The editorial by editor-in-chief Gerd Kloos is and remains completely timeless. In the October 1992 issue, he reflects on why so many surfers travel 500 metres there and back in a large group instead of enjoying the open water a little further away. "Maybe they have to hide their jibes," he wonders and rages: "These people are evading any performance control in the speed match!" Anyone who doesn't surf the "overcrowded bumpy piste" is a "competitive individualist". What's more: "They completely lack the mental maturity for the choppy wave and the nerve to deal with a near miss." Or is it rather the fact that the bunch riders all fail at going uphill?
The ISPO highlights
The new products for the next season are presented in autumn at the ISPO in Munich, which was still the unwritten law in 1992. In the sail sector, more and more manufacturers are focussing on a lot of mono film and little weight. ART has a new external camber, Pryde a new boom front piece without ropes. NPU is showing a stepless batten tensioner that comes very close to today's systems. In terms of boards, Tiga's record sales (from 200 boards a year to 3,500) caused astonishment in the industry. The PE boards are now manufactured without CFCs and are therefore "fully recyclable": "Tiga is thus setting environmental standards." F2 has new Axxis and Sputnik variants that show the first symptoms of No Nose. Mistral focuses on "radical early planing" and brings large boards, but also the high-end racer Explosion XR for a hefty 3290 marks: "There's 200 marks worth of carbon in there alone!" says Rainer Ramelsberger in defence of the price.
Robby Naish in person
In 1992, Robby's career is in upheaval: he has won everything and is a living legend, but it is clear that the dominance of a certain Mr Dunkerbeck cannot be shaken. What's more, Robby is newly married and is making new personal arrangements. Reason enough for an in-depth interview: "I think I'll be shifting down a gear soon," Naish hints, saying that in future he wants to concentrate on wave riding and only compete in racing events that he's passionate about. The overall title is no longer important to him, instead he wants to spend more time with his family.
Sometimes it's not easy to be a Robby Naish."
He manages his career together with his wife Kathie: "Sometimes it's not easy being a Robby Naish. [...] I don't think anyone realises how many letters I have to answer or how time-consuming sponsorship negotiations can be." Robby is becoming more and more of a businessman, even though he says "Only if I can't avoid it." But as director at Gaastra, marketing manager at Mistral and shareholder at Quiksilver, his diary is full to bursting. On the subject of environmental protection, which is becoming increasingly important at the time, Robby says: "The slogan 'Save the planet' is a bit silly for me, almost a bit stupid. Our planet doesn't need to be saved, the earth has existed for millions of years and will continue to exist. But we have to save humanity." He himself is particularly in favour of waste disposal and recycling.
Windsurfing in advertising
The toothpaste brand Signal has invested half a million marks and filmed a commercial with windsurfers in Hawaii. Branded boards, sails in the striped look of the toothpaste and radical scenes flicker into living rooms as "the best advertising film with windsurfing scenes at the moment". Other well-known brands are also using windsurfing to advertise spreads, chewing gum and many other products in 1992. "People are tired of tennis, football and golf," says Boss boss Christoph Rosenauer, while others rely on the "natural fascination" of windsurfing and "feelings of wanderlust and adventure". Tennis, on the other hand, is an "anti-sport" for one manager, while football "only represents the cinder pitch, not the big, wide world."
The advertising impact of windsurfing is overwhelming
As the most prominent advertising face, Björn Dunkerbeck chews his chocolaty breakfast bread with relish and collects a "reasonable five-figure sum" for it, while other brands such as Suzuki, Corny or C&A focus more on the image of windsurfing in general. The success is overwhelming, as those responsible at Orbit chewing gum and Suzuki proudly report. Toothpaste manufacturer Signal is even getting requests by the dozen from windsurfers who want to buy the sails from the advert. Nivea is already one step ahead: the cream brand has been selling cheap Al-Winner sails with its own logo for years and has "hundreds of thousands of views every weekend - for free."
And what else?
- Petition for "Tommy's great guys": 58 surf readers signed the appeal to the surf editorial team to return to Tommy Brandner's short stories instead of the colourful satire page "Tommy Tohuwabohu"
- At the beginning of the nineties, the trend was towards plain, white boards. Bic wanted to follow this trend and parted company with designer Mike Eskimo, who was known to like it colourful. However, the first new designs lead to protests from Mistral, for whom the slight colour gradient is too close to their own image.
- Some surf readers were allowed to test their old equipment against new boards and sails. Conclusion: Lighter and faster, the sails easier to ride and with better components. Only one of the guest testers was seriously shocked: "He came back to the shore completely shocked after a hit, put the material down and disappeared with the words 'This is all much too fast for me!"
- A new generation of back-friendly trapezes has been launched. No longer an "orthopaedic stretching board" like the first North Ergo Trac, with many supports and a kind of suspensorium but still striking
- Advertising gems: "A pilot spends an average of 40 hours a month in the air", reads one advert in capital letters... "But he will never have this pleasure" prophesies Gaastra to all those who buy the brand's new sails
- With Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, surf presents some highly exotic destinations, as well as Margaret River in Australia. The Munich city spots Ammersee, Wörthsee and Pilsensee are much more down-to-earth
You can click through the entire magazine in the gallery above!
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