Here I present interesting ideas, unusual materials, beautiful custom boards, records.
Εδώ παρουσιάζω ενδιαφέρουσες ιδέες, ασυνήθιστα υλικά, ωραία μοναδικά σανίδια, εξαιρετικές επιδόσεις.
RECORDS
This old video of the windsurf 1981 Weymouth Speed Trials, vividly demonstrates the efforts of the early riders using the rather primitive equipment of that era.
Arnaud de Rosnay europe – afrique & usa – Cuba crossings
2012 – THE 50 Knots WINDSURFING BARRIER IS BROKEN!
The Swedish record holder Anders Bringdal broke first the 50 knot barrier twice, with 50.41 and then 50.46 knots improving at the same time the world record on Production Boards.
After that Antoine Albeau surpassed Anders’ performance with 50.62 knots, recovering his position of world record holder.
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In the ladies category, Zara Davis also improved her World Record with 44.92 knots and so did Lena Erdil improving her Turkish Record with 43.81.
The record on Tandem category (1 board / 2 sails / 2 riders), was also broken with 38.12 knots!
Many other National Records were smashed:
Patrick Diethelm improved his Swiss/Italian record with 49.71 knots, positioning himself 3rd fastest in the world.
Cedric Bordes: 49.66 knots, positioning himself 4th fastest in the world.
Nick Vardalachos @ 50,56 knots new GREEK record and 5th fastest in the world.
British Farrell O’Shea improved his record with 48.21 kts.
Mark Grinnell from South Africa and Matthias Röttcher from Namibia improved their national records. Mark: 46.49 kts and Matthias: 46.69 kts.
Christian Benzing who was battling with his German fellow countrymen, broke the German Record in Windsurfing with 45.57 knots.
SPECIAL BOARDS
ALUSURF
A very unusual early board was the aluminium French Wildfire Alusurf (1980), hollow if I recall well, which could be ordered in any anodised color! I have no idea how dangerous it must have been sailing it in overcast/rainy weather, especially using a hi-tec aluminium mast of that era…
Ένα πολύ ασυνήθιστο σκάφος, ήταν το αλουμινένιο Γαλλικό Wildfire Alusurf (1980), κούφιο αν θυμάμαι καλά, που με παραγγελία βαφόταν σε οιοδήποτε χρώμα με ανοδίωση! Φαντάζομαι πως θα ήταν ιδιαίτερα επικίνδυνο να σερφάρει κανείς με βροχερό καιρό, ιδίως αν χρησιμοποιούσε αλουμινένιο άλμπουρο – προχωρημένη επιλογή εκείνης της εποχής…
TILLO International
You should be familiar with the story of Alex Morales, from my older post : NOT windsurfing in Cuba – again!
Well, as Alex organizes in Miami slalom races of international level, producing at the same time boards of his own brand TILLO, I think there should be a rightful place for his boards at the Windsurfing Special section.
More as an update of his recent activities, comes this article of Timothy Venn @ BOARDS.
CUSTOM BOARDS
WOODEN WINDSURFING BOARDS
I love wood, so I’m always facinated by boards made with visible the beauty of the material. Nowdays, quite a few companies use more or less wood into their boards, but I would say two companies lead the field in a different way. The one is STARBOARD, and the other is T1. If you are interested in the technology each one of them uses, just click their names .
Μ’αρέσει το ξύλο και ιδιαίτερα τα σκάφη που βασίζουν την εμφάνισή τους σ’αυτό. Στις μέρες μας, αρκετές εταιρείες χρησιμοποιούν λιγότερο ή περισσότερο ξύλο στην κατασκευή των σανίδων τους, αλλά θα ξεχώριζα 2 μάρκες που συμβάλλουν στην εξέλιξη αυτή, καθεμιά τους με διαφορετική προσέγγιση. Είναι η STARBOARD και η T1. Αν θέλετε να μάθετε περισσότερα για τις σύγχρονες τεχνολογίες τους, κλικάρετε τα ονόματά τους.
This division II racer of immaculate finish was presented by the Greek magazine Surf & Ski. It was an entry to the international regatta that took place in Porto Carras in Greece, but although they took photos and provide the info that was made by a Greek in BRAZIL, they failed to record THE NAME of the guy. The bottom photo shows Greek athlete George Giagoulakis who raced the beautiful board. In the same article there is mention of a French entry of Herve Borde with an aluminium board.
SEPTEMBER 2012 : Thanks to ARG425, we got the missing info about the wooden DII board – “Grego”. It was buit in Brazil by naval architect Leonidas Zerboulis. Grego means Greek in portuguese.
Τόσο ενδιαφέρον το κομμάτι για το Βραζιλιάνικο σκάφος του Έλληνα κατασκευαστή, πλην όμως ξέχασαν να γράψουν τ’όνομά του. Αν το βρώ θα το συμπληρώσω. Στο ίδιο άρθρο αναφέρεται κι ένα Γαλλικό αλουμινένιο σκάφος.
ΣΕΠΤΕΜΒΡΙΟΣ 2012: Ο ARG425 με πληροφόρησε πως το ξύλινο ελληνοβραζιλιάνικο σκάφος “Γκρέγκο” (που βέβαια σημαίνει Έλληνας στα Πορτογαλέζικα), το κατασκεύαζε ο ναυπηγός Λεωνίδας Ζερβούλης, που αν τον εντοπίσω ίσως απολαύσουμε το δημιούργημά του σε καλύτερη εικόνα…
There are 2 persons that influenced the evolution of wooden boards. The one is Jean Louis Colmas of Starboard and Gary Young of Bamboo Surfboards (also Woodwinds and WoodenBoards back then). Young has posted nice informative material @ his site.
Σημαντικές φυσιογνωμίες στην εξέλιξη των σέρφ με τη χρήση ξύλου, είναι ο Jean Louis Colmas της Starboard και ο Gary Young της Bamboo Surfboards (και Woodwinds και WoodenBoards παλιότερα)
Hitthewave 