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The waveboards are getting bigger
"Fat, patient, wind-friendly waveboards" in the surf test: the new jumbos are designed to make it easier to get started and lower the wind limit. "Now the wave riders no longer sit around on the beach like cool arseholes and make fun of the freeriders," enthuses one brand manager. The new shapes have regained characteristics that didn't play a role for years: "These boards glide much earlier and go upwind better," says Bic shaper Fabien Vollenweider. At the same time, the sandwich construction makes the boards significantly lighter, even "radical soul surfers on series wave boards" are no longer a rarity, marvels Fanatic shaper Sebastian Wenzel. However, he is fundamentally sceptical and, looking at the new, large boards, says: "If I had to make a wave board for the group, it would certainly look different." He is referring in particular to the relatively flat scoop rocker line of many newcomers, which in his opinion no longer have any wave DNA. These include classics such as the F2 Wave (yellow with a black kite!) or HiFly's top model by Sean Ordonez, one of the later Quatro founders. Rick Naish and Harold Iggy were still at work at Mistral, while Peter Thommen was responsible for the JP. While some of the small wave boards only have a tiny 68 litre volume, some of the big newcomers have already surpassed the 100 litre mark.
Hookipa in the hall - indoor contest in Berlin
Indoor World Cups were all the rage in the second half of the nineties. Stadium atmosphere, guaranteed action and experiencing the stars in the centre of the city. Paris-Bercy led the way, Milan also organised an indoor event, and at the end of 1997 Berlin also got its indoor World Cup in the Velodrom. The riders also know that the show is more important than the sport: in the dream final between Naish and Dunkerbeck, Robby shows his sporting spirit when he waits for Björn to get back to the start line after his mast breaks to the cheers of the spectators. Conversely, Dunki slows down when Naish slips the boom to get a super final. After two days, Dunki was ahead, also thanks to a special board that was very wide by the standards of the time, which allowed him to glide quickly after the jibes. However, Dunkerbeck refrained from jumping over the ramp as he did not want to injure himself. During a single attempt in training, he promptly buckled his board. Other skiers also fell victim to the ramp, with Robert Teriitehau coming out on top in the end. The spectators, however, find slalom more exciting, "it's like Formula 1!"
World Cup final as a "thriller under palm trees"
The World Cuppers met in Fortaleza for the last event of the year, and the title fight was particularly exciting in the wave riding and women's events. After days of calm with skippers meetings at 5.00 am, a light breeze finally kicked in and the single elimination began. Robby Naish is determined to win, but his semi-final against Dunkerbeck has to be cancelled several times. But then Naish is subsequently thrown out, as a judge had incorrectly scored a jump in the quarter-final. This throws the ranking into disarray and Scott Fenton is suddenly third in the world championship. An overwhelmed Jason Polakov lands at the top with his first World Championship title. The joy was so great that the Australian celebrated in advance and then turned up to the official award ceremony in a drunken stupor. Andy Laufer and several other riders followed a similar tactic, exploring the nightlife in the face of the poor forecast and then heading straight to the early skippers' meeting. Nathalie LeLievre won her eighth title in the women's event and announced her retirement from the World Cup.
And what else?
- F2 wants to "open a new chapter in windsurfing" with the New Move in longboard style. At least visually, the board is a real eye-catcher with its elegant wood option
- Heralding a mammoth project: a small announcement heralds the Trans Atlantic Windsurf Race. Only recently, organiser Louie Hubbard a book about the legendary race written!
- Transfers: Wave World Champion Jason Polakow moves from Gaastra to NeilPryde, where he should stay until the end of 2023 and also integrate his label JP-Australia.
- With the aim of "superlearning", Mistral is launching an inflatable board called the "Windglider". The air mattress is designed to help with the very first steps - an ancestor of iSUPs.
- As with waveboards, shapers are also focussing on more volume in flat water. With the Thommen 305, F2 brings a light wind racer beyond the then still magical three metre mark, 179 litres should be enough for planing from two wind forces. Mistral even gave the 311 cm long SLE in rubbish collection orange 185 litres. RRD hangs a flap on the wide tail for the first time - a small rubber flap designed to prevent the far rear fin from drawing air.
- A great spot in the shadow of the hot spots: surf presents the Odsherred peninsula in the north of the Danish island of Zealand - there are great spots with perfect Danish flair for almost every wind direction!
- Jason Prior's double loop at the Aloha Classic in 1998 was worth a news item of its own...
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