Always good to see there are others interested in racing.

In 2007/2008 we were so close to getting a regular thing up and running again. I was and remain very passionate about course racing on basic One Design boards and continue to be frustrated with the lack of active clubs in South Australia. We nearly got affiliated with an established sailing club but at the last hurdle, through politics, they saw reason to prevent us from being regularly involved.

Due to the nature of the boards we were sailing at the time I recognised a need to join a club on protected water and there are very few in the metro area. So when it didn’t work out with this one, there were very few places to turn. The open ocean, I feel is not a place for the Windsurfer One Design, particularly in the hands of novices. The Exocet Kona One is quite suitable but there are still issues with availability and still being so far off shore as is the case with some of the other clubs, again some sailors may feel a bit exposed. We needed to find a healthy medium and it was taken away from us through lack of vision on the part of others. Anyway, there are other places, but I had other projects that I had to work on, and in the end windsurfing got put on the shelf, although hopefully only for the time being.

This summer we haven’t been out at all. I’m hoping that next summer will be different. I still follow what is happening in the sport and from time to time get encouraged with overseas developments but we always seem to be a fair way behind. We are still in need of a basic very budget One Design package in the industry, something about half the price of what is currently available. Perhaps local industry may support this initiative at some stage. Basic, cheap, long board, sail no bigger than 7.4 metres. Price no more than $1,500. With that and cooperation from existing sailing clubs (or enough interest from local long board sailors who would want to support such an initiative, then it would be possible to get this happening again). Those are my thoughts anyway.