Have been an avid reader of Morgan's "Windsurfing Learning Curve" blog in the Qld Forum ( is this the largest post ever - 410 post and 24,353 reads ) and it got me thinking what was my first new board. Knew it was a Dufour but not the Wing. Found it on this site hitthewave.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/windsurfing-brochures-ads-80s-90s/
It was the Dufour Sun. Started the 30 + year journey in the Bribie Island passage and have had the bug ever since.
Very interesting bit of history. Can you find your first board?

I have never bought a new board due to the cost.

I remember must have been 15 plus years ago I bought a F2 270,the lighter WC Edition for 1k second hand.

82 litres from memory and it gybed like a dream and so fast and smooth.

Remember a young bloke,around 17 who was working at Stuart Bell Sails at the time.

He would come down to Applecross after finishing work,borrow my board and do lay down gybes on it and he had only sailed for around 3 months!

He was possibly the most natural slalom sailor I've seen.

He bought a F2 270 as well,then sold it a few weeks later never to return to the sport.

In its day that board was quite something.

1st board: Windsurfer One Design bought in 1983 from Arlie Beach
2nd board: Wind Action wave board in 1985 from Boyne Island
3rd board: Bic Bebop raceboard in 1986 from Woolongong
4th board: Caveman wave board in 1990 from from Newcastle

First BRAND NEW board F2 axxis 267 1999 model. 93 litres!

I snapped three of them and all got replaced with a brand new one each time! Still have it actually

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bowsa said...
First BRAND NEW board F2 axxis 267 1999 model. 93 litres!

I snapped three of them and all got replaced with a brand new one each time! Still have it actually

Now that board is one of my all time favs !

1st new board - Bombora Zot - Probably mid to late 90's from Goodtime in Brisbane and when Simon was working there.

as petermac33 says: how many people can actually AFFORD new boards
i only bought one new because there were NO 160 liter used boards on the market
anything over 145 liters seems to be gobbled up quickly
new boards are quickly approaching $2000 !!!

how about - what board is/was used the most ??
do you still have that first new board - IF you could afford it ??

Storm 8, now that thing was heavy, but didn't have to worry about dings too much

Mine was a Vinta 320 (I think) back in Ireland in 1987 or therabouts

Can't remember the exact year but it was a 2006 70L Starboard Evo

sometime around 89.

was a 9'2" custom wave slalom that I got to design the graphics for. fluoro yellow, orange and purple. loved that board. no idea of the volume. it didn't matter in those days.

My first board was the Dufor Wing s/h 30 years ago BC (Before kids)
First (and only) new board 10 years ago, 158 Techno 2.

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petermac33 said...
I have never bought a new board due to the cost.

I remember must have been 15 plus years ago I bought a F2 270,the lighter WC Edition for 1k second hand.

82 litres from memory and it gybed like a dream and so fast and smooth.

Remember a young bloke,around 17 who was working at Stuart Bell Sails at the time.

He would come down to Applecross after finishing work,borrow my board and do lay down gybes on it and he had only sailed for around 3 months!

He was possibly the most natural slalom sailor I've seen.

He bought a F2 270 as well,then sold it a few weeks later never to return to the sport.

In its day that board was quite something.

the F2 270 was a nice board l had the heavy version turned like a baby sold it years ago back in day reg was selling them.

My parents bought me a Bombora Fun, I think it was called that. It was basically a Windsurfer OD that was pink and had a different mast base. It was a nice board and I liked it so much. We bought it when on holidays at Port Stephens off a hire place at Corlette, Port Stephens.

The first new board I bought with my own cash was a Bombora 260 slalom/speed board. I bought it from Skipp Surfboards at North Wollongong as they sold windsurfing stuff in the mid nineties. I bought it to sail the mega westerlies at Primbee as I lived there, about a block away from the water. Shortly afterwards I bought a Bombora 270 which was a much better board.

Bic rock'n roll 1988

My first brand spanking new board was a Strapper Slalom c.1995 from Simon when he worked at Goodtime. Everything before that was pre loved.

First brand new board... I saved up for 12 mths and for my 18th birthday got myself a Trigger Bros board custom made for bay blasting and jumping back in '99. Designed graphics myself. It was my upgrade from a Tyronsea 295 that I got out of the trading post and a strapper that I saved from the tip when I was 16.

