Leafing through the April 1979 issue of surf leaves us astonished: it describes in great detail where the still young sport could develop. The industry at the time was still in the shackles of patents (see below), so the question of what was possible when you had limitless options was all the more exciting. From today's perspective, some of the ideas sound bizarre, of course, but in many respects the utopias of that time can be recognised in our current material. This inevitably raises the question: What will windsurfing look like in 2070?
The material of the future
surf invited six experts to give their thoughts on where windsurfing is heading. When it came to the boards, the opinion was unanimous: they must function in both displacement and planing mode and be significantly lighter ("ten kilos or even less"). But boards with more hulls were also repeatedly discussed. The "waist" of the sails should be eliminated, i.e. the contact with the boom. Because the wind blows stronger in the upper part of the sail than at the bottom, the lower leech should be shorter and the leech "extremely flared". This means that the battens have to go all the way to the mast. The experts agreed that the mast was far too soft and that aluminium or carbon masts could provide a remedy. For better aerodynamics, Siggi Pertramer presented the idea of making the mast sleeves significantly wider. Even though he spoke of "up to one metre" - modern slalom sails work precisely with such a design.
In contrast, the ideas for double booms for optimum grip depending on size and recessed grips on the boom did not catch on. Another big topic was a "safety base plate" that comes loose under certain loads. Finally, the discussion ended with the question of whether fins and daggerboards are necessary at the same time. Two panellists argued in favour of the daggerboard, two for the fin and one suggested a concave underwater hull, the edges of which would then provide lateral support.
The look into the future was concluded with a glossy outlook on windsurfing in the year 2000: "The largest board manufacturer proudly announces that its production has just exceeded the million mark!" Windsurfing is so widespread worldwide that there are restrictions on many waters - for example, only 25,000 people are allowed on the water at Lake Garda. One of the reasons for this is a flood of material, thanks to a daily production of up to 1600 boards. The price is regulated by the authorities: "A normal board costs 4000 Eurodollars. In terms of purchasing power in 1979, this corresponds to around 1000 marks."
Like when you fly!
In keeping with the Manta advert (see picture gallery above), two versions of wings were designed back in 1979 to enable flying with a windsurfing board. One approach looked more or less like a normal sail on the water, but then folded out like a wing when you jumped. You were supposed to be able to fly up to 100 metres with it - however, the visionaries at the time also assumed that the boards would be made of nylon and weigh just a few grams.
A second design was already very similar to today's Wings, but even more so to the Wind Weapon from the late 80s. The board with its two lateral drift inhibitors is also reminiscent of today's SUP designs - if it weren't for the concave "sliding bottom". However, it is astonishing how close the designs of the utopias of that time were to today's reality. However, modern production methods and materials, which made the realisation of the concepts possible in the first place, were apparently completely unthinkable at the time.
The "Fernsee programme" 1979
Six areas are presented in the April issue for the summer: Lake Neusiedl, Lake Garda, Lake Silvaplana (then known as Lake St. Moritz), Zandvoort, Sylt and Fehmarn. A list that could still appear similar today. The differences to the present are remarkable: Lake Neusiedl still warns of the border to Hungary, while Lake Garda has "changed from a former insider tip to a recognised surfing centre thanks to diligent word-of-mouth propaganda and the report in surf 7/78 [...]". Silvaplana emphasises that you shouldn't forget a wetsuit even in summer, while the Zandvoort section is more about car racing and casinos than surfing. The Sylt spot guide has Jürgen Hönscheid's telephone number at the ready, and on Fehmarn the Charchullas have held the title of "windsurfing old-timer" since 1979.
And what else?
- The patent over and over again: three out of five news items are about licence owner Hoyle Schweitzer: he lost one case, won one, and new licences were announced once. Further on, surf devotes a detailed article to the question of what actually belongs to a rig by definition.
- At the first Munich carnival ball for surfers, the "catapult" model was auctioned off, a board cut out of a spruce trunk with an axe.
- Karl Lagerfeld (age given as 40 at the time) printed windsurfing motifs on a "red fluttering robe". Price: 700 marks.
- The range of sports pictograms known since the 1972 Olympics now also includes an image for windsurfing
- At the Paris "Salon Nautique", 35 different manufacturers show 62 new products. The most expensive is the "Sailboard Porsche Design" for around 2600 marks.
- The VDWS advertises the "Certified Sailing Surfer Campaign". Anyone who passes the basic licence diploma even receives a corresponding badge.
- Robby Naish shows in "Robby's bag of tricks" how to surf lying on your back
- The calculation formula for placing in regatta rankings is explained on two pages. This comes from the sailing sector, but also applies to windsurfing, as the new sport is now "performance pass-authorised" since its official inclusion in the associations.
- Inside the cover of surf was "Karl-Heinz Stickl's big surf quiz", with the prize being a regatta course on Lake Garda. If you wanted to win, you had to answer 17 challenging questions, such as ""How should you tactically go downwind at the windward buoy when you are just in the lead in the regatta?"
