Windy Point and Windsurfing Museum Prague: Retro regatta with historical material
SURF
· 19.07.2024
According to the organisers, the largest vintage windsurfing event in Central Europe took place in June on the beach at Windy Point on the Lipno Dam in the Czech Republic. Tom, the founder and operator of the Windsurfing Museum near Prague, says that every old-school windsurfer must have experienced this race once in their life. He reports on the regatta for us:
20 knots and 50-year-old material
"The fourth edition of our traditional and perhaps already legendary old-school event had less sun for the photographers this year, but great wind conditions. Before the start, we were greeted by reports of wind gusts of up to 16 m/s (approx. 31 knots), but during the race it was "only" 7-12 m/s. Nevertheless, the one-hour long-distance race pushed the oldest boards and sails, as well as some of the participants, to the limit at times. With a Le Mans-style start, i.e. running from the beach and carrying the board into the water, almost thirty active participants took to the water with 25-50 year old equipment. As usual, we tried to have only triangular sails and participants in historical clothing on the water, at least during the race. Nevertheless, the occasional wing, foil or kite appeared on the horizon.
The "Windy One Hour Race" with our simplified rules includes a mass start from the beach and a course around the buoys in a clockwise direction, all without any real competitive character. This time it was all about persevering and finishing, unlike in previous years when there was also time for chatting and sunbathing. In addition to the obligatory ringing of the sea bell after crossing the finish line, the "Menhir" longboard photo, in which all participants pose with their boards, is now one of our rituals. With the weight of some of the boards and the tiredness after the race, lifting the boards and smiling for the photographers was another sporting achievement.
Mistral versus HiFly relay race
The second item on the programme was a relay race, which was originally developed to involve as many participants as possible, as we only have a limited number of old boards. In contrast to last year's race between two identical Mistral Kailua boards, this year HiFly and Mistral teams competed against each other. In the end, it turned out that the differences in material and ability did not play a major role and it was more down to the luck of the Mistral team. Despite being very exhausted, some riders still demanded a freestyle classification. This discipline more or less sticks to the old rules, but even the old hands don't remember that there was an official freestyle competition in Czechoslovakia in the 1980s. Our approach was accordingly very free, and so this year the jury awarded the prize to a couple of surfing yogis, but the performances and fighting spirit of the other freestylers were also greatly applauded.
When the main organiser, David Neumann from Windy Point, presented the participants with their commemorative certificates and prizes at the Beach Club in the late afternoon, the 'sporting' part of the programme was over. We were glad that the museum pieces survived the day on the water and arrived safely back at the 'paddock', the exhibition area on the beach. In the evening, there was live music, a drink or two and plenty of stories from the old regatta days. We look forward to hopefully meeting up with as many visitors as possible at Windy Point again next year for the fifth edition. And of course at any time at the Windsurfing Museum Prague!
