A former roommate from Botany Bay found an old magazine lying around in his garage.
Could barely make out the prints from the cat piss, still, fun to read thems old stories...
Windrider Aug. 1984 "Olympic Update" by [Ed.: one] John Roberson
"After some rather acrimonious selection trials in the Windglider class, and some very poorly attended trials for the Windsurfer exhibition event (...). The trials were held in Adelaide, although no one from that state entered for either event. But, because all the other sailing classes were holding their trials there, the yachting authorities decreed that the boards must go there too.
There were only 14 competitors for the Windglider class, and only four of them stood any chance of selection [Ed.: nice for the others to be thusly ignored...] . Greg Hyde and Bobby Wilmot had both won their weight groups in the triangle racing at the Windsurfer Wolds last year [Ed.: surely meant Kingston 1983] . Bruce Wylie had come in 2nd to Wilmot in his weight group, and Phil McGain had won the Windglider Nationals the previous week. (...) Bobby Wilmot was the man to watch - he had started his campaign a year in advance, had given up work and gotten himself some sponsorship and a manager, as well as a lot of air time and column inches in Sydney's press.
The Nationals preceding the selection trials were close, with a different winner in each race. In the end, Phil McGain won, Greg Hyde was 2nd, and Wilmot third. Hyde won the 1rst race of the Selections, with Wilmot coming in 4th. Still, Wilmot took a small lead in points after race 3, having placed 1rst and 2nd in the subsequent heats to Hyde's two 3rds. Hyde came back to win race 4, while Wilmot placed 6th. That evening, when the protest forms came out, Wilmed claimed that the chances were being prejudiced by the races being sailed in the morning when the wind was lighter. [Ed.: good ol' days - race nights full of protests - Kingston was the worst, not sure how Perty 84 ended up]
Hyde won the 5th race and increased his point lead, but Wilmot went around the fleet with a petition seeking support for his protest. It was to no avail, though, as ultimately the protest was thrown out. In race 6 Wilmot, and Bruce Wylie, who had been training with him for 6 months, team raced Hyde back to 8th place, finishing equal at 6th themselves. Their efforts were in vain, however, as an 8th was good enough to give Hyde the series without having to sail the last race. Again the protest forms came out that evening, but none could be made to stick. Although it wasn't necessary, Hyde sailed the last race. He was so relaxed about the whole thing that he even gave a television interview as he sailed down one of the reaches! [Ed.: not sure he made friends with this move...]
Greg Hyde, a 21yo Sydneysider, had put together a very thorough and consistent training campaign while maintaining full time studies as a business management student. Because of the current patent situation in Australia, Windgliders only becamse available last October. But, despite the late arrival of the Olympic board, Hyde had managed to complete 200 hours afloat on his board before the trials. As well as having an enviable record of successes on sailboards, having been in the first 6 in his weight group at the Windsurfers 4 times before winning last year, and winning the Australian Nationals 4 times, he has a considerable string of titles to his name in sailboats (...).
In the selection trials for the WIndsurfer exhibition event, there were only 2 places for men and 2 for women. Bruce Wylie and Bobby Wilmot won the men's places and Melanie Braund and Sarah Kenny [Ed.: wow, had not heard those names in yonks!] won the women's places. Braund is a familiar name in boardsailing as she won the Windsurfer Team Sailing Worlds in 1983. Kenny, although newer to the sport, has received instruction and encouragement from the best in Australia, her boyfriend Greg Hyde."
[Ed.: Hyde ended up 6th overall in Los Angeles.]
The boards weighed in excess of 22kgs ! A real horror of a sailboard ! Some information as follows : The Windglider used a 6.5m sail but the use of a harness was not permitted. The daggerboard weighed around 4 kg and was carried over the sailor's shoulder during the downwind legs. The 1984 Olympic course of nine nautical miles put a premium on the competitors strength and fitness.
I remember seeing Greg practicing and wondering just how he could possible sail for so long without harness assistance. Nobody would even think about windsurfing that way anymore.
A Dutchman, Stephan van den Berg won the 1984 LA Olympics windsurfing event on the Windglider board. In London this year yet another Dutchman won the Olympic windsurfing competition.
I don't think anyone sailed those once the Olympics were over, just like nobody would sail RSX if they got booted out of the Olympics. Where is the Windglider in the pic??
I don't think anyone sailed those once the Olympics were over, just like nobody would sail RSX if they got booted out of the Olympics. Where is the Windglider in the pic??
