Millennium Merged Issue 7.1 received a rush of reactions concerning WindTracks and AW. While the issue has only been out for two weeks when this new issue goes to press, the wide-ranging opinions support the premise that you can’t please everyone.
Toilet Paper
The first time I saw an issue of WindTracks was in the (first) outhouse at Punta San Carlos. It was a great little funky newsprint mag, and made interesting reading as well as tolerable toilet paper. The outhouse was pretty well supplied with copies at the time.
Now that you have gone glossy and “merged”, the mag has lost one of its important functions. Perhaps you can include a soft paper section in each issue to help those in need and also continue the down-home Windtracks tradition.
Mike Beigel
beigel@beitec.com
Sensational!
Just received Vol7-1 in the post. Sensational. Great content, very informative and well put together. I read Windsurf, our own Freesail and the UK mags and yours is by far the best. We have a surfing mag here and it is beautifully done and you can be certain AWM is its equivalent. Great work.
Grant Larkin
grant.larkin@it.alstom.com.au
Sucks!
I received the mag today, it sucks, shit, I only wished I didn’t order it this soon, skiing dam! Poor WindTracks, you gave them a bad name so far. Let’s hope you improve it a bit. 100% sucked; your web’s a lot better, you need to look at a surfing mag, photos, please, back to the grass roots of why we want a mag, photos! Skiing shit! I wouldn’t care if Ian Byod was nude on skis it sucks. Thanks anyways for trying, you’re one of the last mags, or it may only be Windsurfing mag. that people buy ‘cause of how poor your first (merged) issue is !!! Sorry, but after waiting so long for an issue, look what you gave us……….skiing.
Paul Dieckman
jalama@hotmail.com
Not Impressed
I hate that you have down-sized the mag to a “normal” magazine. I found the larger format much more attractive. I also hate the demise of Wind Tracks. So far, I am not impressed by the “marriage”.
I view windsurfing as the “outlaw bikers” of the sailing world. Since Memphis, TN is such a hotbed of windsurfing…. We are only 12 hard-core sailors. There are 12 sailors who migrate to windy spots each year, sometimes twice in a year. I think that commercial windsurfing has ignored the smaller areas such as my hometown. For crying out loud, US Windsurfing includes TN in an area with Florida. In My Humble Opinion, there are too many folk looking to make fortunes in windsurfing. The market, has shown that outside certain hot spots, the people will not be real interested in funding the industrial trust funds of the founders or corporate officers of the windsurfing industry. Some of us just love windsurfing and don’t have to sail as fast as a pro or do the latest gimmick (kite sailing). A WindTracks slogan, “ It is always best in your backyard” should be heeded. I hope that ya’ll love what you do and that you feel better for your efforts. But, if you forget your audience, then I hope your skills are transferable. Myself, it took me 8 years to get my job and I only make 40k after 10 yrs. on the job. But, I am challenged by what I do and every now and then actually do something good. I hope that ya’lls jobs give you better satisfaction.
Robert Butterick
butteric@ixlmemphis.com
Great!
Just received my issue of the new, merged publication. GREAT! You have managed to retain the best of both entities — keep it up!
As a Boston-area sailor who has managed to get in local sessions during each and every month of the past 8 years, I hope that AWS’ Northeast roots will be reflected in its editorial/ pictorial content . . . Again, thanks for a quality publication.
Bob Clark
windwardpartners@msn.com
What Arrogance?
Enclosed is a check for a one-year subscription to American Windsurfer. I am extremely impressed with the direction your magazine is headed. I did not subscribe in the past as I have had subscriptions to Windsurf magazine, as well as Windtracks. Windtracks has taken a direction that I neither liked nor approved of. Never have I seen anyone give its customers less of what they want or need than Windtracks. What arrogance!
I like the tests, etc. Keep up the good work. I am dropping Windtracks, don’t disappoint me.
Edward L. Montgomery
Sparks, Nevada
Ex-Lawyer
You don’t know me from Adam, but thanks for the wonderful article on the Islamorada Pro-Am in the new AW. I go down to Islamorada every January; now I want to go in November, too! You really gave descriptions of the events, both on and off the water, that made me feel like I was there. Much more nuanced than the Windsurfing coverage of the same event.
The part about the man who died was very strange — very poignant, but since you didn’t say how or why he died the whole episode didn’t come together. But windsurfing’s a small community, so I’m sure the vagueness was there for good reason—who’s business is it anyway, right? Anyway, thanks for writing the piece.
