The birth and subsequent growth of stand-up-paddling brought about a positive and much needed injection of interest into watersports in general. One of the key drivers was that it was easy to understand, and more importantly easy to access, bringing the sport into the mainstream. Simply grab a board and paddle, and away you go! And with the first boards that hit the market being long and wide, the early-adopting windsurfing brands quickly realised there was an opportunity for some crossover between the two sports. So not long after the dawn of SUP production came the emergence of the windsurfing-SUP board – a.k.a. windSUP.
However, the road ahead served up a few bumps along the way, and certainly didn’t become the ‘golden ticket’ for new windsurf-ing blood that many had hoped. Rapid progression in the SUP market soon highlighted stark differences and conflicts in design directions between the two sports. A wave specific SUP for example, would be highly rockered for best performance, with soft rails in all but the tail, to grip the water during transition. By contrast, planing windsurf performance would demand minimal tail rocker (tail kick at best) and at least some ‘flat’ in the board’s profile to release onto the plane, along with a harder edge to maintain speed whilst being sailed flat. So using a wave SUP for windsurfing just didn’t tick many boxes, the board feeling painfully slow and even creating sail handling issues as it stubbornly refused to release. Similarly, using an early touring SUP for windsurfing didn’t fair much better - great for long distance cruising, but terrible for making any headway to an upwind goal … and no good at all for teaching any friends or family how to windsurf. Meanwhile the SUP all-rounder felt more of a compromise than ever, not really offering any upside in windsurfing, other than a board to pootle around on in light winds.
Denne historien er fra Issue 388 - August 2019-utgaven av Windsurf.
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Denne historien er fra Issue 388 - August 2019-utgaven av Windsurf.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
New School
Slingshot’s windsurfing brand manager, Wyatt Miller, has noticed that kids are drawn to playing with wings and puts forward an interesting case as to why he thinks this could help entice them and others into windsurfing.
Changes
Wave sailor Flo Jung reflects on our changed world during his lockdown in Germany.
THE LAST WAVE
Lockdown stirred the creative juices of reader Björn Alfthan, who peers into the future to present a fictional story set in the wild waves of Norway, five years from now.
STILL IN THE GAME
After a horrific fracture in his leg from a crashed aerial in 2018, Alessio Stillrich is back! John Carter talks to the highflyer from Gran Canaria about his move to the Simmer team, recovering from injury and how he learned to windsurf in Gran Canaria!
MOVE ON UP - GET ON THE FRONT FOOT
This month we look at how our front foot weighting can affect and improve different aspects of our main windsurfing moves.
SOUTH' KIPA
Nik tweaking it over home waters.
A NEW NORMAL
On a trip to La Tranche-sur-Mer in France last year, Tris Best estimated over 80% of the windsurfers were foiling. This summer in Portland Harbour, foiling activity has increased dramatically too he reports. With the market offering plenty of choice to recreational windfoilers, our test team check out some of the latest foil offerings.
TACKING – THE SEQUEL
Having given you time to practice, Harty concludes his tacking series by critiquing various tacking options, including the carve tack, as well as offering solutions to common slip-ups.
‘NO VAPOUR TRAILS TO SCAR THE SKY' *
Realising we may be about to enter an extraordinary period in our lives, Harty decided to keep a windsurf-centric lockdown diary. Here are some of his choice excerpts.
REDEMPTION DAY!
Renowned for its windsurfing and variety of spots to sail at, Kimmerdige Bay is a wave sailing jewel on the south coast of England. Timo Mullen gives a guide to its shores while reflecting on why a recent session there was a reminder that there is no place like home!