hay all thought of a fun thread list your sport progression i nearly left out my rugby leagfue at age of 4 and realise that was quite pivotel to the complete lack of team sports i do today

so for example for me

1989 4-16 league
8 - now stunt kites
11-.... 20 skateboarding (rarely go now)
13-16 roller bladeing(got skateboarding banned from schools i went to 2 of em and had to take up fruitin)
ummmm
oh yeah boogie boarding 12-16
18 - 23 power kite
23-26 wake skateing / boarding (rarely go now maybe a few winter passes)
22 kitesurfing - now
24 - paragliding
24 rock climbing - now
26 surfing -this morning
26 scuba diving
28 bouldering


theres a heap more top rope solos etcv etc but ill leave it at that see if anyone plays along and thinks this is a good thread

maybe playing the actual year lik 1982 is better format

yeah having the YEAR makes huige difference a hanglider in 2025 is a bit behind the times a hangglider in the 70s with ya self built wings is such a different thing so drop the years if ya can

I note you didn't windsurf. Be a way shorter list if you did. No need to keep experimenting then

Great Mark, now you've opened the worm can

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Mark _australia said..
I note you didn't windsurf. Be a way shorter list if you did. No need to keep experimenting then

Yep, you're right; he would have just been rollerblading and windsurfing.

the obvious pathway...
surfing->windsurfing ->TT kiteboarding-> strapless kitesurfing ->kitefoiling-> winging -> parawinging

and about 5 minutes of SUP foiling before the parawing came out, and add on foil assist when the fliteboard amp drops.

getting to be at the inception of 3 different watersport disciplines over ~25 years is magic, we live in a rare and golden age.

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Mark _australia said..
I note you didn't windsurf. Be a way shorter list if you did. No need to keep experimenting then

Didnt start teaching windsurfing until 2014

Forced to do it for couple seasons alot of it on a simulator (big stupid wooden office chair type things

So hows your history looking mark ?

1823 rat baiting

1842 pedestrianism

Just kidding but actually curious

Seems like the generation or 2 older then me did hanggliding and windsurfing where as my gen got to do kiteing and paragliding

Now the kids get to do stupid bloody electric moto bike **** and foiling

1983-1990 lake windsurfing
1991-2001 drinking beer
2002-2007 backcountry skiing
2007-now wave sailing

1956- now surfing, but U curve progression of boards. 56 - 66, boards were 9'.
66 - 96 progressed down to 6'. Then from 96 progress back up to 9'
1985 to now windsurfing. started off wave sailing, then the GpsTC grabbed me and I morphed into speed sailing.

1962-1982 water skiing.
1969-now motorcycling.
1982-now windsurfing (includes 20 break due to kids).
Never surfed (which accounts for my crap wave riding) .

1985 to now windsurfing, 15 year break from 1993 to 2007
2011 started racing RSX, then Formula then Raceboards and some casual slalom from time to time.
2015 started to teach windsurfing, helped to found the current windsurf program at RQYS, first two kids were my own, then another came then another and it grew. Was a Aust Sailing senior windsurf Instructor for a while and President of WQ and the Qld rep for the AWA from about 2020 to 2023. Organised multiple national raceboard championships and was on the committee to organised the 2016 Raceboard World's at RQYS. Did the RB Nationals this year.

1985 to now - motorbikes, first on the dirt then onto road bikes then onto adventure bikes for some dirt and road. Borrowed my sons 1996 cbr250rr today to visit my mum in aged care. Every time I hop on it I feel like I'm in a moto gp.


1985 to now Sailing. Just moving onto my boat this weekend and on the brink of beginning some long term cruising. The bikes will have to a back seat for a while but the windsurfer is coming with. One board one rig, one fin and one foil.

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decrepit said..
1956- now surfing, but U curve progression of boards. 56 - 66, boards were 9'.
66 - 96 progressed down to 6'. Then from 96 progress back up to 9'
1985 to now windsurfing. started off wave sailing, then the GpsTC grabbed me and I morphed into speed sailing.

Hahaha the board progressi?ns funny

Was due to fitness or new location with smaller swell or just was over the performance shut and wanted to cruise ?

And yeah the gps tracking is real thats how all the paragliding stuff works all gps tracked and logged any given day your competeing against rest the world etc like the windsurfng speed runs
s

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Froth Goth said.. Hahaha the board progressi?ns funny
Was due to fitness or new location with smaller swell or just was over the performance shut and wanted to cruise ?

And yeah the gps tracking is real thats how all the paragliding stuff works all gps tracked and logged any given day your competeing against rest the world etc like the windsurfng speed runs
s

First down size was mainly due to a Californian knee boarder, (George Greenough), that was cutting circles around our best stand up surfers, Nat Young and Bob McTavish amongst them. This inspired the top shapers/surfers of the time to experiment with shorter boards. from 1967 onwards they progressively got shorter, by 1969 we'd gone from 9' to 6'.

