Old Vid Caloundra early '90's

I was doing search on Caloundra Windsurfing and this came up.
Not sure if it's been on SB before, but no doubt the QLD folk will recognize people and sails.

whilst not in that video I was there nearly every weekend. I'm not sure what happened to the guys, I think the majority of them took up kitesurfing.

a couple are no longer with us and the rest still windsurf but hit the waves at neil st these days.

my quiver back then was a 5.7m jv slalom sail (local) and a hot pink fluoro 6.5m wildwinds which I used on a 9'2" custom wave slalom.... fluoro yellow and purple spray job. they were the days!!!

for speed sailing I'd borrow a 9'2" needle which I now own. that place was the bomb in an easterly. willy who passed a few years back was unbeatable.

we also did a lot of longboard racing there and at the lake. dieter from sunshine coast sailboards sponsored most of the events. steve allen used to join in. I think he was about 18 or so then as well. jesus he was fast.

they were good times and windsurfing was at the top of it's ride then. just in Caloundra/Maroochydore there was 6-7 shops and at golden beach where that vid was shot there could be 60-70 people at once blasting around.

the area now is completely different because of the sand movements. the mouth of the passage however is returning to it's former glory.

p.s. I thought the guy at 1.10 was me because it looks exactly like my setup but then he looks to have a beard so I'm not sure.

bondalucci gets the credit steve.

here is another of the same spot and same guys. I kind of remember Marcus, pretty sure they were vitamin sea team riders. this one has the miami vice music which suited the vitamin sea guys of that time. hehe,

Unfortunately the sandbank is gone. It used to work in an easterly.

i think these days there is an ok run in a NE.

no probs conan,

what type of sailing? do you have a car or staying on the beach?

if it's flat water then golden beach,
if it's bump and jump then the bar on an incoming tide
for waves, neill st or the bar seem to be the spots this time of year.

keep an eye in the qld forum, myself and others post where they are going on the weekends so other can have someone to sail with.

yeah it was a classic spot.

that drag race lead to some fairly aggressive moments off the water at times. not only was it a full speed blast down to the boardwalk, then there was a gybe and a screamer back upwind to the towers. all done back through the fleet of 60 other warriors coming down the course. it was nuts.

it started to lose it when the trees grew on the sandbank, yeah it was every bit as flat as burrum. the gybe area up at the board walk was like glass. it is once again that flat up at the board walk but needs a southerly now. if someone were to go up there in a southerly they may find it a good spot for alphas. there is a new run forming from the boat hire out to the bar along the sand bank. not sure how good it is but worth a look for those that sail speed there.

you still have the issue of the trees on the middle sandbank tho. it's kinda off the radar because the speed guys sail down to the south and the wave guys stay in the bar.

while we're reminiscing.

one year. we had a slalom race from the happy valley side. the idea was to do as many laps as possible in a 20 minute time frame. we all lined up and they dropped the flag.

as we were all pumping to get going in the slop created by 50 slalom sailors this guy was rounding the mark and coming back along the course. he copped a mouthful from everyone for sailing along the course during a race.

then, everyone realised it was steve. we had only gone 20-30meters and he was on his return lap 300 meters in front of the entire fleet.

Think I saw a young Kel in movie?
I started on JVs they were good sails in those days.

Wow...trip down memory lane I used to sail at the tip of Bribie back then, used to park on the Caloundra side on the spit out the front that's been washed away.
Used to only be able to water start in one direction because of the current. Lots of sore ankles from trying barrels with those heavy glass boards. Biggest sails back then must have only been about 6.5.
Amazing how back then every just wore shorts and maybe a t-shirt, or those fluoro wetsuits...

Back then I used a 8'10 watercooled wave slalom and Gaastra wave slalom sails about 5.5 and 4.5, but was probably only 55kgs back then.