Still have it stored away. It's going to go up on a wall once I get a suitable man cave.

Started sailing on a Whaler, it was owned by a friend of my dads.
Then we got a wally windsurfer, loved that board.
But my first (which my dad bought for me so I wouldn't hog the wally and leave him standing on the beach) was a secondhand F2 sunset in 1985, stepped off the Wally onto that. When I started again(2010) found a later model Sunset and started again on that.
Still in the shed don't think I will ever get rid of it

A Tyronsea 295 was my first new board in 1987 (I think) from what I think was called the Sydney Sailboat Centre in the Spit. Traded a Bombora Tri fin in to get it. It got a lot of use until 1994 when I moved to Canberra. I got rid of it for virtually nothing in 2003 or so. Now I am getting back into the sport and gear seems pretty expensive these days. I'll be buying 2nd hand where I can. Wanting a 120L freeride of some sort.

Got ripped off big time buying a Mystere Shuttle from some fly-by-night scammer in Mona Vale in the early 80's, mast base didn't fit etc. Scored a Bombora Tri-fin (pink) from Sydney Sailboard Ctre at Mona vale in 1984, best 100 metre gybe Ive ever done.

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ka43 said..
best 100 metre gybe Ive ever done.

LOL

my first ever board was a Bic vivace hard railed amimal .the guy a brought it from was in long reef surf&sail trying to flog for a new board.about 15 years ago.

1st Board : 1980 Windsurfer 1 Adelaide

2nd Board: 1981 Windsurfer Bombora ( trade in Windsurfer 1) Adelaide

3rd Board : 1982 Custom Bob McTavish, Lennox Head, tri fin swallowtail.





Check out the Nipple harness!




4th Board : Sand sailor




5th Board : 1984 Custom Bob McTavish BlueBird TriFin Lennox Head NSW and still alive and kicking... in fact, in way better shape than me! Photo taken 2014



1986 - 2014.....a short break from sailboarding..... bankrupt.

6th Board : 2014 F2 Vento, Mandurah WA

The wife thinks I've still got the same one. Heh heh heh.

My first new board was a custom made Merimbula sailboards board. It was the Mambo one with the farting dog. God I loved that board.
I was 15 and I won it in a windsurfing magazine competition. One of the best days of my life because there was no way that mum or dad could afford to get me a board like that and it was exactly what I wanted.
In the competition you had to write in 10 words or less what Mambo meant to you. I got my Mambo shorts, cut them up and covered them with red paint. I sent them in with a note saying "The shark got my brother but I got his Mambo's".

Dolphin Flyer although not new then first new was Shane O'cullohan Windforce 8"10' Green hot rod flamed Slalom/Wave was a machine

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waveboy1 said..
Dolphin Flyer although not new then first new was Shane O'cullohan Windforce 8"10' Green hot rod flamed Slalom/Wave was a machine

This is from a land down under?

My first board was also a dufa sun plastic hollow board second hand in 85 started racing it in 86.
My first new board was a Mark Pederson 9 foot 53 wide special full carbon race from Andrew Regan. What a board many race wins on this and used it in the ledge point marathon as well.
Did it up this year as siting in my shed gathering dust , cut off the nose front rocker reshape and new fin box and full strip and paint.
Only had one good test so far and first run on it over 39 knots not bad for a board 22 years old.

First new board was a storm 9 , whatever year they came out.

Later got a custom "slalom" from Warren Thomson, had that for many years, I think it was 9' 2" , fairly straight rails for ledge to Lancelin style sailing. Last seen at Lancelin tip after big shed clclean out. Sad day but had a lot of fun on that board.





It's the blue and green one, starboard trance was my next and first new factory board, it's on top. Green star surf shop custom is in the left, that was second hand but almost new, awesome fun on that too. It has a quite thick tail that used to pop out of the water a lot. If freestyle had existed it would have been great at that.

I learnt on a bombora something. It was a short board sucked in water so weighed a crap load. Not something to uphaul on so had to learnt to waterstart.

Once i mastered the fundamentals bought a HiFly 265 88L. Plastic. in my mind unbreakable. Still have it and it was a great board. Not worth anything now so might try to find someone who might get some use from it.