From Longboard to "Hybrid Racer"

When windsurfing celebrated its debut as a rating at the Olympic Games in 1984 in Los Angeles under the umbrella of the World Association of Sailing (then known as “International Yacht Racing Union” IYRU), this just happened at the boom time of the sport. Even then surfers had to use material from a one design class. Sport officials decided on the model “windglider” of the German manufacturer Fred Ostermann.

The “Windglider” as the first Olympic Windsurf Board

The “windglider” follows the tradition of longboards, which have been known ever since the beginnings of windsurfing, with regard to its design. Although the sport had developed away from the traditional longboard towards a short and mobile “funboard”, thereby taking the decisive turn from “stand up sailing” to gliding, for the Olympic regattas the “windglider” embodied the best choice in the eyes of the decision makers.

Longboards determine Olympic Regattas

Although already at the next Olympic Games in 1988 in Seoul the fast developing advancements in windsurf sport were met with the agreement on a new Olympic board, the decision for the “Lechner Devision II” meant to remain true to the long racing boards.

No sooner than 1996 this board was substituted by a new model. The well-known producer Mistral had advanced his internationally successful raceboard “Equipe II” and, with “Mistral One Design”, henceforth provided the Olympic equipment. The “Mistral One Design” again was a longboard and, like its predecessors, equipped with a dagger board.

Again no short, modern “shortboard model” could stand up to the well established longboard. Although already at that time considerably shorter boards offered better opportunities to glide and to maneuver, thereby delivering spectacular races, they nevertheless needed stronger wind for doing so. That was the crux. Therefore, the decision was taken again in favour of the longboard model “Mistral One Design”, which would present no danger in case of a calm.

Rethinking Board Design

Ever since 1996 the credo of the board designers had changed from “length over all” to “shorter, broader, more volume”. The so called Wide-Body-Boards were borne. Gliding was everything, dagger boards were neglected and instead focus was put on especially big fins to ensure the keeping of track. The designers focused on low wind levels. To glide at six knots was the goal. Along with the breadth of the boards and the draft of the fins, sail areas also grew up to 12.5 sqm. In the board class of the formula windsurfing such race flounders with the format of a doorway still embody the current standard.

The “Mistral One Design” was irreversibly outdated and lay ages behind the advancing development in boards. After the Olympic Games 2004 in Athens the International Sailing Association ISAF decided to look for a new board concept for the Games of 2008 in Beijing and asked the windsurfing industry to bring in their offers.

“Hybrid” is the Clue

After considerable development work, costly reviews and repeated revisions, in the end a “hybrid board” (a mixture of a longboard with a dagger board and a broad Formula Racer) won the race. Being an all-round board with a broad range of use, which combines the advantages of both lines of design, this new board is supposed to guarantee exciting regattas at the Olympic Games even at low wind.

The new hybrid board bears the name “RS:X” and was developed by the manufacturer Neil Pryde who defines its range of use between three and thirty knots – wind conditions which have hitherto been met at the Olympic regattas. The long-time wind record of Qindao, the location of the Olympic regatta 2008, shows evidence of an average speed of only five to eight knots. Therefore, the new equipment should provide the potential for attractive contests even at such low wind conditions.

The transition to the fast gliding, modern hybrid board RS:X represents a cornerstone within the development of Olympic windsurfing. We can thus look forward to the races in Qindao.

Links

Website of RS:X class organisation

Info and news of producer Neil Pryde about RS:X class

Info of the World Sailing Association ISAF about RS:X class

Info of the International Olympic Committee IOC about the different Olympic ratings