Worst inventions ever for windsurfing

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Created by

Mastbender > 9 months ago, 9 Jan 2018

Imax1

QLD

4926 posts

10 Jan 2018 7:16am

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Ian K said..
Those loops they sew on sail bags. You know the ones, about half way along.

Don't get me started !

joe windsurf

1482 posts

10 Jan 2018 5:55am

tow in windsurfing ...

joe windsurf

1482 posts

10 Jan 2018 5:56am

alpine windsurfing ... seems to work better with a real windsurf board - Levi did it and in France one fellow too

Scotty Mac

2060 posts

10 Jan 2018 10:19am

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Rope iniversals! Thanks Mark Paul but they were useless........

MikeyS

VIC

1509 posts

10 Jan 2018 11:20am

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Scotty Mac said..
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Rope iniversals! Thanks Mark Paul but they were useless........

Sadly, the board and rig were totally useless without the rope uni. Uni and downhaul in one. Geez it was a skill to remember how to tie one of those on the old Bombora.

Mastbender

1972 posts

10 Jan 2018 8:33am

They've been mentioned before, but this is the most accurate pic I've seen, of where the Wind Weapon works the best.

Al Planet

TAS

1548 posts

10 Jan 2018 1:11pm

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Scotty Mac said..
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Rope iniversals! Thanks Mark Paul but they were useless........

Damn...those were bad!! swimming around in the waves a few times I figured it was time to go back to a normal universal.....never had a rig sink and disappear though....(.seawater was much more buoyant back then

... and less acidic

)

stehsegler

3557 posts

10 Jan 2018 12:25pm

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eyeMhardcore said..
I like this one. I once jumped from hells gates to albrohlos islands

A friend of mine back in Germany spend 3 days with the inventor of the wind weapon in Lake Garda. This was back in the early 90s when he was still a Gaastra team rider and what I would consider one the best wave sailors and surfer in Germany.
After 3 days he managed to get about 2 feet of air while it was blowing 30 knts. In his words "it feels like you are constantly sailing clew first and you can never relax". Needless to say he never used one again.

stehsegler

3557 posts

10 Jan 2018 12:36pm

here my list:
- Asymmetric boards
- fold-up booms
- fixed length booms
- Cobra boards with "carpet" (ironically Cobra now makes a huge percentage of all windsurf boards)
- Every single Klepper board made in 1989 (awesome shapes just a bummer every single board delaminated)
- ASA boards with a mold seam sharp enough to shave a hipsters beard

westozwind

1416 posts

10 Jan 2018 1:47pm

Twist lock boom clips. They always wear out and provide variable clew tension

Maybe a bit harsh, but the original North power XT extension. Wonderful to start with but once a little worn (rope or components), one of the most frustrating devices on the planet!

Zed

1274 posts

10 Jan 2018 2:50pm

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AusMoz s

aid..

How awesome was this to rig up!!!!!!!

F**k i hated those booms! I'd get the rope as tight as I could, the boom would be rock solid until I hit the water and then down it would flop.... I couldn't get over my first clamp boom, it was joy to sail!

Madge

NSW

471 posts

10 Jan 2018 8:22pm

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Mastbender said..
Back to fooling around with gullible windsurfers, only one problem, there aren't any, from '84.

I like the way that its gybeless yet it has a boom each side, one side is completely obsolete.

JEZ

395 posts

10 Jan 2018 5:24pm

Hey.... bit cruel on my poor old knob, associating it with the worst inventions...........

He did his job, and damage was limited to armchair experts. Shame mast tracks shrank though.
Maybe we should have a competition to come up with a new (clean) use for the leftovers.

Jez

barbarian

NSW

218 posts

10 Jan 2018 8:49pm

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JEZ said..
Hey.... bit cruel on my poor old knob, associating it with the worst inventions...........

He did his job, and damage was limited to armchair experts. Shame mast tracks shrank though.
Maybe we should have a competition to come up with a new (clean) use for the leftovers.

Jez

I still use mine on my old formula board. Thanks Jez!

Imax1

QLD

4926 posts

10 Jan 2018 7:52pm

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Madge said..

Mastbender said..
Back to fooling around with gullible windsurfers, only one problem, there aren't any, from '84.

I like the way that its gybeless yet it has a boom each side, one side is completely obsolete.

