Don't knock the Astro Rock!

Did I read somewhere that the window on the Astro Rock's fin was redundant since an Astro Rock would never get to enough speed to reach spin out? That fact may be true, nevertheless sometimes in life you have to step backwards to go forwards!

Let me be frank, like many of us aging men, getting back into windsurfing after children can be a challenging process and I would be the first to admit that I was thinking about creating a hashtag named, IWASBETTERATTHISINTHE90'S!

I'd also admit that struggling to uphaul an F2 Ride 282 (115 litres) also took the wind out of my sails too, knowing that full well I was capable of clew first water starts, planing out of gybes etc back in the year 2000! Grumble Grumble, this aging process was taking my mojo away at a rate of knots!

I actually admit that post covid I was actually thinking of giving up windsurfing as all of my attempts in 2022 would end up with a 'walk of shame' and I began to wonder was I ever this bad and did I honestly enjoy it back in the day too?

Needless to say, a year ago I saw a Astro Rock on Gumtree and though it may have being constructed before the Berlin Wall was deconstructed, once bought it has been so forgiving and has turned terrible sessions into good trundling around, non-planing/ planing but underpowered, confidence boosting sessions.!

If there is anyone else out there who has struggled to get back into windsurfing (after some time off!!!), farting around on a 120-130 litre old board is a great experience and is somewhat more uplifting and a better use of one's time than watching some pointless series on Netflix!

Instructors used to say that if you could not learn how to jibe on an Astro Rock, you couldn't learn how to jibe on anything.

I learnt how to carve gybe and water start on a Astro Rock. I have many great memories on the Astro Rock. I still have one as a memory show piece.