAGE AND HOPE I have mentioned 12 Mistral boards in this quick tour of longboards, how they contributed to the Olympics and how being a

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Above and opposite: Alessandra Sensini (Italy) on her way to gold in Sydney 2000 (Mistral One Design, Photo: © Carlo Borlenghi)

‘CLUBS HAVE LARGELY DIED, BUT NEW DIGITAL SOCIAL NETWORKS ARE HELPING REVIVE THEM’

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CHAPTER 10

CHARLY MESSMER MISTRAL’S SWISS ARMY KNIFE

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rom the very early days of Mistral, Charly Messmer formed an integral part of their avant-garde design team.

Indeed, not only did he play a significant role in designing the famous M1 displacement racing board, but he suggests he was also responsible for the idea of the telescopic wishbone boom.

Messmer was signed up to sail, test and assist with equipment development at approximately the same time as Robby Naish.

Working closely with Hansi Fichtner on Lake Garda, where they shared a house, you have the impression of two men locked away in a cave, brainstorming and working closely on the craft of shaping and making boards. Prototypes were tested on Lake Garda by Charly, except for the M1, which was merely put in the water to see how it floated before being hurriedly packed for the airport to reach Guadeloupe in time for the 1979 Open Class Worlds, which he went on to win. He also became the 1980 European and World Windsurfer® Class champion.

Charly, you’re still on the water these days in your 60s, any windsurfing?

Above: Charly Messmer (1979)

‘I’ve not been windsurfing for many years. When you do something like I did for many years so intensely on a professional level, it gets hard to continue when you reach a certain point and begin winding down. I spent a lot of my time on Lake Garda testing and comparing equipment, and I am no longer interested in wind and flat water. If I could sail with a side shore wind and 2m waves daily, I would do it. But as for flat water, I have done this too much’.

The story of Peter Brockhaus striving toward funboards was opposed to what Mistral was investing time into at that point, the M1 board being a good example ‘That’s correct, and ironically this is what killed windsurfing in the end. In the beginning, pioneering sailors were happy with the Windsurfer® and later the Mistral Competition. Then we added foot straps and created ever shorter boards; more and more attention was focused on sailing in the waves, which slowed the entry of newcomers into the sport.

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Flat water sailing and the boards used were suddenly not cool anymore, and by the 1990s, this is absolutely the reason the sport completely crashed. Indeed, it had been the same thing with Snowboarding. When the snowsport media were promoting half pipes and jumps, it became more of a demonstration sport and not a mass sport, and today snowboarding has had a similar crash as windsurfing had 20 years before.

Overdeveloping the sport by going beyond the original primary appeal of a sport means the equipment becomes more expensive and technical, the moves more extreme, and the focus becomes niche orientated, focusing on hero individuals and not the average recreational participant. Of course, it’s stupid to try to prevent the development of a sport, but it ends up harming the sport if not managed correctly’ (discussed in Chapter 15).

So, did you take up windsurfing very early when it arrived in Europe?

‘I started in the summer of 1973. I had a neighbour who had two Windsurfer® boards. I was 15 at the time, and he let me try it, and I managed to figure it out, and it was something super new and crazy, something special. I was hooked. It was a new thing. In 1973 there were probably 30-50 windsurfers in Switzerland and only a few hundred across Europe. The first races on lakes were more like casual social gatherings to see how others were handling the board, to watch each other’s techniques and to talk about the sport. You would be driving down a road, and if another car came toward you with a Windsurfer® on the roof, you would pull over and have a conversation’.

Four years later in 1977, you finished 2nd to Robby Naish at the Windsurfer® Worlds. Were you commercially involved with the sport at the time?

‘No, I was studying Chemistry in Basel, Switzerland, only windsurfing on weekends. I decided to qualify as a windsurfing instructor and, in 1977, spent the summer in Spain instructing windsurfing and sailing every day. Sailing for four months every day was why I ended up 2nd at the Worlds’.

Above from top: Charly about to duck gybe an early custom board. Notice how far forward the mast foot is!

Middle: Charly’s distinctive sail number became Z1 Bottom: Charly doing a body-drag in Port Pollo, Sardinia (1979)

I think Robby was 14 years old, and I was 20 in 1977. We did not talk much then as we were from very different worlds. Robby won his races by a long way as the winds were light, and not until the last race, when the wind was stronger, did I finish in front of him. For all other races, he was much faster than any of us. He was very light, of course, I think I was 65 kg, and maybe he was just 45 kg, but we were both together in the same Lightweight Division’ [there were four weight categories, A to D, in the Windsurfer® class].

When was your first association with Mistral?

‘Peter Brockhaus called me and asked if I would like to join Mistral.

Peter wanted me to compete in selected races and events using Mistral equipment, and soon after, I received a contract from Mistral.

This was around the same time as Robby was also contracted [via his father, Rick]. We became Mistral’s first pro-sailors. Of course, I went on to test equipment and contribute to designs. I kept on sailing Windsurfer® Class as everyone else did back then. One-Design class racing was still important. I raced the Mistral Competition and in the Open Class, the M1 and later funboards as part of the World Cup Team’.

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What was your first experience of Mistral’s products?

‘In the beginning, Mistral came out with a poor [Superwind] board but had an excellent rig package and a fancy wetsuit called ‘The 600’, but it too was a lousy wetsuit, but it looked cool and was good for the Mistral image. I remember I was in Sardinia with Peter Brockhaus, and I was wearing a Body Glove suit from the US. Peter wanted to give me a Mistral 600, and I refused it. He was shocked.

Years after, he told me this story again as he said, ‘No one ever says, “no” to free Mistral stuff ’.

I am told ‘The 600’ was suited more to going to a nightclub than windsurfing

‘WINDSURFING BROUGHT THIS CALIFORNIAN VIBE OF THE SURF, THE BEACH, AND THE LIFESTYLE TO THE INLAND LAKES‘

‘It was all about the image at this point, not function. Mistral wanted sportswear and all the accessories that went with the sport and were ahead of their time in imagining how the sport could and should feel even before it became big. No brand had tried to do this, to take a trend and make it into a lifestyle creating a parallel universe.

The earlier surfers in California had done it, but not in a commercial way like this. Windsurfing was the first sport to bring surfing to the countryside. I heard this said from the Quiksilver owner back then, who told me a brand such as Quiksilver would never have grown if it were not for windsurfing. Windsurfing brought this Californian vibe of the surf, the beach, and the lifestyle to the inland lakes’.

Did Stand Up Paddling also bring this surfing life to the inland waterways?

‘Well, yes and I’m sorry to say, standup paddling is not the same sense of cool; it is not a surf sport as windsurfing was back then. I would never wear a T-shirt saying, ‘I’m a Stand Up Paddler’. Whereas windsurfers would proudly wear their type of clothing year-round, just to show ‘I’m a Windsurfer’.

Above: Charly Messmer testing a Mistral Naish Board prototype in Porto Pollo, Sardinia, 1979. Notice the Addidas windsurfing boots.

Did you form a good relationship with the Naish family?

‘One of my first assignments was to drive the Naish family from Munich to Sardinia for a photoshoot organised by Peter Brockhaus to be shot by Ulli Seer. We travelled in a VW LT Camper Bus in 1979. We were there for two weeks working on photos for Peter’s ‘Windsurfing with Robby Naish’ book. We had some great sailing, and Ulli took some great photos. We were probably the first ever to windsurf this coastline.

I had a great relationship with Rick and later with Robby when I joined him on the World Cup Tour for four years. I was the best European in the team and the oldest. We had a very good relationship as I did also with Harold Ige (Iggy), but especially with Rick, he is a very nice man’.

‘I HAD A GREAT RELATIONSHIP WITH RICK AND LATER WITH ROBBY WHEN I JOINED HIM ON THE WORLD CUP TOUR‘

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What about their role as designers?

‘It was a good team. Harold was a very good shaper, but Rick understood windsurfing better than Harold. Rick had come from Hobbie Cat sailing and surfing and had a good feel for what was fast and for winning competitions. Harold would study a board for 10 minutes, looking over the lines and the curves and stroking the board with his hands to gain greater insight into the board’s design and performance potential. Also, Robby always gave input to these boards’.

Above: double page from the 1982 Mistral Brochure with the text titled “Success speaks for itself ”, listing all the Open Class races won in the previous years on the Mistral M1. The main photo above shows Randy Naish and Charly Messmer (with Robby’s sail US-1111) sailing side by side at Kailua Bay, Hawaii, 1981.

Did you have a workshop on Lake Garda?

‘I mainly worked with Hansi Fichtner sharing a house at Torbole Lake Garda, working on new developments, and when I travelled to Hawaii, I worked directly with Rick. Ernstfried would oversee these developments. This was how we approached the design process back in Europe on Lake Garda, the shaper and test sailors working together for the best outcome. Later, my brother Rolf joined us as another designer. Hansi Fichtner and my brother Rolf were then shaping mainly race and slalom boards, while Rick and Harold were back in Hawaii, focusing on slalom and wave board designs.

Ernstfried Prade was not ‘The designer’ as such, as he never crafted the boards but was very good at seeing boards through to the

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production phase and taking care of technical features. The M1, for example, came about through Hansi and me making the board, though Ernstfried still believes he made it. Hansi was an excellent shaper and ‘the hand’ behind the Mistral Competition and M1 boards. Ernstfried would never make a board by himself; he would do it with Hansi, and both needed my input to test whether it worked on the water’.

against 150 sailors and no weight classes [subsequent years saw two weight categories used]. Windglider had about 15 boards, and Tornado had about 8 in the competition’.

What was unique about The M1?

to cover us and try to sail the opposition off the course for the Windglider guy to win [all legal, if done within the sailing rules]. It was worth a lot of money [commercially] if they could win, so these tactics were used. I had to deal with all these Windglider sailors trying to mess me up and stop me from winning overall. I did not have a team behind me, so it was tricky’.

‘The highlight in Open Class was the creation of the Mistral M1. In the summer of 1979, the first rounded [displacement] boards appeared, and we had zero race-winning chance with our traditional flat Mistral Competition. We had to move fast. Our first M1 we custom-made in late October with Hansi on Lake Garda. We rushed it off to the Worlds in Guadeloupe without any on-water sailing tests.

It was crazy trying to control and learn to race this a few days before the event started. I really could not handle it at all. It was very windy, and my results at the beginning of the event were not very good. I started with 49th place, then 16th place, followed by several 1st places. I ended up 1st overall as the only Mistral board

How did you come good at the very end?

‘It was an incredible final race; three guys could win the title. There was a Windglider guy (a local sailor), Nico Stickl from Germany on the Tornado, and myself on the MI. The Windglider Team had a meeting, and they were instructed by the owner, Fred Ostermann,

Brand domination was everything during these early days, especially on the race circuit; win on Sunday, sell on Monday ‘Absolutely and people were selling thousands of boards back then.

Our original 1979 M1 with Hansi was made in styrofoam and laminated in epoxy. The following year, they were produced as hollow boards using a honeycomb foam sandwich outer skin [made on

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the Isle of Wight, in England]. They were around 14kg-15kg but had to be 18kg to be race legal, so we had to add 5-6kg of lead to the daggerboard pivot point to come up to weight. No one knew about this, but it was legal and clever. I went on to win the World’s once again; myself in the lightweights and *Thomas Staltmeier, in the heavyweights’.

* Thomas Staltmaier Thomas was a quiet, calm, strong Mistral guy who always walked around barefoot. However, this was a press headline in October 1981, “Thomas Staltmaier has a serious car accident; the windsurfing world champion is dying”.

The then 20-year-old was on his way to a regatta when a head-on collision nearly killed him. Staltmaier was in a coma for seven weeks with severe head trauma. Only his iron will and detailed medical support help him overcome his severe disability.

Above: Charly Messmer during a photo shoot for Mistral Accessories at El Golfo, on the West Coast of Lanzarote, Canary Islaands, Spain (1985)

How did you experience the switch in attention to funboard as the new thing?

‘Yes, the Open Class fell out of favour as the funboard racing came in. Perhaps, it was a big hype, and I suppose the timing was opportune for the fast planing boards to take over’.

And yet, an Open Division II board, the **Lechner, went on to be the Olympic board in 1988 and 1992. Was this type of board well suited to Olympic sailing courses?

‘Absolutely and they were a lot of fun to sail on a triangular Olympic-style course. You had to use all the sailing tactics you could to succeed; it was a lovely physical and mental challenge. But you always needed the very best equipment to do well.

So, what happened the year after Guadeloupe?

‘1980 was to be my best competitive year. I won the Open Worlds again, Windsurfer® Worlds, Open Europeans, and Windsurfer® Eu-

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**Lechner Division II The 1988 Olympics saw the Lechner boards (for men only) using a 6.5 m2 sail; a 7.5 m2 sail introduced for the 1992 Games along with a women’s category. The contest for the Olympic board had been between a Swedish design and an Austrian one (the Lechner).

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ropeans. We also travelled to Hawaii to take photos and movies and then to Thailand for the Siam Cup, which I also won. It was a good year’.

In 1980, Peter Brockhaus left Mistral. Was the company changing?

‘Mr Bader and Mr Fritzmeier owned our two factories, and Peter was the marketing man, in fact, the best marketing man you would ever meet. However, he spent money like you would not believe.

Mistral never made money. They were in a period where everyone said, ‘You’re going to sell more each year’. I remember a presentation from an agency telling us we would soon reach 10 million windsurfers on the market; the sport is so big, it has a huge future, and it will only go up and up. When Peter created F2 it was undoubtedly a fresher brand than Mistral. It was younger and appealing, with a lot of energy’.

‘WHEN PETER BROCKHAUS CREATED F2 IT WAS UNDOUBTEDLY A FRESHER BRAND THAN MISTRAL.IT WAS YOUNGER AND APPEALING, WITH A LOT OF ENERGY‘

Mistral was lucky to have new ownership in Adia, whose finances were strong even when Mistral lost money ‘When I was part of the World Cup team up to 1985, it was always good money, I could not complain, but then the market broke, and the companies did not trust the market anymore. Everything began to slow down, and even the World Cup races could no longer find sponsors’.

With Peter Brockhaus out of Mistral, did Ernstfried Prade take a lead role?

‘No, not as such. Ernstfried was product-focused, not management or marketing-focused. Peter was the opposite. When they were together in the company there was always some competition between them, even today it remains. I recently had an interview with German ‘Surf ’ Magazine, and the guy who interviewed me asked about the M-Dot logo because they remain conflicted about whose idea it was’.

There are a lot of myths within Mistral. Can you tell the story of inventing the telescopic boom?

‘I made this myself and got the idea from telescopic crutches, having broken my leg. I applied the concept to a wishbone boom. But Ernstfried claimed the patent, and I knew he had done so. He was always very clever in handling things like this to his advantage.

Ernstfried told me recently that the only remaining patent of the whole windsurfing sport is the telescopic wishbone boom. Legal counter-arguments have crushed all the patents, but this particular patent still stands’.

You worked on such boards as the Naish Board, Kailua, Diamond Head and the Tinkler Tail: how did Mistral’s first wave-orientated board, the Take-Off, come about?

‘It was a Naish board made by Rick and Harold with Robby’s input. Early prototypes of the Take-Off came about in 1979, but at that time, the development of board design was happening so fast, weekly and daily, that it was hard to keep pace with change. The marketing around the Take Off was amazing. There was a movie called ‘Take Off ’ with Robby Naish filmed at Diamond Head, made

by Yuri Farrant, and as a result of the movie and other marketing imagery, everybody wanted one. Tragically, it took so long to bring

Above: Charly Messmer sailing an early Pan Am prototype at Torbole, Lake Garda, Italy (1980)

it to market following the promotional work that it was out of date once it was available. Pintails had appeared, and the centreboard was eliminated. The Take Off was not easy to gybe. We followed this with the more successful Diamond Head, which was a really good board, and it lasted for many years with modifications and was suited to slalom’.

And the Tinkler or Flex Tail?

‘Yes, the idea was very good, but it was a disaster and never really worked. This concept is used in snow skis, and it’s popular. Atomic and Salomon skis use this technology to control the flex. It was a spring system originally patented by Tinkler, but it needed work and was never perfected.

Jürgen Hönscheid had been working on a variation of the Tinkler Tail and had brought it with him when he joined Mistral at the end of his career. Ernstfried, who loved this technology, spent a lot of time and money attempting to perfect this system, even after Jürgen had given up on it. The idea was to add more technology and adjustment features to the board, but it proved too complex and had too many issues to resolve. In the end, the introduction of carbon and epoxy meant that the decrease in weight and added stiffness gave us greater benefits than any variability in tail rocker’.

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How did you see The Mistral World Cup Team as part of the company’s strategy?

‘Mistral was the leader in all disciplines in the different directions of the sport. We did not win everything, but collectively as a whole team package, we were far ahead of the other teams, and in truth, we had more money available to us than others’.

The World Cup Team Manager, Teddy, tells the story of his role. How did you experience his support?

‘He did a great job. He took his job very seriously and we all respected him. We were all very professional in our roles. We all had different specialities; although Robby was the leader in almost all the disciplines, the Scandinavians were sometimes ahead of Robby in course racing. Pete Cabrinha was important to the team as he was 2nd to Robby in the waves. It’s hard to imagine our popularity and impact now; it was huge. I remember Robby and Pete in Lake Garda, signing autographs before and after races, and World Cups in Holland with 80 - 100,000 spectators. The King of Holland was a big fan and would come yearly, especially to see Robby’.

When we hear of SUP recently being the fastest-growing water sport, does it echo how windsurfing was back in the ‘80s and ‘90s?

‘Well, is SUP a sport? It’s just recreational fun to be on the water on the lakes and rivers. For 95% of participants, it’s not a sport in the competitive sense. I have a board myself, and we may have 100 on the lake some days, but I am the only one who seems able to paddle straight. It must be excellent cross-training for windsurfing. In my mind, it will never come close to how windsurfing was in those early days. I just don’t believe we live in cool times anymore. The ‘60s, ‘70s and even ‘80s were cool, but then we lost the freedom and energy of those times to technology or something else.

I’d say the original snowboarding was cool as a diversification and alternative to snow skiing. I was lucky to replicate or re-live my windsurfing experience in the snowboarding industry into the ‘90s.

I was fortunate to join snowboarding from the beginning and enjoyed it for over 20 years’.

Fortunately, the snowboarding concept was never patented the same way as windsurfing. I believed it was registered with the patent office, but no patent was applied ‘Yes, that’s right, and even Hoyle Schweitzer did not invent windsurfing. He just commercialised it the same way as Jake Burton commercialised snowboarding, founding Burton in the USA, but he was not the inventor of the concept. Snowboarding remains popular but not as big as it once was. It was a mass participation sport at its peak. It’s more a kid’s sport, with lots of freestyle and tricks similar to skateboarding. At its peak, maybe 2 million units were sold annually. Today it’s below 500k’.

Did the skiing industry suffer as a result, and did it fight back?

‘Yes, it fought back to survive. Snowboards introduced carving designs. The skiers also wanted this ability and style of skiing, so they had to re-think ski designs by introducing rail edges, much like windsurfing and surfboards, to replicate these edge-to-edge moves.

This resulted in much higher performing skis, and new skills were

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learnt, making the sport more appealing and cooler. Shorter and easier-to-use skis were the key to making skiing attractive again, which then managed to take back some ground from Snowboarding’.

Do you think kiteboarding did to windsurfing what snowboarding did to skiing?

‘I’m not so sure. Windsurfing was already on the decrease before kiteboarding came along. So, it’s hard to say for sure’.

Windsurfing brands were broadening out, making kiting equipment and now SUP equipment. I suppose this diversification was needed, and now we have foiling?

‘Yes, foiling is great, but it’s specialist, technical, expensive and not for everyone. SUP, of course, is easy, not so expensive, and therefore very popular’.

Gaastra Sails were associated with Mistral for many years; how did that relationship work?

‘Mistral was always with *Gaastra when I was there, and I assisted with development. We worked with a Dutch guy, called ‘Dick’ based in Sneek in Holland. We worked on prototype sail designs and materials. Production was in Hong Kong. He was a real artisan with great skills. Gaastra was originally founded and based in Holland, which ties in with Ado Huisman, past CEO of Mistral and his creation of Gaastra apparel under license [starting in 1996]’.

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‘WE HAD WORLD CUPS IN HOLLAND WITH 80 - 100,000 SPECTATORS. THE KING OF HOLLAND WAS A BIG FAN AND WOULD COME EVERY YEAR, ESPECIALLY TO SEE ROBBY‘

Left: World Cup Scheveningen, 1983, from left to right: Joop Nederpelt, Robby Naish, Charly Messmer, Pete Cabrinha and Liesbeth Kort

* Gaastra Gaastra has a long nautical heritage. The history of Gaastra began in 1897, when the 22-year-old Douwe GAASTRA set up his sail making company in Sneek, with the ambition of making sailing faster as well as more competitive and efficient. Also to reinvent Holland’s longstanding tradition of world-class quality and craftsmanship. This was more than a century ago and since then Gaastra has transformed itself to an overall fashionable and functional lifestyle brand with international status. In a short space of time, Gaastra became a household name in the global world of sailing. 19701990 - Gaastra is recognised as a prestigious windsurfing brand. 1996 - Gaastra introduces its very first Pro & Sportswear clothing lines, Gaastra Pro, Gaastra Sportswear.

Above: Charly Messmer at the World Cup Scheveningen/ Holland (1985)

Above: World Cup Scheveningen, 1985, from left to right: Robby Naish, Bart Niessink, Pete Cabrinha and Charly Messmer

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Peter Brockhaus has suggested the Naish family had an ‘emotional detachment’ from Mistral; how did you see it?

‘Well, believe it or not, Mistral once owned the name ’Naish Hawaii’ before Naish was formerly associated with Mistral. This is because Mistral, or Peter Brockhaus, had registered ‘Naish Hawaii’ early on.

Therefore, the first contractual arrangement between Mistral and Naish, which included a sponsorship deal for Robby to sail and Rick to design, included an agreement for Naish Hawaii to get its name back: the Naish name had, in effect, been ‘stolen’ in the very beginning from the Naish family [this is hard to comprehend]’.

I would probably think both Robby and Rick would say their time with Mistral was at least some of the best years for them. From what I understand, Mistral paid good money to the Naish’s. Robby and Rick did a spectacular job for the brand’.

Peter suggests it was difficult entering into a contract with Robby when he was under 18, and he does not know how good a deal they got after he left in 1980?

‘Peter will have his point of view, but on the other hand, consider that Peter never succeeded in persuading Robby to move to F2, don’t tell me he never tried. The fact is, Robby stayed with Mistral for many years, as did Rick and Harold Ige, which I think says it all’.

How would you sum up Mistral’s legacy?

‘Mistral was the leader in the emerging sport. Mistral created not only the windsurfing hardware but also a new type of fashion with wetsuits and clothing. Windsurfing became the first sport with sportswear created for its community. Other brands like Chiemsee, Quicksilver, and Oxbow followed this trend. The lifestyle created by windsurfing was copied later by other emerging sports, such as snowboarding, mountain biking and so on. A big crash followed the windsurfing boom in the mid-80s. Today windsurfing gets a new stimulus with foiling or remaking the original Windsurfer. Ado Huisman was perhaps the only suitable person to push the brand back towards the correct niche in the last decade’. (see Chapter 18)

MISTRAL & WINTERSPORTS MISTRAL’S DIVERSIFICATION INTO SNOWSPORTS As early as 1984 the Mistral management team sensed concern over the future of the windsurf market and the reality that the bubble may soon burst. Mistral released a line of winter wear in 1984 as a diversion from beach and on-water wear. Initially Mistral got caught up in the excitement of the potential of snow sports.

