WINDSURFERS WERE WINDSURFING near Boston Harbor on New years Day. The exceptional warmth that saw the new millennium gave many, myself excluded, the opportunity to greet the new age with their passions. This was a sign of things to come.

Next month, windsurfers from six countries will race across the Atlantic from Portugal to Brazil. They will fly the same winds that carried the Portuguese explorers 500 years ago and share the same spirit of adventure and wonder. When they arrive on the shores of Brazil—after dancing 3,000 miles across the open ocean—they will have discovered a new land and timeless kindred souls.

“The sea is dangerous and its storms terrible, but these obstacles have never been sufficient reason to remain ashore . . . unlike the mediocre, intrepid spirits seek victory over those things that seem impossible . . . it is with an iron will that they embark on the most daring of all endeavors . . . to meet the future without fear and conquer the unknown.”—Ferdinand Magellan (circa 1520)

With this issue, we meet the future without fear and seek to conquer the unknown with an iron will. Our quest to carry forth the message of windsurfing has been complimented by the merger of WindTracks Journal and its publisher Clay Feeter. The merger of the two publications represents a unique opportunity to sail into bigger oceans.

Those subscribers of WindTracks Journal will now receive American Windsurfer. Their combined distribution makes this the largest windsurfing publication in the world.

Still, the sea is dangerous and the storms of life, horrendous. But these obstacles have never been sufficient reason to remain ashore. Windsurfers seek victory over those things that seem impossible. It is with an iron will that we face our destiny. It is with fluidity that we dance with life’s abundant forces.

We are windsurfers crossing the Atlantic. We are sailors arriving in a New World. We are explorers seeking New Frontiers.

John Chao
Publisher/Editor