From New York to France in 46 days: Stephane Peyron was the first person to surf across the Atlantic alone in 1987, without an accompanying boat. The Frenchman had a special "board" under his feet that looked more like a sailing yacht than a board and offered him shelter. And the 27-year-old needed it: from storms off Newfoundland to doldrums and close contact with giant freighters, there were many a dicey situation. At one point, Peyron even looked straight into the propeller of a giant container ship - it was only with luck that his vessel remained undamaged. But in between he covered a good distance, sometimes almost 300 kilometres a day. Technically, everything is running smoothly, but Peyron struggles with loneliness and depression. "I realise that I'm not cut out for this kind of thing," he confides in his diary. At the same time, he has health problems due to a long-standing hernia and an injury to his hand, which he treats himself by radio under medical supervision. Near the Azores, Peyron meets up with a Portuguese navy ship to replenish his supplies and to be cheered up by his girlfriend. He is battered once again by a storm before he makes landfall in France after 46 days - physically exhausted, but celebrated. "I'm no hero," he says, and later adds: "I was lucky. But I think I stretched it a little too far this time." He sensed that his friends were afraid for him. But he had no right to play with other people's feelings.
Helmet compulsory before Hookipa
"The stars of Hookipa are now wearing head protection!" marvelled surf. Faced with increasingly radical jumps and a number of injuries - broken collarbones and noses, lacerations - some stars were already turning to helmets back then. "The riders tried all versions: Bike helmets, kayak helmets, polo helmets, ski helmets... Although none of these head protectors were designed specifically for windsurfing, they all did the job," writes author Sun Star. The number of injuries has been significantly reduced. After initial ridicule and the "macho posturing of strong men", surf helmets are now accepted - and are even seen as a "sign of courage": "Helmet plus radical manoeuvres equals less injury and therefore even more radical manoeuvres." And while the first models with headphones and radio are available, the helmets offer even more space for the pros' sponsors!
Reader story: Lift to London
A year around the world, with stops in Hawaii, New Zealand, Fiji and Australia! surf reader Jogi März fulfilled his dream with a round-the-world ticket "on some never-come-back airline". Jogi even built himself an extra light board especially for the trip, got a three-piece mast from North and customised a board bag himself. But the first flight to Honolulu departs from London, while Jogi is based in Swabia. In order to get to Gatwick on a budget, he decided to hitchhike to the UK. Jogi has written an extremely entertaining account of his experiences for surf. The first leg of the journey takes him to just before the Dutch border in a motorhome with plenty of space - on the outward journey to Italy, the driver had considerably more luggage, as he suggests... The next driver turns out to be a stroke of luck: we reach the island by lorry, even with a bunk and breakfast on the ferry. The Viennese driver ("Hast a Läächn drin oda wos?") even organises the onward journey to the airport via CB radio. After a stopover in Dover ("The English girls still look so bad..."), Jogi is finally dropped off just before the airport - in the middle of the motorway. Fortunately, the last step in a rickety transport with an extremely dubious driver is quickly completed. What a story!
You can click through the entire magazine in the gallery above!
And what else?
- "The World Cup has reached a dead end," rages shaper Helmut Kirner. A brand has to sell 1500 to 2000 boards per PBA rider in order to finance the team, and the professional boards are now far too specialised.
- 5000 square metres of exhibition space, Naish and Schrader as guests, airbrush and strength demonstrations and "cool fashion shows" - not at a mega event, but at the Interboot on Lake Constance. Those were the days...
- Jim Drake and Tom Magruder have teamed up to further develop the Wind Weapon. We remember: Is the "Wind Weapon" the mother of wingsurfing?
- Where there's surfing, there's shavings: because there was an unusually high level of wind and good weather in the summer, storm sails, fins and masts are sold out in some surf shops.
- Follow-up on the "women's qual": The article under the same headline in surf 7/1987 about the supposedly poor level in the Women's World Cup generated such a flood of reader mail that a separate page was set aside for it in the 9er magazine
- If the sinker can no longer make it to shore in a calm, the "M.A.B.L." comes into play: the "Mast Protector and Board Lifter" is an inflatable rubber sausage that can be strapped to the board for the journey home and is intended to provide the necessary, urgently needed buoyancy...
- Jürgen Hönscheid gives wave tips: From getting started to crossing the surf to the first turns
- Life hack from surf tester Werner Buschmann for stuck extensions: Use an oil filter spanner to loosen it!
- "No socially serious windsurfer can do without it, the bow tie with a surf motif!" I see.
- Managers in boardshorts instead of "freaks who can recognise a gust": A detailed look at what a good surf instructor needs to be able to do
- "Sun is nice, wind is better" is the conclusion of a survey of surf readers. Most people prefer travelling to the windy north rather than the warm south.
- Werner Gnigler, known today as an F2 and JP shape legend, won the title of "Austrian National Funboard Champion" in 1987
- Not quite as far as Stephane Peyron (see above), but from France to Corsica across the Mediterranean, Isabelle Verchere surfed and told her journey in a photo story to
You can click through the entire magazine in the gallery above!
Tobias Frauen
Editor