Enter the new Mistral Skisailer product; a pair of modified snow skies onto which a windsurfing sail was attached so as you could now simply attach your Mistral windsurfing rig during winter and go snow or ice sailing. After all, many Europeans who were windsurfing, also snow skied. The synergy seemed perfect. Mistral contacted inventor David Varilek at the beginning of 1984 when Adia management heard of the Skisailer in an article published in a Swiss magazine. A contract for development, manufacturing and distribution was signed between Varilek and Mistral.

The formal launch of the Skisailer did not take place until 1986, with Mistral investing in 2,000 Skisailers, consisting of a mast foot, sail and the connecting bar, distributed worldwide through Mistral’s network of wholesalers and independent sports stores. By early 1987, Mistral had invested more than USD$500,000 in Skisailer engineering, tooling and developmental costs and when the final sales and inventories figures came in, just 790 units had been sold, it was clear the Skisailer had a limited future. The project was closed down. It showed Mistral’s willingness to embrace alternate realties and the scale of the losses Mistral sometimes accrued; this was a common outcome for Adia.

Charly Messmer would be closely involved in an attempted expansion into snowboarding in the early 1990s. Some of the brochure images of the time illustrate the ambition with a range of snowsport related products offered. This too ran out of steam and no doubt further losses resulted, although it made Mistral look ambitious and supported their image.

Later Charly Messmer, Klaus Thurner and Reinhard Hopp produced snowboards under licence from Mistral. When negotiations about a reduction of licence fees failed they returned their licence and successfully started their own brands Generics (snowboards) and Blax (boots and bindings) which they sold to ski manufacturer HEAD a few years later.

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P E T E C A B R I N H A - WA V E C H A M P I O N , D E S I G N E R , A R T I S T

PETE CABRINHA

WAVE CHAMPION, DESIGNER, ARTIST

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ete Cabrinha’s life long dedication to windsurfing, surfing and the arts is a journey which has gained him personal success and worldwide acclaim. International awards in Surfing (XXL Biggest Wave Award™), Windsurfing (WSMA World Champion), and Kitesurfing (IDEA™ Design Innovation Award) are only a few of the major milestones in Pete‘s life on his journey from a young Kailua windsurfing boy, winning the Windsurfing World Title to being the accomplished designer, entrepreneur and artist of today.

His pioneering contributions in Windsurfing, Towsurfing, Kitesurfing, and Foilboarding have redefined what it is to be a surfer in the 21st century. Pete’s extraordinary connection to the ocean has also fueled his parallel life as an artist. Throughout his professional water sports career Pete has paired his technical photography skills with his off center painting and collage techniques to capture the essence of a life lived in and out of the Hawaiian waters.

Above: Pete Cabrinha, former wave champion, designer, entrepreneur, artist and photographer

“Art for me has always been a seamless extension of my surfing. The ocean provides me with a renewable source of inspiration that colors the basic way of life here in Hawaii. Light, drama, beauty and tension. All of this can be found daily in Maui if you know what you’re looking for.”

Pete’s lifestyle as a water sports athlete and artist, allows him to navigate life with one foot in the sand and one foot in the studio. He is continually inspired – not only by the ocean and the people of his Hawaiian birthplace but by the rich cultural traditions of the world.

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CHAPTER 11

I SAIL FOR SMILE...

1973 - 1983

CULTURAL SHIFTS IN WINDSURFING

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once asked a French windsurfing friend on the first day we met, ‘Do you compete’ his reply was, ‘No, I sail for smile.’ By the late 70s, this playfulness was becoming more embedded in those who often gained satisfaction and meaning from racing and its social scene. Playful windsurfing meant perfecting new moves or seeing the sport‘s potential for play in the waves. For many new windsurfers their recreational time was a means to be free from the restraint of rules and regulations compared to many who used competition to shape the rhythm of their sport, which sometimes included travelling to experience new race venues. Of course, some people did both, but it begins to illuminate some core differences between participants in the first decade of the sport. These different perspectives perhaps shaped Mistral more than other brands.

The evolution towards high wind sailing could be said to have commenced in 1977 partly due to the efforts of those at Windsurfing Hawaii in developing existing equipment. The challenge of mastering new wind and wave conditions soon became conflated with ‘fun’, and the ‘funboard’ term emerged. The more wind you could handle, and if combined with waves, all the better. Equipment and rider skills were the limiting factor, but it was clear that skill levels and aspirations were now overtaking the performance levels that conventional longboards offered. A range of changes spread beyond Hawaii‘s beaches to allow the sport to develop further, which inevitably happened, but not without some aggravation.

SAILING; BUT NOT AS THE WORLD KNEW IT In 1979, US instructor Glenn Taylor published an influential book called ‘Wherever there’s water and wind: A complete guide to the sport of Windsurfing’. Windsurfer® endorsed it. The contents are a fascinating historical record of that time and include ‘Why Race?’ and ‘Regattas for Windsurfers’, including descriptions of typical competition formats; the Olympic course, slalom, formation sailing, buoy ball, tag and freestyle. Note that there is no mention of waves or speed. Only the formats in italics lasted until today. One-Design racing was aligned to sailing in its rules and conventions, but as you can see, there were attempts to offer something distinctly different to sailing, but the prestige was al-

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ways with course racing in the first few years. When I was with Brockhaus, I asked, ‘When did you recognise windsurfing was not ideally suited for Olympic triangle courses?’ He responded with typical certainty, ‘From the beginning, but neither was the equipment suitable to handle rough waters or high winds. During Christmas 1973, in the Bahamas I tried the shore break and broke the first of many masts’.

a compromise between the different sailboard manufacturers that they would accept this ‘Open Class’ as a competitive playground.

It was a highly informal initiative and nobody was surprised when John Hutton, the president of the Kingston Royal Yacht Club, together with Mistral manager Christian Müller-Kittnau and tour operator Ulli Pürschel from Surf Tours in Hamburg, organised the first ‘Open World Championships’ in Jamaica, Montego Bay, in

Above: Windsurfer® Worlds 1977, Baia Sardinia, Italy: Course racing on one-design boards was standard, harnesses were not allowed but had started to be used in Hawaii

Above: Diane & Hoyle Schweitzer visiting the Windsurfer® Worlds 1977, Baia Sardinia, Italy

In 1975/76, Brockhaus organised the so-called Europa Cup, a series of races on the Windsurfer® in coastal locations from Marbella (Spain), Bormes (France) to Kiel (Germany]), and Sylt (Germany). Starts were Le Mans style, rounding 1-2 buoys through any shore break and back to the beach. It was designed for spectators and sponsored by his magazine. He explains further ‘Then in 1977, Mistral engaged in One-Design racing with the Mistral Competition board, as had Ostermann with his Windglider. Everybody wanted to beat Windsurfer® at their own game. This was the way of thinking. The following year we had strong interest from regatta-minded people to organise Open Racing events on production boards. But what kind of format? What sort of measurement controls and, more importantly, under which rules?

1977. Anyone could sign-up, book their trip and join the races.

Mistral joined this venture by sending its Hawaiian-connected riders, including Robby Naish, the then-current Windsurfer® World Champion, and a gang of ocean-experienced windsurfers from Kailua; Dennis Davidson, Dave Foy, Pat Love and so on (Chapter 6, page 132). They all sailed on the infamous rubber rimmed heavyweight Mistral board. Robby finished in 6th place.’

We had several serious problems to resolve before the time was right for a change. I was somewhat alone in my thoughts about promoting stronger wind racing. One-Design classes wanted to please the International Yacht Racing Union [now known as World Sailing] and the National Sailing Federations. As a result, the German National Windsurfer® Championship in 1974 took place in the Olympic centre of Kiel, the mecca of sailing in Germany. Windsurfer® wished to be part of the sailing world and was approaching local sailing clubs to organise regattas. Uwe Mahn-Bartholmé was the ideal Class President for this type of integration. He always appeared in a blue sailor’s jacket. Most class members wanted to obey the sailing world’s rules strictly. The time wasn’t right for a change.

That came later.

When it came to creating an Open category, everybody agreed to compromise, with the least restricting rules; ‘Open’ meant what it said, anything and everything was allowed, as long as it was a ‘sailboard and not a sailboat’ and, of course, under the rules of the sailing authorities. Early on, there was no real class organisation, membership, or much international control by the IYRU. It was

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As Charly Messmer confirms in Chapter 10, in 1979, Open Class racing was dramatically affected when Hubert Raudaschl, an Austrian sailmaker, came out with a voluminous rounded-bottom board which Mistral learnt from and made the M1. ‘Mistral had found an answer and went on to dominate. Once Open Class leant towards this type of board, the public interest declined more and more. Typical owners of production boards like Mistral Competition, Windglider, Sailboard, Klepper and so forth had no chance against these specialised racing machines. The new Division II rules were those of the IYRU. The race format was an Olympic triangle’.

The M1 was released in 1979, along with the Naish and Kailua boards at the Dusseldorf Boot Show in Germany. SURF Magazine commented about the display; ‘Although the visitor to the Mistral stand was greeted by the M-1 Open Division race board that took pride of place, the Swiss are also pursuing fun boards.’

Despite Mistral‘s efforts to place the M1 as the premium product, SURF was more interested in the offerings from Naish (e.g., the Kailua), as the rest of their reportage and testing demonstrated. A stark cultural fault line was apparent by the Prade / Messmer focus being different from the Brockhaus / Naish direction.

The high wind-orientated Alpha Rocket, also released at the show and designed by Larry Stanley, was compared against the Naish Mistral. In SURF’s board test this is

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Spectators and competitors on the beach of Baia Sardinia/Italy, watching the freestyle event at the Windsurfer® Worlds 1977 (On the left American windsurf photographer Steve Wilkings)

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what they said: ‘The test might sound like these wave-racers have too many disadvantages for European lakes. For low winds and regattas, this is correct. However, these two boards at Force 4+ demonstrate never-before-felt planing qualities, speed and trim, which resulted in a positive feeling from the test riders. Both boards have enough nose rocker to avoid nose-diving into the waves.’

WHAT IF? As you have heard in Chapter 2, when Brockhaus travelled to Hawaii in 1977 to meet with Rick Naish and sign him up with Mistral, Brockhaus saw what was happening in the islands and immediately embraced strap boards and all things high wind. At Mistral, Prade convinced Brockhaus‘s partners Bader and Fritz-

for Mistral, would have exploded and left the other competitors no air to breathe. The delay of 2-3 years with the first two Naish boards harmed Naish as a designer and Mistral. Suddenly not only did F2 have a funboard quiver on the market in 1980, but brands such as Klepper, Sailboard, Tiga and Bic had more modern designs than Mistral. Prade is solely responsible for this because he had no counterpart to challenge him after my departure and didn‘t allow the Naish design department to fully develop. When different Naish designs appeared in the ‘80s, they were always a response to successful competition. But Mistral was never the driving part in this phase.’ Who knows what may have happened had Mistral seized on the Hawaiian possibilities earlier? Maybe the personality differences would have still created problems if Brockhaus had stayed.

F2 - NEW BRAND, NEW RACE FORMAT When Brockhaus founded F2 in 1979/80, he needed a mechanism to promote the funboard concept and what better way than by creating a race format to suit. ‘From this moment, the amateur racers stayed at home. When I finally had the idea to make the European Funboard Cup in 1981, the new Open Class started to die. From the beginning, we needed to create a good set of rules. I invited Sigi Pertramer, a well-known figure in the Open Class, to discuss and record it with me.

We created a wind limit of 15 knots at the starting line and no longer than 3 mins under 12 knots during the race. We defined three different competitions. Course Racing: around a triangle with gybes on the beam and broad reaches. Slalom: preferably in waves following a figure of 8 around two buoys. Wave contest: two competitors for 5 minutes. A jury judged them.

Above: besides all his other activities Brockhaus invented and established the Euro-Funbord Cup in 1981, which later developed into the World Cup. The photo above shows him stealing the windward mark in protest against the Italian race committee at Porto Pollo (Sardinia/Italy) wanting to start the race in wind conditions below the minimum windspeed of 15 knots .

‘MISTRAL WAS NEVER THE DRIVING PART IN THIS PHASE...’ meier to stick with the Mistral Competition and longboards.

On this topic, Brockhaus does not hold back. ‘It will be a difficult task interviewing Prade on this topic because he has his own success story, which he has been spreading for decades. What if Mistral had seized the opportunity when I initiated Rick Naish‘s involvement in 1977? Mistral could have benefited from the knowhow of the Hawaiians five years before anyone else, not only in board design but also in sails, with the rig parts and the accessories and so on. Then I would never have left Mistral to build F2 funboards, and Pat Love would have found his role under Rick‘s wing.

The Pat Love sail brand could also have shaken up the windsurfing market under Mistral from 1978 onwards. If Rick and Robby had been commissioned in 1979 to design a collection of boards

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This was the framework of rules. Simple and easy to understand. It proved challenging to have race committees embrace the format. In 1981, I organised five events in Italy and Germany with the help of local windsurfing instructors. We did not need the infrastructure of sailing clubs anymore since it was run off a beach. I brought big orange buoys (see photo left) and a sensationally loud starting gun and gave it to the race committees.

Meanwhile, we had a group of maybe 60 professional European sailors using custom-made race board equipment sponsored by leading brand marks. These people knew each other from Open Class racing already. The Euro Funboard Cup and later the World Cup enabled them a permanent, valued position in their companies, and a few made lots of extra money with outside sponsors.’

FROM SAILING TO SURF CULTURE In Hawaii in the same year, developments were headed to the next level through the likes of Mike Waltz and others through their vision to ride super low volume sinkers, thereby developing a distinctly different form of the sport, away from sailing culture.

But perhaps it is, in fact, Aussie Mark Paul, who we should thank for the idea of riding super short boards, who rode a 1.83m (6‘ x 30“) thick ‚hump‘ board with a broad tail. We have heard in Chapter 3 Larry Stanley describe how he and the Kailua crew first saw surf board gybing downwind. Here is another account from Mike Waltz of his experiences. Waltz looked

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The first Euro-Funboard Cup initiated by Peter Brockhaus took place in Porto Pollo / Sardinia / Italy in June 1981.

From left to right: Helmut Kirner ( G 11 - behind the sail), Charly Messmer (Z1), Björn Schrader (G 283).

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By 1982 Mistral had an ageing One-Design board in two constructions, two outdated so-called funboards (Kailua and Naish) and one so-called wave board - Take-Off - and the ultra-focused M1, which was commercially a non-starter

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in his stash of surfboards and found a 2.54m (8’4” x 3” x 20”) swallow-tail, which was transformed with the addition of foot straps and mast track on Diane Schweitzer’s lawn. The next day in just 15-18 knots of wind, Waltz rode the board; he was very light (c. 56 kg). Steve Wilkings famously captured the moment in Windsurf International Boardsailing Magazine Oct / Nov 1981.

‘The board was so small and light that it was like a feather under my feet. With every gust of wind, I could feel the acceleration, and there were no control problems; it was a dream come true for me because when I dropped into a wave, I was on a surfboard, carving tighter bottom turns and cutbacks, doing full rail to rail transitions and truly feeling that real surfing sensation.’ Not sailing but surfing. A cultural shift was coming.

The verdict from Waltz was a seminal moment. ‘Super-small non-floaters, I feel, are the best thing that has happened to the sport since the harness and foot straps . . . as far as wave riding, this is the beginning of a progression that will take boardsailing farther than anyone can imagine.’ It was the start of a new evolution closer to surfing. The only limitation with this new direction would be the industry’s need to keep a firm grasp on reality. The average weekend sailor, living away from trade winds and surf, often had a moderate amount of natural ability. Ultimately, in hindsight, they didn’t always keep boards ‘real’. Small boards of this genre largely remained the domain of custom-makers and as a result orders flooded in.

Top: Mike Waltze and Mark Paul (above left) might have been the inventors of short board sailing

Shortboard designs were shifting by the month in line with sailor demands. In 1981, Jürgen Honscheid debuted at the Pan Am Cup slalom riding a pin tail board, which triggered further design ideas. Wide tail boards were not good in higher winds and waves, and fat rails could not be depressed easily to execute fast, tight turns. Jürgen rode a pin tail board at the 1981 World Speed

Above: double page of the book ‘The Best Windsurfers of the World’ showing Mike Waltze in the final heat of the first Maui Grand Prix (1981) in Hookipa. Mike came first in front of Robby Naish and his victory caused everyone to switch to the tiny boards successfully used for the first time in a major contest. After the first craze most sailors returned to slightly bigger boards but the trend was set for the future development of wave boards.

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Trials in Weymouth. Its handling was far superior to broad-tail boards. Pin-tails and rounded pins were here to stay. A new style of riding boards was developing in line with board designs.

Riders were now steering boards using their feet, transitioning weight between the rails, similar to surfing or skiing. It was a revelation that would now spread amongst the wider population, and there would be a need for production board designs, rigs, sails and accessories to cater for this new style of riding.

‘THE EURO-FUNBOARD-CUP WAS CRITICAL TO THE EVOLUTION IN EUROPE’

THE THREAT TO MISTRAL’S MOMENTUM Incredibly, in 1981, an estimated 8,000 windsurfers built custom boards in Germany alone, and companies like Windsurfing Hawaii were meeting their needs. Soon Larry Stanley‘s and other’s innovations found their way overseas; the Hawaiians stuck on their rock in the Pacific, fully understood what was going on in Europe. Seemingly, Mistral did not.

Below: Robby Naish on one of his custom boards in 1981. A similar shape was later to be released as the Mistral “Take Off ”.

Optimistic new Mistral owners Aida, in October 1981, had inherited a limited Mistral board line. In 1981-82 it had barely moved on. It included the Mistral Competition (Polyethylene), Competition Light (Epoxy), Kailua (Polyethylene), Naish (Epoxy), Take Off (Polycoren) and the M1. The most up-to-date and exciting part of Mistral’s inventory was, in fact, their accessories, apparel, bags and footwear. By 1982 they had an ageing One-Design board in two constructions, two outdated so-called funboards (Kailua and Naish) and one so-called wave board (Take-Off ) and the ultra-focused M1, which was commercially a non-starter.

With heavy investment from Aida, between 1982 and 1983, five new boards and three updates were made. This was a pivotal moment for the brand. Boards Magazine in 1983 stated, ‘Mistral Goes Radical. Since last autumn, Mistral appears to have been bringing out a board a week. The three final additions in the range are all for fun. The Tarifa is a 3.52 m pintail winger (Polycoren ABS), setting it well apart from the more moderate Maui; the Diamond Head is a 2.95 m epoxy marginal; and the Hookipa is a 2.65 m epoxy sinker. All three have predictably been developed in Hawaii by Rick and Robby Naish, completing the massive 10-model Mistral range, eight of which are new for ‘83.’ This was finally the beginning of Mistral’s evolution; a vision Brockhaus had wanted some years prior. But it came at a cost to the bottom line. When Adia’•s financial results were released, the financial press reported, ‘Mistral did not live up to expectations in 1982 and 1983, though it has since had a major restructuring’.

Mistral had spent a King’s ransom to drag itself back into contention, and it was clear 1982 was a hectic time of investment, with Mistral gearing itself up for the future. You can only speculate; Mistral may have folded at this time had not Adia invested or been open to joining the funboard trend fully in 1984.

For 1984, the range included the Pan Am, Bermuda, Superlight, Maui, Malibu, Garda, Tarifa, Diamond Head, and Hookipa. The irony was that the range was set up to compete against the former designer and shaper for Mistral, Hansi Fitchner, who was now with F2 and Brockhaus producing highly competitive funboards.

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Above: Robby Naish around 1983 on a Mistral Hookipa

‘IN 1981 AN ESTIMATED 8,000 CUSTOM BOARDS WERE BUILT IN GERMANY ALONE...’

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MISTRAL’S CULTURE OF CONSTRUCTION VARIANTS In 1987, Mistral released their Ultra Durable System [UDS] construction with what was, for them, a low-cost, budget board. UDS was a composite development using new resins claimed to make it faster to manufacture, more resistant to impact and almost as stiff as the previous TCS model. It felt Mistral had out-priced themselves in the market, which was one way of recovering.

Typically, Mistral, even way into the 1990s, developed a habit of releasing the same board in different constructions, with ‘tweaks’ creating a mind-boggling plethora of choices to suit different budgets. It seemed to amount to a compulsive obsessive agenda to exploit every lamination schedule possible in the battle to dominate the market as technological leaders. If you did not know better, you might have thought Mistral was run by ‘geeks’ in lab coats on the one hand in Europe, while somewhere in the Pacific, laid-back islanders were churning out custom design lines. Some believed Mistral was more obsessed with fabrication, composites, graphics and gadgetry than with board design.

Within Mistral, you have a different vision between Prade and Brockhaus, arguably causing the formation of F2. Finally, you have an increasing willingness for Mistral to pursue their technological top-dog identity in creating multiple versions of the same board made in different materials.

If we are talking about cultural changes in that decade, a small product appeared for the first time when 1983 turned to 1984: the original Apple Macintosh personal computer went on sale.

We all know where that eventually led regarding changing attitudes and behaviour.

Confusingly re-modelled boards would often retain the same names but be changed radically. Boards such as the Mistral Competition would take on different guises such as the Competition Light, Superlight and Bermuda, and when the SST construction was released, the SST Competition was a completely different design and nothing like the original, but the name was nevertheless used. From a consumer viewpoint, this wasn‘t very clear.

To illustrate the plethora of construction types and acronyms there was: the Steel Stringer Technology [SST], Expanded Polystyrene [EPS], Acrylic Styrene Acrylonitrile [ASA] and a Light Compound System [LCS]. Mistral’s cultural shift was to try to be leaders in the board technology race but ultimately as the 1980s led into the 1990s with falling sales it proved to be unsuccessful.

For a time, Mistral were undoubtedly leaders in technology; other brands would emulate and most notably F2 soon established good epoxy construction of a similar standard.

Above: the ‘original’ Mistral Malibu was a successful 353 cm board of the newer generation with sliding mast-track, fully retractable daggerboard and footstraps in about 1984

FINAL COMMENTS Some fundamental changes and cultural shifts in this period are from a sport more or less aligned to sailing, to one related partly to surfing. A move from Open Division II race boards suited to lakes to those foot strapped for rougher waters and higher winds. There was also a shift where manufacturers spent their development money and wanted their riders to compete; the Euro Funboard cup was critical to this evolution in Europe.

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CHAPTER 12

HANSI FICHTNER SHAPERS AND THEIR INFLUENCE

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odest, unsung heroes abound in life, and none more so it seems than Hansi Fichtner and his contributions to Mistral, to Ernstfried Prade and Charly Messmer, to F2 and later in 1985, a collaboration with Michael Pucher on his world record-breaking speed board. This is the esteem in which he was held in during the early 1980s: ‘Three wins in a row; everyone’s talking about Hansi Fichtner. At the World Cup funboard event in La Torche, F2 arrived with a batch of new race boards. They promptly finished first and second and continued to prove their consistency with wins in the next two big events in Sardinia and Sylt. Hansi Fichtner designed, shaped and made them.’ (Boards Magazine, 1983).