Save grip.

Roo

878 posts

10 Jan 2018 11:44pm

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Mastbender said..

Mark _australia said..
Cccccccccccccccccc'mon somebody has to say it....
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/General/Site-is-up-on-Wingsails?page=1

Actually I found both a "high tension wing/flex sail" (almost a full wing) and a "solid wing sail", similar to what MW has, which Fred Haywood was working on, both came out in '83 and publicized in early '84, but both have since disappeared. Got the mag, Wind Surf June '84, I set it aside, but haven't taken any pic yet. Also another one in Wind Surf June '87 of a full double surface wing sail, similar to MW's again, no pic yet, it also had a similar future.

But in the mean time, check this out~

Had totally forgotten about that, it's a long time since i wrote that.

Roo

878 posts

10 Jan 2018 11:45pm

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ka43 said..
Just be careful of the bloke who wrote the article!!!

Who's the bloke?

ka43

NSW

3097 posts

11 Jan 2018 7:34am

Some expat fella living OS and having way too much fun!!

ausbinny

193 posts

11 Jan 2018 12:25pm

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Mastbender said..

Sparky said..
Z booms?

Oh yeah! Actually I had a friend who bought one, I tried it a few times, kind of comfortable, but the biggest problem was with the pinch on front end, it had no boom clamp, it just pinched the mast, so it was always slipping. Ad from '88.

I wish these were still easily available - most comfortable grip on a boom ever (not the actual grip itself the front arm / wrist angle)

the updated version with a proper mast clamp

onefoot

21 posts

11 Jan 2018 4:20pm

jibemaster.de/technologie/

Ian K

4164 posts

11 Jan 2018 4:37pm

^ Genius! Combined with the super grippers of the first post, what more do you need?

Not sure about the boardies?

albers

NSW

1739 posts

11 Jan 2018 8:12pm

Canards?

HotBodMon

NSW

612 posts

11 Jan 2018 8:24pm

OMG that Lazy susan moves on the fly!!

h20

VIC

458 posts

11 Jan 2018 10:38pm

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barbarian said..

I still use mine on my old formula board. Thanks Jez!

I've dusted mine off for foiling. Saved the nose on a few touch down catapults. Bit harsh to be on the list.

sailquik

VIC

6166 posts

12 Jan 2018 12:52am

Kick back twin fins?

RichardG

3761 posts

11 Jan 2018 9:57pm

Rope universal ?

Mastbender

1972 posts

12 Jan 2018 2:15am

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albers said..
Canards?

When those first came out, they were a big hit, I had two of them, they really worked very well to fix chronic spinout. They were later replaced with the slotted fin, and even split fins, so they fell out of fashion, but at the time, they got a thumbs up from me and others. Here's Chris Lassen enjoying his canard, aka, fore fin, later known as fore skin. Note his face shield, don't see those much anymore either.

petermac33

6415 posts

12 Jan 2018 3:19am

Chest harnesses are pretty useless,wave and free ride boards for river sailing

Loose leeched sails that fluttered their way to destruction.

Hollow Patrik boards that give an unfair advantage are useless for saving money.

sboardcrazy

NSW

8292 posts

12 Jan 2018 7:21am

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joe windsurf said..
alpine windsurfing ... seems to work better with a real windsurf board - Levi did it and in France one fellow too

I thought about giving that a go on my XC skis back in the 80's but at that time figured turning was complicated enough without a sail and there weren't that many areas to use them. A few years ago as I was doing the 2 1/4 hr trudge to the top of the range for a run a kiter flew past up the mountain.. I was so jealous..

( at least for the uphill part...

)..

MarkSSC

QLD

642 posts

12 Jan 2018 6:30am

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grich62 said..
the mast deviator gets my vote ,stops the mast hitting dead center and redirects it about 100 mm of center,cracks the board , then jams between your sail and mast so you can not water start,what a piece of crap.cracked my brand new jp ss because i believed the bull**** that this worked

I used the cammed mast deviator and it had more problems than it was worth. As a beginner I did not know any better. Apart from ripping the base of my sail, it positioned my uni mount way back, making the rig super sensitive. It was only partially useful for preventing mast strikes. In the end you cannot sell them second hand because of the moral issues of passing on rubbish to unsuspecting buyers.

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