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The legendary table top
In August 1995, surf readers can learn "Table manners for the finest company". Instead of a colourful selection, however, there is only one boom, but much more important is "down below": it is of course about the table top, still one of the most stylish jumps today. Even back then, the inverted board was a modern classic, but unlike today, it was still regularly seen in contests - front loop, back loop and table top were the standard repertoire in wave riding back then. But the jump has it all: "A lot of kooks can jump loops," says Robby Naish. "But hardly any kook can do a good table top." Naish is still one of the kings of this jump today, hardly anyone brings so much style to it. However, everyone interprets the table top differently: from a board that is exactly levelled to slightly exaggerated to extremely twisted, almost every pro has their own signature style. Some of the best table tops can be seen in the photo story, which of course includes a detailed sequence: Natalie Siebel shows the donkey kick as a preliminary stage, then none other than Robby Naish himself shows the real table top. You learn table manners from the best.
Chaos in the PBA
The fact that the World Cup organisation PBA collapsed at the end of 1995 can be surmised from a short interview: PBA President Christian Herles was full of punchlines ("The riders should be satisfied with what they have"), saw himself as the only capable organiser ("They can't do it because they can't get enough money together") and claimed that without him it would be impossible to hold a tour. Several hundred thousand dollars in prize money from the previous year have not yet been paid out, it is said - Herles blames the drivers' committee, which is preventing the debts from being reduced and wants to "push itself in". At the World Cup in Aruba, there was a veritable "flood of money": many drivers received their prize money in small notes of one and five dollar bills. You don't want to know exactly where the money came from. Just a few months later, the PBA was history and today's PWA was founded.
Spot Guide Norderney
"In terms of surfing, the year is 1801 on Norderney," writes surf editor Olaf Dohse. Back then, around 100 bathers came to the island, and there aren't many more windsurfers today. Yet "Ney" not only offers hardcore North Sea conditions, but also moderate beginner waves and flat water. Bernd Flessner, the island's most famous son, goes full throttle in the World Cup, but at home he prefers to surf at the Weiße Düne: "Wide dream beach with fine, white sand, hardly any current, sandbank a good 500 metres from the shore," enthuses the author. On the mudflats side, there is also a surfing pool with a school run by surf tester Gunther Baade. Others, on the other hand, "you only have to do it in the south-west" or are even "not recommended at all". The tides have two faces here: with currents of up to 10 km/h, people have already drifted off "against the wind direction", says Gunther. But if everything goes right, there can also be the "gorge effect": Shooting the space sheet without losing height.
Craig Maisonville: From windsurfing pro to preacher
In the 1980s, Craig Maisonville was one of the most stylish windsurfers in the world - without a harness, with white gloves and iconic bottom turns. But Maisonville was much more than just a gifted surfer. With his Hi-Tech brand, he built the most exquisite boards in the world for decades, enabling him to live a carefree life. One of his boards was to write windsurfing history: Peter Brockhaus, then F2 managing director, bought a prototype from Maisonville, built the board in series and christened it "Sunset" - the best-selling windsurfing board in the world. However, after a severe slipped disc, Craig Maisonville's surfing career came to an abrupt end. He tackled his faith, sold his company and founded the Island Hope Church. Many very good windsurfers are also active in the church - an "antithesis to the elbow society on Maui". Maisonville often preaches using parables from the world of windsurfing: "For me, God is like a fin. He keeps me on the right path," he says. However, he is described as tolerant and pragmatic; he is just as open to other faiths as he is to questioning the Bible. Shaper Johnny V wants to give something back to the community according to the motto "Follow the lord, build the best board", in the form of inexpensive boards. However, when it comes to Hookipa waves, even charity has its limits: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wave!"
And what else?
- surf and Joy magazine cast extras for the TV series "Against the Wind" at the "Boy meets Girl" camp in St. Peter-Ording. One of the winners: today's surf tester Marius Gugg
- There is a new course at the surf academy under the somewhat rude title "For hopeless cases". It uses mental training and new approaches to learning psychology, such as reversing the roles between student and teacher: "Why don't you explain to me what I need to do to make sure the sail always falls into the water at the back of the jibe?" Verbalising mistakes apparently works wonders.
- Classic Moves riding technique: surf tester Gunther Baade demonstrates the aerial jibe, where the board spins in the air
- "Now I really like the windmills," says a hotel owner on Crete in the Spotguide about the EU-funded rotors in the windy east of the island. A realisation that has not yet been accepted everywhere.
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