Above: Hansi Fichtner in his workshop at Lake Garda, Italy

Here is what Charly Messmer said about Hansi when I interviewed him. ‘He was a very gentle Bavarian type person. He liked food and drink and loved what he was doing with a passion. He was good to be around and stay with; I think Ernstfried Prade found Hansi and began working with him. Hansi very precisely shaped boards, and he was learning as he went along, as many were.

Prototypes would be made, shaped and laminated at our workshop, and I would test them. It’s possible we were amongst the first to be making styrofoam boards laminated in epoxy. This was essential to reduce the weight of prototypes used for competition.’

THE MISTRAL COMPETITION This chapter exists because of Hansi Fichtner’s early work with Mistral and Prade. In the winter of 1977, he would become Prade’s right-hand man because of his practical skills. Fichtner, a quiet man, has long been overlooked as one of the men behind the Mistral Competition’s design process, which would become Mistral’s best-selling board, helping the brand’s elevation to credible status. He received no royalties, but it would, in time, make Prade a wealthy man. A 1983 edition of Cruising World would describe Fichtner as, ‘...one of the most recognised European board builders and shapers with the experimental workshop of the avant-garde Mistral firm.’ How does a man like Fichtner get overlooked by Prade recounting his story with respect to the creation of the Competition board and indeed other designs is a mystery,

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‘HANSI FICHTNER’S PLACE IN WINDSURFING’S DEVELOPMENT MUST BE RECOGNISED WITH POSTHUMOUS SINCERITY AND THANKS’

Above: photos from Hansi Fichtner’s book ‘Sailboards - Custom Made’ , published in 1982

Above: Hansi would spend time in the Naish workshop in Kailua, working alongside the Naish team. Here he is with a pre-production version of the Take Off.

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when Fichtner was receiving external accolades, recognition and titles such as these? It could be why he left Mistral early on in its evolution, disillusioned by internal egos and politics: I could not interview him since he is no longer with us.

The Mistral Competition was a pumped-up, wider, more voluminous version of the Windsurfer® with refinements. The daggerboard system and mast foot were improvements, as was the rig for which Prade can take credit. He had previously patented and sold these improved designs to Mistral, implemented on the first Mistral board, the Superwind. When interviewed by Germany’s Surf Magazine 2020, Prade was asked, ‘Did your second board design, the Mistral Competition with more volume, provide the desired success?’ Prade responds. ‘We recognised the problem early on and put a tremendous amount of work into creating the legendary Competition in a very short time. Over the winter, I rented an empty restaurant room on Lake Starnberg, and I shaped the Competition prototypes there, which then became a hit.’ At the very least, this should read, ‘Hansi Fichtner and I shaped the Mistral Competition’; why the apparent omission? I think it surprised Prade when I asked about Hansi. From that moment on, he was somewhat more forthcoming with praise and acknowlegement; to a point.

When Prade was asked about Hansi, he replied, ‘Well, the point is, when I rented the facility, I was looking for a guy to help me. Hansi was a young car mechanic, and I heard he was looking for work, so I went to his place and hired him. I told Heinz Bader, “I need some additional monthly money as I need a guy to help me.” Prade states, ‘Then I got a drawing of how to make an electric saw. So, I bought a saw, modified it, and used it to cut out the template shape of the board. Both of us learned from scratch how to make a surfboard as neither of us had done so before; we even made the electric saw together.’

THE CRAFTSMAN Accordingly, we have two guys learning the craft of shaping and learning from experience. On the one hand, Hansi was highly practical and would become highly regarded and recognised as an industry shaper, laminator and designer. Fichtner, I am sure, would have been grateful for this career start-up with Mistral and, no doubt, to Prade for his invitation to continue contributing to other boards. It’s clear his contribution in these early years was significant, yet his efforts and notable skills have been played down, evidenced by what you can find in the public domain.

Fichtner was a practical man, mechanically minded and methodical. Prade was a theoretical man, not a practical one, so it stands to reason he needed not just an assistant but someone skilled and precise in fabricating and using tools. As a mechanic, Fichtner no doubt built the electric saw from drawings; by all accounts, Fichtner shaped and laminated this board. All of my interviews testify to Fichtner being the principal shaper and co-designer of Mistral prototypes from the moment he began working with Prade.

During this time and with the success of the Mistral Competition, Mistral rented an apartment on Lake Garda, where they transported the tools and materials from the former workshop. This was to be the Fichtner/Prade base for several years and would become a significant European design studio for a time and a pri-

mary test centre. Fichtner would work with the likes of Charly and Rolf Messmer, where they lived and worked on Lake Garda.

Fichtner would go on to co-write a book published in 1982, ‘Sailboards - Custom Made’ and was famously known for his design ideas, construction and laminating techniques.

One of the earliest creations of the workshop came about when Prade made a drawing for a new race board which would become the M1. Using a basic paper outline from Prade, this was placed over a foam block, and the basic shape was hand-cut by a saw by Fichtner, from which he set about hand-shaping with input from Charly Messmer and Prade. Fichtner went on to laminate it, ‘...all of this was Hansi’s work, he made a perfect board. The board was quite fast, but Brockhaus did not like it as it was not a surfboard-like shape,’ recounts Prade.

Prade continues, ‘Hansi was shaping, laminating, putting mast feet and foot straps into boards. I always took him with me to races to fix boards. Over the years, he became a genius.

A few years ago, we were in contact, and he came to help with some work on my roof and then suddenly, two or three months later, he was killed in a car accident. It was close to my house. His wife was with him. He had pulled out into a road, and they were hit side on. It was terrible. He was such a nice guy and had worked with me since the beginning of 1976 into the early ‘80s.’ When Brockhaus departed Mistral in 1980, Fichtner would go on to work with him at F2.

It’s not that Prade won’t talk about Fichtner’s input once you address the subject, but it seems incorrect not to acknowledge his part in the team collaboration openly. Arguably, he was his righthand man, without which Prade’s ideas would have struggled to have been realised.

‘Would you describe yourself as a shaper, an artist or a handyman?’

Hansi was asked in 1983. ‘I would say 75% of it is handyman work.

It’s the same question for someone who makes beautiful furniture.’

In English, we would use the term ‘craftsman’, which more accurately describes practical, creative skills learned over many years.

The importance, therefore, of Fichtner’s input is supported by the praise of Brockhaus, Messmer, Randy Naish, Prade and many others, who acknowledge his amiable talents. This was a man who went on to work in relative isolation on Lake Garda for Mistral and later for others. Historically, Fichtner had contributed to early Mistral and other brands’ designs through the ‘80s; of this, there is no question, and therefore, his place in windsurfing’s development must be recognised with posthumous sincerity and thanks.

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HAROLD IGGY

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t’s important to recognise another influence on Mistral and Naish boards, better known in Hawaii than in Europe; Harold ‘Iggy’ Ige. He worked side-by-side with Rick, Robby and Randy Naish for thirty years. Unfortunately, he too passed away in 2012 and here we celebrate his contribution.

We cannot pinpoint Harold’s influence on a particular Mistral board since his artisan’s hands no doubt touched all boards within the Naish / Mistral workshop from the moment he joined the team in Kailua. ‘Harold was one of the purest, most humble, fittest, and seemingly healthiest men of any age I have ever known,’ said Robby Naish.

‘HIS EYE, HIS HAND, HIS FEELING FOR CURVES AND HIS MAGICAL ABILITY TO TURN A BLOCK OF FOAM INTO A FUNCTIONAL WORK OF ART WERE LEGENDARY’ Robby Naish

For those lucky enough to have known him, ‘Iggy’ was unique and inspiring. He loved shaping boards with all his heart and did so his entire life, making and riding boards of every shape and size with total commitment and passion. Harold shaped by curiosity, intuitiveness, and a desire to improve and discover. He crafted and rode them all, whether shortboard, longboard, windsurfing wave or race board, paddleboard, standup shortboard, or eighteen-footer. He was a master shaper in every sense of the word and a true waterman. His eye, his hands, his feeling for curves and what they ultimately created when they came together revealed a magical ability to turn a block of foam into a functional work of art.

His skill and dedication aside, he was one of the nicest human beings. He had so much to teach and share and many amazing stories. Soft-spoken with a wealth of knowledge, he never had a bad word to say about anyone or anything. If there is a heaven, you can be sure Harold was welcomed like few men before him. His legacy can be revered within Mistral and Naish production boards worldwide, together with the hundreds of custom surfboards, no doubt still in the garages and rafters of Hawaiian homes.

A CHANCE MEETING WITH HAROLD IGGY

At Harold’s surf shop, one of the sales girls went to Roosevelt High School, where Rick Naish taught photography and science.

One day Rick came into Harold’s shop to buy some fins, and he and Harold got acquainted. ‘Rick was also a shaper and had a shop in Kailua,’ explains Harold. ‘He was making windsurf boards. He was so busy and asked me if I wanted to work for him.’ The first windsurf boards Harold shaped were course-racing boards. It was a new sport, and many areas were open for experiment. It was an exciting time. In the windsurfing world, everyone knew everyone. Harold picked up windsurfing, getting involved in the sport as a rider. Board design was progressing daily. Robby was riding for Mistral, who had a line of Naish boards made by Rick and Harold. ‘Both Rick and I designed custom windsurf boards for Mistral for 30 years,’ says Harold. ‘We were shaping all the prototypes and Naish custom boards, and Robby would ride them.’

(Stand Up Journal Jan 2012)

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Harold Iggy was a legend. He was the friendliest guy you could ever meet.

He shaped the boards for Mistral and Robby Naish for over 30 years.

Harold died in 2012 of a heart attack at the age of 70 while testing SUP boards with Robby‘s brother Randy.

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CHAPTER 13

PETER CHILVERS A CHILD’S INVENTION SHATTERS THE PATENT

I

n April 1982 a landmark court case in England found that Peter Chilvers had previously publicly used the claimed sailboard invention; proof of ‘Prior Art’ in legal terms. The Windsurfing International lawyers refused point blank to believe it, thinking it was a fairy tale made up account. Here are the details of the story, who he was as a person, what happened next and how, whilst he did not claim to commercially develop the idea, it did result in the collapse of the patent, reinforced by other later legal victories in Canada and Germany. It was the first brick to fall in a crumbling wall which is why it is a significant event.

Up until this point the American Newman Darby had always been thrust forward as the best example of Prior Art, but lack of a boom and the manner in which it was sailed, worked against it being accepted in courts. No one is going to dispute the joy and euphoria Windsurfing International delivered with respect to commercializing and spreading the sport in the early days. But this was a product. Expansion was not a gift to the world, it was commercial and the companies were aggressive in protecting what they thought were their rights in some countries.

Above: Peter Chilvers in 1982

For those that wanted to develop the sport beyond the ‘first of type solution’ of the Windsurfer® they were always at risk of litigation on account of the patent that was in place and particularly in Germany, where many of the leading innovators and manufacturers resided in those early days. Even successful manufacturers in France, where a patent was not registered, were at risk if they exported to countries with a patent.

THE STORY It all started for Peter Chilvers on the small English South coast island of Hayling which was well known for sailing and now also as a windsurfing, kiteboarding and wingfoiling venue. In 1958, when he was just 12 his curiosity and mechanically minded personality was taking shape: he later became a successful engineer for the Lotus Cars company well known for light weight sports and racing cars.

His first playful constructions of a different sailing craft from the norm involved using pieces of 3 mm plywood, the outer sheet

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of a tent, some curtain rings and a pole from a shop blind. His craft was 2.44m x 0.75m (8ft x 2ft 6 inches) and being only 15-20 cm thick it was in fact a crude hollow board with ribbing inside like an ancient aeroplane wing. It had a free sail system and two booms tied together either side of the sail. As a budding engineer, Peter had constructed it over the winter of 1958 and transported it to Hayling Island on his father’s car roof rack where he used it almost every weekend throughout that summer as did a number of his friends.

His narrow board-like shape could not support a normal sailing rig; a mast supported by rigging wires, simply because the whole thing would have gone into an immediate capsize. However, he had seen dinghy sailors at the local Hayling Island Sailing Club located at Sandy Point, who would stand on the side of their boats and with a trapeze wire. He advanced his idea further.

‘I thought, why not stand on the board’s gunwale [side] and hang onto the boom instead of being held by a trapeze wire. I remember thinking, it would make sense to stand on the board. I had a Bermudan rig system.

I realised I would need two booms because it would be necessary for [holding] both sides of the rig. I also realised I needed a mast foot to connect to, because I did not have a kicking strap [boom vang] to tension the clew downwards. It was a free-sail system being as there was no way the board …would support a fixed rig without a sailor. My board [also] used a daggerboard though originally, I attached a rudder at the back which was operated by my foot.’ He sailed it on the sheltered creeks at the back of the island.

Later in life, when Peter was in his engineering job, he decided to revisit the idea and began constructing fibreglass versions. When his business idea began to take off, Hoyle Schweitzer got wind of it and during the London Boat Show which Peter was attending in 1980, ‘I was approached by an American and his team of lawyers claiming I was in infringement of the patent of the Windsurfer®.’ Peter was then faced with crippling legal action.

Above: cover page of Surf News (UK) of May 1982

‘THE COURT RULED WINDSURFING INTERNATIONAL’S SAILBOARD DESIGN WAS NOT IN FACT ORIGINAL AND THAT PETER HAD BEATEN THEM TO IT BY ABOUT 10 YEARS’

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Because Schweitzer had the patent, I believed nothing could be done until I heard about ‘Prior Art’. If this could be substantiated, it turned out the patent could be revoked. A few days later, Tabur Marine’s solicitor contacted me [manufacturer of the Dufour Wing]. Coincidentally, Bic had just bought the company and were entering into manufacturing in France and they too were in the same position. Peter agreed to be Bic’s witness and Bic would take care of the legal costs and representation.

THE COURT CASE When in April 1982, it came to court in England, the representative acting for the American Company (Windsurfing International) said the ‘idea’ for such a wind-propelled vehicle was first dreamed up in 1968 by two Americans, Henry Hoyle Schweitzer and Jim Drake of California. It was an ‘original’ idea and as revolutionary as the concept of the bicycle. He submitted, Tabur Ma-

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rine had infringed the American’s patent by importing sailboards made by Dufour France, distributing them in the United Kingdom. No patent existed in France.

The Americans defence was simple, Peter Chilver’s, was lying when he said he claimed to have invented windsurfing on Hayling Island in 1958 and a team of investigators were sent to England to prove it didn’t happen. Peter recounts, ‘The best evidence that they could come up with, was to bring to court and elderly lady who lived on the water nearby where I had lived, to claim at no time did she see a young man by the name of Peter Chilvers sailing past her. When in court she was asked if she knew what a windsurfer was and was shown a photograph, she said, “Oh that’s a windsurfer, yes of course that’s young Peter from down the way, he used to sail past on one regularly.” And that was their star witness.’

The judge, Mr Justice Whitford, concluded the essential elements of the patent design; a free moving mast and a pair of booms, had clearly been invented earlier by Peter Chilvers and that it had been plainly established in the evidence. Chilvers’ board constituted ‘Prior Public Use’ of the sailboard idea, despite the fact that at that time, it created little interest or commercial development.

He ruled Windsurfing International’s sailboard design, was not in fact original and that Peter had beaten them to it by about 10 years.

Below: it was a momentous occasion when the court ruling found in favour of Peter Chilvers’ design as a first of type concept. Newman Darby’s board had been the test case up until this point, a replica of which, West sailed for the same court case, filmed and submitted for additional gravitas.

Peter Chilvers seated alongside wife Linda, author Steve West, 2nd from left.

The Judge dismissed the American firm’s action with costs and allowed Tabur Marine’s counter-claim that Windsurfing International’s patent in England should be revoked, being as it was invalid. The solicitor acting for Windsurfing International said the firm, which had 26 similar actions in England alone, would appeal against the decision.

Peter commented, ‘The development of the sport should now continue unhindered, there will be freedom of choice and new ideas can flourish. Committed license experts say that quality will suffer as a result. My argument is that good manufacturers, progressive and properly organised, will always succeed with or without a license and makers will not be targeted.’

Through Bic’s backing, Peter won the case, Schweitzer then took his fight to Canada to say that while Peter’s invention may have existed it certainly could not work properly. Enter Simon Bornhoft, a windsurfing educationalist and author in the UK. ‘I was a young lad working in a windsurfing shop on the River Thames in London. Hoyle Schweitzer and his lawyers turned up with a replica of Peter’s board. They put me on the board and by the time I sailed to other side and come back across, half the lawyers had packed up and left. They could see it was a working model and had no way to prove otherwise.’

Subsequently, the impact and significance of this patent case in the UK, was to find it’s way into the UK Government ‘Manual of Patent Practice’. It became known as the ‘Windsurfing Approach’ in resolving issues of Prior Art but would then morph into what is now called ‘The Windsurfing / Pozzoli Approach’. It is available for all to see online.

As a footnote, Chilvers founded a sailing and windsurfing centre in London’s East End as a philanthropic venture to promote these sports amongst underprivileged children in the 1970s, which he maintained for over 25 years. I think this says a great deal about the man. Sadly, Peter Chilvers died in 2015 from lung cancer.

Above: the Chilvers board has long been over-shadowed by the Darby board on account of being released as a commercial venture and very probably because of its American roots. The Chilvers board by comparison, was under the radar then and even now, but as a concept, there’s no denying it’s functionality or authenticity.

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CHAPTER 14

THE US-MARKET 1987

A NEW FRONTIER

A

fter the peak of windsurfing sales in Europe during the mid-1980s and following the patent’s expiration in January 1987, the United States became a market of ever greater importance for European brands. European sales were in decline, and it seemed at first glance the American market was ripe for the picking. Information collected from trade publications, magazine interviews and data from a New York Times article substantiates what was happening to the sport, allegedly invented in the United States, on the brink of a European brand invasion.

BACKGROUND

Above: Diamond Head lookout was the windsurfer’s meeting place in Hawaii in the 1980s

At the 1979 Marine Trades Exhibition (USA) two sailboard companies were represented. In 1980 the number had grown to 30 and most were infringing Windsurfing International’s patent. Meanwhile, there were over 100 sailboard companies outside of the USA and about 40 located in France.

In May, 1983 patent-talk was everywhere and at the centre was Hoyle Schweitzer. Parts of his interview in Boards Magazine are used here to illustrate the divisions in the windsurfing industry at the time between one American’s perspective (Hoyle Schweitzer) and a European view. Early in the exchange Schweitzer answered he was not responsible for the ‘development or non-development’ of the sport in the United States and then some tense moments followed. As the reader you can draw your own conclusions of what represents reality about the development of the sport.

There is a feeling you have been looking after your commercial interests while others have devoted themselves to the development of the sport.

Left: ‘Sustenance’ art by Pete Cabrinha

‘This is a very strange interpretation as I feel exactly the opposite: In the United States we are non-commercial, whereas in Europe over-commercialisation has been a major problem . . .’

Why did you get patents in so few countries [USA, Canada, Japan, and Britain]?

‘That was a mistake.’

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Above: the Diamond Head Lookout remains a famous vantage point on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Love the Anglo-Hawaiian vibe of the VW Beetle and the not uncommon reality the sum total of what’s strapped to the roof was, no doubt, worth more than the car. Two-piece masts were yet to appear.

‘EUROPEANS HAD BEEN DEVELOPING LIGHTER, STIFFER, FASTER BOARDS AND DETAILS’

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Talking about developments in construction and design, it would seem that other manufacturers have done a lot more than you?

‘You must understand that they [the overseas manufacturers] would not necessarily be successful in the United States because the market is so much more infantile [here].’

Why has development been so slow in the United States ‘The population of America still rates windsurfing with the hula-hoop or skateboards’ The patent issue had dominated the industry for years. Its existence had created one of the most contentious roadblocks to expansion. It had been the ruination of businesses and individuals who fought against it and for the many who paid royalty fees. But what came after the peak in Europe?

Mistral and others such as Bic Sport, France; (pen, shaver and cigarette lighter makers) and Fanatic, [a subsidiary of Schütz, a German chemical company], tried to become significant in America.

In 1983, Sailboard News reported, Windsurfer International’s share of the American market had fallen to just 6% in 1983. In relative terms it should have shut its business doors but remained viable on account of the royalties, upon which it was surviving.

It was now a windsurfing company dedicated to revenue from third-party sources and had little direct income from its products.

In August 1987, in the New York Times, Mistral’s CEO, said of Windsurfer International, whose patent had come to an end in January of that year, ‘You lose your edge if you have a protective

WHEN WAS THE MARKET’S HIGH TIDE? By the end of the 1980s, it was clear the market was slowing. Sales of boards had climbed from a claimed 30,000 worldwide in 1976, to 400,000 in 1982, before sliding to 325,000 in 1986, according to an industry trade journal, ‘Sailboard News’ (cited in New York Times). The worldwide zenith was probably in about 1984/5 and it was suggested that initial peak sales in the United States were 73,000 in 1983.

The only year my research has found potentially reliable data for is, 1986. Here is what we think was happening in each country.

• • • • •

Sales in France alone were at 65,000, composed mainly of Bic and Tiga. Mistral remained the top imported brand into France.

In West Germany, sales were 60,000, with Klepper as the leading local brand and Mistral, a distant fourth in market share.

Sales in Italy had levelled to around 35,000 units.

Holland had 45,000 units.

Switzerland 15,000 units.

What of Mistral sales in 1986? The data I uncovered revealed a total of 45,600 units worldwide with a turnover of $52 million. One way of making meaningful comparisons between nations it to look at participants per million people in different countries. Using this, we get the following comparisons. In France there were 45,500 per million, in West Germany there were 18,300 per million and in the US just 5,400 per million (Source: New York Times, August 1987).

The comparison between the European nation numbers and those in the US is stark. The sport had had minimal take up in the US. EUROPEANS ATTEMPT TO BREAK INTO THE U.S. European brands began their attempts in the American market around 1982, which put immediate stress upon existing American brands. Europeans had been developing lighter, stiffer, faster boards and details such as retractable daggerboards and improved rigs, which were becoming more advanced offerings than the Windsurfer®.

Above: American professional windsurfers Nancy Johnson, Jill Boyer, Rhonda Smith and Debbie Floreani at the Rip Curl Wave Classic, Torquay, Australia, 1983

shield from the forces of the market as Windsurfer International had by having the patent and being [or attempting to be] the exclusive producer in the United States.’ This statement suggests that market forces did not prevail in the development of windsurfing in America.

There was a sense of irony that the contemporary form of the sport had been conceived and successfully commercialised in California, yet, French, German and Swiss manufacturers had come to dominate in technological advances (though we must give credit to Windsurfing Hawaii for their pioneering work).

Ironically, inspiration as described elsewhere in this book, came from those US rocks in the Pacific, the Hawaiian Islands and the pioneers pushing the envelope. Mistral and F2 exploited this to their advantage with spectacular results. As far as the racing aspects of windsurfing were concerned, one cannot dismiss the sailing heritage of the Europeans who pioneered concepts such as the Open Class Division II boards such as the Mistral M1, the perfection of fully retractable racing daggerboards and of sail designs through the likes of the Dutch company, Gaastra with whom Mistral worked.

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There was also an unlikely assumption amongst some that Europe’s windsurfing popularity ahead of America’s was because there were more recreational options in the USA. ‘In the United States, there are a lot more options for recreation. Here it’s not hard to own a boat, but in Europe, owning a boat is limited to the very wealthy. The sailboard is the poor man’s yacht,’ said Mark Gabriel, editor of Sailboard News (cited in the New York Times).

