We were so ready for Weymouth this time. We had everything AND the kitchen sink. This was going to be big single event effort. We would ship the Wings and all the gear by baggage in custom bags with heavy foam. The Wings were sixteen feet long and that alone challenged the airlines. But it would get the gear there without it being smashed and trashed along the way.

Now we had more perfect masts from Dimitrje for the whole team, and developed sails in three or four sizes for each mast. Glenn and Gordon would have a new tandem board and matching Wing rigs to attempt a new ten square meter record, and Arnaud and Jenna each had rigs as well. We had a boat driver arranged. Rick Kinser went along to help the team, and Patty Whitcomb bought two complete rigs and hired Ted Andrus to help her.

Check out the the boom curves we had for our assymetrical booms. They really hung you out there. Part of the circus is behind, with heavy sponsorship by Black & White. Didn't go well with Red. Photographer unknown.

We were becoming the true traveling circus. Huge bags with all the gear, my wife and son, and the rest of the troupe from Maui, were dealt an uncertain forecast. It quickly became a frustrating stand-around. It rained, and the giant double-decker bus that Cornish had arranged became the social center of the race site. We had many hours of great conversation with Arnaud and others, and were the coffee and beer headquarters, entertaining the magazine people with food and drink, and waiting… and waiting.

The wind came in fits and starts, and we got speeds that were close to the record, but nothing serious. J.P. Siret was fastest with his radical looking RAF sail from ITV that was so perfectly suited to the course and breeze.

This simple RAF sail made all the over prepared look silly. It just worked good and he was there. And he was real fast. Great fellow, J.P. Siret. Photographer unknown.

Weymouth had gone from the quiet little science project to a major publicity activity for windsurf companies. Neil Pryde was everywhere with flags and banners. The charming amateur character of the first time was now swept away by the pure commercial focus of the companies and their riders. The innocence was gone.

When there was wind for sailing it was generally on the lighter side and often only available for a short time, often less than an hour. There were now so many windsurfing challengers that the timing system would get overwhelmed and they would have to stop or slow the entries into the course. And there were now a large number of ‘support’ boats to haul the most serious competitors back up the course. And in one season it went from being a record attempt to a competition, far from what the organizers and sponsors originally had in mind. This would be the last Johnny Walker that would be consumed on those beaches.