I found there were a few waves, that a 6' board was just too small for, so I made a 7' mini mal, and had a 2 board quiver.
When I hit 70, my surfing fitness suffered from mainly wave sailing and not having enough surfing TOW, so I then made a very light 8' mini mal. Used this until approaching 80, this old body refused to jump up quick enough to handle late take offs. So I'm now back were I started on a 9' mal. But I've learnt a lot in the intervening years and this board is just as strong as the tripple 6oz glass jobs back in the day, but probably 3 times lighter.
(there's a blog on it's manufacture on here somewhere)
Still can't handle late take offs very well, I have to prone out and get to my feet if I can make it to the wall.
But I can pick up waves much earlier, so it doesn't happen as often.

So yes, a combination of conditions and fitness, and I'm guessing I'll get more used to just cruising.
Learning to nose ride again is now on the agenda.

71'-88' Rugby League
83'-87' Rugby, played both at the same time in NZ
78'-88' Baseball
75'-2003' Yacht racing
78'-84' Athletics
90'-95' time trials cycling
77'-now Windsurfering from wally's onto div2, race boards and those outrageous sinkers of the early 80s through slalom racing to waves.

Thank goodness it's a long weekend...

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decrepit said..

First down size was mainly due to a Californian knee boarder, (George Greenough), that was cutting circles around our best stand up surfers, Nat Young and Bob McTavish amongst them. This inspired the top shapers/surfers of the time to experiment with shorter boards. from 1967 onwards they progressively got shorter, by 1969 we'd gone from 9' to 6'.

I found there were a few waves, that a 6' board was just too small for, so I made a 7' mini mal, and had a 2 board quiver.
When I hit 70, my surfing fitness suffered from mainly wave sailing and not having enough surfing TOW, so I then made a very light 8' mini mal. Used this until approaching 80, this old body refused to jump up quick enough to handle late take offs. So I'm now back were I started on a 9' mal. But I've learnt a lot in the intervening years and this board is just as strong as the tripple 6oz glass jobs back in the day, but probably 3 times lighter.
(there's a blog on it's manufacture on here somewhere)
Still can't handle late take offs very well, I have to prone out and get to my feet if I can make it to the wall.
But I can pick up waves much earlier, so it doesn't happen as often.

So yes, a combination of conditions and fitness, and I'm guessing I'll get more used to just cruising.
Learning to nose ride again is now on the agenda.

Great that you are still able to get out in the water let alone surf for 60 years. I see quite a few grumpy older guys surfing, but I doubt any of them are 80.

Must admit I struggle a bit and I'm very picky about conditions.
But if I can find an uncrowded, knee to chest high wave, I enjoy just being out there.

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cammd said..
1985 to now - motorbikes, first on the dirt then onto road bikes then onto adventure bikes for some dirt and road. Borrowed my sons 1996 cbr250rr today to visit my mum in aged care. Every time I hop on it I feel like I'm in a moto gp.

A CBR250RR will 'sound' like its doing MotoGP down a shopping centre car park . Fortnine did an interesting doco on this model.

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decrepit said..
Must admit I struggle a bit and I'm very picky about conditions.
But if I can find an uncrowded, knee to chest high wave, I enjoy just being out there.

I hope you have managed to find a good break that's uncrowded, close by, with easy access and are surrounded by other grumpy old mal riders, dog walkers, swimmers, and young women surfers that you can talk rubbish with about swell direction and wind forcasts when you get out of the water.

I'm only 46 so the years aren't interesting.
3-16 pushbikes
16-35 roadbikes, my second last was the first Hayabusa, that's where I got the nickname Psychojoe
35 onwards. Twintip kitesurfing

Nothing else, no overlap, no team sports.

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myscreenname said..
I hope you have managed to find a good break that's uncrowded, close by, with easy access and are surrounded by other grumpy old mal riders, dog walkers, swimmers, and young women surfers that you can talk rubbish with about swell direction and wind forcasts when you get out of the water.

Yep, tick most of those boxes. -------- once in a while.

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decrepit said..

Froth Goth said.. Hahaha the board progressi?ns funny
Was due to fitness or new location with smaller swell or just was over the performance shut and wanted to cruise ?

And yeah the gps tracking is real thats how all the paragliding stuff works all gps tracked and logged any given day your competeing against rest the world etc like the windsurfng speed runs
s

First down size was mainly due to a Californian knee boarder, (George Greenough), that was cutting circles around our best stand up surfers, Nat Young and Bob McTavish amongst them. This inspired the top shapers/surfers of the time to experiment with shorter boards. from 1967 onwards they progressively got shorter, by 1969 we'd gone from 9' to 6'.

