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It's hard to imagine: the "windsurfer" once had a real monopoly. "If you wanted to windsurf, you had to have this board. There wasn't much else, maybe until 1975 or '76," recalls Frank Spöttel, who diligently collected medals at German, European and world championships from this time onwards and is now back on the Windsurfer - the new "Windsurfer LT". After all, there was a choice of colours, "it started with the orange and yellow ones from Ten Cate in Holland, then came the white ones." Variations that are more reminiscent of the ordering options for the Trabant in the GDR car dealership - without the options for "LTD", "Carbon Reflex" or "Pro" to tick in the equipment list.
But if even 15-year-olds are digging their parents' black records out of the cellar again in 2020, perhaps the windsurfer LT has a chance of a revival among the next generation of windsurfers, even today, between reissued flared trousers and Buffalo boots - and not just in the "old-school windsurfer" Facebook group.
It should help immensely that the new board not only exudes plenty of retro charm, but is really very suitable for everyone from absolute windsurfing beginners to gliding and looping beginners and can also be used for trendy stand-up paddling (see Testing the wind SUPs).
If you can even take the board away from the sunbathing part of the family when it's calm - because the large, soft deck covering has the potential to spark a towel war for the best sunbathing spot.
The old windsurfer was not for the faint-hearted
The beginnings on the original windsurfer, on the other hand, were less cosy: "There were sometimes bruises or the daggerboard to the head, it was a killer instrument," Frank Spöttel describes vividly. Unimaginable: the centreboard is pulled out completely after tacking, especially in strong winds, and dangles from the crook of the arm on a poor-quality furling strap. Technical expert Spöttel had even attached a smaller loop to the daggerboard, "so that I could hang the daggerboard on my thumb and put it back in the box more quickly during regattas at the buoy".
In strong winds, the board could lever out the base plate and you suddenly had the rig in your hand." (Alois Mühlegger)
Excuse me? Holding the daggerboard by the thumb? I unconsciously scrutinise Frank's hands and count the fingers. Well, at least the mast was attached to the board with the famous universal joint - which, by the way, bears a frightening resemblance to a nutcracker. Otherwise Jim Drake would have involuntarily invented wing surfing 50 years ago. But it was obviously often close to free flight. "In strong winds, the narrow board tended to capsize," adds regatta oldie Alois Mühlegger, "then the board could lever out the base plate and you suddenly had the rig in your hand."
No wonder, the only connection is a jammed block of wood, wrapped in tape as a tuning. "An action like that took time in the race, but with a bit of feeling you could usually keep the board halfway under control on the cross, or you had to get one foot on the daggerboard quickly enough and push the board back when the edge came up," explains Spöttel.
"But it was actually worse when you lost the daggerboard on the wobbly board at the leeward buoy. I saw some people swimming behind the daggerboard and it happened to me too." The folding centreboard is operated with a single footstep on the new wider board, and the centreboard box now - naturally - remains sealed. Without the daggerboard, however, the Classic Windsurfer looks like a black hole without the elastic rubber sealing lips - at best. Because in strong winds, it sprays out of there like from a BGS water cannon. With the "LT", the daggerboard is simply folded halfway away if there is too much wind on the cross, and with an extra eight centimetres in width, the board is much tamer in strong winds, it doesn't roll so easily underfoot onto the edge.
Above in the gallery you can see all the details of the original Windsurfer and Windsurfer LT
The rig was the weak point of the windsurfer
The modern rig provides solid support, nothing dangles. The original heavy wooden fork, on the other hand, provides as much control and safety as a car at 140 km/h with a flat tyre on the front left. "My boom didn't wobble quite like this, it was better in the past," says Frank, critically examining the stopper bar on our test rig.
The boom slips so that the spars can hit either the top or the bottom of the mast. Just as the obligatory knot test for the sailing licence still causes students to despair today, not all windsurfers back then managed to achieve the perfect knot technique with a tight-fitting stopper bar on the mast. Today, thanks to quick-release fasteners, the sailor's eye is rarely offended by creative threading variations at the base plate and knot artwork at the other end of the boom. And you seem to lose practice too, as our loosely tied test rig proves.
In 2020, the Windsurfer is not a monopoly and is one of hundreds of different boards available, but Frank has already decided on a new one: a Windsurfer LT. "My wife is currently learning to glide surf and I want to take part in the Lake Kaltern Cup again."