Also an ex-lawyer, sometimes writer, and sail-obsessed,
Steve Barber
sbarber@randomwalk.com
Oden, Woden Spirit
Greetings and salutations from California! Thank you for the information…WindTracks and American Windsurfer have incorporated, good news for modern sailors. We have had a violent winter season here; by violent I mean a lot of wind and rain-related damage… roads washed out, coastal erosion.
My mates in old Hampshire, England send their congratulations also. Well, winter brings the water we like to sail upon. The tall ships are back in town. I am a very low income 50 year old man. I own two old school type wind surfboards and rigging, and one speed rig. I was born near the water and that is where I like it the best, sailing through the cold clear sea. Sailing takes me to the places I like the best. Oden, woden spirit of the waters olden woden spirit of the sea’s let us
modern people sail free.
Austin W. Eastridge Jr.
Felton, CA
Best of ANY
Congratulations on the latest issue of AW (v7.1). It is one of the best issues of ANY magazine I’ve ever read. I’m glad to see the magazine has survived the “smut” scandal. I for one think you were raked over the coals un-deservedly.
On another subject, I’ve been working on an article on windsurfing trailers and how people get their gear to the beach. It’s a fascinating subject that I think no one has written about. Do you have any interest in this?
Bruce Snyder
Tarpon Springs, FL
Let’s ask our readers to send in photos of their favorite trailer.
Can’t Breathe. . .
I love your work. I am a french windsurfer lost in New York. Twenty-five years old, I am originally from a far away island called “La Reunion.” It’s in the Indian Ocean (good conditions to sail in there). I can’t breathe here. Your magazine makes me survive. I’m gonna move to California to work there, around July. Tell me, what is the best location in California to practice our sport? Help me please! Thanks for the answer.
Raphael
raphaelo974@aol.com
San Francisco might be the place.
Ruff Stock Riding
I would like to get some information about being part of your 2001 board test! I am a 53 year- old jeweler Gemologist and long since retired Bull and Bareback rider! I’ve been windsurfing off and on for ten years! I love windsurfing. I like the challenge and excitement. I wanted to do something that was as exciting as Ruff Stock riding, but a little more forgiving now that I am older and was told that I did not heal as good or as fast as I used to. I could have went on to old-timers’ rodeos, but thought I would quit while I was ahead…though sometimes I still get the Urge! I haven’t been disappointed! It’s really been more fun in some respects…I used to travel to a rodeo get everything ready, pump myself up…and within one hour or so it was over… except for the dance and chasing Buckel Bunneys or having them chase me!!! The ride was only eight seconds long but the preparation, getting on, the ride, getting off and saving myself…now sometimes when I go out I stay out for hours…!
Sometimes I wait way too long before I come in, sometimes I can barely drag me, my board and rig back to shore after a great day…now instead of just one hour of adrenaline rush I get hours worth..instead of just one or two rides a day I can have more rides than I can count!
So what do you say??? I would love to come! I think you need an old has-been Cowboy…
Also, I would like to bring my Protege…she’s my girl friend’s younger sister! She’s 35 years old, though she will be thirty-six by the time of the board test! She’s a Nurse Anestheist in Kansas. A couple of years ago I taught her how to windsurf! It was back in Kansas at a lake called Chenney, I can’t believe how fast that little shit progressed… She makes me sick! I can remember how I had to suffer…I had to pay my dues…Of course it just might have been my expert teaching style! And sailing along side her for days on end…and yelling!! Lean your mast forward!! Down wind…lean your mast back! Upwind… now we’re going to tack…though I can’t take all of the credit though…she’s just turned out to be really really good! But me helping didn’t hurt…..we’ve been to Maui together I’ve gone back to Kansas to teach her more advanced moves and ended up getting a lot of her family hooked on windsurfing too!! I gave one of her sisters, one of her brothers, five of her nephews and two girlfriends Windsurfing lessons! I got them all sailing!!! And after three days I could barely talk! I was so hoarse…They all had smiles ear to ear… I was stoked to see everyone have so much fun.
This April we are going to the big island. My daughter and family live in Waikoloa. My daughter works at Hang Ten at the Waikoloa Hilton! We’re going their for my granddaughter’s first birthday laua! A bunch of the family is also coming along! It’s also time for more windsurfing lessons and fun!! We’re going to go to A-Bay! That’s next to the Hilton. I am praying for a little on our side shore wind which is not common for A-Bay!! Also this is where the birthday laua is being held…!It should be so much fun!!
Sorry about being so windy . . . Kandi and I would really be honored to be part of your 2001 American Windsurfer Board Test…
Monty Fisher
acowboy@earthlink.net
You can call 603-293-2721 and get your names on the list.