For me, this does not compute: no young person was thinking, ‘I can’t afford a yacht, I’ll buy a windsurfer’. There were very much better and more valid reasons as to why the Europeans bought into the sport. In 1979, my father owned a 34’ (10m) yacht, yet I had no interest in being his crew aged 19; windsurfing was cool and very much more physical. The thrills and spills were way better, and there were more girls; I ended up marrying one.

O’Brien, a subsidiary of the Coleman Company (Kansas), whose focus was on camping equipment, was the leading American sailboard manufacturer by 1986. ‘Windsurfing skyrocketed in Europe and all that happened in five years or so, and when things finally started to slow down, the European companies started to look for new markets, and that meant the United States,’ said Paul Julien of O’Brien International.

Above: O’Brian magazine ad in the 1980s

In 1987, the United States began to emerge once again as the largest sailboard market in the world. This resurgence ironically came about after the patent had run out and Windsurfing International had closed its doors, and sales were declining in Europe and also in the USA. America was to now to benefit from European brands who had been evolving since as early as 1974, and not unexpectedly, these brands quickly gained dominance in the USA, capturing more than 60% of American sales during 1987, with Mistral being one of the leaders.

Mistral had mainly been Eurocentric with a hefty dose of ‘Tropicana’ added in, courtesy of a solid Hawaiian connection with the Naish’s. Naturally, the American market became increasingly important as sales slowed in Europe. European company profits had been eaten up in R&D, marketing, court cases, royalty fees and more. America seemed, for a time, a brave new frontier. Since the introduction of the sport into Europe and despite its vast popularity, few brands had been profitable.

There was a mad scramble for market dominance when the door opened to the US fully in January 1987. The fight for the American market between the European brands was mainly between Bic

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(France), Mistral AG (Switzerland) and Fanatic (West Germany).

They competed with established American maker, O’Brien International (Washington state) and several other smaller American companies.

Robert Grant, US marketing manager for Bic Sports, was quoted in the New York Times (1987) saying, ‘The United States have the most significant potential for growth’. Bic slashed its prices and offered gimmicks including a complimentary mountain bike and windsurfing lessons to buyers of Bic boards, to which Schweitzer could not resist stating, ’Bic is trying to buy its way into the market, and as is the case with all its products, it wants to make itself number 1 or 2 regardless of red ink’ [a loss in accounting terms].

ADVANCED EQUIPMENT AND DWINDLING NEWCOMERS Meanwhile in Europe storm clouds were gathering, as many who were first and third-year participants were not upgrading or appreciating the possibilities inherent in new, advanced equipment.

Tiga’s Chairman, Mr Dussossoy, expressed at this time, ‘What we’re seeing is a separation between the expert who is always buying the newest equipment and others who are satisfied with their old equipment. The industry has failed to sufficiently persuade non-experts of the importance of recent breakthroughs in design and materials.’ Thousands of die-hard converts were now forking out $1500 on high-end equipment, quivers of sails and boards and with it were breaking, and replacing equipment when pushing performance boundaries. The net result was a somewhat false reality of the sport’s health.

In the mid-80s, there was a parting of the ways of the market, divided between the beginners in dwindling numbers and the rise of the thrill-seeking experienced participants, which was not a good recipe for growth. Brands had been sucked into the vortex of the demands of their own product development and windsurfing magazine’s need for spectacular content and the possibilities of evermore advanced manoeuvres in the waves and high winds required by experienced riders (see Chapter 15 for more details).

Inevitably and irrevocably, the very nature of windsurfing was changing. Fewer were entering the sport due partly to a lack of attention given to newbies and a lack of investment into this end of the spectrum. While America was late to the party, they would inherit the problems now building in Europe. The sympathetic nurturing of the sport in Europe via instruction and lakeside provision was long since over. America would soon discover it would take more than simply offering products to grow the sport. You need to create interest and grassroots accessibility.

By the 1990s new summer sports such as mountain biking were providing alternatives in both the US and Europe. Indeed, society was changing, as were attention spans, technology, the economy, music and fashion. The youth of this time were very different from the generation that had pioneered the sport. Twenty years had passed, and many things had changed.

USA - WINDSURFING’ S NEW FRONTIER

‘INEVITABLY AND IRREVOCABLY, THE VERY NATURE OF WINDSURFING WAS CHANGING’

Left: while there was a large number of windsurf publications in the USA, the number of manufacturers remained low.

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Above: the 1979 Engadin Surf Marathon (Switzerland) showing the European boom in action. Robby Naish won this race against 300 competitors after his visit to Sardinia in 1979 (see Chapters 1 and 2); in 1981, it was won by Charly Messmer. Mistral dominated in Germany, Austria and Switzerland but this image also shows other brands – Alpha, HiFly, Sailboard, Tornado, Windsurfer, Windglider. The Engadinwind, as it is now called, is the longest running annual windsurfing competition in the world.

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CHAPTER 15

RAPID EVOLUTION Co-written by Steve West and Ben Oakley

WINDSURFING’S OVER-DEVELOPMENT BITES BACK

T

he story of windsurfing was crafted by magazine editors demanding intense imagery and stories, fed through the lenses of photo-hogs and eager type-writers. Aspirational pipe dream images would in part, fuel the recreational element to death.

Between 1968 and 1998, windsurfing’s popularity grew in an organic, analog manner, over 30 years via the windsurfing press.

When Google was founded in 1998 and YouTube in 2005 the digital age of marketing had arrived, expediting the sharing of information. It was a design, production and technology ‘arms race’ towards faster, lighter, stiffer and stronger performance equipment. The big question we try to unravel in this chapter, is when an equipment-based sport like windsurfing experiences a rapid evolution, how does this impact end-users; the buying public?

PADDLE BOARDING COMPARISON

Above: ‘...stand up paddleboarding is the singular fastest accelerated sport of our time.’

Mistral Vortex SUP race boards in Tahiti designed by Steve West, shaped by Chris ‘Bro’ Diplock.

In more recent times and by comparison, stand up paddle boarding (SUP) gained traction around 2005 and has been exclusively digitally driven in the absence of print-based magazines, except for a few latecomers. The consequences of a digitally disseminated sport has led to a ‘sound-byte’ generation of supposedly arm-chair experts. There are numerous participant experts and every other one after that, a coach or instructor with a van full of paddle boards at the ready to monetise their so called knowledge.

Because SUP was largely taken up by windsurfing companies; Naish, Fanatic, Mistral, Starboard and others, these brands adopted a highly conservative approach in avoiding too much evolution and technology on account of their past experiences. ‘...stand up paddleboarding is the singular fastest accelerated [water] sport of our time, largely because of the intervention of the windsurfing industry (and the internet) who need this to work for the sake of their own survival. If the sport is going to be goosemarched down the path of extremes, promoted and portrayed as a surf sport as a consequence of the media and magazines, led by editors controlling content and photo editors promoting imagery which serves to alienate the elderly, women or children’s involvement, then SUP will be a dead sport floating’ (West, Stand Up Paddle, A Paddler’s Guide, 2012).

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High end SUP race boards have been used for podium finishes for building brand awareness. Less than probably 1% of participants consider SUP a competitive sport, for everyone else it’s a recreation. Compare this with windsurfing, where early on, many considered the activity a sport and not a casual recreation with indifference to the equipment used. Most SUP users want conditions to be as static as possible, thereby detaching any intense connection with experiencing the elements and is an altogether different experience to windsurfing.

In previous chapters there have been hints as to how the rapid evolution of windsurfing played out with terms like ‘over-shooting the market’. Here we make sense of this and use the voices of windsurfers on the beach and industry insiders describing their experiences from England to the antipodean continent of Australia.

Belinda Wheaton, an English windsurfer and researcher, conducted a series of innovative interviews along England’s South Coast beaches in the mid-1990s, exploring what made up windsurfer’s sense of identity. From the Australian windsurfing sector, interviews conducted by Stuart Thomas and Jason Potts (both semi-lapsed windsurfers), published in 2016, touch on the all-consuming nature of the sport. Details of these published articles feature at the foot of the chapter.

WAS WINDSURFING’S 1970-85 PERIOD UNIQUE? To paraphrase one of Thomas and Potts interviewees in Australia, the mood of the sport is captured in that early period. Equipment was heavy and hard to use and had a broad wind range but comfortable in none of them. The early part of the sport’s growth was down to positive energy. Sponsors and media were involved and it seemed anyone you spoke to wanted to have a go and most of your mates were doing it. It was the thing you dropped everything for at the first sign of wind. It created a unified feeling of being part of a movement, which was a powerful thing to be a part of.

Above: windsurfing certainly was a ‘movement’ distinctly different from mainstream sailing or surfing. For many early pioneers it became part of their identity, moulding their personal image to reflect their point of difference. However, the island continent of Australia is vast, and densely populated areas are few and far between. Much like South Africa, your average antipodean is a coastal surfing species. Inland waterways are limited in these arid regions, and indeed, for most hairy-chested Aussie and South African ‘blokes’ during the ‘70s and ‘80s, being taught how to do a water sport was not cool; you taught yourself. You took your surfing knowledge, whether from being a surfer or from what you had learned through ‘nippers’ and Surf Lifesaving and applied it.

We agree, windsurfing certainly was a ‘movement’ and it felt like we were doing something distinctly different from mainstream sailing or surfing. For many early pioneers it became part of their identity, lifestyle, moulding their personal image to reflect their point of difference. Snowboarding was similarly different from conventional skiing; a mono-board iteration of the sport closely associated to surfing on frozen water, not liquid; no surprise then, many surfers (and windsurfers) had an affinity with the sport, gliding on snow using edges, sidecut designs and bindings. The comparison of windsurfing to sailing, is perhaps a remoter distinction; for a start we were standing not sitting and by default, an extension of the rig in holding the boom.

HOW COMMITTED WINDSURFERS TALK ABOUT THEIR SPORT Windsurfing is a technically challenging sport to learn, where discovery learning results in hours of frustration and high attrition rates, in comparison to say paddleboarding. To become proficient, considerable commitment in time and effort must be invested, where progression leads to investment of money.

English windsurfer Belinda Wheaton’s interview, used terms

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Right: Hugh England and Glen Beadles (Kailua, 1984) with their hurricane chasing and offshore downwind ‘guns’ signifying increased beach credibility and specialisation. The delineation between those who sailed longboards, such as the Windsurfer® and those who sailed custom in the waves was clear. They were an entirely different species for all intents and purposes. Look to Hawaii for the extremes of this, where sales of the Windsurfer® were to prove futile, leading to the machinations of change through Stanley, Horgan et al. Here, custom and wave riding was king. As if to mirror this cultural difference, for all the hoopla around SUP, the inflatable SUP concept in Australia and South Africa was a non-starter. When living in a water-based board sport culture, the mindset is hardwired to the hardboard; anything inflatable is a toy, not a concept to be embraced.

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like ‘hard core’ and ‘total respect’ familiar idiosyncratic language used by windsurfers (and many other board sport junkies) to describe a certain status, committed attitude and image.

She found amongst her interviewees, most had become ‘equipment junkies’; boards, rigs and other gear central to the sailors experience and identity which in turn connected them in belonging to a tribe, defined by similarity or differences with others. People charted their own windsurfing careers or histories in terms of their equipment.

‘I slowly got more into it. Then I got rid of the Alpha and got the Challenge Flex, and then Alice bought me the Ecstasy … after that the Screamer and AHD 282.’

The importance of the board’s symbolic value was most apparent in the creation of those who chose to go down the custom board route. Certain custom shapers and mainstream brands received greater status (Mistral was originally near the top of this pyramid) and some recognise what was cool:

Above: with the invention of the camber inducer (Jeff Magnan; Thomas Nishimura; Jeff Belvedere) sails became more efficient and powerful but as a side effect harder to rig making windsurfing less user friendly

‘People are very good at being able to sort of pick out what the “in” boards are.’

All those interviewed, identified a visiting windsurfer with the most up-to-date board, sail and wetsuit might turn heads on the beach, but ultimate prestige in the group was based on performance alone. Additionally, the location of windsurfing communities was important, relative to how people viewed equipment.

Those with a strong existing surf culture were less bothered about equipment.

mental spin-off is beyond any other sport they’d done. But, as we have heard, there is also a performance element when people started comparing their competence versus that of others. One intermediate level interviewee noted certain status milestones: ‘Status is how good you are, if you can do a water start, carve jibe, you have a certain status.’

This aspect of being part of a community and competing for attention meant that even on large beaches:

‘PEOPLE ASPIRED TO BE ROBBY NAISH. THEY DIDN’T WANT TO BE JOE BLOGS ON A HEAVY WINDSURFER WITH A CHEWED-UP SAIL...’

‘[In Cornwall] they get on and do it on whatever kit [equipment] they have. Kit is not at all important … you probably would have more status if you had a tatty wetsuit.’

She also discovered people displayed being part of a windsurfing community by what they wore.

‘At the beaches … windsurfers wore the same uniform; board shorts, T-shirts, sandals, sunglasses of the same shape and brand ..

Many wore jewellery, leather, string with stones, shells and beads around their neck or wrists.’

Windsurfers described their experience on both metaphysical and physical levels which can be paraphrased from one individual as being almost a spiritual thing, the feel good factor is so high from the buzz (they were hooked!). The physical and

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’People see it necessary to perform in one area, again vying for status, it happens where ever you go.’

A few things stand out from being an equipment junky; a sense of belonging and the performance aspect; as long as you have the right equipment and can perform windsurfing well, you feel like you belong and your identity enhanced. Taken a step further, you can speculate what may come about as a result of a mass global movement of windsurfers with similar attitudes. But how did the windsurfing sector view things?

A VIEW FROM THE AUSTRALIAN WINDSURFING SECTOR Australia’s Stuart Thomas and Jason Potts identified a group of twelve people who had worked in the sector from the 1970s to mid 2010s. The people were active as a manufacturer, importer, distributor, retailer or elite rider. They had some fascinating things to say. The interviews contributed to the author’s business case study with the provocative title of ‘How industry competition ruined windsurfing’. They divided their case study into three eras starting with ‘Industry inception and the early years; 1970-1980’.

This book has already covered this era in great detail, especially in Europe, more than has ever previously been attempted, but here is a sense of the retail boom on Australia’s east coast.

‘In its peak, through the early to mid ‘80s, you had specialist retail-

WINDSURFING’S OVER-DEVELOPMENT BITES BACK

ers as well as camping stores that were selling windsurfers, as were ski shops and boating centres. In Victoria, (there were) upwards of 50 different outlets retailing windsurfers. On the eastern seaboard alone, there were in excess of 100 shops, where I was working. … it wouldn’t be unusual to have 200 boards in stock wrapped up and on a busy weekend you might sell 80. We were like worker ants just running around unwrapping things and taking them out and tying them on people’s cars’ (Retailer) They described ‘The turning point between 1980 and 1985’, characterised by two development paths. BIC Sport, among some other European manufacturers, would continue to follow the populist route, with an emphasis on simple, low-cost equipment and primarily flat-water participation. Running parallell to this, as you have already heard, developments in Hawaii created change. They termed this the ‘Performance windsurfing movement’, which transformed the sport into a much more technical, performance-based, athletic sport. Here’s what was said in one interview:

booms.[…]even a moderately priced boom, is [$350]. I think in the boom time I personally had this van, [with] four or five boards [plus] … sails, booms. masts.’ (Retailer/former elite competitor).

THE DECLINE AND FALL ERA (1985-2000) Stuart Thomas and Jason Potts describe what happened next. In the early days of the sport the equipment was basic and, with commitment, most newcomers progressed.

‘The marketing no doubt was probably 75 or 80 per cent skewed towards the advanced sailor. People aspired to be Robby Naish.

They didn’t want to be Joe Blogs on a heavy windsurfer at a resort with a chewed-up sail. They wanted to be either shredding the waves at Diamond Head or winning a race in Europe’ (Retailer, Distributor).

Sail maker Neil Pryde, whose sails were used in setting high World Speed records said: ‘We went after the biggest name riders we could find because we absolutely wanted our brand to be associated with fantastic athletes, speed and performance’. (Neil Pryde, 2010) With this changed emphasis on a high-performance, faster, lighter, stiffer, stronger mantra, manufacturers competed to take steps forward, fueled by the appetites of aspirational end-users; ‘… manufacturers … were learning new processes. So, to buy a good lightweight epoxy race board […] even back then a handmade race board was in the vicinity of [c. US $ 2,000] just for the board […] then brands having a World Cup team with 10 people … so they had to provide them with the top end equipment. Of course, the trickledown effect, the consumer thought they wanted or needed that as well. I think that’s when consumers started to invest big dollars just to keep up with the Joneses (Distributor/ Retailer).

‘Very quickly, […] the emphasis really became about the top end performance of the equipment so it was really about high wind performance, high skill level […] driven by the professionals.The equipment became a lot more high performance which was great for the more advanced but all the companies […] put most of their efforts into technology changes that would benefit only the elite end of the sport. (Manufacturer/Distributor)

Above: Steve West moved to Australia in 1982 and initially worked for Les Purcell Surfboards on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Here he stands in the buffing room with one of several wave boards he designed.

‘Creating a board begins with creative visualisation and a sense of how you want the board to perform. It’s completely an extension of yourself. Then comes that moment when you ride it for the first time; it’s truly a thrill if you get it right!’

For equipment [as a top competitor] you’d be spending upwards of [c. US $ 8,000] a year just to stay at the pointy end. That’s before you even think about time on water which maybe means time away from work or family. The gear was driven hard by the manufacturers to make you think it was that much better than the years before so you had to have it. Also […] you’d break boards, break

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‘Windsurfing schools were established wherever there was suitable water and for many new users the pathway into the sport was via lessons. As their clients wanted equipment of their own, many of the windsurfing schools evolved into board retailers to capitalize.

As the equipment became more sophisticated and expensive, there was more money to be made (with less effort) by selling equipment than teaching people how to use it. The retailers began to neglect their school operations and many schools closed down. The (unexpected) consequence of this was to close off the pipeline of new entrants into the sport.’ (Importer/Distributor)

Along with far fewer newcomers the equipment was more technically demanding of people. Even aspirational enthusiasts began to lose interest and leave the sport.

‘Windsurfing […] to most people was getting together with your mates, blasting around having a good time. Then the marketing came that unless you’re in the waves, surfing big waves on highly refined wave gear, you weren’t cool. Then two things happened, people either felt they’re not cool so they won’t do it. Or they went and bought the highly refined gear and sank to the bottom, hated the sport and left’ (Importer/Distributor ‘B’) Worldwide in 1985, as the performance side of the sport did well, the recreational side crashed and several of the biggest mass producers went bankrupt in that year. One representative from a surviving manufacturer said that they are selling 10% of the units now (2016) compared to the 1980s peak, which is quite some decline. Also, the case study reports that on Australia’s East Coast the number of retail outlets for sailboards in the state of Victoria declined from approximately 120 in the 1980s, to 12 by 2000, and in 2014, there were three remaining retail outlets.’

WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN OTHER EQUIPMENT SPORTS?

Above: this image of Robby Naish, was a common photographic theme, portraying rusted-out vehicles, carrying state of the art windsurfing equipment, worth more than the vehicle itself. It reflected the value placed on windsurfing kit, above all other material possessions. That’s how we rolled!

Companies had forgotten about the grassroots entry level part of the sport. As windsurfing transformed into a performance-oriented sport rather than a pastime, magazines (and their trade advertisers) lost interest in promoting its low-key aspects. It was no longer about long boards and casual summer days and was instead envisioned as a high-wind, extreme-surf sport. Magazines no longer used dreamy sunsets and still waters. Front covers became big and bold and competed for the most outrageous wave images. It was better to pack your brochures with performance action if you wanted to sell the action dream to advanced sailors.

‘The extreme side of windsurfing actually scared off potential windsurfers. The industry wasn‘t focused on its potential audience.

The media image of windsurfing was too extreme.’ (Magazine publisher, from a separate 2015 Thomas and Potts article).

No one was thinking about […] the health of the sport because it was bomb proof, it was going through the roof. So in […] ‘83 or ‘84 the sport was probably nearing the apex. But no one was really talking about managing post the apex […]. So at that stage of the sport as a brand to survive you had to be new and innovative.’

(Importer/Distributor ‘A’)

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Other more mature sports than windsurfing have managed to keep a lid on technological developments that look like threatening their sport. For example, Olympic kayaks and canoes have limited length and minimum weight for each K1, K2 and K4, C1 and C2 categories. A self-governing process is essentially exercised. If you make it too narrow and capsize, then that’s beyond your limits of use.

Stand up paddle boarding, has struggled to find any coherent rules other than to attempt to avert designs leaning towards becoming ‘canoe-like’ in relation to their depth. Width has also been considered, but it too has become a self-governing limiter.

Ultimately, flat water race SUPs are canoe-like. At one of the first events ever held for SUP in California, the race officials turned to prone (lying down) paddle boarding for guidelines for rulings and came up with 12’6 and 14’ lengths (4.27 / 3.84m) to create two separate divisions.

One of the limiters which can be put in place with relative ease for any board sport, is the requirement for race boards to be ‘production’ models and produced in numbers to be available internationally; this may mean several hundred produced identically, which intermediate to advance riders could manage and even afford. Custom sizes and construction in particular was the norm for the Windsurfing World Cup for example, whereas the production variant was generally less radical and easier to ride. It became known as the International Funboard Class.

The other obvious option for conventional racing is the creation of one-design boards and rigs, which of course are used for Olympic sailing in all forms. This has had some back lash over the years in windsurfing as it creates brand dominance; for example, a brand being chosen for the Olympics immediately gets marketing kudos, until it is de-selected.

Imposing rules however does not work in a fervent, growing free-market where brands sponsor riders and want to win on

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Sunday, sell on Monday. Early on brand warfare within the 1970 and ‘80s windsurfing scene made it difficult to impose rules that reflected the evolution of designs, especially for high wind events and wave events, after all, short surf boards have no rules in surfing contests. It could also be we attribute too much gravitas to equipment evolution being the problem. Society has moved on greatly since the ‘70s and ‘80s; lives became busier, attention spans shrunk and each subsequent generation seems hell bent on instant gratification. SUP is not as cool as other board sports, but ease of entry speaks for itself. Windsurfing is and will always be challenging to learn, complicated, expensive and heavy equipment dependent and no amount of blaming the sports advancement changes this reality.

While windsurfing does not have an overall governing body for all branches of the sport, a view has emerged that regulating or standardising equipment, at least for competition is helpful. It sounds easy, but with five World Championships even by 1985, and many more since, including a range of disciplines, regulation has been limited and in addition, not many windsurfers compete. You need a well-established and credible governing body across a whole sport. Very much older sports such as tennis, swimming, athletics and cycling have had time to develop how they are governed and cycling controls bike dimensions and weight to prevent extreme designs being used.

The International Canoe Federation (ICF) then attempted to claim SUP as a paddle sport, and not unreasonably so and that it should ‘belong’ to them. Windsurfing is indeed a form of surfing using wind and or wind and wave power and could have argued a good case for alignment to surfing although it would not have obtained Olympic status.

The new Millennium board sports of kiteboarding, wing and wind foiling and SUP, arguably may not have existed without windsurfing and should learn from windsurfing’s colossal overshoot. There is hope for windsurfing though, not in bouncing back to its heady 1980s peak, but at least to become a sustainable long-term feature of watersports which might attract people to stay with the sport longer than before.

Above: the parking lot at a major event: an equipment junkie’s nirvana with fully prepared rigs for every contingency.

