In the mid-to-late 1980s, I was passionate about windsurfing. I kept a board in the back of my pickup truck and, when the conditions were ideal, I would drop everything to go sailing. What, you might ask, was the attraction of it?
Someone once said to me that windsurfing is the purest form of sailing. Upon decades of reflection, I couldn’t agree more. There’s no rudder; rather, there’s just the mast articulating on a universal joint to steer the board. A sailor is literally holding the center of effort in their hands when windsurfing, and the center of lateral resistance is right there below the feet. These two terms move solidly from the theoretical to the practical when windsurfing: rake the mast aft, and the board heads up; rake it forward, and the board bears away. It’s rig-balance personified; weather helm has consequences beyond a heavy tiller. The sport certainly made me a better sailor.
I don’t know why I drifted away from windsurfing, but the sport’s popularity certainly crashed after a while. I think it had something to do with gear intensity: To really remain engaged in windsurfing and keep up with fellow sailors, one eventually needed—or at least craved—a “quiver” of sails and boards for various conditions. I recall cars stuffed with sails, wetsuits, and other gear. The purity of the learning days—of one sail, one board, and one sailor—bled out of it.
Somehow, through genetic predisposition or osmosis, my son Linus recently developed a passion for windsurfing, and resolved to spend a portion of his summer earnings on a board. It turns out there are some real bargains out there due to leftovers from the days of gear-stuffed cars. Together we found a board, for which Linus paid a hundred bucks cash, and he let me take my first ride in 35 years. My balance and strength were rusty, but the muscle memory remained.
https://www.woodenboat.com/issue/301
Comment: This is the first half of the editor’s introduction to the latest issue of “Wooden Boat.” Sounds like Matt Murphy, the editor, caught the bug of windsurfing just a few years before I did. I arrived in Germany on New Year’s Day 1990. As soon as the snow, ice and hoarfrost receded, every lake in Bavaria was filled with windsurfers. I wanted in… badly. I bought my first board at Surfstadl Hase not far from the Dorf I then called home. Surprisingly, even my Bavarian neighbors called it a Dorf. It was that small. Every day after work, I’d tie my rig to the roof of the car and head to the nearby lake to teach myself the art of windsurfing. I would get on and fall down until I was too exhausted to get up again. I understood the theory behind the art as Matt Murphy described, but it took a while to turn that theory into practice. Once I did, it was such an exhilarating joy to plane across the lake. It was even more exhilarating doing so on the Chiemsee.
I would have still had that board if it wasn’t crushed in the move back to the states. But not to worry. I put in a claim to Army Transportation at Fort Belvoir and took a trip to Annapolis to pick out a new one. I got a beauty, a Mistral Escape with a 7.2 meter North sail. My plan was to continue my windsurfing on the Potomac. However the Potomac is not the cleanest body of water. Neither I nor SWMBO fancied the idea of gulping river water on a regular basis. That doesn’t happen in my kayak. I have a decent reservoir in Stafford that reminds me of that Bavarian lake where I learned to windsurf, but I’ve only been able to try out the new rig a few times. Between being assigned first to a SMU and then to DIA left me little time for windsurfing. Now that I’m retired, I’ve concentrated on my sailing kayak.
After reading this editorial from “Wooden Boat,” perhaps I’ll spend a little more time with the windsurfer. The Potomac Conservancy says the river has cleaned up a lot since I first returned to the States. I can see my self screeching up to DC or maybe down to the Chesapeake depending on the winds.
TTG
TTG, your photo, what memories.
The car in the foreground is a Renault 4, known as a 4L. The third is a Citroen Deux chevaux (‘Two horses’). Nicknames: Deuche and at the end of its life: Basket.
I owned and drove these 2 cars. The Deuche was very safe. It forgave all mistakes, even on icy roads. Beneath its (now) bizarre looks, it had a whole collection of remarkable technological solutions. The suspension was original and very efficient. It was impossible to tip over on the roof. The deuche was designed around 1936 with one motto in mind: weight is the enemy.
An anecdote. The Deuche was militarised under the name of Méhari, essentially with a slightly more powerful engine and open plastic bodywork. We used to organise races with a Mehari and a Jeep Willis on tracks reserved for armoured vehicles coming out of maintenance. The ruts were at least 3 feet deep but very wide. Lots of mud, as you can imagine. The Mehari won every time. When it got stuck in the mud, we would wedge a piece of wood on the accelerator. The efforts of the driver and passenger were enough to get it out of the hole. On less wet roads the suspension allowed high speeds.
We’re a long way from windsurfers, but it seems to me that there’s something in common between the deuche and these minimalist sailboats.
Thank you very much.
d74,
My introduction to the 2CV was in northern Germany, somewhere in the vicinity of Bremerhaven. We were at a late night party after a unit conference. Several local friends of one of our local detachment operations officer were in attendance. At some point two of got in the back of a car of those friends and roared off into the north German night. We had no idea where we were going and didn’t really care as we were well lubed by that time. We ended up at a farm somewhere where the party continued. The two brothers that drove us there, at one time traveled around the world in a 2CV. They referred to the car as the Ente or duck. That car was in one of their barns. I got to examine it and, even in my inebriated state, was impressed by its simple engineering. Somehow we did make it back to our Gasthaus in Bremerhaven the next morning.
