“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” – Leonardo da Vinci.’

Words  Finn Mullen  //  Photo  Billy Mullen

From the August 2017 Windsurf Magazine Issue

The obsession with flight has been long held in windsurfing. Ever since the first board left the water it marked us out as the aerial pilots of the sailing world and the ensuing acrobatics and evolution of ‘hang time’ increased the distance between our sailing roots and natural progression to an action sport.

It’s a fairly basic observation that just as every rebellious teenager ends up like their parents, similarly every sport at some point ends up coming back to its roots. Sailing has been transformed by foils, no question. From exciting ‘Moth’ dinghies to the cutting edge America’s Cup behemoths, the sport no longer conjures up images of blazers and G&T’s at the clubhouse – it’s exciting made for TV courses run at speed by sailors sponsored by Red Bull. Foils were the catalyst for change, suddenly boats were faster in lighter winds, and the sight of craft ‘flying’ on this relatively small wing through the water was a spectacle. Sailing was cool. Windsurfing has been a bit slower to the party, until recently advances in the sport have been more incremental. Foils are changing all of that. Starboard’s head of brand and design, Tiesda You, advocates further, “There are three major moments in windsurfing history: first, the day Jim Drake windsurfed on his original windsurfing design, the Skate. The second moment was when windsurfers started planing on water. The third is when windsurfers started flying over water. Foiling is a new dimension of windsurfing that will be a positive force for the sport. The PWA, unsure a few months ago if foiling would help or hurt, are now excited at the idea of how windsurfing races can be completed in conditions when even Formula racing couldn’t work!

We are all passionate windsurfers. And here we are, witnessing this third major moment in windsurfing. It is happening, in our lifetime, during our windsurfing careers and to realize that this time we are not just witnessing it but actively participating in the shift, feels just great.” Read more of Tiesda’s thoughts on the process of foil development and the musings of the stars of the PWA on the rise of foiling in this issue. If you’re thinking of taking the plunge, then check out our foil buyer’s guide and UK foil guru Sam Ross’s answers to foiling FAQs. Sam was the recent winner of the UK’s first official foil race and perhaps best summed up the attraction of foils at this year’s NWF with quote of the event and possibly the year! – “If planing is your cocaine…. then this (foiling) is smack!”

Foiling is part of windsurfing’s ‘New Wave’ but it’s not the only part. Equipment refinement and innovation is opening doors to performance in lesser conditions and with less effort. Foiling is at the fore of the movement and whilst changes in other sections of the sport are subtler, they are still of significance. Check out this month’s slalom test where the team state “The biggest finding of the test: the modern slalom board is surprisingly controllable… fundamentally, it has been realised that you’re going to win races if you get round the course in one piece!” That’s a massive change from the uncompromising slalom boards of previous years. My own summer sailing has been transformed by the addition of a 109 litre freewave thruster board to my quiver. Light and onshore is the frequent forecast for my local beaches but the synthesis of speed and manoeuvrability in modern freewave design means I don’t curse these days, I positively and absolutely look forward to them! The tiny thruster fins let me creep upwind in the shallows so close to shore I could lick a dodgy ice cream from the even dodgier looking ice cream van!

Always at the vanguard of developments in our sport is Roberto Ricci, eponymous founder, owner and head of RRD. Read how he sees his job, ‘Mestiere’ as the Italians say, as more than just work, “RRD is not just a business. It is my passion and love…. I think in the end my ultimate goal is to attract as many people as possible to our outdoor life. We don’t spend enough time outdoors, people these days spend too much time in front of the screen or stuck in the city! You can make a lot of free time if you use the screen and Internet as your tool. At the end of the day, there is a time to stop and say I am going to go out there and play! People need to separate the idea of work and the idea of play in a good way. We are all humans and we need to keep playing.”

The importance of play and windsurfing intersect further in this month’s issue as we look at perhaps windsurfing’s most important ‘New Wave’ – kids! Profiling advances in kid’s kit and teaching techniques we learn from John Skye and Kuba Gasiewsk, the pioneering Polish windsurf instructor who tells us the inspiration for his tandem sailing method is “Rather than base teaching on an idea that it’s going to be fun once you learn it, let’s have fun while learning. It’s a way to make real windsurfing as instantly accessible as an iPad.” More planing with foils, better performance from our equipment and bright ideas to inspire kids to take up our sport and ensure its future – windsurfing’s ‘New Wave’ is rolling along like a perfect swell, get on it!

PHOTO Windsurfing’s ‘New Wave’ doesn’t lie in exotic, distant waters, it’s modern equipment’s ability to transform performance in ordinary conditions. Finn Mullen takes advantage of his thruster to boost in Rossnowlagh, County Donegal.

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