COULD ANYTHING HAVE PREVENTED WINDSURFING’S OVERSHOOTING? Windsurfing is about individual freedom, good times and at the start ‘being different’. The idea that some *organisation somewhere could clamp down and restrict development outside of competitive equipment rules is wishful thinking. Ultimately it needed to have come from within the framework of individual event or class rules rather than universal governance across the sport.

It’s relevant to observe, parts of windsurfing aligned itself with sailing national governing bodies and ultimately the World Sailing Federation, mainly to obtain early Olympic status. It did not choose to align with surfing which is a notable contrast to stand up paddleboarding (SUP), where the International Surfing Association (ISA) made an early claim in an unprecedented ‘grab for control’ in the absence of the sport having formed any national, let alone international governing body. The ISA identified it as a variant of surfing, even if its members were utterly against any association with SUP where the paddle was the primary means of propulsion.

* Perhaps if the top handful of manufactures had come together in the early 1980s, for example, BIC Sport, Mistral, F2, Windsurfer® and a few others could have collaborated in some way; competition, money and power and a patent made that impossible. Such collaboration did happen (without Windsurfer®) in 1983 with the creation of the professional World Cup by the WSMA (World Sailboard Manufacturers Association) which promoted their interests. It attracted a huge following of the performance side of the sport in the boom years.

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CHAPTER 16

CHOCOLATE AND MORE 1991 - 2003 FROM JACOBS TO BOARDS & MORE

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he average windsurfer may not care who the brand owners were or are, but looking at the challenges of the 1990s, reveals a lot during this decade of change. Windsurfing Hawaii, Naish and F2 all had their upheavals during this period, but for Mistral, as you will see, it was a bumpy ride. Adia had owned them since 1981, a mainly staffing and recruitment empire, and Mistral just a sideshow. Then in 1991, Klaus Jacobs, the former chocolate and coffee mogul, acquired a controlling stake in Adia and became Chairman. Adia was in financial strife due to the deepening recession during the early 90s and would have to approach their shareholders in 1993 for additional funding, the second time in a year. It was not long before Klaus Jacobs turned his attention to Mistral.

THE 1990s: A BUMPY RIDE

Above: Florian Brunner Mistral Manager from 1996 to 2000

Left: ‘Solo Maalaea’ art by Pete Cabrinha

With the impact of a recession, Mistral’s fall in sales from the 1980s continued. Part of their response was their diversification into snowboarding, with Charly Messmer managing this area. Eventually, in 1996, Jacobs sold Adia to French part-time employment giant ECCO (to form ADECCO), but Mistral was an unwelcome complication which did not fit, and it remained with Jacobs. Consequently, Jacobs was left with Mistral to manage.

Meanwhile, according to Bilanz (1999), Mistral lost SFr5 to 10 million yearly on SFr40 to 50 million in sales. Although Jacobs invested 20 million francs in bringing stability to the company, attempts to sell it raised offers amounting to no more than 2 million francs. ‘Mistral was in a state of disrepair when we got it out of Adia’ [in 1996], announced Jacobs. Incredibly there was talk in 1992 of Mistral merging with Adidas, but negotiations failed and with figures like this, no small wonder.

Inside the Mistral brochure for 1996, they had the largest ever range of boards in their history. There were astonishingly 19 different boards, incorporating 13 construction options. The problems for Mistral started to mount. It was later reported in the financial press Mistral was ‘. . . expected to lose SFr2.6 million for the year ending August 1996’. Things needed to change to help the brand survive.

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Jacobs later merged Mistral with North Sails Windsurfing, and Mistral staff were moved to Penzberg, the base of North Sails Windsurfing. More know-how was needed to run the board and sail business; Florian Brunner was acquired from competitor HiFly as the new general manager in 1996. Shortly after that, Christian Ewert joined in 1997 as Mistral’s CEO. In 1997, it became apparent that Udo Schütz, long-time owner and Fanatic manufacturer, was considering selling. That year, Florian Brunner and Christian Ewert were assigned by Jacobs to start negotiations with Schütz (Fanatic) - more on this later.

CHANGE OF FACTORY TO ASIA Jacobs turned his attention to where Mistral boards were made. Mistral boards were still manufactured in Germany by Fritzmeier, the original 1977 third equal partner in the company (1977-81). Jacobs recalled the Mistral Windsurfing licence from Fritzmeier and offered him to stay on as a pure manufacturer of boards. As we know, the manufacturing of Mistral boards has long been a headache for Fritzmeier, and he was no longer interested. His main business as a parts manufacturer for BMW and the agricultural industry had developed exceptionally well. It was still expanding – therefore, he was happy to get rid of Mistral. To create an exit route, Fritzmeier had to work with Hamidon Industries in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) to take over the manufacturing of the boards; they subsequently founded EFK Composite Technology.

Hamidon’s commitment was impressive, and they built a new factory to potentially produce for other brands.

Above: Mistral Brochure, 1998

‘WINDSURFING SCHOOLS WERE CLOSING, ENTRY-LEVEL EQUIPMENT WAS SPARSE, AND THE FOCUS WAS ALL TOO EXPERT, HIGH-END’

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This is where a certain Dr Kurt Svrcula (not a spelling mistake) comes into the picture as a representative of Hamidon Industries. As a German speaker, Dr Kurt, as he became known, worked for EFK Composite Technology Malaysia (part of Hamidon). This is the Hamidon factory in Malaysia that made Mistral Flows, the Xplosion, and IMOD boards, for a while, until the year 2000.

Dr Kurt has suggested that Jacobs’ wanted to sell Mistral to Hamidon, which he claimed led to six months of negotiations starting in 1998. He accused Jacobs/Mistral of making a complete U-turn later that year as Jacobs sealed a deal with Schütz and Fanatic, which subsequently came under Jacobs’s roof. The source of these claims is something we will come to soon.

Over time, EFK (Hamidon) suffered some quality issues (which maker doesn’t?). Subsequently, over time, the production of Mistral boards was shifted increasingly to Cobra in Thailand, where Rainer Ramelsberger, a former Mistral brand manager for Fritzmeier, was now manager. Cobra (Thailand) was expanding at new premises and would soon produce approx. 50% of the world’s windsurfers in the late 1990s. Eventually, the EFK factory in Malaysia ceased producing Mistral boards after their massive investment to build the factory and Hamidon’s vision to assimilate other brands, as Cobra has done. Dr Kurt ended up losing his job.

C H O C O L AT E A N D M O R E

TWO BECOMES THREE: BOARDS AND MORE Two premium windsurfing board brands, Mistral and Fanatic, were now under one ownership in a declining market. This consolidation story also runs across many other business sectors (the car industry), with production being moved to Asia. What Jacobs did next will surprise you; they created Boards & More in 2000 to position the brands. This caused a massive ripple within the industry, which threatened Unitec, owner and manufacturer of F2, and they, too, began to consider selling.

Once again, Florian Brunner and Christian Ewert were instructed by Jacobs to start negotiations, but this time with F2, the talks were difficult. It ended with a ‘hostile takeover’ in 2000, whereby Jacobs took control, sidestepping the company’s management and going directly to its shareholders. Brunner and Ewert strongly opposed this type of takeover, leading both Brunner and Ewert to depart Mistral in June 2000.

‘SOME WOULD SAY DR KURT WAS A CONMAN AND WITHIN MISTRAL, IT’S ALLEGED HIS NICKNAME WAS‘THE GREAT PRETENDER.’

The merger by Jacobs Holdings caused windsurfing publications to be nervous for the future of the three brands and, indeed, for the sport; it was a sign of the times. From their perspective, the brands were selling out to the highest bidder, but the magazines had a limited view of what was happening behind the scenes. Pragmatically speaking, with such acquisitions and mergers, the chances are many brands would not have continued to exist to this day.

But this is only part of the story. Remember Dr Kurt? Consider reading an article entitled “The Insider” American Windsurfer Magazine, Volume 7 Issue 3/4, published in 2000 and written by John Chao.

Now, some would say Dr Kurt was a conman and a fraud, and within Mistral, it’s alleged his nickname was ‘The Great Pretender.’ Nevertheless, he was an employee of Hamidon Industries; he claimed to have negotiated the potential sale of Mistral to Hamidon in 1998 and, even more spectacular, that the merger of Mistral, F2 and Fanatic was his idea in the first place. Florian Brunner has advised us to disregard the interview, but concluding precisely what happened is challenging.

Above: Mistral Brochure 1999: the green Mistral Flow 276 and 284 were produced by EFK Composite Technology in Malaysia

From the moment it took on Mistral, Jacobs did not have a favourable record of how it treated Mistral’s staff. Sackings, dismissals, takeovers, it all smacks of arrogance and bullying, and, as if to reinforce this, both Brunner and Ewert would ultimately leave in disgust following the hostile takeover of F2. They were seemingly often asked to do Jacobs’ dirty work, which they cannot have relished; departing Mistral /Jacobs was the best way to distance themselves from this toxicity.

Three board brands would boast equity and form a dominating market position. The second half of the 1990s were turbulent times for the sector, with little growth and the primary sales being to those replenishing their ageing equipment, and these people were getting older.

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F2 production was in Kirchdorf (Austria). Fanatic now had 23 different shapes in its product line, much more than Mistral. We estimate there were now some 60+ boards between the brands under one ownership by Jacobs. The range of boards would likely need to be reduced, and manufacturing would ideally be best located in one location, such as the Cobra factory in Thailand where, notably, Fanatic were already made. Also, consider the other hardware. For example, Mistral masts came from Excel in Finland and a company in Northern Italy. It must have been a complex logistical jigsaw to solve.

LOW MORALE

Above: Fritzmeier Factory, Grosshelfendorf, Germany

‘USERS HAD GROWN OLDER, HAD CHILDREN, GAINED CAREERS. WINDSURFING WAS NO LONGER AS ATTRACTIVE AND NEW AS IT HAD BEEN’

At this time of a recession in the sport, there was low morale, which may have impacted diminishing service levels in retail stores. Savvy retailers had already spotted what was happening and shifted to growing activities such as mountain biking.

Windsurfing schools were closing, and entry-level equipment needed to be more extensive, but the focus remained on the expert, high-end. Beyond this, the users themselves had grown older, had children, gained careers, and as a result, had become time-poor. Windsurfing remained expensive for kids to participate in, and in truth, it was no longer as attractive and enticing as it once had been.

The entire industry was at a crossroads, with many fundamental mindset problems of how to future-proof it, how product design was chosen, manufactured, distributed and sold to customers, and the follow-up regarding customer service and attention to their needs and wants, had to change. Yet, Jacobs was not interested in spending money on testing by consumer groups, something West later did with SUPs at Mistral to affirm if the product had been successfully designed to meet the needs of the end-user or entry-level wanna-be participants. When consumers tell you what they want, not what you think they need, they become part of the design process, and brand loyalty is partly built from this approach. As a company strategy having an open-door policy to feedback helps support product authenticity.

Here we now had three brands, with three very different identities, forced into a consolidation through a merger, which would always be a considerable challenge. How do you separate and celebrate their differences coherently?

JACOBS / BOARDS AND MORE Significantly and inevitably, the founding of Boards & More heralded the departure of Rick (2001) and Robby Naish (2000), who had both been with Mistral for almost 25 years and wished to step down along with shaper Harold Ige. They parted company with Mistral after a long and illustrious career, and it was unquestionably a defining moment in Mistral’s history, seminal and poignant.

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The timing would have been suitable for departure and for Robby’s growing of his kitesurfing brand. Full credit to the Naishs’ having been with Mistral through thick and thin, dealing with the different owners over this time. Since the late ‘70s, Mistral’s continual relationship with the Naish family had made the difference.

It was, of course, a relationship that could not last forever; that it had lasted so long was remarkable. Mistral continued to distribute windsurfing boards with the Naish / Hawaii logo up until the end of the 2002 season.

‘IN 2005, THE IMOD WAS DROPPED AS THE OLYMPIC BOARD; AND THIS SIGNALLED MISTRAL BEING SHELVED’

Australian Bruce Wylie was announced as the new Mistral co-designer for Boards & More, and the Mistral Prodigy was released soon after, with his and others’ input, intended to be positioned as a hybrid to help counter the Formula race designs and create a new Mistral One Design (see Chapter 17). However, it could not find traction in a much-changed windsurfing landscape. Wylie left for Cobra by 2003. A further signal of unease. Ironically, he visited Cobra in Vietnam whilst showing the potential new Mistral Prodigy One-Design board at the Mistral World Championships in 2002.

In 2003, on August 1, Klaus Jacobs AG sold Boards & More to a team of investors, Airesis SA, who rationalised the brands focusing on Fanatic, Ion, North Sails and North Kiteboarding. F2 was seemingly shelved at this point. Mistral had not been buoyant since the 1980s, but they would still be the beneficiary of one more Olympic Games in 2004. Manufacturing the Olympic equipment and maintaining its quality was a constant struggle. The disruption of moving manufacturing from Germany to Malaysia and some of that inventory back to Europe and then to Thailand was a challenging task.

The strain was beginning to tell, along with the continued downward trend of the sport in general. Remember, kitesurfing had developed by this time with Robby Naish and Pete Cabrinha at the forefront as different commercial companies.

In 2005, the IMOD was dropped as the Olympic board; and this signalled Mistral being shelved. Mistral was treading water in the hands of Boards & More, and you have the sense there needed to be agreement on what to do with it. Mistral watchers, at the time, must have been shocked to see the brand ‘parked’ rather like a left parcel with no fixed abode or forwarding address, a place where brands go to die.

Above: Mistral brochure 2000

Cobra was emerging as the production facility where some 7080% of the world’s boards were made in the 2010s. Mistral needed saving and regenerating. It needed to be in the hands of someone who understood the brand’s heritage and had a plan for how to regenerate it in a challenging market.

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CHAPTER 17

OLYMPIC CHOICES Co-written by Steve West and Ben Oakley

CONTENTIOUS OLYMPIC DECISIONS

I

n 1981, I won my first cash prize at the Bacardi World Cup (UK). It was a lot for a young windsurfing junky; I was informed, ‘If you want to try out for the Olympics, you must surrender the money to a trust fund; otherwise, you will be branded a professional and unable to be considered.’ That’s how things were back then. Being a wave sailor at heart, I grabbed the cheque, called my travel agent and headed for Australia, not to return.

In the grand scheme of things, to what extent do the Olympics represent the pinnacle of competition for all sports? ‘Not always’ is the short answer, as much as the IOC would like you to think differently. Wimbledon (tennis), USA/UK Open (golf), the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational (surfing), and the PWA Tour are often ‘the’ events to win. The contentious issue for windsurfing is represented by a single competition format and a one-board, one-rig choice within a constantly evolving sport. Imagine trying to select one electric car model to be used for a global e-competition in 4 years.

The evolution of these cars is rapid, and hydrogen cars may rise to prominence. Likewise, for windsurfing, 1973 – 2003 is a long time span. It’s not easy, and there are difficult choices. We’ve already discussed some early Olympic decisions (1984-92) in Chapter 9, so we pick this up from 1996 onwards.

I have a different perspective from that of my editor, Ben. While I hold the belief those in the 1980s who lived for the monotony of sailing around a triangular course governed by rules were not truly ‘free-spirited’ riders, Ben is an advocate of the Olympic ideal, having coached at three Olympic venues: Pusan (Korea), Barcelona (Spain) and Savannah (USA). Ben states, ‘You must consider the limitations of what you can stage at Olympic sailing venues’. My point has more to do with the efficacy of the Olympics in relation to the big picture of the spirit of windsurfing when it serves to constrain, suffocate and govern.

Above: Alessandra Sensini - the most successful female Olympic windsurfer winning one Gold in Sydney (2000) and two Bronze Medals in Savannah/Atlanta (1996) and in Athens (2004) on the Mistral One Design. She won another Silver Medal in Qingdao/Beijing (2008) on the RS:X.

What follows then is a distinct chapter from others since his and my responses to Olympic matters differ, though not so different, I believe, as he may think. Overall, should the sport focus on presenting itself as a TV-friendly event or making it accessible to as

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many nations as possible through modestly priced, easy-to-use equipment? It is a complex puzzle that athletes, manufacturers and governing bodies tried to solve.

RECENT OLYMPIC MODERNISATION Ben sets the scene. ‘You may have noticed a modernisation of Olympic events over the last two decades to include the likes of mountain biking, BMX, skateboarding, climbing, surfing and at the Winter Games events like ski and snowboard slopestyle and ski, snowboard cross. The IOC aims to attract a youth audience and is eager to explore and use media-friendly ‘urban’ sports. On the up-side, through a process which saw windsurfing briefly dropped from the Olympics, kiteboarding added, then windsurfing reinstated for the 2024 Paris Olympics, board sports now account for 40% of the sailing medal events. This is good progress from the single-medal event in 1988 (one male windsurfing set of medals). In one sense, board sports have come of age as an Olympic sport.’

In the context of iQFOiL, this is a foil sport, not a board sport per se, when the principle is based upon flight, the antithesis of all that windsurfing was, is and should be. At least, that’s how I see it.

Ben will later talk us through how this all came about but let’s rewind and look at the rise and fall of the Mistral Olympic years as a classic example of how to develop, deconstruct and devolve a sport toward oblivion, at least in my view.

Above: Olympic Games, 2004 in Athens. Alessandra Sensini wins her 3rd Olympic Medal (Bronze).

THE MISTRAL ONE-DESIGN YEARS (1996-2004) The ‘International Mistral Class Organisation’ (IMCO) was originally formed in 1978 as the umbrella organisation for Mistral’s competitive class, beginning with the Mistral Competition. At it’s peak, some 30,000 Mistral Equipe One Designs (IMOD) were in global circulation and with a relatively durable construction, the class was able to establish, at one time, over 50 national class organisations.

Ironically, a rule change for the 1996 Olympics permitted ‘pumping’ of the sail, which led to booms buckling under the new stresses as sailors trained in the years before the Games. Mistral made some modifications to reduce the breakages. There were also some issues with daggerboard breakages.

One of the most favourable outcomes of the 1996 windsurfing event was that Olympic medallists had a broad demographic who came from all corners of the world for the first time. This demonstrated how developed sailing nations no longer dominated the spread of the OD as an Olympic class, with winners from Hong Kong, New Zealand, Italy, Greece, Argentina and Israel. Finally, the event was egalitarian for all comers.

While calls for equipment change were muted but a constant threat, at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Olympic windsurfing in its purest form reached its peak. If there were no changes moving for-

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ward, the OD would have a chance to grow further globally, better than ever before. The class was particularly proud of the uptake of women.

With such a global spread, the equipment was available in over 70 countries and boasted one of the largest women’s windsurfing fleets (64 at the 1999 Worlds). It was the official board of the Asian, Pan Am, Small Island, World University and the South Pacific Games. At the 2000 Penta Mistral Cup (Egypt), Alessandra Sensini (ITA) won the first prize of $10,000. She was also a women’s Olympic medallist in four Games from 1996-2008 (Mistral and RSX).

In 2000, the OD was the most numerous of the Olympic sailing classes and the least expensive to campaign. It was considered the most athletic race sailing on the water. Importantly, for me, the equipment was not elitist, available globally and significantly to the less developed and isolated parts of the world, such as Fiji, Saipan, Guam, and the Cook Islands.

Four years later, the case for using the OD a third successive time at the 2004 Olympics was a boisterous affair. Formula and hybrid boards had grown out of fun board designs since the late ‘90s and were now threatening longboard racing. Larger sail areas (e.g., 12.5 m2 for men), shorter, wider boards, the replacement of the centre board with a single long fin (up to 70 cms), higher speeds and increasing popularity in key windsurfing nations meant that pressure for change was growing.

A OD Olympic campaign was the least expensive campaign to run compared to dinghies and required the least infrastructure to run events which could be staged off beaches rather than a marina or boat ramp. Considering the above facts, it was incongruous that the OD Olympic status was being challenged so strongly, making me think agendas were lurking in the background. There was undoubtedly external pressure relating to concerns over Mistral’s monopoly on the sport as the maker of the Olympic board; therefore, the Mistral OD had to go. If World Sailing wished to select a more modern design for the Olympics, Mistral (Boards and More) were happy to produce a new, lightweight dedicated hybrid board for the purpose. It suddenly appeared that a new Mistral Prodigy hybrid board was proposed as a possible replace-

In 2004 Mistral Sports GmbH (now owned by Boards and More, Germany) had the most comprehensive distribution network in the world. The class had negotiated with Boards and More that OD sails could be made under licence by any sail loft between 2001-2004, and spares could be purchased via its online store.

In 2003, New Zealand’s Bruce Kendal, a multiple medallist, expressed, ‘The Mistral One Design class may not look like most of the boards seen on the beach, but it is arguably the most seaworthy class [for all wind/wave conditions]. The current OD has an excellent pedigree from the professional racing circuit. At a considerable cost, it has been through many years of careful evolution to improve durability and uniform performance. The sheer volume of equipment on the water and its performance in a wide range of conditions has proven to most who have tried the alternatives that it is still the best equipment for the Olympic Games.’

Top and right: after the Olympic Games in Atlanta/Savannah (1996) and Sydney (2000) the Mistral International One Design Class was for the last time official Olympic board in Athens (2004).

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ment; it would later win out as one of the best in World Sailing evaluation testing, yet the deal would go to Neil Pryde and the RS-X. The OD was more than likely side-lined by a sense it was another brand’s turn; as simple as that.

BEN’S VIEW Following the 2000 Games, Ben’s insight is intriguing. ‘Imagine what it was like being sat at the Mistral Class Association Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the OD World Championships in August 2001 when Boards and More managers were present. They had travelled to Varkiza in Greece to reassure athletes and coaches about rumours surrounding the OD production mould being ‘broken’; some thought the supply of boards was drying up or being changed.

Sales Manager Dieter Fellhofer said, in the AGM minutes, he wants to “. . . bring order into the chaos”. They talked about the OD mould needing slight modifications because the production technique at the Boards and More factory in Austria used different methods than before. Hidden at the end of the minutes, it says, “Boards and More is working with the class to bring the new [hybrid] Mistral Prodigy board onto the map, and it may be that the Prodigy becomes the class replacement after the 2004 Games in Athens”. Mistral were hedging their bets, keen to propose either continuing with the OD or introducing a more modern hybrid design, depending on the groundswell of opinion’.

Above: in 2005 the Neil Pryde RS:X was chosen as the new Olympic board for the 2008 Olympics in Bejing with a 9.5 m2 rig for men and a 8.5 m2 for women.

‘THE BULKY OLYMPIC IMCO BOARD CURRENTLY HOLDS THE TOP POSITION, BUT THERE’S A GROWING SENTIMENT TO REPLACE IT’

Ben continues, ‘If, for example, you were from the National Sailing Federation in Germany [Deutscher Segler Verband] responsible for training athletes for the Olympic Games or its equivalent in Vietnam, with less windsurfing heritage, let alone funds; you might be angry about this proposal. Suddenly all existing boards and rigs might be obsolete overnight, and new equipment would need to be manufactured, purchased and distributed. Countries like France and China, who publicly own a lot of Olympic equipment, would see their 8-year investment wasted. One-design sailors and federations often prefer the status quo for obvious financial and logistical reasons.’ And on this, I agree with Ben. He carries on with his view of events. ‘By 2002, an equipment shootout was in process to produce a capable Olympic board and rig across a 5-30 knot wind range. You can see by the language used in this USA report which way the wind was blowing.’ “The bulky Olympic IMCO board currently holds the top position, but there’s a growing sentiment to replace it. To this end, the other three classes, the Techno by BIC, Mistral’s Prodigy, and the Formula class, are all shorter, wider, and, according to most everyone, more fun to sail”. That same year, World Sailing started discussing the future and how equipment choices should attract the best-known sailors, lead and reflect the sport and unify the sport.

