Try to Catch the Wind

A hot sport combines the best of sailing and surfing

Britain's Prince Charles practiced it in the chilly waters off the Isle of Wight. Marlon Brando mastered it between takes of a film. A few plucky vacationers have even used it to island-hop among the Bahamas. From St. Louis to Saint-Tropez, people who used to ride sailboats or surfboards--or would not be caught on either --are trying something that combines the best of both: windsurfing, a fast-growing sport that makes the practitioner a part of his boat as he holds the sail, and the wind, in his hands.

On Long Island Sound, on San Francisco Bay, on rivers and lakes across the country, wind-surfers are multiplying like lily pads. Industry officials figure there are some 25,000 of them out there, or twice as many as last year. Hardy souls in Boston don wet suits and climb aboard their boards as soon as the ice breaks on the Charles River, and during the Fourth of July festivities, half a dozen wind-surfers participated in a race through New York harbor. Wind-surfing championships will be held this fall in Clearwater, Fla., with competition in such categories as slalom-type racing, freestyle, long-distance (up to 15 miles) and buoy ball (a kind of water rugby). For those more inclined toward the social aspects of the sport, there are more than 100 "fleets" or clubs in the U.S. and Canada that hold informal regattas. "The sport is developing very much like skiing," says Dick Lamb, president of the International Windsurfer Class Association. "You have a highly competitive elite at the top, yet it's a sport simple enough to be done by anyone wherever there's a body of water."

The object of all this enthusiasm is a 40-lb. slab of foam-filled polyethylene, 12 ft. long and shaped like a surfboard, but with a sail attached. Such a wind-surfing board will support up to 400 Ibs. The craft was invented twelve years ago when two young Californians, Hoyle Schweitzer, a surfer, and Jim Drake, a sailor, one day began arguing the merits and problems of their respective passions. Surfing, Schweitzer complained, was too dependent on wave conditions; sailing, Drake sighed, was tied to wind conditions and required a time-consuming ritual of rigging the boat. So they retired to Schweitzer's Pacific Palisades garage and built a craft that combined the best and avoided the worst of both. After selling a few models to friends, Schweitzer left his job as vice president of a computer service firm, bought out Drake's interest and founded Windsurfing International Inc. Today the firm employs 80 at its Marina Del Rey factory and will turn out 12,000 boards this year. There are a wider, more stable version for kids and beginners ($595), the standard model ($745) and the "Rocket," with foot straps for better control at high speeds ($795). Sailrider Inc. of South Salem, N.Y., this year will produce 3,000 units of a similar craft ($679) made of cy-clolac, a high-impact plastic, which along with its rig weighs 60 Ibs. Windsurfing International has licensed a Dutch textile firm to make and market the board in Europe, and at least 60 European companies are producing imitations. In fact, Europe has become the center of windsurfing activity: more than 130,000 boards will be sold there this year.

The craft's appeal is obvious. Windsurf boards cost considerably less and are more portable and easier to maintain than most sailboats. They are as safe as surfboards: since the foam-filled board stops dead and floats when a sailor drops his mast in the water, the Coast Guard has exempted the craft from its usual life-vest requirement. Many lifeguards, in fact, are using the boards as lifesaving and rescue crafts.

Like waterskiing, wind-surfing requires balance and agility, as well as a sailor's feel for the wind. The German and Dutch Olympic sailing teams require their athletes to train on wind-surfing boards in order to improve their coordination and hone their sail-trimming skills. Standing on the board, a windsurfer grasps the wishbone-shaped boom and steers his craft by tilting the sail: when the boom is pushed forward, the boat heads off-wind; when pulled aft, it heads into the wind. Since the sail is mounted on a universal joint, it is free to move in any direction, enabling the sailor to tack and jibe easily.

As the sail fills with wind, the windsurfer arches backward in the breeze and hangs suspended over the waves. "In light winds, the fun is in feeling the mellowness of smooth water," exults Ken Winner, 24, a champion windsurfer who once sailed his rig 100 miles from Hobe Sound, Fla., to Miami in six hours and 49 minutes. "But then you also have the gut thrills of a roller coaster when you get high winds and big waves."

The best waves, of course, are found in Hawaii. But experts contend that Florida in the wintertime approaches Hawaii in excellence and argue that San Francisco Bay is "the Aspen" of wind-surfing because of its challenging winds and strong waves. Other highly touted places include the mountain lakes of the Sierras, Buzzards Bay off Cape Cod, the Gulf Coast of Texas, the Great Lakes and the lakes of Minnesota.

Though many windsurfer dealers offer to teach the sport in six hours (generally two three-hour sessions at $40 each), a beginner may find the initial experience a wet one. "The first few times out," says Boston's Rollin C. White, "it's more accurate to call it wind-swimming." Adds Robby Naish of Hawaii, who last year won a world championship: "The reason I became such a good windsurfer is that I liked falling in the water." A certain amount of upper-body strength is needed to hold the sail aloft, but more experienced wind-surfers are less dependent on muscle power, having learned to use their bodies for leverage. With practice one can reach speeds of 30 m.p.h. Speeds vary according to the weight of the rider: heavier sailors fare better in strong winds, lighter ones in soft breezes.

Some enthusiasts opt for style over speed, combining tail dips and pirouettes in a kind of elegant water ballet. In Hawaii, super wind-surfers specialize in "wave jumps": they sail directly into a wave, up the crest and over, becoming airborne for a few seconds as they shoot through the foam into calm water beyond. Indeed, wind-surfers can do anything surfers or sailors can on their vessels, almost. Says Craig Roberton of Clearwater: "This sport has only one flaw. There's no way to hold onto a beer on a sailboat like that."

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