IT'S A WRAP
by Sam Moses, Senior Editor
American Windsurfer's Maui Test 2000 ends today, with this Postcard from the Water's Edge, the 20th such missive since October 2. It's been an epic event for five full weeks, and a milestone for the magazine. This final Postcard feels like an end-of-the-year newspaper column, hitting on the highs and lows of the previous 12 months. Except there are no lows to mention.
Well, maybe the jets.
There are some small regrets, however. Technical matters. Details. Areas that need improvement, things that will be done better next year. I have ideas already, most of them having to do with better planning and organization, increased communication with our testers, and higher quality control over tuning of rigs.
Mostly, I'm not satisfied with number ratings, because they are totally affected by uncontrollable variables. Namely, the Big Four S things:
Size. Skill. Style. Subjectivity.
Before we can truly rate a board or sail, we need to know: Who are you? You are everysailor. So generally, we keep it general. Numbers can't tell you who gave the rating, and why. Words can. When I write the test, which will take another few weeks, I'll need to use as many words as I can, without using too many words. See why I'm not crazy about the current system? But it'll have to do, for now.
I would detail my ideas for next year, except Windsurf magazine might copy them. They hastily copied our invitations to dealers to participate in the test, and they were smart to do so. But we were smarter, first.
The dealer experiment was a solid success. When John Chao thought it up and announced it, there were outside rumblings that it was improper to have dealers rating their own equipment and that of their competition. But we knew the dealers we invited, and we had faith in their open-mindedness and
overriding concern for the windsurfing consumer, so we weren't afraid of bias. If it arose, we knew we had checks and balances in place. But, if anything, we underestimated our dealer/testers. They contributed immeasurably to the test, for their sailing ability, for their experience, and for their technical understanding and evaluation. If there was bias, it was only in some of them tending to sail mostly what they sold, in order to learn more about it. We can live with that. They are windsurfers, first and foremost, and they are on your side (so here's the trick to achieve satisfaction: when you deal with them, give them enough information to work with). We thank them for their participation, and for their long-standing support of the sport.
I regret that I wasn't able to write postcards on Roberto Ricci, Randy French, Nils Rosenblad and Tony Cicale, as I sort of promised. To paraphrase the T-shirt: So many interesting characters, so little time. Twenty articles in 35 days is fairly exhausting. But you will get their stories, if not full-blown profiles, in the American Windsurfer test issue.
Speaking of Tony Cicale, when he left here he flew straight to the California 500. His driver, Paul Tracy, blew an engine in the race but still finished the season third in points. Under Tony's calm, paternalistic and technical guidance, Tracy finally matured into a thinking-man's driver, scoring three victories and a string of consistent finishes in '99. Tony had previously guided Jacques Villeneuve to the CART championship, and worked with Mario Andretti for five years before that. A driver like Andretti chooses his own engineer, which tells you something about Tony. The boardhead. Another one of us. Watch the test issue for his fascinating explanation of the parallels in tuning a 240-mph Indy car and a 30-mph sailboard rig.
Although I didn't promise a Postcard on Svein Rasmussen of Starboard, I wish I'd been able to do one. Another fascinating guy, bursting with ideas. I take back what I said in a previous Postcard, that his pink Diva board for women "appears to be mostly a marketing gambit." He truly tried to make a board that women would find more enjoyable to sail. He admits he might have missed, though, and he thinks he knows why. That, too, will be explained in the test issue. But basically, it's why men have been missing with women since time began: First you have to figure out what they want.
And speaking of women, there was the quietly dazzling attitude of Jackie Butzen (see Oct. 29 Postcard), the most professional of testers and dealers, owner of Windward Sports in Chicago. If every tester's comments were as thorough as hers, my job would be easy. Her eye and spirit are so keen that her evaluation of the sailing experience included everything from turtles in the waves to smiles on the faces of the other sailors. If we all could see the picture as fully as Jackie, we never would curse our puny problems with jibes or waterstarts.
We didn't get to properly test the big boards and sails, because El Nina brought us so much wind (final count: 32 of 35 days). But It tapered off last week, and we did manage to get some time on the water with the big stuff, so at least we'll have something to report in the test issue. Next time, we think we'll take those boards and sails to a lake. But as John Chao reminded me, if we do that, the wind will die here on Maui next year, and we'll be begging for 140 liters and 8 meters.
A random note from my notebook: One thing that makes it so nice here is that it's classless. Among our guest testers, there are no clothes or cars to make statements, and most of the time even professions aren't known. People either connect or don't connect based on real things. Such as their
personalities, which are on their best behavior. The only snobbery I've noticed has been over the issue of good manners. And maybe that's a place where snobbery belongs. My outline for this Postcard included boasting about American Windsurfer's accomplishments, not the least of which was entertaining half the island last Saturday with the best windsurfing party many had ever seen. But suddenly I don't think a list of accomplishments is needed. The word "milestone" appears in the second sentence, and I'll let it go at that. The test issue will take care of the rest. I'll let Jackie Butzen speak for the test, by quoting one of her ratings sheets.
"Thank you for one of the best weeks of windsurfing I've ever had! Thank you also, to all the sail designers, board makers, and company owners who came and educated me in their wonderful products (that do not deserve numbers). Each of them will give the right person a world of fun and enjoyment. The one constant comment among this week's group of dealer testers is that today's equipment is so well made and designs are so refined that anything we sailed on was fun, with the exception of a footstrap blister or non-skid chafe. The consumer only needs to choose the right board for conditions and to rig their sail right. I loved everything I tried because each moment gave me pleasure in what I was doing, where I was, and who I was with."
As for me, I ended it all with a memorable day yesterday. Scored a personal best-sailed without getting my hair wet. Just don't ask how long the session was. But mostly I discovered a great new board: the Starboard Carve 99. It's 258 cm long and 60 cm wide, with turny rails and 99 liters of volume. Easiest jibing board I've ever ridden. And for sailors who only want to own one board yet still sail in high winds, the Carve 99 has to look awfully good. Baja, here we come. But the best part of the day was the session at dusk. Warm flat water and consistent easy wind, on the RRD 296 with the 7.0 Sailworks Retro, a sail I've been eager to try but never got to, until now. It was all so sweet. And powerful. Sailed till nearly dark, watching the sun go down behind the mountains. When the city lights began flickering orange on the hillsides of Wailuku, a few miles to the west, it was time to call it a wrap. Now I'm staying another 10 days or so. My wife, who just began windsurfing during this test, won't leave Maui until she's sailing in her new yellow harness and the footstraps. Our two boys, 4 and 2, are brown as Brazil nuts, and have forgotten how to wear shoes. We've rented a plantation cottage upcountry in Haiku. The Hookipa Classic has begun, and I'll be watching Dunkerbeck, Naish, Stone, Polakow, Seeger et al do their upside-down flying over mast-high waves. Plus, it's another job. I'm doing a piece on Dunkerbeck for the adventure sports website, www.quokka.com, which features stories of athletes who "beat the odds, expand the boundaries, push the limits," in Quokka's promotional words. As they say, somebody's got to do it.
Sam Moses and family will be spending the winter windsurfing in Baja. Watch www.americanwindsurfer.com for his Postcards from the Sea of Cortez.