Based on these criteria, the existing Mistral One-Design was on the verge of being excluded as a future option. By 2003, World Sailing had rejected the OD and an ‘open’ Formula class proposal. The priority was accessibility and equal one-design racing, which would help keep costs down for emerging nations rather than a Formula equipment arms race.’

The point, however, was that we already had equipment that was accessible, equal and relatively inexpensive; back to Ben.‘World

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Sailing ordered testing of a range of equipment for the following year (2004). Olympic evaluation testing does not make the final choice; ideally, your design needs to be mentioned as credible, amongst the best, and not have serious flaws. Attending the trials were six different hybrid designs: BIC Sport - Techno 293D Mistral – Prodigy Exocet – Flying Fish Neil Pryde – Olympic hybrid (later to become RSX) PD Project – Olympias Starboard – Z-Class (one-design) Eighteen sailors were invited from Great Britain, France, The Netherlands, Poland, Norway and Australia. The sailors and evaluation panel confirmed that PD Project, Neil Pryde and the Mistral Prodigy were amongst the more popular designs. The panel also evaluated the maximum wind strength for 10m2 sails. The maximum survival conditions for heavy men appeared when gusts of 25 knots happened in rough water. Nations with smaller body sizes in Asia would not want a large sail; it goes against the principle of unifying the sport worldwide.

Notice how windsurfing race sail sizes have crept up over the years from 5.4m2 [Windsurfer®], 6.5m2 [Windglider], 7.5m2 [Mistral OD], 9.5m2 m/8.5m2 f [RSX]. It is unsurprising that sailor body weight for these rigs has also increased and does not help those individuals or nations with a more diminutive stature.

the same year the RSX was confirmed for the 2012 London Games.

Things looked rosy for the new class, but as we will see after Steve’s thoughts, a dark cloud for windsurfers overshadowed the 2012 Games.’

STEVE: FLAWED THINKING For me, the narrative Ben uncovered was fundamentally flawed thinking. The OD was already attracting the best sailors, leading the sport, reflecting the sport, and unifying it by sheer weight of numbers; it was accessible and a one-design in every sense.

The mistake they made then, which they continue to make, is the appeasement of whatever the very best ‘extreme’, sponsored, financially secure want. They were bending to pressure from influential individuals wanting the latest equipment and as a quasi-marketing exercise to help boost the Olympics. This should never be about the best, most extreme and influential brands or sailors dictating what should be; they’re not well placed to grasp

The following year, 2005, the Neil Pryde RSX, with a 9.5m2 rig for men and 8.5m2 for women, was chosen.

Perhaps since Neil Pryde had supplied rigs for the 1992 Games [Lechner class] counted in their favour. In 1992 they introduced different coloured rigs for male and female events designed to be visually appealing, including the name of each competitor printed on each sail. Originally from New Zealand, Neil Pryde understood how to work with World Sailing, having been an Olympic sailing competitor for Hong Kong. The company also supplied sails for the 49’er skiff class at the 2004 Games; the parties had a relationship and trust. It must have helped secure the RSX as the winning tender, backed up by Cobra’s reputation as the board manufacturer.

The timing of the eventual decision in 2005 created significant problems since there were now less than four years before the Games. Athletes wanted equipment now! Rushing to get the new class equipment out in sufficient numbers created problems, but eventually, the successful first World Championships were held with 200 competitors. The board was aimed to be a hybrid compromise between traditional race boards and Formula windsurfing being 286cm long, a massive 93cm wide, and heavy at 15.5kg, twice the weight of Formula boards of the time. Some questioned whether the RSX is simply a refinement of the original Mistral Prodigy concept backed by Neil Pryde’s credible network.

However, it was not popular in Asia and especially in Hong Kong.

1996 Gold medal winner, Lee Lai Shan (58kg) using a 7.5 m2 sail in Atlanta, would finish 6th and 4th at the following Games.

Neil Pryde said, “Our RSX class is probably better suited to larger framed people than the IMOD, which led some to say I was letting the side down”. The Beijing Games were successfully staged, and

Above: the RS:X board was aimed to be a hybrid compromise between traditional race boards and Formula windsurfing being 286cm long, a massive 93cm wide, and heavy at 15.5kg, twice the weight of Formula boards of the time

the concept of egalitarian, user-friendly, accessible, practical competition. This is a process of diminishing the sport rather than building it.

The previous statement from the USA was nonsensical, with phrases such as ‘. . . growing sentiment to replace it’, falsely reflecting the thoughts of the global family of Mistral OD riders, supporters, governing bodies, sporting organisations, and government investors. To add in the term ‘bulky’ and then replace it with a barn door wide board, arguably just as ‘bulky’, makes it a

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Above: Olympic dinghy sailing has the benefit of multiple dinghy classes. In contrast, windsurfing has a single class. Hence, when you reject the singular class, you destroy the network around which it is built.

moot point. So far as saying, ‘ . . . according to everyone, more fun to sail’, they must be talking about those not actually part of the OD family, those on the fringes, that want to be part of the thrust for change. World Sailing discussed the idea that equipment should ‘attract the best-known sailors’ smacks of elitism for all the wrong consequences, and as for being concerned over the ‘unification’ of the sport, it was. So here they are trying to fix something not broken. Rather than embracing and defending what they had, they falsely followed the path of so-called progress.

Emerging nations had already invested money, Olympic windsurfing was at its prime, and here it was, being torn apart. Officials give way to more prosperous countries; look at where the test sailors were from in the evaluation testing; Great Britain, France, The Netherlands, Poland, Norway and Australia. Committees need to learn what it is like to be a participant in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and other poorer nations of the world. The Olympics should be about inclusiveness, not elitism and in terms of windsurfing.

Olympic dinghy sailing has the benefit of multiple dinghy classes. In contrast, Windsurfing has a single class. Hence, when you reject the singular class, you destroy the network around which it is built, and the loyalty afforded that particular board type and design. It goes right to the heart of the sport. Each time a new one-design class is created (i.e., Lechner, RSX, iQFoil), it is again a class that must be built from the ground up globally. Imagine if the Laser class design was ‘binned’ and a new concept released,

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and the damage it would cause. Incrementally, the windsurfing class will continue to shrink under this regime of thinking with each successive rejection of one windsurfing class over another while also becoming increasingly specialised and niche.

2012 WINDSURFING VERSUS KITEBOARDING Ben returns here to the Olympic journey from 2008 to 2012, including windsurfing’s dark 2012 cloud. ‘Traditionally, every four years, the Olympic equipment for the next Games is decided by World Sailing. In May 2012, the momentum of maintaining the status quo with RSX looked good for it being used again in the 2016 Rio Games, especially after a World Sailing report evaluating the then-young sport of kiteboarding had concluded that windsurfing was still the better option for Olympic competition.

But a shock came from World Sailing’s labyrinth committee decision-making structure when their top governing committee voted by two votes [19-17] in favour of a kiteboarding event at Rio 2016. This decision was linked to pleasing the IOC with a credible youth-oriented sport. It meant that the 2012 London Olympics would be held later that year under the dark cloud of being likely the last-ever Olympics for windsurfing.

The internet exploded. Petitions, angry letters, and emotive statements flowed into a public shouting match. The RSX class and others started an aggressive cam-

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paign to reverse the decision. They had one chance via the World Sailing annual conference later that year and another via a legal challenge of improper decision-making procedures being used.

Here is an example of how the recriminations began. This was published days afterwards on Sail-world.com by Nevin Sayre [ex-Mistral team rider], and he makes his points well.

“Why did US Sailing place their three votes (more than any other country) in favour of kitesurf racing? Kitesurfing is evolving, and the very few kitesurfers who race are clearly on the cutting edge.

I welcome inclusion in the Olympics when the safety, equipment, logistics, and formats are ready. When instructional and competitive programs are developing young kitesurf racers, and safely channeling them toward their Olympic dreams, let’s go. We are clearly not there yet for the 2016 Olympic Games.”

Ben continues: ‘The President of the Royal Spanish Federation [RFEV] issued a formal apology that their vote was wrongly placed against Windsurfing. The Venezuelan Federation also publicly stated their countryman’s vote did not represent their Federation’s judgement. The Chairman of the Israeli Federation was quoted in Reuters, “The delegates were probably confused or didn’t understand the motion fully because of language difficulties, or some may have been napping at the presentations and then cast their votes without realising the implications.” He called for a formal vote.

After the 2012 Olympics in November, logic prevailed, and Olympic Windsurfing was reinstated. It did World Sailing’s credibility no good with the IOC watching on. The viability of all future Olympic sailing and windsurfing was tarnished. Sail-powered medals at the Games are an expensive option for the IOC; it is costly to construct the venue, expensive for competitors to buy the sailing or windsurfing equipment and was hardly watched on broadcast platforms.

But, World Sailing began to revise how they made such significant decisions, and at the time of writing, we know the events at the next two Olympics.

Amid the vigorous 2012 debate, Neil Pryde reflected on how they might update the RSX one-design in an interview with Boards magazine. As we have seen, updating a one-design is always tricky, “The RS-X class was designed in 2005. It’s quite a few years ago now regarding how sports equipment evolved. We can only make changes to this equipment with the approval of the class. The class represents many vested interests, national authorities, coaches, etc., so when deciding to change the equipment, they all get involved”.

Their two-year development programme needed to gain support.

The RSX was successfully used in Rio 2016 and again in Tokyo 2021 and became the most used board equipment at the Olympic Games.

It was used four times [2008, ‘12, ‘16 and 21).

In 2018, World Sailing confirmed the continuing participation of windsurfing at the Paris 2024 Olympics. At the same time, a technical commission announced a re-evaluation of the equipment. In 2019, the revamped Windsurfer® LT released in 2018 made a bid once again to become the Olympic board along with other boards [see below]. It failed, and the IQ Foil would be chosen.’

Above: iQFOiL - the new choice for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Marseille. Seen here at the 45th Engadin Marathon Wing /Windsurf / Kite Engadinwind 2022.

‘THE RSX WAS SUCCESSFULLY USED IN RIO 2016 AND AGAIN IN TOKYO 2021 AND BECAME THE MOST USED BOARD EQUIPMENT AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES.’

Steve interjects here, I think this demonstrates the Olympics are a media show, first and foremost, a money machine where the participants are actors on the stage and where Olympic sponsors are the beneficiaries. Why should it be the windsurfing class gets changed periodically on a whim?

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However, Ben continues, ‘It’s a delicate balancing act as sailing/ windsurfing at the Olympics is squeezed and put under threat of extinction as an expensive luxury. World Sailing has the difficult job of trying to satisfy the IOC needs to attract a youth audience with media-friendly extreme sports. If World Sailing annoys the IOC, it runs the risk of the overall quota of medals or sailors being further reduced. For example, in Sydney in 2000, there were 430 sailors across nine events, and now in Paris in 2024, 350 sailors across ten events. Seventy fewer sailors at each Continental or World Championship must qualify for their place in each event via a complex global quota system. World Sailing have to try and get the blend of events right to represent all types of sailing for both men and women, e.g., asymmetric skiff, foiling catamaran, single-handed dinghy and windsurfing.’

THE FOILING STORY Ben continues. ‘In May 2019, World Sailing urgently needed testing of the RSX and foiling options to inform their equipment decision for the 2024 and 2028 Games later that year. They also wanted to explore new race formats, e.g., short knock-out slalom races. The RSX, Glide, iQFOiL, Formula Foil Limited and Windfoil were all invited to the test process along with riders from 18 nations.

Some of the criteria for the testing were; suitability for multiple race formats to appeal to current Olympic and other elite windsurfers and the wider windsurfing community and to appeal to youth, the media and the general public.

This is what New Zealander Aaron McIntosh [former Mistral World Champion x3 and Olympic medallist] said about youth appeal in 2019, ‘We’re a scrolling society. If there’s the option to watch a three-minute, high-octane race with some super athletes, you’re going to do it rather than watch a standard 20-40-minute race’. He was closely involved with the iQFOiL proposal and was also coach to the Dutch RSX team that won the last three men’s gold medals in RSX in 2012, ‘16 and ‘21. McIntosh himself had been inspired towards the Olympics by Bruce Kendall’s gold success in 1988.

The evaluation panel said most sailors preferred to select foiling equipment for 2024 and based on a World Sailing survey, most current male RSX sailors favoured a shift to a foiling board; only 28% of responses were from women. The panel selected the Starboard iQFOiL, available in 2019 for €6800 to National Federations, recommending for women sail sizes of 8m2 and 66cm fins, and men, 9m2 sails and 68cm fins. Unfortunately, it appears higher body weight is required for this equipment/race format, with at least 80kg men and 65kg women best able to cope with large forces above and below the water, favouring the larger sailors from the global north, disadvantaging Asian nations. Steve’s ‘accessibility to all’ concern may become a problem.

The Netherlands, New Zealand and Australia strongly supported the bid. Dutch double windsurfing gold medallist [RSX, 2012 and 2016] Dorian van Rijsselberghe gave his support “I note that it is actually against Dutch interests to move away from the RSX. We have the current Men’s double Olympic Champion, The current RSX Men’s World and Vice World Champions and the Women’s World Champion.” The motivation for the New Zealand and Australian federations had been the low take-up of racing in their countries for anyone aiming at the Olympic level.

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The groundswell of support from existing male RSX sailors, a good test outcome for both equipment and race format, the credibility of a design very similar to those used by PWA riders and the security of a leading manufacturer [Starboard] meant the iQFOiL was accepted by World Sailing later in 2019. It had taken Starboard four attempts at providing Olympic equipment since 2002 for everything to align in their favour. There is now potential for board sports to be more visible at the Olympics.’

OLYMPIC OPPORTUNITY OR THREAT? Some final points from Ben. ‘It will be interesting to see how shorter racing formats evolve, how this impacts media interest and how the higher body weight issue can be overcome. The need for heavy riders is becoming a problem for a claimed class with global appeal. They must pile on the pounds for success in the new iQFoil format. Whilst the RSX average weight for men was about 72 kgs and women 59 kgs, for the iQFOiL the optimum weights are now some +20/10 kgs. more for men/women to control the lift from the foil.

Waiting in the wings is wingfoiling, which is cheaper, easier to transport and may suit lighter-weight riders better. It may well threaten either Kite or iQFOiL in the future, but much will depend on what happens in Marseille in 2024. As we have seen, although rational choice does not always work with Olympic equipment decision-making, it’s mainly about the direction of travel of the IOC agenda, as well as influence, relationships, networks and manufacturing credibility. Mistral paved the way with a popular mass-produced board in 1996. The early competition pioneers in the sport from the 1980s, including Svein Rasmussen at Starboard, now have influence. What will happen next in this strange five-ring journey?’

For all the hoopla around the inclusion of windsurfing at the Olympics, it’s still worth questioning its relevance given how far from the apple tree it has fallen. Freeriding remains the domain of the weekend warriors and by far the most popular niche; the sport’s pin-up heroes were rarely Olympians. A complete iQFOiL set-up will now set you back nearly €11,000, which would buy you in the order of five Windsurfer® LTs or maybe three Mistral OD boards if still available. The threat from windfoiling is real, and windsurfing should be more nervous than ever if we assume foil sports to be the future.

The new foiling equipment is certainly not universally available across the globe. New sails are needed regularly to remain competitive, notwithstanding breakages and money for travel to events, accommodation, coaching fees and winter training in warm climes, costing well over €30-40,000 per annum. Being an Olympian contender is a costly pursuit, regardless if someone wants to argue it’s not. Try rationalising this to a Pacific Island nation and see how far you get.

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‘WAITING IN THE WINGS IS WINGFOILING, WHICH IS CHEAPER, EASIER TO TRANSPORT AND MAY SUIT LIGHTER-WEIGHT RIDERS BETTER.’

Above: the panel selected the Starboard iQFOiL, available in 2019 for €6800 to National Federations, recommended with sail sizes of 8m2 (women) and 9m2 (men) and fin sizes of 66cm (women) and 68cm (men).

‘FREERIDING REMAINS THE DOMAIN OF THE WEEKEND WARRIOR AND BY FAR THE MOST POPULAR NICHE; THE SPORT’S PIN UP HEROES WERE RARELY OLYMPIANS’

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CHAPTER 18

REBUILDING THE BRAND MISTRAL‘S RETURN TO THE WATER

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t’s easy to read between the lines how a premium windsurfing brand ended up on the metaphorical rubbish heap when shelved in 2007 by Swiss-based owners, Airesis operating as Boards & More (Munich, Germany). Following several setbacks, including losing IMOD as the Olympic board, they would sell while residual equity remained in the name. Each successive owner put in less; meanwhile, the sun had set on the sport’s popularity. How Mistral became a viable going concern once again would be centred initially around a strategy of licensing and then both licensing and manufacturing of hardware.

Ado Huisman, familiar with Mistral as part of the management in the 1980s, was contacted regarding purchasing. Huisman took on the Mistral license for sportswear Europe. Within a few years, Huisman and Boards & More negotiated the purchase of Mistral and, in 2009, reached an agreement. Huisman purchased the brand, and B&M retained a 49% shareholder stake. A few months later, Peter Van Merksteijn joined forces with Huisman to complete outright ownership, creating Mistral International BV in the Eastern Netherlands based on a 50/50 ownership.

Above: Ado Huisman

Left: ‘Windy Palm’ art by Pete Cabrinha

Huisman had recommended Mistral separate their commercial activities through licensing in the late 1980s, a modus operandi successfully implemented and negotiated with Gaastra when he approached them for a licensing agreement creating a separate apparel line from Gaastra sails. Semi-retired after building it up and selling, he was restless. With a fondness and nostalgia for Mistral, Huisman recognised an opportunity to acquire the brand with a vision to restructure and nurture the remaining equity from its past.

Huisman recalls, ‘By 2009, Mistral had gone into free-fall, beginning in the 1990s. Boards & More should have given more attention to the brand since 2000. Mistral was dormant, and there was no further planned investment. A Japanese licensee had winter clothing and two Argentine licensees, streetwear and watches; all three had no connection with watersports and were ignored. Club Mistral existed but had almost no Mistral equipment and now used Fanatic. After my successful period with my companies X-Tend BV, Gaastra, Craft and Rossignol, I was ready for something new. My first love Mistral had sunk so low that it was a thorn in my side.’ Fanatic equipment, owned

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by Boards & More, had infiltrated Club Mistral due to apparent issues with Mistral equipment, which was ironic given Mistral was a Boards & More brand.

REBUILDING THE BRAND Rebuilding Mistral International would centre around licensing in a much-changed environment. The brand had survived turbulent times, and four previous owners had displayed an ever-widening lack of compassion and understanding of the brand. SUP was now the new in-thing, and windsurfing brands were adding SUP to their inventories. Diversification was again a survival strategy.

With the Huisman-Merksteijn ownership, Huisman would adopt a 100% hands-on approach as CEO. Under Boards & More, Mistral had been under the roof of multiple brands, ensuring a dilution of focus. It now had an entrepreneur who understood Mistral as a lifestyle brand under a singular roof.

end of November 2008, including 14 different boards, and in 2009 the Pacifico Malibu-shaped SUP. By 2010-11 Mistral GPS Speed, Highwind and Lightwind Slalom, Screamer, Energy, Syncro, Joker, Joker Wave, Shock Wave and Twinzer were listed, and a growing list of distributors signed up; the reboot seemed to be working.

Ultimately, in 2012, Huisman concluded to withdraw continued financial support for the program. ‘Despite what seemed a dream synergy, it was not to be. Though a good developer and pleasant person, Anders could have been a better entrepreneur who cared for his clientele daily and ensured sales. I have run into this many times in my career. Good water athletes are not immediately good entrepreneurs. After three years, I cancelled the Mistral license with Bringdal and founded Mistral Red Dot Division BV to take care of Mis-

‘My strategy from day one was to bring Mistral back to its roots, preferably with windsurfing. Mistral had lost track and had no direction.

I contacted Robby Naish and suggested we start a joint venture. Strategically, this was a good move, as Mistral and Naish are inextricably linked. Both brands would exist side by side, with Naish focusing on R&D and high-end products and Mistral on the masses. Robby was open to my plans but thought it too complicated. Moreover, the world economy was at risk of a financial crisis. Though this deal fell through, Naish and Mistral would have been a perfect match.’

The Mistral windsurfing license would need reassignment to ensure continuance. In May of 2009, Mistral entered an exclusive agreement with Swedish windsurfer Anders Bringdal, four-time world champion and a front runner in speed sailing. With this arrangement, Mistral aimed to demonstrate the brand was linked once again with supreme quality, a winner’s mentality and a passion for windsurfing. This emulated in part the previous association with Robby Naish. Bringdal had gained a reputation for his designs, and it was one of Huisman’s goals to supply Club Mistral with Mistral boards as it had since 1985. ‘Anders, he had just developed a board line, fitting into my strategy to bring Mistral back to the core. With slim financial resources, Mistral helped with funding, and the boards were rebranded with Mistral graphic designs, courtesy of Ernstfried Prade. Anders would work from his adopted home town of Marseille, France.’ Manufacturing moved to the Kinetic factory in Vietnam, the licensing agreement commenced on 1st July 2009, and Boards & More ceased licence-holding activities.

In 2010, ‘I appointed Ernstfried Prade as our product developer. Prade had excellent contacts with manufacturers in the Far East and a willingness to travel, despite his advanced age, and he knew the brand well from its past. At the same time, I saw stand-up paddling emerging in the USA as an activity aimed at the masses and decided to develop a Mistral SUP board line with accompanying accessories. Initially, this was limited to only hard boards and later inflatables.’ This arrangement aimed to put Mistral back on the water, feeding licensees aspirational imagery reinforcing Mistral’s watersport connection. A new generation of Mistral windsurfing boards was launched at the

Above: photoshoot Maui 2011, Anders Bringdal shredding on a small day at Hookipa on one of his wave boards designs. By 2012 the line would be pulled off the market on account of converging factors.

tral products from windsurfing to neoprene. I had aimed to avoid developing boards again or venturing into production. Major financial investments had to be made for this.’ Anders would stay on as production manager for a while, but this would also not work out.

Prade progressed with the SUP range, applying a similar modus operandi as in the past with wind-surfing, using outside design input for the hardboards. His graphics company drew up files for the

‘MY STRATEGY FROM DAY ONE WAS TO BRING MISTRAL BACK TO ITS ROOTS, PREFERABLY WITH WINDSURFING. MISTRAL HAD LOST TRACK AND HAD NO DIRECTION.’

Left: rejuvenating the brand with youthful imagery showcasing beachwear continued the legacy from the early days of Mistral Sportswear

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Above: one of the greatest challenges was in selecting models to showcase both apparel and hardware in the one photoshoot. Iconic symbolism works of course and when you can align your brand with surfing, it’s instantly understood.

inflatable boards and applied the designs. By 2013, the range was comprehensive, but SUP was proliferating, with a long list of noname entrepreneurs and venture capitalists lining up to join this new recreational activity. It would prove a tumultuous period from 2012-2014, with the windsurfing inventory of Mistral at a standstill.

