|
|||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||
|
 |
January First Windsurfer shipped to Europe. Per Fjaestad of Sweden saw the Dupont Magazine article and flew with his two business partners to California where Hoyle taught them to windsurf.  First Malibu Pier to Santa Monica Pier Race. This long-distance race down the coast of Southern California (often with migrating gray whales) attracted sailors from the East Coast and Hawaii. This annual regatta continued for almost 20 years. February Hoyle and Diane received an order from Per Fjaestad of Sweden for a 20 foot container of 50 Windsurfers. It was |
|
now painfully clear that the time had arrived to get the assembly line out of the living room, the parts out of the garage, and the boards off the lawn. The kids returned to doing homework instead of assembling universal joints and boom bumpers. It wasn't really all that bad except for assembling boom bumpers.  Tara with teak boom. Importers were established for: Austria, Holland, Tahiti, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. |
|
March Windsurfing International, Inc. moved from home to a factory warehouse in Santa Monica, California. May The Windsurfer was introduced in Germany. Calle Schmidt launches the Windsurfer on the resort island of Sylt. Within a few months, it's a European obsession. (More of this story is under development). August First European Windsurfer Newsletter. The newsletter included content from the U.S. and served as the vehicle that expanded the appeal of Windsurfer from California to the Europeans. Soon they would call windsurfing, "surfing". |
|
 enlarge photo September The first European Windsurfer regatta, named the Sylt Cup, was held in Germany. September/October Hoyle and Diane displayed their Windsurfer on the East and West Coast boat show circuit: Connecticut; Newport, Rhode Island; Annapolis, Maryland; and Long Beach, California. |
|
October The first North American Championships were held in San Diego, California with 33 entrants. Bruce Matlack was the first Windsurfer Champion. In less than ten years, by the time the 1981 North American Championships were held in Grand Haven, Michigan, the number of entrants swells to more than 300 competitors. The Windsurfing News newsletter reported news and results from Europe, in addition to local results and a calendar for the upcoming 1973 season. Having expanded rapidly to a full seven pages (with images), Windsurfing News now captured all the new activity swirling around |
 |
the sport, thanks to Diane's diligence. November First licensee for manufacturing the Windsurfer in Europe by Ten Cate was established. Having a European presence was a milestone for the Windsurfer: Less than a decade later, there would be over 125 sailboard manufacturers in Europe. More licensees for manufacturing the Windsurfer followed for Japan, Australia, South Africa and Canada. In 1972, 574 Windsurfers had been sold. |
|
||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
