HiFly is back!
It seems that many of the old windsurfing brands have several lives: HiFly, just revitalised as a fashion brand had actually already disappeared from the market by 1986: The former owner Akutec had been liquidated, but an employee had secured the rights to the name and sold them to the company Rotex, which then revived the brand a few months later. "Internationally, the HiFly name is still hugely important and has a good reputation, so it would have been a shame to let it go under," says one manager. However, the new owner emphasises that he is not responsible for warranty claims for older HiFly boards. In addition, Rotex has not been able to purchase any of the old machines and is therefore unable to reproduce spare parts. For the new start, HiFly is launching a 370, a 355 and a 330, with a smaller slalom board still to come - all produced in "Marlite", a polypropylene. However, the Marlin brand is to be phased out in the long term.
New speed record by Pascal Maka
"It's Crossbow-killing-day!" was the slogan at the Nabisco Speed Trial on Fuerteventura on 21 July 1986. The racing catamaran "Crossbow" had held the world record for sailing boats until then, but then came Pascal Maka. With a four-person sail and eight to nine wind forces, he set a speed of 71.97 km/h, almost five km/h faster than the old record. Maka had a perfect day and completed 20 more runs - all of them faster than the old cat record. In addition to a speed needle, the Frenchman also rides a near-series Gaastra sail with cambers (still awkwardly referred to as a "camber inducer" in the report). No more of the special rigs of years gone by, which cancels out their theoretical advantages by being too heavy. One of the most extreme boards was ridden by second-placed Eric Beale: "How he manages to fold his feet on the only 15 centimetre wide tail at the start is an anatomical mystery to many," the authors wondered. The women's event was won by 16-year-old Britt Dunkerbeck, who had bought her record-breaking board second-hand from shaper Jimmy Lewis just the day before. The duel with Crossbow was to go even further, however, as their designer was caught intensively studying the competition during a speed week.
Sail manufacturers in cut-away fever
After the "profiled sail shock" (surf's original quote) two years ago, the industry is once again in a state of frenzy. The cut-away trend can no longer be tamed, and more and more manufacturers are launching new models with jags in the leech and a wide flared top in the middle of the season, even though the shops' warehouses are still full. "In the ski industry, it would be unthinkable to approach the media with an innovation in the middle of the season," grumbles one businessman. After the first attempts at Speedweeks, former NeilPryde people brought the trend to Lake Garda in Europe and now everyone wants to jump on board. The theory is plausible - in gusts the sail can twist at the top without having to be furled, the centre of pressure moves forwards - but the practice is still different: Manufacturers are worried about durability because of the often fluttering top, the soft profile costs performance. "The Cut Away stands for surfing fun and handling, not speed," says North man Eckart Wagner. The first test on the Sea of Galilee in Israel shows that the basic idea works for most of the prototypes, but the sails are barely rideable in the extreme range. Conclusion: The positive characteristics are generated by a twisting top - whether with cut away or other moderate cuts is irrelevant
Angus Chater, inventor of the mast photos
He invented the camera perspective from the mast, in which the windsurfer photographs himself: Angus Chater, whose spectacular pictures had been featured in almost all major magazines in the years before, committed suicide at the age of just 26. The story of how his photo construction came about is rather sad: because Angus was not recognised by most professionals in Hawaii as a Brit, the photographer and shaper hardly got any good shots. So he came up with this way of photographing himself, because Chater was a very good surf surfer himself and liked to be the centre of attention. However, he was an outsider without many friends, writes Uli Stanciu in his obituary. His most important reference person was his wife Pam, whom he had married for a residence permit and with whom he only later developed a real love. After a serious accident, he followed the surfing scene to Maui, but his relationship with Pam broke down due to the distance. Chater saw no other way out than suicide.
And what else?
- A new world record for the longest chain of windsurfers was set in Suhrendorf on the Baltic Sea with 134 boards - but was beaten again just a little later on Lake Ammersee with 201 Mistral boards. The new record chain was featured as a poster in the centre of the magazine!
- Surfing ban on the Eisbach! Because a flying board injured a swimmer, a court banned surfing in Munich's city centre and threatened a fine of 10,000 marks
- Hand washing made easy: Long before pandemic-related washing instructions, surf shows how to elegantly and casually let your free hand slide in the water during one-handed manoeuvres. Not long enough to say "Happy Birthday" twice, but much more pleasant!
- Mistral launches the new Equipe, at that time with a sensational weight for a raceboard. In the first surf test, the most expensive production board at the time (3800 marks) was convincing, and the Equipe and its successors are still frequently seen in the raceboard class today.
- On the way from the teak boom gagged to the mast to the modern quick-release fork, the handlebars have reached an unconvincing intermediate stage: In the surf test, neither the adjustment systems nor the mast connection with ropes are convincing
- In a commentary on the crowded weekends on the Brouwersdam, author Hans-Jürgen Kraatz is amused by all the Rhinelanders and Ruhr area residents who make the pilgrimage to Renesse every Friday and meet on the water and on land: "According to international rules, the one with the greatest fear or family gives way here."
- surf presents five station wagons and tests them for their suitability for windsurfers. All of them pass the packing test and are labelled "Sinkersafe": this means that smaller boards fit into the interior and can be locked in.
- To mark the tenth anniversary of Mistral, the European and World Championships for the Mistral class are being held as a huge event in Switzerland. 230 competitors from 21 countries are taking part.
You can click through the entire magazine in the gallery above!
More surf reviews:
- These were the highlights in surf 4/1977
- These were the highlights in surf 6/1978
- These were the highlights in surf 4/1979
- These were the highlights in surf 11/1980
- These were the highlights in surf 4/1981
- These were the highlights in surf 5/1982
- These were the highlights in surf 4/1983
- These were the highlights in surf 10/1983
- These were the highlights in surf 9/1984
- These were the highlights in surf 8/1985
- These were the highlights in surf 8/1986
- These were the highlights in surf 5/1987
- These were the highlights in surf 8/1988
- These were the highlights in surf 5/1989
- These were the highlights in surf 7/1989
- These were the highlights in surf 4/1990
- These were the highlights in surf 6/1991
- These were the highlights in surf 3/1992
- These were the highlights in surf 9/1993
- These were the highlights in surf 10/1993
- These were the highlights in surf 4/1994
- These were the highlights in surf 7/1995
- These were the highlights in surf 11-12/1996
- These were the highlights in surf 7/1997
- These were the highlights in surf 8/1998
- These were the highlights in surf 4/1999