The formation of Mistral Red Dot ensured a division between Mistral’s licensing interests and its hardware developments. Mistral Red Dot would be autonomous and was granted a license to manufacture from Mistral International, paying royalty fees back to its parent company. Internally, however, Mistral lacked a ‘go-to’ person on the water, disciplined in many watersports, including design, communication and with a worldly view of the industry.

‘Mistral Red Dot became the marketing vehicle for Mistral International, and Mistral International the engine for creating international Mistral license contracts. Establishing Mistral Red Dot was difficult; we needed someone who understood watersports as a lifestyle and could be our voice and guide regarding design ideas and the big picture. In late 2013 Mike van Snek contacted Steve West, who was living in Fiji. Steve is a lifelong waterman. A designer, photojournalist, educationalist, author of multiple books, a top-level windsurfer of the

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‘MISTRAL RELIED UPON A DISTANT MEMORY OF ITS GLORY DAYS. I NEEDED A FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF HOW AN ICONIC BRAND HAD GOT ITSELF INTO A SITUATION OF DORMANCY’

1980s and a two-time world champion outrigger canoeist. We met in Holland, then again at the Waldorf Hotel London. I concluded we needed a man like this on our team, and he became our primary consultant and brand manager and turned out to be the bull’s eye.’

West comments, ‘Mistral relied upon a distant memory of its glory days. I needed a fundamental understanding of how an iconic brand had got itself into a situation of dormancy. Sitting in rural Holland, having flown in from Fiji, I had a giant question mark over my head as to how I could help. Ado and I talked about the situation over two days so I could comprehend the management structure and situation

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as it stood. It was January 2014; it was cold and bleak compared to where Mandy and I had been just a few days earlier; in a sense, it summed up the juxtaposition between where Mistral was and where it needed to be. The task was daunting.’

STEVE WEST BRINGING MISTRAL BACK TO THE WATER SUP, at this moment, was Mistral Red Dot’s primary focus and all efforts focused on this and the details are beyond the interests of this publication. Suffice it to say, Mistral had weak European distributors except for Germany, unsurprisingly and a poor network. Their original links had been more or less eroded.

Although they had secured a distributor based in Florida, USA, the man appointed to manage sales and distribution was self-serving and localised in his thinking. It needed a significant social media presence and had a non-existent online store. The traditional vertical sales chain was eroding, becoming increasingly direct-to-consumer sales-based. Inflatable board sales were now the focus of online sales campaigns, aided by their unique selling points [USPs], space-saving and transportability.

Below: beginning in 2015, winning and being on the podium at the internationally acclaimed 11 Cities SUP race and being major sponsors, resulted in highly positive exposure in the Netherlands and worldwide.

A new tagline, ‘Water Life and Living,’ was chosen by Huisman, created by West, to encapsulate the brand’s core values during this period. Water is the critical element, and multi-skilled board riders were now frequenting higher percentages of inland waters globally, other than where a sport is specifically surf dependent. As for the future, Mistral needed to morph into a more diverse supplier of watersports equipment and had to be fast-tracked to a connection with both the oceans and inland waterways of the world. It had relied upon a singular sport and had relinquished its mantel as a windsurfing brand some years before. It was once again focused on a particular sport putting it in danger of rising and falling.

West recalls, ‘In July 2014, I introduced myself at the dealers‘ meeting in Bavaria. No photo shoot was made before the meeting, and no dealer catalogues were available. I conducted a photo shoot in Crete to create the 2015 catalogue in August. Some laminated boards fell short of their intended brief, and money was wasted on average hardboard designs. I spent most of 2014 dealing with marketing and attempting to bring up-to-speed developmental timelines for the 2015 season and prepare pre-order material for September. It was challenging in the extreme, and when this was achieved, we were now in sync with seasonal expectations, ordering and production schedules.

At Holland’s famous 11 Cities 5-day SUP Tour [Race] of 2014, Mistral was nowhere on the podium, with few boards represented. This was Mistral’s backyard, and Huisman was devastated. My goal was to return in 2015 as winners and with greater overall representation. Prade introduced super lightweight inflatable boards in 2014, using a German drop stitch material with boards made in Romania. They were

Above: Mistral needed fresh, relatable imagery for stand-up paddle boarding, to win over new end-users. Photoshoots set out to blend fun, fashion and aspirations. With family living on the island of Crete, Greece, West directed a successful photoshot here in 2014.

‘...IT SUMMED UP THE JUXTAPOSITION BETWEEN WHERE MISTRAL WAS AND WHERE IT NEEDED TO BE.’

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expensive and often had issues with twists and discolouration. Endless hours went into attempting to correct the problems. Mistral won an industry award in the USA for the design in 2015, but the issues were too overwhelming, and we reverted to China and Korea for our inflatables.

I went on to take the lead design on Mistral’s inflatables and hardboards while juggling production and marketing. Winning SUP races sell just a few race boards, but the objective was to strengthen brand recognition and feed social media and forums. We needed people talking about the brand again for all the right reasons. We returned in 2015 to the 11 Cities event with a newly designed race board, the Vortex, which I had designed and worked on with English shaper Chris Diplock and other designs. I signed a top-level Tahitian male rider using my outrigger canoeing contacts and a female rider from Florida, USA. With just two riders, we won all five stages of the event, and our R&D had cost less than USD $ 10,000, a staggering USD $ 65,000 less than two previous commissioned board designs out of Hawaii. From this point onwards, we were on an upward trajectory, even if challenging.

Above: between 2015 and 2018, West established Mistral’s R&D in Mauritius for year-round testing and photoshoots. Local graphic artists were used to good effect, and talented boardrider, Mandy West took care of logistics and assisted with imagery and equipment testing. Back in the Netherlands, Ineke Danneberg, with Huisman for over thirty years, dealt with the dayto-day running of Mistral International and Mistral Red Dot.

Regarding low-cost photoshoots, having designed the 2016 range and with branded prototypes, in July 2015, Mandy and I flew with 15 inflatable boards to Mauritius. I lived here for four years when I was younger and knew the area well. Arriving at Curepipe Airport, the officer asked, “Are these all for your personal use, Sir?” and then the long explanation about a photoshoot. We based ourselves in the north of the island, where I knew the conditions best for SUP and, over the next four weeks, used the island’s idyllic backdrop and hospitality to make a collection of images. We moved to Mauritius between 20162018 to provide Mistral with an R&D base and an ideal location for year-round testing and photoshoots. We employed two local graphic artists, which proved highly cost-effective. We also had access to some very good textiles and apparel makers.

‘THE CAPITAL REQUIRED TO RELAUNCH INTO WINDSURFING WAS EYE-WATERING, AND WHO WOULD INVEST HEAVILY INTO A SPORT ARGUABLY PAST ITS PEAK?’

There was constant expectation Mistral should be a tour de force in windsurfing. However, the capital required to relaunch into windsurfing was eye-watering, and who would invest heavily into a sport arguably past its peak? We could not venture into rigging components and sails, only possibly boards. The established brands had loyal followings, and the aborted start-up with Bringdal had failed. We recognised the investment would be high risk.

Many hours were spent discussing which direction to take. Rather than go head to head at the high-performance level, it was considered to focus on the vacuum existing at grass roots entry level, which the market had neglected years before, or consider relaunching a few iconic boards with modern tweaks. Coincidently, in 2018, the original Windsurfer® would be released in a contemporary guise, reinforcing looking backwards was perhaps the best way to move forward. Many forums repeated comments regarding returning to old designs.’

In 2019, based entirely on commercial and economic realities, Mistral began cooperation with Simmer for freeride boards and sails through Tomas Persson and his historical connection with Mistral.

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This gave the brand a small, if not untenable, foothold back into the most popular high-performance windsurfing discipline. SUP boards onto which rigs could be added, on both inflatable and hardboards, also gave windsurfing a slight boost and a chance of a mini-revival commonly referred to as windSUP boards. Diplock and West would design two entry-level GRP epoxy soft top windsurfing boards, the Freebird and Albatross, and added some basic rigs; to favourable reviews.

‘OUR RIDERS SET RECORD TIMES, EVEN WORLD RECORDS, AGAINST THE MAJOR BRANDS WHO WOULD ARRIVE EN MASSE AT EVENTS’

MISTRAL’S TAHITI CONNECTION Regarding bringing the focus back to Mistral, West comments,’ I believed Mistral needed to avoid being entirely Eurocentric and consider how an association with the Pacific and the islands had served it so

well in the past. Nothing screams ‘authentic’ louder than a geographical connection with the root source of a sport. Beyond that, the physical presence of riders who are true watermen and women and not merely weekend warriors, preferably in those regions. You don’t need a cast of thousands to gain recognition; you need quality individuals revered by others who can get the job done; additionally, it’s easier to manage a few rather than many.

Above: Mistral’s association with the Pacific was reignited by a connection with Tahiti and her islands between 2015 and 2020. West had worked with Tahiti Tourist Board, connecting the islands with sport and outrigger canoeing for ten years previously. Combining the talents of Tahitian paddlers and world-class designs, Mistral would be back on the podium from which it would build credibility. Steeve Teihotaata, winner of the 2016 Air France Paddle Festival against the top paddlers of the world on a West/Diplock Equinox 14’ board

With team riders from Tahiti, the United States, England, Brazil, and the Netherlands, we created havoc by winning significant events. Our riders set record times, even world records, against the major brands who would arrive en masse at events; we confused and spoilt many events for brands convinced they would be winners. I managed to connect the brand with South Africa and Australia for a time, but these are challenging regions, as is Tahiti.

The focus was on making Mistral increasingly more legitimate, which meant changing perception and raising credibility. Tahiti and its

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Above: Iron Mana Waterman Race, Bora Bora 2017. Mistral formed a strong bond with French Polynesia in the years it was active in these waters.

Left: sponsoring the Hawaiian Canoe Racing Series between the islands, resonated well with the waterman community worldwide. As a hardcore wind sport, it made up in part for a lack of windsurfing imagery.

islands are a special place where I have had a long association for over 25 years. The imagery and connection with its watermen and women and their lifestyles are priceless, elevating a brand’s equity beyond normal levels of aspiration. One epic image from French Polynesia is worth ten average images from the Mediterranean. We sponsored the Iron Mana Waterman Tour in French Polynesia, working with Stéphan Lambert and a series of Hawaiian canoe sailing races providing epic imagery. We gained much kudos and exposure in the waterman community and exposure to places such as Hawaii, Australia, the USA and Europe on our social network leading to sales and enquiries.

We had gone right to the core, and it worked.

As fast as we made great boards and acquired fantastic, vibrant, aspirational imagery from photoshoots, I created presentations for Mistral International to present and win over new licensees. It constantly reminded me of the reality; we were, and remain, a dream factory, designing vehicles of desire and visions of where you would rather be, what you would rather be doing and perhaps with whom. It worked, and it certainly helped to win over new business.

Below: variety was the key to keeping things fresh and vibrant. From the viewpoint of the licensees, they had a constant stream of imagery, and new licensees were enticed to sign up. This montage shows images from Sardinia and Fuerteventura

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Above: in late 2020, West founded a Mistral R&D base in England, bringing together talented board riders, naval architechts and CAD engineers, in Cameron Stewart, Tom Partington and Chris Cunningham. In less than twelve months, the team created an entire wing foiling range as a start point for bigger things and diversification. Originality was the key in this process, together with story building.

‘MISTRAL DECIDED WINGFOILING WOULD BE ITS CHANCE TO LAUNCH INTO A NEW WIND SPORT’

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Mistral had missed out on kiteboarding when part of Boards & More in 2000 were on the cusp of brands launching into the sport.

Mistral missed out. Twenty-plus years later, with foil sports developing, Mistral decided wingfoiling would be its chance to launch into a new wind sport. West’s early research showed many brands were not investing in R&D in this field but contacted Chinese factories and selected from catalogues. Huisman and West decided on a different approach.

Huisman comments, ‘Toward the end of my ownership, naval architects and CAD engineers were brought together under the management of Steve West in the UK to create a range of original wingfoiling equipment while turning their skills to other areas of design. We knew it would take a few seasons to perfect. West stressed the importance of having a story regarding development and keeping the brand original by involving credible skilled people. From this, you can call the mission successful in authentically bringing Mistral back to the water.

Additionally, we were preparing a new Mistral windsurfing line, inspired by the success story from the 1980s, working towards a relaunch of modern versions of successful boards from the past we believed could fill the gap in the market; the Malibu and Equipe boards for example. Over the years, West and I had many discussions; and we continue to do so. At times, he was multi-tasking between production, design and marketing, helping give the brand colour, a strong, unified voice and direction with the Mistral Team. Together we both weathered many storms.’

THE LIDL DEAL - CURSE OR BLESSING? When Mistral appeared in Lidl stores in 2021 throughout Europe, many wanted answers as to why? F2 had been the Lidl board in 2020, a brand that features in our story, also looking for a come-back via the machinations of the giant retailer. Most critical would be former windsurfers entrenched in nostalgia for the brand. Mistral needed a cash injection to reinvest in developing core brand products. It had been 25 years since being a household name, and a new generation needed to recognise it; by now, many did not know who Robby Naish was, for example, giving you an idea of the loss of traction.

Internally, it was a challenging decision; as there would be a price to pay regarding the perception of the brand’s integrity and image; on the other hand, both the exposure and revenue from licensing were too great a temptation.

‘We needed to distinguish between the quality of Mistral’s core products and Lidl’s, however when Mistral boards were released, they were not expensive enough, the quality so good it was an issue regarding the price-to-value ratio, and customers getting too much ‘bang for their buck.’ Individuals were buying six at a time for schools, some buying

Above: photo shoots on the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonnaire 2022, serve to reminds us, ‘Where we would rather be and what we would rather be doing’.

Below: photo shoots in Brazil with Mistral’s sponsored pro surfer Karol Ribeiro, hint that the brand is gradually moving into surf board design and manufacture

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Above: photoshoot on the idyllic island of Ameland 2021, far north Holland, showcasing Mistral’s casual wear, paid homage to the brand’s lifelong association with sportswear and Mistral’s claim as the world’s first holistic lifestyle brand.

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and putting on eBay for twice the price. Mistral, as a result, would become one of the world’s largest SUP providers, with more than 220,000 SUP boards sold annually at this time.’

‘DUTCH-BASED NMG IS REBRANDING MISTRAL WITH THE NEW TAGLINE OF “PEOPLE OF THE OCEAN”

Many photoshoots were initiated worldwide, always at beautiful locations and with ideal, natural models, with a mix of action and fashion, including Tahiti, Mauritius, Crete, Spain, Greece, Borneo, Korea, the Netherlands, and other classic sites. Photoshoots combined Mistral hardware, sports-wear, and images distributed to Mistral licensees and used at the webshop and social media. Mistral was blending fashion with its hardware, true to its core roots. Further contracts were established in Italy, Spain, China, Japan, Hungary, Germany, Finland, Greece, Norway, the UK, Indonesia, Korea, Russia, Israel, Kuwait, and Qatar.

In February 2022, Dutch-based NMG purchased Mistral with the short-term task of rebranding Mistral with the new tagline of ‘People of the Ocean’ and the long-term vision of reforming it into a surf brand with multi-disciplinary board sports. It is committed to the foiling disciplines, SUP, surfing and bringing windsurfing back to the brand meaningfully. This bodes well for Mistral’s continued rise to prominence. Arnaud van der Vecht of NMG commented, ‘Mistral is no longer just the windsurfing brand it used to be. The brand is still surfing a big wave, with windsurfing now responsible for only part of the turnover. We respect Ado Huisman and his team for what they have achieved. Mistral has the stature, radiance and credibility to extend this success further by building more of its own business under the Mistral brand. We look forward to a great adventure!’

Left: Bonnaire. Between 2009 and 2022, Mistral arose from the ashes, and understandably, not in the guise from days gone by. It’s now in good hands and we can be thankful that, like an old classic car, Mistral has been repaired and put back on the road in the hands of new owners to once again travel the road least travelled.

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CHAPTER 19

HOOKED...

Co-written by Steve West and Ben Oakley

BLAST FROM THE PAST

M

any interviewed in this book have iterated they, ‘were hooked’ or words to that effect from their very first windsurfing experience. Windsurfing sage, Larry Stanley, expressed it best, ‘I remember getting onto the plane on my first run; It was instant hookage!’ ...the inspiration for the name of this book. Of course, that capacity to bring about that hooked feeling must still exist unless modern life has numbed subsequent generations, which may be close to the truth when you acknowledge how over-stimulated we have become on the one hand and so apathetic on the other. Or is it that we’ve simply too much choice today?

The past fifteen years in the watersports industry have been tumultuous. New activities such as stand-up paddle boarding and that ultimate spoiler, the boom in foiling, have served to impact windsurfing at the precise moment kitesurfing was coming off the boil, and windsurfing might find meaningful traction once again. Surfing, wingfoiling and skateboarding are currently enjoying a surge of growth; everywhere you look, you’re spoilt for choice; not so back in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, windsurfing was indeed an epiphany, something uniquely different, it stood alone. To be truly hooked requires a degree of obsessiveness, to embrace something as a lifestyle, not just a casual thing, nor even a weekend thing, somewhat more akin to a marriage. You invest heavily both emotionally and financially; ultimately, separation becomes problematic; meanwhile, you may go through an actual divorce because of too much water time and not enough devoted to important human relationships. You may end up living out of your VW Transporter, sleeping amongst your wetsuits, fins, foils and boards, wondering where it all went wrong.

So what was the essence of windsurfing, setting it apart from other activities and experiences to create this emotive reaction?

For one thing, it connected with the bohemian lifestyle of all that surfing culture had previously created, and years later, stand-up paddleboarding fed off this very same energy. Everyone, so it seems, wants to connect with the romantic, hedonistic aura that surfing portrays. Those in marketing know this and milk it for all its worth; all paths lead back to the purity of surfing, even urban sports such as skateboarding and winter sports such as

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snowboarding. Beyond ‘the hook’ of the physical experience, the link to surfing is palpable, plunging the hook deeper into the soul so as hook, line and sinker, you become intoxicated by the experience.

It was, of course, a sport of its time. By today’s standards, windsurfing would be considered expensive, inaccessible, complicated, inconvenient, time-consuming and incongruous with modern life. The sport influenced millions of people over five decades; the existential experience would establish a tribe of enthusiasts and a business sector prepared to invest, develop and design to fuel the passions and desires of the tribe; and hopefully

of colour, attitude and pleasure, even if self-serving in striving to build their brand and net worth. Today’s enthusiasts may resist commercialism, but most connect to windsurfing’s marketing hype, real or perceived, notwithstanding the power and influence of today’s social media. Individuals gravitate toward one brand or another based on its vibe, levels of environmental awareness, avoidance of green-washing blurb and factors we never imagined, accepting how it resonates with our life. In short, it becomes a tribal thing to which you have allegiance.

Rapid technological advances in sport are exemplified by ancient wooden skis hanging on chalet walls to denote alpine chic and

Above and right: celebrating life on the beach, a cold Caribbean beer after a great day on the water, driving to Lake Garda with friends and equipment, partying at night and sleeping in the old Range Rover right on the water‘s edge to be ready to sail the sharp northerly ‘Vento’ early in the morning. Quite often real life and dreams aligned in those days...

profit from doing so. For thousands of us, it would go on to define who we are and how we live. Many have marriages based on meetings through the sport, Seer, Brockhaus and West in this book alone and many others. For many, it represents an era that shaped their lives for the better, not just for a brief moment, but a lifetime for many.

That an inanimate moulded piece of plastic or custom-made board could have such meaning attached to them, morphing into an iconoclastic lifestyle symbol and an activity that would transform watersports and people’s lives, is a lot to draw to a conclusion. Brands amplified their image, delivering a kaleidoscope

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pioneering challenges. Wooden waterskis would be interpreted the same way next to a teak Windsurfer® boom, likewise hung on walls with wooden daggerboards and heritage-shaped fins.

They are, of course, today’s museum pieces. The contemporary plethora of equipment reflects the astonishing progress windsurfing has made as a performance sport; whether it’s gone too far is open to discussion. These days it includes offshoots of what could be considered part of the family; wing and wind foiling, now an Olympic event, joined by the other Games newcomer, kiteboarding.

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‘IT FELT GREAT TO BE PART OF A WHOLE NEW MOVEMENT...’

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REVISITING THE ESSENCE OF WINDSURFING Peoples’ sensations prompted the use of the expression in being ‘hooked’. Glen Taylor’s 1979 book, ‘A Complete Guide to Windsurfing’, reads, ‘It is a special form of recreation which particularly suits the tenor of our time. To an individual who gives it a fair trial, windsurfing quickly yields a satisfying reward of rich personal sensations. You have to ‘Go for it!’ and apply yourself to obtain experience, but when you do, the payoff is excitement. The first thing [you feel] is the speed. The nearby water blurs as you sweep over it.’ Nike’s ‘Just do it’ (1988) mantra, now trademarked, resonates as a similar ‘Go for it!’ enticement.

If the initial visual blur over water creates the hook, it is undoubtedly the need to master new and improved skills which keeps the fire of participation burning, rewarding the rider with even more speed, jumps, and more radical moves. Add in the physicality of interacting with the elements as you win more battles than you lose; you’re left satisfied with an afterglow of stretching every sinew, leaving you uber-content and invigorated. German aristocrats, Prince Charles [King Charles III], business leaders, rock stars, and high court judges were all at it. The uniqueness of this time was due to the sport’s wide reach, the hype and its intoxicating rapid development. Not being a part of it (1976-90) could be considered bad for your image.

THE MOVEMENT Then there is the question of being a part of a movement. A distinctive group which was certainly more relevant in the early days, whereas today, it’s just one part of the action sport-crazed smorgasbord. ‘It was something super new and crazy, something special. I was hooked. It was a new thing. In 1973, there were probably, only a few hundred across Europe’, says Charly Messmer. As we heard in Chapter 15, it is about identity, about who you are.

Messmer continues, ‘Windsurfing brought this Californian vibe of the surf, the beach, and the lifestyle to the inland lakes.’

Above: first love at the beach? Many of us have marriages and relationships based on meetings through the sport.

‘The thrill of speed over water, the challenge of learning new skills, being at one with the elements, and being a part of a niche collective did it for me,’ says Oakley. ‘Compared to sailing a dinghy, windsurfing felt faster and more exhilarating in having that speed in your hands and under your feet. Though the record (1977-80) for a windsurfer using less than 10sqm sails was a mere 19.1 knots (Dirk Thys’s over 500m at Weymouth, England) today’s record stands at 52 knots. This was achieved by combining technology, technique and specialised venues. What is now the world’s fastest speed ditch in Namibia would have been as good as inaccessible in the 1970s travelling with a load of low-tech, slow gear.’

West comments, ‘What’s most incredulous is that despite the fact we used teak booms, wooden, industrial, rudimentary components, a sail made from tissue paper and a board which weighed a metric ton, even before it became waterlogged. When I think back to when my wife Mandy began the sport at age 16, it was just as well she had a boyfriend [me] to help rig and lug the kit around; maybe that’s why there were so many windsurfing couples; it was symbiotic necessity which made it by default a highly sociable sport. We pioneers were not put off by all the inconveniences or challenges of learning on equipment which was not fit for the use by kids, but we did. Yet people still whine about the weight of the board and rig.’

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In the early days, regattas represented a meeting place for local pioneering windsurfers to gather to affirm their tribal allegiance to ‘the movement.’ Regattas were highly social, and racing was secondary to the fun of meeting like-minded people you would not have otherwise met. There was inquisitiveness to see how others rigged and handled their boards. Talking about the sport nurtured idiosyncratic language and discussion. It was a distinctive time for those experiencing the sport in its first two decades.

