I’ve been opening old boxes from the basement. Stuff that hadn’t seen the light of day for a long-long time. And I stumbled across my very first windsurfing learning certificate dated from summer 1977. I was just 12 years old!

No pictures of me learning and sailing but I remember the first lesson as if it was yesterday: The first hour was on a simulator made of a truncated board (front and back sawn off) mounted on 4 large springs and a large plywood plate. The apparatus was maybe a foot and a half heigh. Then a tinny sail was installed. The board section would also pivot freely so tacking could be learned on the ground. The springs provided a bit of instability when standing on the apparatus so one would get use to the motion once on the water. The second hour was on the water. The board was a classic Windsurfer (heavy!) and the boom was teak! (Hand-burning!). I remember that it took me a couple of tries before I was able to go on my own. After a hundred yards sailing, I then was stuck for a bit cause I couldn’t remember how to turn around! Ha! I was hooked! Great memories. Windsurfing is a definitely a lifetime sport!