After ten minutes, our photo shoot on Lake Wörth is unexpectedly shaken by the first gusts of 20 knots, which shatter our small group. Three wild rides across the lake remain, a windsurfer captain hides under a fishing boat on the other side of the lake, I wade along the shore with my head down under the rolling thunder, only Frank fights his way back for 20 minutes on the verge of capsizing and has that sailing feeling from back then again: "Of course, the new rig is no longer comparable to the old windsurfer rig. It was just sloppy, you can't even imagine how you could sail with it at that time. I haven't surfed with such an old set-up for a long time, but it was brutal today with so much wind and so much turning. When the wind comes in, it's one big belly, it's cruel. Just cruel."
1967 - 1986: Windsurfer
- Price complete: 1690 E marks
- Width: 65 cm
- Length: 365 cm
- Weight: 20 kilos (with fin)
- Sail: Dacron, 5.7 square metres
- Wooden centreboard, one mast position, wooden fork in fixed length, one-piece GRP mast
Anyone who drove to the lake in 1975 with a yellow Ten Cate (manufactured under licence in Almelo in the Netherlands), or even better a white board from American production on the roof of their car, felt like a super surfer star. One board, one rig, for all conditions - from zero to nine Beaufort. When there was little wind, we played tricks, from 1976 onwards it was all about riding the edge - forwards, backwards. If there was a hack, the regatta centreboard was swapped for a shorter storm centreboard for freeriding to avoid the annoying capsize. The polythene board was indestructible, full speed onto the beach and then casually off. Five or six hours on the water with this balloon sail in a force five wind - inexplicable today. "We had nothing else," says Alois Mühlegger, who introduced the harness to windsurfing regattas in Germany in 1979. Even today, he still gets on his oldie from time to time - but only when there is little wind. When it blows, he lets it rip with his new LT windsurfer.
From 2018: Windsurfer LT
- Width: 73.9 cm
- Length: 365.6 cm
- Weight: 16.0 kilos (with fin)
- Sail: Mylar, 5.7 square metres
- Folding centreboard, mast track, almost continuous deck pad, aluminium vario fork, 60 percent carbon mast (two-piece)
The current windsurfer (LT = Light) is available in the same shape from several brands. Only as a hull or as a complete package with rig, which then costs around 2200 euros "ready to sail". There is also a choice between a wide and a narrow centreboard. The wide daggerboard is definitely advantageous for windsurfing frigates, while the narrow daggerboard does not protrude on deck when folded and is the option for windsurfing beginners and can be left in when stand-up paddling. The aluminium boom and a 60 percent carbon mast are in line with the standard of this century.
Windsurfer History
Original Windsurfer
- 1967 Designer Jim Drake launches his first windsurfer in Marina del Rey/California in May.
- 1970 Hoyle Schweitzer acquires the patent from Drake and now produces in series, later granting a licence to Ten Cate in Holland, who come onto the market with yellow PE boards.
- 1972 Calle Schmidt imports the first two windsurfers to Germany.
- 1973 In autumn, 130 starters on Sylt provide a huge field at the first European Windsurfing Championships.
- 1974 First World Championships in the USA, followed by Bendor in the south of France in 1975 and the World Championships in the Bahamas in 1976, where Robby Naish (13) launched an unprecedented career with his first World Championship title.
- 1984 Instead of windsurfer, windglider is Olympic. This marks the beginning of the decline - accelerated by the boom in short funboards.
Windsurfer ASA 2000
- 1985 The ASA 2000 windsurfer with aluminium fork and folding daggerboard is manufactured in Italy, where it will be used in regattas until 2017. It is also used in Australia.
Windsurfer LT
- 2018 Bruce Wylie and Ricardo Giordano develop the new LT windsurfer. Cobra in Thailand, the Windsurfer Class (IWCA) in Rome takes over distribution, later Exocet, GA, I-99, Mistral, Naish, NSP, Starboard and Thommen also distribute the LT boards under their logo.
- 2019 For the first World Championship with the Windsurfer LT, 170 racers from all over the world meet in Torbole on Lake Garda.
- 2020 The German Windsurfing Association (DWSV) will once again be organising the classes
- 2023 There is still a very active windsurfing scene worldwide. The German Championship 2023 is planned for September at Wannsee
