“If you do not know where you come from, then you don’t know where you are, and if you don’t know where you are, then you don’t know where you’re going” (Terry Pratchett, wise man). How did we windsurf 10, 20 and even 30 years ago? What did NorthSails and our team riders do in 2008, 1998 and 1988? Time for a quick flashback…

10 years ago – 2008: It’s the time of baggy jeans, spacey sunglasses and white lycras. Riccardo Campello is the first to tries a triple forward. Until today (May 2018) nobody has ever landed one. NorthSails Windsurfing is the leading company in sail design regarding high tech features and product innovation. We even launched our own tablesoccer. Gollito Estredo, 19 years at the time, wins his second world title on the ‘DUKE’. Together with Andre Paskowski (RIP!) he invents a new move every week. Check out the 2008 benchmark in freestyle here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkvfG_geHd0 . Our legendary wave sails ‘ICE’ and ‘VOODOO’ are the favourite wings of Nik Baker, Vidar Jensen and Peter Volwater (RIP!). Alessio Stillrich, the 14-year-old newcomer from Gran Canaria joins the North team, while Alice Arutkin is named Rookie of the year by the PWA.

20 years ago – 1998: These are the days of massive prize money and high reputation for our windsurfing professionals. The first indoor world cup takes place in Berlin. Dunkerbeck, Baker, Naish and the wild Robert Teriitehau are the heroes. The latter lands one of the first double forwards in history. Freestyle gets more popular as shortboards allow flatwater jumps and rotations. The Willy Skipper and the Air Jibe become THE thing while the wave girls Daida and Iballa Moreno start their career in the world cup on North Sails. We wear curly hair and black wetsuits. The sail designers around the world discovered Monofilm as the new standard. Most sails are barely made of other material.

30 years ago – 1988: Brian Talma and Björn Dunkerbeck show up on the international screen. The cheese roll is the most radical move under the sun, but the bigger part of windsurfing took place in the Olympic and Speed section. Erik Beale sets a new speed record with 40,30 knots. NorthSails Windsurfing is only seven years old. Sail designer David Ezzy develops a range of 5 sails: Infinity, Prisma, Delta, Ellipse Ezzy Wave and Ezzy Wave Maui Edition. The colourful sails – mostly made of high-tech cloth – look great on the water. Trend colors are pink, yellow, purple, green and more pink. Even masts and extensions are available in pink! Finally tying knots for boom and mast had come to an end. The clamp for the boom frontend is invented. 2018, after 30 years of constant re-thinking and improvement the NorthSails iFront 2.0 is the lightest and most functional frontend on the market.

NorthSails FLASHBACK