Every aspect of life changed once you became a part of this collective.

Social and club sailing was, therefore, a substantial contributory factor to windsurfing’s early appeal and development; once the focus moved away from this, it was to prove detrimental.

Windsurfing was initially inclusive, finding appeal with families.

Whereas surfing, its close cousin, was egocentric, windsurfing’s strength in numbers came from the fact you did not need surf, just wind and water, which immediately broadened the appeal.

When windsurfing removed the focus on the social, collective, and community qualities and focused on individual stars and the high-performance, extreme end of the sport, the wheels began to fall off: nurturing the sport at the bottom of the pyramid ceased.

SOCIAL CHANGE Early in my research, I interviewed Peter Reinschmidt, (Mistral Product Manager, (1985-1990) & Licensee for Mistral wetsuits in the 1990s), who commented. ‘The gap became too big between the ordinary sailor and the professionals. Unfortunately, the media pushed this, principally the magazines, always higher, faster, and further. Ultimately it became about the individual, not the collective. The mindset was changing, as would public perception.

By the ‘90s, digital media and programs such as MTV and a massive increase in TV stations changed people’s

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viewing habits and concentration spans. They would now Channel-Surf rather than watch one program. In addition, new trendy sports such as snowboarding and kiteboarding gathered momentum, so active people wanted to do everything; snowboarding in the winter, windsurfing in the summer, one week, one thing, the next, something else.’

‘WINDSURFING WAS NEVER JUST A SPORT IT WAS A WAY OF LIFE...’

These factors would nurture a lack of sporting attention span and things progressively became worse. Social media, gaming and so on have severely undermined the ability to concentrate and focus on just a few essential passions in life and have arguably robbed the active, outdoor childhoods of a generation.

‘That’s a central issue,’ says Reinschmidt. ‘We cannot revitalise the ‘80s, but it was a special era in our lifetime, not to be repeated. In the early days, we were fuelled by our hearts and with passion. We had been evolving a sport, but by the late ‘90s, brands were being ruled entirely by the head and by numbers, and it was clear we had to overthink it to stay on top. But it was also a result of social change, reflected in music, fashion and other factors, which now had many forms of rock and pop genres, fashions and attitudes.

Many brands began to lose identity in changing times, which they had nurtured for so long because the culture we had all existed in

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was becoming more diverse and it was challenging to identify with a single genre.’

Today’s riders could not be considered pioneers, save for those who have pioneered the development of foiling. As we have read, when wave sailing began in Hawaii, Europeans could not source the custom boards or rigs they saw in magazines, to which Rein-

can defiantly say, by the end of the ‘80s, beginning of the ‘90s, the Windsurfing industry was influencing and advancing many areas of technical development and even culture. A magazine published in San Francisco, USA, called ‘Beach Culture’ focused on windsurfing, surfing and skating. The expression ‘Beach Culture’ to me was important as it labelled a culture of the ‘80s centred around fashion.’

Above: from the beginning windsurfing as a ‘sport de glisse’ has always attracted other similar sports like snowboarding, kiting, wakeboarding, skateboarding, mountain biking, or rollerblading - as seen here in the town of Torbole at Lake Garda in the early 1990s

schmidt comments, ‘Yes, that’s true, and like the pioneering pilots of yesteryear, they flew by the seat of their pants and on their wits, but they tended to have mechanical and aeronautical knowledge that was practical, whereas today’s pilots would never get their hands dirty and have only rudimentary understanding of what it is they are flying. It’s the same with cars. Even in the ‘80s, you could work on your vehicle, open the engine and service it. Now, you open the bonnet and realise you can only add oil and water, but you cannot work on it, so I am now detached from the very thing I drive and cannot repair anything.’

All this talk of the essence of windsurfing being about physical sensations, identity, the vibe, and the social aspect is music to a marketeer’s ears. They might think, ‘We can do something with this, especially if we make a windsurfing brand mean something in people’s minds.’ A brand’s image and success are partly based on its underlying philosophy and the values it nurtures over time, becoming associated with a product.’ Reinschmidt comments, ‘You

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TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS Technological advances have allowed hardware to come a long way from flexible, heavy boards and baggy rigs in the early chapters of this book. As we said in Chapter 15, equipment is ‘faster, lighter, stiffer, stronger’ but also benefits from more mechanised, computer-based, precision production. Neil Pryde describes the company’s pivotal 1981 moment.

‘Most of [our] competitors were still using scissors [to cut sail cloth]. But the future lay in computer cutting technology. Gerber Garment Technology was introducing new machines to the garment industry in Hong Kong. It was also the way to go since it enabled panels of sail material to be stacked up to 100 high and cut all at once with precision. It was a big new investment but paid off.’ In theory, this should have reduced the costs of sails, but it’s always complex; one thing leads to another.

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In another example involving computer chips in the background, the rig’s weight was ripe for development. Carbon tubing ended up allowing masts and booms to be much lighter. In the USA, a former dinghy sailor, Peter Quigley, found a way to mass-produce quality carbon items by precisely winding carbon fibre around a tapered or cylindrical steel axle to produce a tubular mast with the same thickness from top to bottom. The company became Fiberspar and launched the new products with Nevin Sayre (ex-Mistral rider) in 1984. While it benefited the performance end-users, eventually, it would trickle down to newcomers with lighter rigs to learn with.

Florian eventually became noticed for his sailing and people skills. He progressed to be part of the Mistral test team with Charly Messmer. This is why he thinks the windsurfing school and shop infrastructure is so important to maintain, which Peter Brockhaus had warned about in Chapter 2. ‘For me, it is very important that there are still shops. On-site advice is very important.

There are still between 30 and 40 windsurf shops in Germany. It is absolutely in all our interests that this shop landscape is preserved [despite the online channels]’ (Surf Magazine, 2022 – our translation). He also sees a constant stream of 30,000 people a year in

Computerised Numerical Control (CNC) manufacturing of boards has also revolutionised the industry.

Whereas a mould is generally required for high numbers of boards, where the mould cost is high, and the unit cost is low, a low number of boards can be computer cut using a CNC machine to cut out a foam blank using three-dimensional (3D) files, using a variety of industry software programs. Following this, they are hand laminated. Here the unit cost is higher, but the mould cost is avoided, and lower numbers can be produced almost to order; best of all, designs are easily modified simply by altering the 3D file. From this, small businesses are now thriving, making surfboards and wingboards, for example, where only a small CNC machine is needed to get set up.

PERSONAL BENEFITS Today there is an ever greater appreciation for the benefits of exercise and engagement with the great outdoors.

The millions who windsurfed regularly doubtless benefitted from improved mental health, not that we had a label for it back then. SUP has been the recent equivalent during the pandemic, but no more so than canoeing, kayaking, surfing, swimming and all outdoor pursuits. Outside in places with big skies, deep horizons, waxing and waning moons, tides, and waves, you realise you are merely a speck compared to the natural system around you. It helps you keep a sense of perspective on life.

Further, it helps people become more aware of looking after the lakes and water they glide on and the natural system around them. En masse, many people better appreciate the need to take care of the environment and can see first-hand any negative impacts on the natural world. All these reasons are why windsurfing should be celebrated but also why it has a future.

WINDSURFING’S COMMERCIAL FUTURE Florian Brunner, head of Mistral in the mid-1990s, now distributes Starboard and Severn products in Germany, explains his view of the place of wind and wing foiling as part of windsurfing. He has something in common with most people interviewed for this book; involvement with the teaching of windsurfing and the VWDS, a common route was for so many people. Peter Brockhaus, Ernstfried Prade, Yola Bichler and Charly Messmer became good windsurfers from spending so much time teaching and on the water. Both Steve West and Ben Oakley also followed the same instructor path.

Above: in the mid-80s’, Englishman Angus Chater (†) pioneered a radical approach to sports action photography ahead of its time, providing the world with stunning on-board, in-the-moment imagery. Sports action cameras would not come about for another twenty years. His images were published in every significant windsurfing publication, including surfing magazines, when he photographed Pipeline using a 20’ bamboo pole with a camera attached. Action Photo ‘Angus Chater Archives’ courtesy of Steve West.

Germany still being instructed for a basic VWDS license, and the rental market is growing. Some people don’t buy a board, a bit like skiing.

His view of foiling resembles Robby Naish’s view of Kitesurfing in Chapter 1. Foiling, ‘. . . expands windsurfing to include a wind range in which people previously only cruised across the lake with longboards. Now you can feel gliding again with the foil in 7-12 knots. This expands windsurfing in the low-wind range enormously.’ This also resonates with Steve describing windsurfing as a gliding sport in his prologue.

For Florian, there’s a risk with how wingfoiling is treated in the magazines, ‘If I look at their [magazine] covers, then we’re already at a point where I say to all magazines, friends, be careful that your photos are not only of the ‘air wing show’; beautiful pictures but [as in the past with windsurfing] there was a point when there were only cover shots where you couldn’t see any water at all. That’s what I mean by ‘air show’. That’s already happening in wingfoiling; you must make sure the sport remains accessible to the grassroots.’

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He sees SUP as one of the only watersports you can do at any age, as long as you can stand and swim. While SUP kept his company afloat, he is more confident in the future of windsurfing than in other genres. Windsurfing is mature and more stable compared to SUP or wingfoiling, which is much harder to predict; it is an unknown quantity a decade from now.

‘GPS TRACKING AND MINIATURE CAMERAS RECORD EVERY SPONSORED RIDER OR ‘WANNA BE’ SPONSORED RIDER’S MOVE FOR SHARING ON SOCIAL MEDIA’

DIGITAL DEVICES AND WINDSURFING In line with our current fascination for digital devices, the ability to showcase one’s personal ‘stats’ has become the centre of bragging rights in sharing how fast, what distance, how high, what course one took, plus for some, even heart-rate and recovery information. GPS tracking, minature cameras and the like record every sponsored rider or ‘wanna be’ sponsored rider’s move for sharing on social media.

Long before the personal sports camera, one of Steve West’s original windsurfing partners, Angus Chater, pioneered the world’s first meaningful action ‘selfies.’ Attaching a camera to the mast and firing the camera via a wired remote control on the boom. His images still impress to this day, dating back to the mid-‘80s.

No one had seen anything quite like it; every professional photographer was stunned by what they saw. There was no internet and no social network sharing. Magazines worldwide clambered for his ‘selfies’, which created the equivalent of today’s digital sports action camera imagery heroes. In 2005, I tested the first GoPro 35mm HERO. Angus had been ahead of the curve by some twenty years in initiating this art form. He became an overnight sensation, not as a competitor but as an aspirational influencer made ever more potent by his blonde hair, good looks and the vivid colours of the dramatic Pacific Ocean.

For today’s top sailors and brands, social media is vital, especially when you have a story to tell. People like narratives; the story of windsurfing adventures or trialling new ideas, ‘new tricks attracts clicks.’ It is, by default, essential, and riders are happy to feed this hungry beast while feeding their profile and why not.

For individual windsurfers, the connection with the essence and buzz of the sport can now be shared. Those who want to can create videos, blogs, and photos and curate how they experience the sport, even to the extent of having drones follow them, creating spectacular shots of them living the dream and reinforcing who they are.

So how does this relate to the average windsurfer? Many might not bother with it; Robby Naish does not like it, yet recognises it’s necessary for brand building and individual status but remains

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Above: as this guy nonchalantly walkes across New York’s Broadway with a board under his arm we feel that windsurfing’s energy is alive, having drawn on a fantastic confluence of 1970s factors to change millions of people’s lives to explore life and the world.

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convinced it does not lead to sales per se. If he posts a radical clip and gets 250,000 views, this does not translate into comparable board sales, if any. Regarding the digital demographic, Millennials (born between 1981-96) or, more significantly, Gen Z (born after 1996) may digitally share their experiences.

Mainly the internet has significantly changed how people learn new stuff. Just look for what you want on YouTube, and someone will tell you how to do it. When windsurfers are learning new moves, they can see someone doing it right in front of them on their device, and a forum will tell them the key things they need to know. The sport gets pushed to new levels at the elite level via collaborative sharing. The downside is that everyone is an expert, so you must at least implement your own spam filtration system by determining the quality of the person banging-on in a forum, for example. This online collaboration can help solve complex spins, weight, and direction shifts.

This is partly why wave sailing, kitesurfing, and snowboarding have reached such a high level; it looks like a video game, and the moves are outrageous.

Of note, around 1988, Czechoslovakian windsurfer Vaclav Hornik created WindGuru, leading to legions of wind sports fanatics revering the website as their bible for predicted and present conditions. It’s a universal portal into which all wind fanatics can log in, and it exemplifies the digital spin-offs of an industry-related tool that’s invaluable to planning your wind, water and surfing life around.

boards and brands no longer with us. Some social media platforms are specifically dedicated to old-time windsurfing, and increasingly, brands include a ‘timeline’, ‘heritage’ or ‘history’ tab on their website to tell their story because, provenance matters.

As a result of this digital world, the sport’s genesis, heritage, and soul are more shareable than ever before, where the experience, the feeling, the buzz, and the stoke of what being ‘hooked’ looks like is immediately accessible via the computer screens of millions, and this now applies to most sports.

Windsurfing still has a pulse kept alive by a mix of old-school windsurfers reliving their youth and younger participants shredding it up, and an Olympic class hanging on for the time being.

Our once unique activity draws upon a fantastic confluence of 1970s factors which changed millions of people’s lives to explore life and the world. The combination of events and people created a unique early period, leading to many equipment offshoots and personal and social benefits.

Preserving the soul of the sport is not about nostalgia, but it helps inform and nurture the current social environment and open-mindedness for the future. It encapsulates how individuals, brands and types of windsurfing come and go and how millions of people’s collective joy and well-being have and will continue to benefit, whether it’s windsurfing or any one of its related sibling sports.

PRESERVING THE SOUL OF THE SPORT Exploring windsurfing’s heritage, evolution and impact from a European perspective, as shared within this book, with all its messy complexity, is required to help connect the dots of the present with that of a rich and diverse past. The American genesis story may represent the gestation ground. However, in respect of the sheer weight of numbers, of teenage exuberance, maturity and old age, European entrepreneurs grew the sport.

They followed the lead from Hawaiian islander’s inventiveness and the skills of key individuals. Europeans’ love affair with windsurfing shaped the sport.

It is reassuring to see online that others believe the sport’s soul is worth preserving and to ensure we don’t forget those precious one-time-only pioneering days. Windsurfing museums in Europe are striving to represent the sports journey represented by

‘PRESERVING THE SOUL OF THE SPORT IS NOT ABOUT NOSTALGIA...’

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REFERENCES Bilanz (1999) Klaus Jacobs: Adecco / Barry Callebaut, Dec 31, 1999. https://www.handelszeitung.ch/panorama/klaus-jacobs-adecco-barry-callebaut

David Edmond Jones Page: 17 (bottom right)

BBC (2009) Peter Chilvers on the origins of windsurfing. Extract from BBC The One Show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQZLKGZ6vgk

Daniel Forster Pages: 160 (top), 161

British Marine Industries Federation (2022) Watersports Participation Survey 2021.

Mike Forster/Daily Mail/Shutterstock Page: 59 (middle right)

Brockhaus, P. and Stanciu U., (1978) Sailboarding: basic and advanced techniques.

Carter, J. (2020) The iQFoil Story, Windsurf Magazine, August 3rd. https://www.windsurf. co.uk/the-iqfoil-story/

Georg Fritzmeier GmbH Pages: 74, 220

Chao, J. (2020) The Insider: Windsurfing Whistle-Blower, American Windsurfer. Vol 7 (3/4). https://www.americanwindsurfer.com/articles/the-insider/

Michael Garff Pages: 27 (middle left), 54, 56 (bottom), 57 (top), 59 (top left, bottom right), 60, 61, 62/63, 64/65, 68, 115, 149, 193, 194 (all images), 195, 208, 210

Dupont (1971) Dupont Magazine (July-August 1971) Vol 65 (4). https://digital.hagley.org/ dupontmag

Jill Goodall-Seer Pages: 28, 97, 113

Gölnitz, S. (2022) Florian Brunner: Life between business suit and board shorts, Portrait, Surf Magazine, February 22, 2022. https://www.surf-magazin.de/windsurfen/people/portraits/

Annabelle McIver (†) Page: 18 (top)

Hacking, N. [IYRU Secretary General]. (1983) Boardsailing – Yachting’s new Olympic event https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/8028600/boardsailing-la84-foundation

Mistral Archives Pages: 12 (Ado Huisman), 30 (Darrell Wong, 3rd row left), 32 (Steve Wilkings), 73 (Dominique Merz), 116 (Michael Garff), 118 (Michael Garff), 128, 129, 130, 131 (Monika Sedlmaier), 146 (Sylvain Cazanave), 147 (bottom row, Archive Ado Huisman), 152 (Archive Prade), 177 (Archive Ado Huisman), 209, 233 (Archive Ado Huisman), 234, 235, 236, 237 (top, bottom), 238 (Willem van Walderveen, top left and right), 239, 240/241 (all images), 242, 243 (top, bottom), 244, 245

Neil Pryde Ltd. (2010) Will to Win: The Remarkable Story of Neil Pryde Limited. Neil Pryde Limited.

New York Times (1987) Europe gaining in U.S. sailboard battle, August 17th.

Potts, J., & Thomas, S. (2015) The curious case for media monopoly in technology-driven sports. Media International Australia, 155(1).

Sayre, N. (2012) Calling out to U.S. Sailing to explain their Olympic vote. https://www.sailworld.com/UK/Calling-out-to-US-Sailing-to-explain-their-Olympic-vote/-97327?source=sailworld Shah, S. (2000) Sources and patterns of innovation in a consumer products field: Innovations in sporting equipment (Vol. 4105). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sloan working paper.

Sports Illustrated (1985) Up Where the Air is Rare: Two-time World Champion Robby Naish, a free spirit on land, really cuts loose on a sailboard. May 5th.

Christian Müller Kittnau Page: 127 (Privat) Naish Family Pages: 23 (top left and right, bottom left), 27 (top right), 28 (middle right), Naish Sails, Hawaii Page: 22 (bottom right) Frankie Bees, pages: 22 bottom left, 43 bottom, 44, 47, 48 (middle left) 48/49, 53 F. Berthuot, pages: 22 top right, 48 middle Fishbowl Diaries, pages: 43 (top), 45, 46, 47, 48, 50/51, 51 (bottom left, middle, right), 52

Taylor, G. (1979) A Complete Guide to the Sport of Windsurfing. Publisher: Bay Windsurfing

Craig O‘Connor Page: 189 (middle left)

Thomas, S., & Potts, J. (2016) How industry competition ruined windsurfing. Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, 6(5).

O‘Neill / RSX Pages: 226, 227, 228

Thorpe, H., & Wheaton, B. (2011) ‘Generation X Games’, action sports and the Olympic movement: Understanding the cultural politics of incorporation. Sociology, 45(5).

Les Purcell Archive Page: 213

West, S (2012) Stand up Paddle - A Paddler’s Guide. Publisher, Batini Books

Red Bull Content Pool Pages: 22 (top left, Mark Thompson/Getty Images), 48 (top, Markus Berger), 48 (bottom, Kolesky/Nikon)

Wheaton, B. (2000) “Just do it”: Consumption, commitment, and identity in the windsurfing subculture. Sociology of sport journal, 17(3).

Wheaton, B., & Beal, B. (2003) Keeping It Real’ Subcultural Media and the Discourses of Authenticity in Alternative Sport. International review for the sociology of sport, 38(2), 155-176.

World Sailing (2019) Selection of Equipment - 2024 Men’s and Women’s Windsurfer Event.

Working party report and recommendations to Council. Available from: https://www.sailing. org/tools/documents/2024WindsurferEvaluationReport-[25667].pdf

PHOTOGRAPHY: All photos: Ulli Seer ©1977 - 2023, except contributing photographers (see below) www.ulli-seer.com All rights reserved

Sailing Energy Pages: 229 (top, bottom), 230/231 Chris Smith Page: 18 (bottom) John Speer Page: 106 Cliff Webb Pages: 30 (3rd row right, 6th row left), 140 (top right, middle right, bottom left), 146 (all images) Steve & Mandy West Pages: 15, 19 Stephen Whitesell Page: 42 Steve Wilkings Pages: Cover, 24 (top), 27 (bottom left), 31, 84/85, 85 (top), 86, 87 (top, bottom), 88, 89 (top), 92, 94 (top, insert), 95, 98

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS:

Darrel Wong Pages: 2, 23 (bottom right), 34 (bottom), 36/37, 38, 39, 43 (top, bottom) 79 (top, bottom), 139, 142, 143 (top left/right, middle, bottom left/right), 145, 203, 204, 205, 211, 212, 215

Alamy Stockphotos Page: 201 Carlo Borlenghi Pages: 166, 167, 223, 224/225, 225 (top, bottom) Florian Brunner Page: 217 (private) Pete Cabrinha Pages: 13, 14, 180/181, 202, 216, 232 Angus Chater (†) Archives Page: 253 (courtesy of Steve West) Archive Club Mistral / Club ION Pages: 154/155 (all images), 156 (bottom left, middle/left, middle/right) Archive Newman Darby Page: 69 Archive Ernstfried Prade: Page: 152 Archive Stephan van den Berg: Page: 165, (top, middle)

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UNKNOWN CREATORS Some of the informations and images in this publication are up to 50 years old. Despite thorough research we were unable to identify all authors and creators. We wish to apologize to the respective creators and ask them to contact us if they wish.

The following images could not be allocated to their creators: Pages 17 (left), 55, 56 (oben), 57 (bottom), 58, 59 (middle left), 71, 74, 77, 83, 85 (bottom), 90, 119, 141, 160, 199, 201 (top, middle)

Windsurfing’s Untold Stories How did windsurfing develop, and who were the individuals behind the genesis of some leading brands?

Further, to what extent has the sport influenced the development of other board sports? To answer these questions, researcher Steve West has combined interviews with Mistral, F2, Naish and Windsurfing Hawaii pioneers and broader research to provide fascinating untold stories from the sport over 50 years.

The sport’s evolutionary journey goes far beyond the equipment and on-water technique advances. It explores how the boom years of windsurfing were uniquely influenced by culture, image, competitive drive and a Hawaiian catalyst. The iconic images of Ulli Seer, Mistral’s principal photographer for some twenty years and other leading photographers of the time show the sport’s progression through the decades from basic wooden booms to carbon-enhanced performance.

Mistral’s ups and downs throughout the book, by way of example, include the impact of six different owners (1976 to 2022), tensions between individuals and how a brand can survive through the highs and lows. This engaging visual and anecdotal book told through personal stories may remind you of your own personal journey in the sport. HOOK ED! might entice you to wash the dust from your old board in the garage and hit the water again.

“Hooked is a vibrant and colorful look into the most profound era in Windsurfing. The worldwide windsurf community, with its tight knit friendships, visionaries, and spectacular action, propelled this rapidly growing movement into one of the most dynamic water sports of all time. This book beautifully captures the essence of Windsurfing’s greatest time and how the sport developed since then”.

Pete Cabrinha, artist and designer, World Wave Champion 1985 Wow! “Steve - What a fine job you’ve done putting my scattered thoughts and anecdotes into order. I thank you for the effort and for not trying to rewrite history.”

Larry Stanley, founder of Windsurfing Hawaii and windsurfing innovator

ISBN 978-94-91737-92-3

www.hooked-untold-windsurfing-stories.com