Riding the waves
Sailboarding catches on among women and children in Fiji
EVERY weekend a myriad of coloured sails bobbing in the water could be seen around Suva Point.
In an article published in The Fiji Times on February 3, 1984, it was reported that sailboarding had taken over an area that was once dominated by more conventional pleasure craft and traditional fishermen.
Sailboarding, a water sport where a person would hang on to an undersized sail attached to an oversized surfboard had really begun to catch on in Fiji.
Whether you were serious about becoming a world beater and competing in the Olympics or simply enjoyed the thrill of riding the waves, sailboarding appealed to almost anyone.
The sport started in Fiji a little less than five years before, when the then owner of the then Tradewinds Hotel (now Novotel Lami), Greg Lawlor, imported a few sailboards for his guests.
He had also sold a few to some locals as people began making enquiries about the availability of the equipment.
A local company, owned by the Philp family, began importing DuFour Wing models from France in mid-1981 to keep up with the demand. They had brought in four shipments of 45 sailboards. The cost of one sailboard was $600.
Organised racing began one year before with the establishment of the Fiji Sailboarding
Association which had about 140 members.
National championships were held every year at Easter and weekly regattas were held at the Royal Suva Yacht Club from May to November.
FSA secretary Colin Philp said the sport was really catching on, even among women, young children, and the older folk.
And the likelihood of Fiji sending a representative to the Olympics had everyone excited. Others that were gunning for a place in the one-man team for the event, apart from Philp was Tony Philp junior and Vincent Costello.
The first account of sailboarding appeared in August 1965, in the American magazine Popular Science.
An article detailed a strange square looking board with a sail fixed to it.
It was designed by Newman Darby, who had described the water sport as being “so new that fewer than 10 people have mastered it”.
Mr Darby then faded into oblivion, as did his design but the basic principle survived.
Two Californian surfboard riders Hoyle Schweitzer and Jim Drake were hoping to add a new twist into the sport then.
Drake used his universal joint background to hit on the idea of an articulated rig and this led in turn to a universal joint that was still used on sailboards then.
He presented a paper on his and Schweitzer’s design to a technical symposium in April 1969 and a year later it was in limited production.
For protection against others cashing in on their “brainchild” they had to take the precaution of applying for patents in countries where they thought the sport would catch on. Schweitzer later bought full rights to the project from Drake.
In Europe, the craze for this new sport had really caught on, so much so that more than 250,000 boards had been sold to France and Germany.
The latest development was the acceptance of sailboarding as an Olympic sport.
What had started more attention though was the choice of the board brand for the Olympics.
The International Yacht Racing Union for some inexplicable reason had refused to pick Schweitzer’s Windsurfer as the official competition craft. The Wind glider, the only board mass produced behind the Iron Curtain in Hungary was given the honour instead.
Other things, besides racing had been attempted by adventurous (some people called them crazy) sailboarding enthusiasts.
Baron Arnaud de Rosnay, a wealthy Frenchman planned to cross the Bering Strait between Russia and North America. This was successful and he was given a hero’s welcome in Russia and wined and dined on vodka and caviar.
Many had also tried, and trick sailing (with handstands) would have been demonstrated at Los Angeles during the Olympics.
And it was not long before those ideas caught on too in Fiji.