Love of Fellow Man
This is the first I’ve heard of the TAWR2000 and I must say I’m very excited about it! I’m looking forward to being “involved” in the race from a spectator’s point of view. I began my love for sailing on these hard to master ‘devices’ years ago and to envision someone to sail across one of our oceans is, to me, a remarkable feat to say the least! I am presently sailing a Santana 21 on a beautiful lake here in the land-locked state of New Mexico called Heron. We love our sailing as much here as anyone with H2o to spare! The brotherhood of sailing knows no boundary, no state line, no border, no country, we live for the wind, the water, the sail and most important of all the love of fellow man.
Bob Hopper
Rio Rancho, NM
Amazing Adventure
The TAWR2000 sounds like an amazing adventure. I can’t wait. How about some information on the other teams competing, and possibly links to their websites? Thanks and good luck.
J Heaton
jheaton@together.net
3 Laws of Windsurfing (respond to pages 16,18 of vol 7, issue 1)
Okay, so Newton’s laws of motion appear to apply to windsurfing. But let’s remember that they are like a few hundred years old and about 50 years obsolete. Sure, the Newtonian thing works for ‘slow approximations’ but that’s the limit. That’s right, remember the big Al came forth with the bizarre twist of General Relativity which sent Sir Isaac over-the-falls, so to speak. If you somehow missed this in physics, just know that space, time and space-time take on some pretty interesting relationships as objects approach the speed of light. Without going too far, it can be deduced that time slows down as speed speeds up. Think about this, …the fountain of youth- right!?! Now, when on the water, and I am definitely no speed freak, but maybe I should be…the faster you go the slower you age! Hey, where can I get me some of them there cambers and pointy fins…
Robert Netsch
Kitty Hawk, NC
Aloha Glenn
Aloha everyone, I was watching TV for the first time in two months, I flicked the dial to CNN and there was Elm St., Manchester N.H. I sat there and watched the weather cam pan down the road of my old work place as a “Nor-Easter” slammed the state. It made me think of skiing for a moment as I shut it off, grabbed a bar of “sex – wax”, and headed to surf.
It’s funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same. You still have to drive to the best surf, much like heading out for the best snow at your favorite ski slope. They say it’s expensive here, but I don’t have to spend $50 to ride this “terrain park”. I do have to buy a bag of ice though to keep the beer cold.
That one moment of thought just kept snowballing as I compared the similarities between “days off” today to “days off” of last year. I drove for 45 min. to the other side of the island to that “secret stash” where the break matches my ability. I jockey for a parking place so I won’t have to walk a mile in the soft sand. You know what it’s like walking in soft sand with the beach chair and cooler under one arm and surf board in the other. It’s like walking uphill to the lodge in ski boots with skis, poles, and lunch tucked about your body.
Now, it’s time to get physically and mentally prepared to battle nature. I pull the wax out of the cooler (did you know if you leave it on the dash it disappears) and wax the top of the board. Wow, just like skiing but it doesn’t melt all over the dash and it’s used to make your feet stick. Now comes all the special clothing; [1] a rash guard and [2] a pair of quick dry shorts. You’ve got to have all the latest technology, except for the board. The older and more beat up it is the more space you get on the wave. You don’t just do battle with nature, you battle with other surfers and body boarders as you “pick your line”. Just like skiing, you never know when a body “boarder” will hit or cut you off.
Just like a long cold chairlift ride, so is the paddle out. You study the break to see where you will “line up”, skiing is no stranger to lines, then wait and look. Just like we stand at the top of a trail and say “this way”. As I scope the horizon for a set, the terrain is always changing. As I position myself for the big charge it reminds me of poling, paddling seems much slower. The wave grows into shape and you start your decent keeping in mind all the variables. You “carve” to one side so you won’t out run the wave and most important you keep your balance. Falling in both sports can be fun or dangerous whether it’s hard ice or a coral reef.
Wow, lunch time already and you think Maui’s expensive, try lunch at Deer Valley. Here you ride a wave into shore where the BBQ is perfect and toss on some of that chopped sirloin and tube steaks. This is the moment I miss the snow as I see the ice in the cooler melt at an incredible rate. This is the hard part, shall I sit in the lodge, I mean on the beach till sunset or should I take “another run”. You know what they say, “If you drink DON’T PARK, accidents cause people.” Oh that’s not what they say,”It’s always the last run someone gets hurt!” Well, of course it is. “You’re not really hurt if you can ski another run, are you?” A sunset surf is different, it’s the best time of the day. Everyone on the beach is enjoying happy hour and watching, “Apre~” and Aloha Glenn
Bob Hopper
Rio Rancho, NM