Not sure what the "flames" on the leech were for other than to match the "Heat Wave" name...

Those are "hea look it's me" flags.

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Mastbender said..

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.

They actually worked very well to prevent spinout! I am sure they produced a fair bit of extra drag though. I guess we now have better foils and mostly don't need them. Where top sped is not so much of a goal, ie in bump and jump, I think they still would be interesting to revisit. I have kept a few in my museum, just in case.....

Having said that, there was a MultiFins Systems 11" slotted slalom fin that actually worked very well. I remember doing some side by side sail testing many years ago and Amac told me to 'get rid of that fin, it is too slow'. So we tested the fins and it was just as fast as his non slotted expensive slalom fin on most points of sail. I wish I still has that fin.....

As I remeber it, the wave version of their slot fin didn't work anywhere near as well.

Yep, the Canard's were a great thing when they came along.

Back in the 80's, I had a split fin (two equal size blades, one in front of the other with about a 2cm gap between them. It was called "lickety split". You could push it out, and it would come back in line with no effort or pull. However, it seemed very slow, so I didn't keep it long.

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Tony Wills said..
Not sure what the "flames" on the leech were for other than to match the "Heat Wave" name...

At least the flames weren't a PITA like foot battens shown in that pic. What a glorious day it was to get a sail that you could roll up without either removing the foot batten or rolling the sail from the middle.

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Tony Wills said..
Not sure what the "flames" on the leech were for other than to match the "Heat Wave" name...

Is that you?? Where?

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BSN101 said..

Tony Wills said..
Not sure what the "flames" on the leech were for other than to match the "Heat Wave" name...

Is that you?? Where?

Yep. 1993 at Shoalhaven Heads in NSW. Would blast out into the waves through the river mouth (hence the dropped boom from hard landings). The mouth has mainly closed up and has relatively high sand dunes that cause a wind shadow these days

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Tony Wills said..

BSN101 said..

Tony Wills said..
Not sure what the "flames" on the leech were for other than to match the "Heat Wave" name...

Is that you?? Where?

Yep. 1993 at Shoalhaven Heads in NSW. Would blast out into the waves through the river mouth (hence the dropped boom from hard landings). The mouth has mainly closed up and has relatively high sand dunes that cause a wind shadow these days

Skinny! back in the day.... boohoo!

I'm not even sure what this is, it's from 1985 France, looks like a wind weapon attached to a normal rig, or tandem wind weapons, but how do you jibe it? Never seen them, and this is the only pic that I know of, so, it's gone. Wearing a leash? Really?

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Simon100 said..

AusMoz said..


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

I cant belive you guys uses to have to sail them, The modern boom clamp must have been the best thing ever when it came out

At one stage this is this is the only boom available and you probably sold a few right?

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Simon100 said..

AusMoz said..


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

I cant belive you guys uses to have to sail them, The modern boom clamp must have been the best thing ever when it came out

I can't really call this an example of a "worst invention", a few like them, but you don't see them anymore, a combo asymmetrical, Tinker tail from Maui a long time ago.

My vote goes to the Jibemaster.
Both feet next to each other on this Lazy Susan must be horrifying in serious chop, even the leash on the double windweapon isn't as daunting.
It's obvious only a German can seriously spend years of development on something like that, trying to replace skill by engineering.

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Mastbender said..
I can't really call this an example of a "worst invention", a few like them, but you don't see them anymore, a combo asymmetrical, Tinker tail from Maui a long time ago.

They sure were Freaky arsed things, I heard they were inspired by goblins

Something had to be done to make the old one designs more fun but how many blokes got hit in the Jatz Crackers doing Freestyle One design???

I was told when first starting out don't buy a Ten Cate! Check the Uni Joint and Foot Straps

Only see them now as a Cheap SUP

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AusMoz said..

At least they got a sponsor, what the deal with the guy in the rear, steering a rudder with his leg?

Formula windsurf grew the sport

New early planning board.

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Mastbender said..

AusMoz said..

At least they got a sponsor, what the deal with the guy in the rear, steering a rudder with his leg?

Could it be some sort of Dutch Rudder

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AusMoz said..

I was told when first starting out don't buy a Ten Cate! Check the Uni Joint and Foot Straps

Only see them now as a Cheap SUP

Moz, no one told me back in the 80s!! Had a TC SPACER.... it lasted about 3months. Flexy sluggish n damn slippery. Hahaha

Sorry I can't add a photo to the business card for this brief interlude in the heady 80's.The 2 sail concept featured a H Boom with a jib in front and a mainsail in the back. Yachting tech that in spite of the best efforts of the designers and the saiilmakers, just did not deliver. All it did was make my work twice as hard as a raceboard sail measurer at the time. I do remember the operator getting caught between the sails once.
Evidence is still there on the patent application if anyone wants to apply CPR to the concept.

Sorry about the inversion, some days...

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plywoodboy said..

Evidence is still there on the patent application if anyone wants to apply CPR to the concept.

pericles.ipaustralia.gov.au/ols/auspat/pdfSource.do?fileQuery=%96%AF%B3%A7%A1%A9%7B%92%A6%A3d%A4%A7%AA%A3%AC%9F%AB%A3%7B%7F%93owvpnworpr%7Fnl%AE%A2%A4d%B2%A6%A3%7B%A8%B3%AB%AE%A3%A2