I remember seeing an article about making normal "windsurfer" boards have this huge nose rocker.

They would wedge them in a steel rack upside down with black plastic on the bottom, let the sun heat them up, pull them outa the rack when the desired rocker was achieved !

Of course we tried this, but half heartedly, being 13/14 years old, not really required sailing up and down the beach at Blairgowrie.

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Chris 249 said..
Tri Fin! New Toy! Those were high tech compared to my first Bombora - the mighty Chopper, aka the original. It was just a Windsurfer with the nose bent up with heat, footstraps, and the back couple of feet cut off. The original Windsurfers were around 21kg so it would have been close to 18kg; once it got takeoff attitude it seemed to keep going way better than I could!

that bombora bayonet mast base had more angry men visiting me at my shop when it snapped than all the men who uphauled a one design and had the tee piece smash them in the shins or nuts....classic Aussie engineering

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greenleader said..
that bombora bayonet mast base had more angry men visiting me at my shop when it snapped than all the men who uphauled a one design and had the tee piece smash them in the shins or nuts....classic Aussie engineering

Only the hardest of hardened windsurfers know the feeling of the repeated wooden teak T-Piece n stainless steel uni beatings to those regions. .
Strangely reminded me of this, we were having so much we persevered on

Ahh, that great Bombora Mk 1 ad! What amazing technology it was.

It's always interesting to look at the list of windsurfer dealers from those days; there were dealers in Broken Hill, Taree, and Wagga. There was also one near Dubbo years ago.

I had a Bombora proto, just a thing of beuty and miles ahead of its time in design. I sold it to a mate as it was a bit small, dumbest descision I ever made!!! The thing that strikes me now is the mast track positions relative to the straps.

Bombora 1982-83

Bombora Proto 1982 advertisement....

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mr love said..
I had a Bombora proto, just a thing of beuty and miles ahead of its time in design. I sold it to a mate as it was a bit small, dumbest descision I ever made!!! The thing that strikes me now is the mast track positions relative to the straps.

Totally agree, the mast position was something that took me a while to get used to as a "returned sailor".

Bombora flashbacks. I learnt to windsurf on a Bombora Tri Fin. Stand up, fall in, stand up, fall in, stand up, fall in. Did that for about 6 weeks. Surprised I stuck with the sport. Would have been good to have Seabreeze back then to ask if a Bombora Tri Fin would be a good learner board?

Bombora Tri advertisement Freesail magazine May June 1983. Never owned one but some people did love them. I had the New Toy after selling my Windsurfer One Design in 1983.

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mattn said..
Bombora flashbacks. I learnt to windsurf on a Bombora Tri Fin. Stand up, fall in, stand up, fall in, stand up, fall in. Did that for about 6 weeks. Surprised I stuck with the sport. Would have been good to have Seabreeze back then to ask if a Bombora Tri Fin would be a good learner board?

Well here is a test you could have reviewed and considered back in May/June 1983 of Australia's Freesail magazine, tester Fred Haywood. Learning on it would have been harder , difficult and nevertheless doable and you should have been cautioned by the shopowner who sold it to you but you made it so well done.

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RichardG said..

Kevin Wadam Sails

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AUS4 said..

RichardG said..

Kevin Wadam Sails

Yes the original Bombora sails were designed by Kevin Wadham out of the Hood sails loft. Then they moved over to Gaastra.

Mark Paul against Peter Cabrinha November 1982 in what I think is the Rip Curl Wave Classic Torquay. Sad event is no longer held. Cabrinha is using a Gaastra Mistral 5.2 powerhead. I believe Cabrinha won the heat. Lower photo is Cabrinha in same competiton using a Hood sails vertical cut powerhead bearing Mistral logo. He must have been moving over to Gaastra at the time. Paul is sailing on his Gaastra Bombora vertical cut pinhead wave sail designed by Kevin Wadham. Note Paul using cut down stock windsurfer boom whereas Cabrinha has a Mistral short boom. The latter was considered the best boom to mast connection in 1982. Cabrinha appears to be using a larger more powered up sail (5.2 m2 powerhead) , higher aspect and shorter boom than Paul. Cabrinha appears from what I can see to be pointing higher, note he is sheeted in more and is I speculate soon about to be going faster. Cabrinha may be about to outperform Mark Paul. Notice the overall higher mast foot heights and also the high booms compared to today, along with forward mast foot position.

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RichardG said..

AUS4 said..

RichardG said..

Kevin Wadam Sails

Yes the original Bombora sails were designed by Kevin Wadham out of the Hood sails loft. Then they moved over to Gaastra.

Kevin Wadam was Gaastra Sails.

Yes he was by 1982 but in 1981 he was at Hood Sails, Sydney making sails for the Bombora Sailboards Australia 1981 Pan Am cup team of Greg Johns, Greg Kelly, Mark Paul and Scotty O'Connor. (Article "Boards for all Seasons"- Adrian Herbert, Australian Sailing, June 1981)

Australian Sailing June, 1981 Pan Am Cup-Boards for All Seasons, Adrian Herbert. Tells the story of the Australian Bombora team in Hawaii with additional insights. The article credits Michael Maguire with the design and building of Greg Johns light weather raceboard. The Mark Paul designed boards were 71.8 cm wide making them wide boards and revolutionary and also relatively short under 10 feet. The kanga cock fin is also credited to design of Australian kneeboarders fins, so essentially harking back to George Greenough designs. Mark Paul came fourth in the Maui Molokai Speed Crossing in 40 knots, using a borrowed sail, showing the potential of the fast board he had designed and built. That board was considered the fastest on the reaches in the Pan Am Cup series passing the overall winner Ken Winner and taking the lead but on the downwind legs lost its advantage as it went off the plane due to shorter waterline length. This article captured my imagination as a schoolboy and Laser sailor and eventually in 1982 I purchased a windsurfer. Arnaud de Rosnay is credited with the following famous statement regarding the speed crossing:
"We are sufficiently, in our daily life, directed, channelled and castrated by limitations and laws, that at least as far as the sportive domain which takes place in nature, we leave to the human being the possibility of expressing himself freely and naturally" ...he told them in putting out the challenge for the speed crossing..Anyone have the movie of that Maui Speed Crossing event which I did see once ?

Bombora 1983 Advertisement March April 1983 Freesail magazine.

I started on a Windrush Storm 10, then went to a Bombora New Toy, it was so incredibly awesome I bought a custom fibreglass New Toy. It was even more incredibly awesome.