I’m a great admirer of old VW beetles and buses. They seem like high end Mercedes compared to the 2CV, but I am still enamored with the 2CV’s simplicity, ruggedness and charm. I wouldn’t mind owning one. It would go well with the Trabant that’s in our neighborhood.
Come on out to the Pacific NW for the best windsurfing in the country at the Columbia Gorge. It’s 80 miles long through the Cascade Mountain Range. It’s surface is 4000 feet below the peaks on either side so it’s always windy. I attempted to learn there – badly – and gulped gallons of river water. Too old now though. Sigh!
https://columbiagorgetomthood.com/windsurfing/
leith,
That gorge was famous when I started. Windsurfer magazines always had articles about it, even in Germany.
They have rentals at Hood River and elsewhere, you don’t even have to bring your board.
leith,
All the cool kids are on foils these days down there. It’s a bit harder to get started but within a day most get the basics going well enough to fly. A magic carpet ride, needing so little thrust very small hand-held sails can be used. Much less grunt than a sailboard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76T0sEVcglA Spendy though. The cool kids have not only quivers of sails to acquire, they have quivers of expensive foils to gather too.
I may not envy the kids the world we are going to leave them with, but I most definitely envy their water toys.
Hot tip: There is a valley that runs all the way to Eastern Washington north of the Columbia running south of Mt St Helens. The Lewis river, it gets the same thermal effect, a west wind the heat of Eastern Washington generates, but lessened by about 40% so it’s only in the teens instead of the high 20s. Just like the Gorge wind is practically guaranteed every sunny afternoon. This is plenty of wind for most people. A string of lakes from small PUD dams create a wonderful places to play with sails and yaks and with considerably less crowd….for nearly 30 miles.
Thanks Mark –
Looks like it would have been too hi-tech for me even when I was a youngblood. Amazing to watch them though.
Hi TTG..
Nice intro from Murphy and your comments.
Nearly all sailing is wet and cold, some say it’s like standing in a cold shower tearing up $100 notes. Windsurfing is probably the wettest and coldest apart from kite surfing which, in addition, is more deadly. Give me a cabin sailboat any day, but there is no escaping the elements unless you are a passenger of crewman on a superyacht like the 72m Bayesian (Ed. I suggest checking the previous sentence).
I have tried windsurfing but found it too difficult, lots of arm strength required, but I believe you could get some sort of belt with a hook on it to reduce this strain. As a teenager, I used to wave at the novice windsurfers and watch them fall off when the salute was returned. So cruel.
But Murphy is correct, windsurfing has much reduced in popularity these days. Its been replaced by various foiling craft as well as kite surfing in multiple variants. All are much more difficult to learn and expensive to purchase, but incredibly fast. If you want an old-fashioned windsurf rig, there should be plenty of cheap ones around.
I hope the Patawomeck River (river of swans) has been cleaned up as you mention. It must be USA’s most historic river that’s in reasonably good health (?). A good indication of river health is its fishery and that’s where conservatory and acclimatisation groups do good work.
BTW, how’s Chesapeake Bay fishery going? I believe it used to be a good shellfish fishery. Is this being maintained? As a local you should have your finger on the pulse here.
rw
Rob,
Glad you liked it. Every time I put one of these up, I think of you. Yes, I got a harness to take the strain off the arms pretty quickly. They were common especially for long boarders like me. They make a huge difference. I also got a wet suit pretty quickly. It was called a steamer when I first got it along with neoprene socks, boots and gloves. Wore a knit cap rather than a hood. All that kit kept me toasty.
I see stories about kite surfing and those foiling windsurfers. Never tried them and I won’t be looking to try anytime soon. My rig isn’t too old school. The sail has cams that make it more of an airfoil than sail. My first board didn’t have those cams.
The river and bay have come a long way from a few decades ago. The Potomac Conservancy rated the river a D when I first returned to the States. Now it’s a B. But it definitely still has problems. Our paper ran a disconcerting story a couple of weeks ago about the Ospreys on the Rappahanock that flows through Fredericksburg. Early in the year, there were a lot of chicks, but a lot of them didn’t survive the long hot summer. They figure the hot water kept the fish out of the river or too deep and they starved. The blue crabs are doing okay although the population dipped this year. Oysters are doing well with a lot of programs to seed new oyster beds. The warmer waters are bringing a lot of shrimp into the bay and rivers.
We now have quite a few bottlenose dolphins in the lower Potomac. It’s nice seeing them from the kayak. There are quite a few species of fish in the river, but theres a moratorium on taking shad and sturgeon right now. One fish that there’s no limits or restrictions on is the invasive snakehead. They’re actually pretty good gamefish. They put up a fight and don’t give up once they’re landed. Ya gotta smack em with a bat or hammer. And they’re really good eating. I never tried snakehead fishing from my kayak because they’re so feisty. Maybe someday.
BTW, the Patowomeck Tribe is based right here in Stafford. I remember when Wayne Newton came to Richmond to help get the tribe recognized. He has Patowomeck blood and spent time here as a youth.
If water cleanliness is your (or your wife’s) most important criterion, try a reservoir like Seneca lake (accessible via Black Hill regional park) in MD or Burke lake in VA. You could also try the upper Potomac accessible via the Seneca landing boat ramp in MD or the Algonkian regional park boat ramp in VA.