The discovery of Jaws
Today, everyone knows this spot. In 1994, we first heard about "Domes" on the north coast of Maui: "Anyone who rides here is one of the 20 best surfers in the world. Or a suicide. Or both." Robby Seeger was one of the pioneers at the time and writes about one of the first sessions in the wave that would later be named Jaws. "We are still about two kilometres from the reef and can already see huge spray fountains." Robby has five waves to himself, then Josh and Mark Angulo, Laird Hamilton, Pete Cabrinha and other legends join him. "We know that today was another small day," Seeger summarises afterwards. "And we also know that a really big day is yet to come - that will be the first step into a new dimension of windsurfing. A dimension whose limits cannot even be imagined today." Incidentally, it wasn't until around a year later that Gerry Lopez revealed the exact location of the spot.
In a recent interview with us, Robby explained where the various names of the spot come from - Jaws, Pe'ahi or, in the past, Domes: "There was a dilapidated windmill on the cliff. It looked like a cathedral and was the landmark. You had to turn off the motorway into the pineapple fields here if you wanted to get to the cliff above the spot. First the spot was called Domes, later Jaws. But not because the wave bites like a shark, but because there are lots of tiger sharks there. Later, the name was changed to Peahi. I like the name Peahi best."
- Click here for the full interview: Robby Seeger on big waves, golden years and bad timing
Eisbach in danger
"Naked people on the left, art on the right, spectators in front and the police breathing down your neck": Munich's Eisbach is a surfing hotspot and a thorn in the side of the police. The official reason given is that the concrete walls make it "life-threatening". This leads to strange scenes between surfers and the Bavarian police: "The cops even chased us on horseback in the English Garden once," reports one of the lawbreakers. "But we just let ourselves drift downstream. Because the police don't have river horses yet, they stood helplessly on the bank." So the higher authorities have resorted to tricks: a diversion means that less water is now reaching the Eisbach wave, which is "just a tired white water". However, an alternative spot on the Flaucher is firmly in the hands of coli bacteria. By the way, surfing on the Eisbach is allowed again today!
The "Scots Journal": How to get surfing equipment cheaply
What poor Kutte Prießner hasn't had to do over the years: Not enough that he in the legendary video "The new style" ten years later, a photographer in a kilt and bagpipes placed him on a HiFly board in 1994 to open the "Schotten-Journal". "Windsurfing has never been so cheap" is the slogan in view of the economy models offered by some manufacturers. surf used the Fanatic Ray to test whether the luxury version is also better: "The differences can only be recognised by those who are able to test the boards to the limit." If you can live with a previous year's model, there is a lot of discontinued material waiting for you in 1994: the surf shops are sitting on heaps of '93 material, which is particularly cheap. Even a classic from the surf adverts is not expensive: the Nivea sails from Al Winner, advertised for years, show good light wind characteristics in the test, but are hardly rideable in stronger winds. The model from the early days of GunSails is convincing, but No Worx fails completely. There is a "Schwacke list" with reasonable second-hand prices for used stuff. On and AHD are particularly stable in value, while expensive versions such as the Mistral XR or the F2 World Cup Edition suffer from high depreciation.
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And what else?
- Advertising pearls: NeilPryde advertises the new VX race sail with a double-sided advert that shows neither sail nor surfer, but only a somewhat threatening cloud front. This is probably an allusion to the word "stealth" at the bottom of the advert...
- Fit for Fun" determined the "sex quotient" of various sports. Windsurfing came in third place behind swimming and biking for both women and men. Right at the bottom: Football, followed only by "no sport at all".
- Jason Prior, then 20 years old and "boss of the new wild ones", poses with his 26-year-old Karmann Ghia: "The professional photographers are hot for his action, the girls for his car".
- "Where is Croatia 'lead-free' again?" many surf readers ask. After the end of the war in Yugoslavia, the spots want to make a comeback as a tourist destination.
- Unconventional between "Dr med" and "employee": In the reader question about cheap sailing, a "17 to 150-year-old" "Indian" named Werner Haltmair also answers - perhaps part of the indigenous population of Upper Bavaria?
- The advice corner is all about blisters and wounds on the hands. Tip in addition to gloves, milking grease and the like: "Nathalie Siebel and Bernd Flessner, among others, practise a somewhat disreputable and for some 'corrosive' disinfection method: If they don't have any disinfectant to hand [...], they simply pee on the wound. [...] But do NOT wash your hands afterwards!"
- At the DWC on Norderney, there was only one day of windsurfing on the water, the rest of the time the entourage made the already vibrant Whitsun nightlife unsafe. In third place: Sebastian Wenzel, today's Duotone shaper, who was already building boards for many professionals across all brands back then
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More surf reviews:
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Tobias Frauen
Editor