I found there were a few waves, that a 6' board was just too small for, so I made a 7' mini mal, and had a 2 board quiver.
When I hit 70, my surfing fitness suffered from mainly wave sailing and not having enough surfing TOW, so I then made a very light 8' mini mal. Used this until approaching 80, this old body refused to jump up quick enough to handle late take offs. So I'm now back were I started on a 9' mal. But I've learnt a lot in the intervening years and this board is just as strong as the tripple 6oz glass jobs back in the day, but probably 3 times lighter.
(there's a blog on it's manufacture on here somewhere)
Still can't handle late take offs very well, I have to prone out and get to my feet if I can make it to the wall.
But I can pick up waves much earlier, so it doesn't happen as often.

So yes, a combination of conditions and fitness, and I'm guessing I'll get more used to just cruising.
Learning to nose ride again is now on the agenda.

ive only used burford blanks

am i right in assumeing that the blanks back in the 60s were actually narrower and thats why yas were makeing em wider with double stringers and **** or could ya just simply grab a wide as blank but everyone wanted skinny boards ?

seems weird it took so long for em to chuck the foam under the chest and pull the tail in a bit and shorten em up
from memory the first lot were made from snapped longboards or something like that

Now your stretching my memory. I don't remember early boards being particularly narrow.
Stringers were for supposed strength, more of a tradition really, not for adding width.
Blanks slowly changed as surfboard makers demands changed.
Tradition was it, boards were meant to be knelt on.
That's why we all had big bumps on our knees and feet.
Early boards were just thick everywhere.

It was only George demonstrating how much better small boards worked, that sparked the revolution.

We started off with Bennett blanks then went to Clark.

I'm so happy that Seabreeze is 'back on track'

Only 'normal' people left nowadays.

Discuss

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myscreenname said..
I'm so happy that Seabreeze is 'back on track'

Only 'normal' people left nowadays.

Discuss

It's great isn't it! 3 posts a week. Saving heaps of time.

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myscreenname said..
Only 'normal' people left nowadays.

Define normal

It's a very grey area, but I guess members of a culture define normal as those living according to those cultural norms.

So there are as many "normals"s there are cultures.

1972 - Started surfing
1980's - Windsurfing
1990's - Tow surfing, Kitesurfing and SUP (surf and downwind)
2015 - Kite foiling
2018 - Wingding and SUP foil
2020's - FoilDrive and Tow foiling

Now is tow boogie, parawing and wingding. Might try dw sup foil paddling next summer. Flitelab looks good too
Played rugby league from the 70's to the 90's. Motorcycles throughout from GSX750 to GSXR1100 and 1000 to KTM 1290 super adventure and now a BMW 9RT Scrambler. Lots of others in between.
Two kids and an amazing wife. Life is good.

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philn said..

myscreenname said..
Only 'normal' people left nowadays.

Define normal

Thanks to Google/Oxford Dictionaries

adjective: normal
1. conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected."it's quite normal for puppies to bolt their food"
Similar:
usual
standard
typical
stock
common
ordinary
customary
conventional
habitual
accustomed
expected
wonted
everyday
regular
routine
day to day
daily
established
settled
set
fixed
traditional
quotidian
prevailing
average
run-of-the-mill
middle-of-the-road
mainstream
unremarkable
unexceptional
plain
simple
homely
homespun
workaday
garden-variety
bog-standard
vanilla
plain vanilla
a dime a dozen
common

Opposite:
unusual
abnormal(of a person) physically and mentally healthy."until her accident Louise had been a perfectly normal little girl"


Similar:
sane
in one's right mind
right in the head
of sound mind
able to think/reason
clearly lucid
rational
coherent
balanced
well balanced
compos mentis
all there

Opposite:
insane
irrational

2. technical (of a line, ray, or other linear feature) intersecting a given line or surface at right angles."a single plane of symmetry with a diad axis normal to it"

3. Medicine (of a salt solution) containing the same salt concentration as the blood."dilute the stock solution with sterile water or normal saline"dated?Chemistry(of a solution) containing one gram-equivalent of solute per litre.

4. Geology denoting a fault or faulting in which a relative downward movement occurred in the strata situated on the upper side of the fault plane.

noun: normal; plural noun: normals
1. the usual, typical, or expected state or condition.
"her temperature was above normal"
informal, a person who is conventional or healthy.
2. technical a line at right angles to a given line or surface.
"the view is along the normal to the surface"

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japie said..

It's great isn't it! 3 posts a week. Saving heaps of time.

If the mods banned you it would be two posts a week and I would only have to bother visiting once a week for updates. So glad seabreeze is 'back on track'

I guess no Tasmanians are going to list AFL on their sports of progression

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myscreenname said..

japie said..

It's great isn't it! 3 posts a week. Saving heaps of time.

If the mods banned you it would be two posts a week and I would only have to bother visiting once a week for updates. So glad seabreeze is 'back on track'

I'll post another funny image

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japie said..

It's great isn't it! 3 posts a week. Saving heaps of time.

Misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories are at all-time low.

Racism and bigotry, not so much.