About 50% fun and 50% racing

by Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt Sailing News
It was the 1970s when I witnessed the early days of windsurfing as Hoyle and Diane Schweitzer cajoled their beach buddies to race boards in Marina del Rey, CA. Their nearby factory soon energized this newly created segment of the sport, and us kids got to experience the best way to learn sailing. These were exciting times.

But soon equipment development would focus on high speed and wave sailing, and high-performance windsurfing got all the attention. This soon killed off the flat water one design crowd, and when the constant cost of ‘new and improved’ equipment exceeded the fun, the elite end of the sport faded too.

Such was an example of my mantra, “We are capable of evolving toward extinction.”

But over time the mood had changed, and with so many parts of the sport going off the rails, the Windsurfer LT brand launched an updated version of the original in 2018. It has since been on a roll, first gaining traction in eastern USA, with the vibe now returning to the west where it all began.

Caroll-Ann Alie, a three-time Olympian for Canada, now lives in Oregon and is President of the United States Windsurfer Class Association. The Class began 2025 in San Diego where the Windsurfer once thrived, and had the largest fleet in an annual multi-class Midwinter regatta.

“Everybody loves San Diego for it’s unique, picturesque, and ideal wind sport venue,” said Alie. “So this regatta was a great kick off to the season. The conditions were stellar as it was sunny, breezy, not too shifty – just enough to keep it interesting!

“On Friday before the regatta, a few early birds sailed their LTs to different locations for the inaugural Pub Crawl. It was very well tested and will become a fun tradition. The mission of the Windsurfer LT Class is after all…. about 50% fun and 50% racing.”