Unfortunately, a legend of the WA sailing community has passed away over the weekend

Jay McFarlane

With his brother Richard, he invented the iconic WA surfcat catamaran, as well as the windrush clubman, storm 10 and storm 8 windsurfing boards.

He was 75 and windsurfing off Shoalwater last season but died suddenly Friday night.

He was telling me on Thursday afternoon that he was keen to get back out onto the water this season once the weather warmed up a bit, but confided that he might need to cut back on the 4 nautical mile tacks out to Coventry reef off Shoalwater this year

Farewell Jay, we will miss you.

Condolences to his family.


Loved my Storm 10. You could windsurf and exfoliate at the same time, deck grip has never been the same since,,,

Sad to hear this, as the founder of Windrush Jay was one of the true pioneers of our sport.

I learnt to sail crewing on a Windrush 14 catamaran with my old man, and my first sailboard was a Windrush Clubman. Growing up in WA in the 80s Windrush was everywhere.

I remember one afternoon sitting around the clubhouse at Jervoise Bay Sailing Club after a days racing and Jay turned up out of nowhere. It was blowing 20-25 knots and he had windsurfed all the way from Shoalwater Bay to Woodman Point on a Storm 10. He hadn't come through Cockburn Sound either, he had sailed down the outside of Garden Island along Five Fathom Bank. We all thought he was crazy

The passing of a true legend

Vale Jay. A true legend and great bloke. He will be sadly missed.
Always enjoyed stoping at his place at Shoalwater after a sail/kite.

Bon Voyage Jay. Having only met a couple times, you were the true waterman.

This is sad to hear. I learned to windsurf on the Storm 10 and the Windrush Clubman back when I was a teenager. After that I had a Windrush 14 Super-Sloop catamaran. That was a great boat.

Got to meet him a few years ago at a friends Buck's night. He was a fascinating guy with captivating stories. I couldn't believe he would sail solo out and back to Five Fathom Bank. I thanked him for all the good times our family had on a Windrush 14 in the 80s. Rest in peace.

Shocked to hear this was talking to him only the other day, true Waterman in every sense of the word. It really was a pleasure to know Jay his enthusiasm, knowledge and happiness was inspirational to all that knew the 'windsurfing pensioner'
Condolences to family and friends
my memories will always be of turning around at five fathom bank to tack back in and watching Jay just keep going, he reckoned he could line up the Kwinana chimneys and some random mountain out near jarradale to guide him back, I could see nothing.
shoalwater will miss you Jay as we all will....