This article I wrote about the importance of backyard windsurfing development was recently published in Windsurfing Now magazine (spring 2019). Below is text and a few photos from before the magazine’s final cut.
What questions have you ever asked yourself about windsurfing in the US? Have you ever envied living in a mythical windsurfing venue like the Gorge, or wondered why the windsurfing scene in France is huge compared to America? Have you been unable to relate to the PWA because you don’t know any of the sailors, and none are American? Do you know what the Olympic equipment is, who the US competitors are, and what it takes to do an Olympic campaign? Do you know exactly what you need to do to reach the top level of the sport, or achieve a major personal objective in your favorite windsurfing discipline? Is there someone local that could help you do that? If you’ve ever felt disconnected or left behind by the larger sport of windsurfing, it means you are living in the American Windsurfing Culture Gap.
In the US, windsurfing is lower in participation and overall skill level than many other countries. Windsurfing is not unified behind a clear vision as it is elsewhere, and the lack of national curriculum, high-level instruction and events, plus inconsistent grass-roots efforts gives the US a deficit in skilled sailors and high-level local culture. Added to the increasingly frantic lives of the middle class in the US, windsurfing is a complex activity competing with a plethora of other distractions and time-fillers. US local culture is simply not developing the sport on a level consistent with the rest of the world.
What is needed to reconstruct windsurfing culture in the US? This answer is simple but not easy to resolve. Sailors need easy access to community events and higher-level sailors for coaching and mentorship. Ambitious windsurfers need a clear vision of a pathway to the top level of their discipline, and what they need to accomplish to get there. Competitive or recreational older adults need a clear vision as well, regarding where they fit into the larger picture in their own personal development and mentorship of others. Most importantly, we need the enthusiasm of our windsurfing friends and community support to keep us coming back. It takes all of us making at least a small effort, and knowing where to make that effort, in our own communities in order to raise our collective level.
Miami’s local windsurfing community has relaunched with a big injection of effort from two hardworking windsurfing professionals. Alex Morales and Kathleen Tocke are two dedicated windsurfers with very different backgrounds bringing perseverance, excellence and a fresh outlook to the windsurfing community – taking much needed action to change and advance American windsurfing culture.
Dedicated Olympic class sailor gives new life to Biscayne Bay Yacht Club
Kathleen Tocke is the pioneering coach behind Biscayne Bay Yacht Club’s youth windsurfing program. Reaching new heights in participation and stoke, the program is exploding with more than 20 kids. The program is geared towards both lifetime participation in the sport and learning how to race. By creating social bonds among students and involved parents, BBYC is a great place to hang out with multiple generations of parents and kids both on and off the water. During practice, Kathleen is training racing skills, solid fundamentals, and fun in a low-pressure environment, using the universally popular Bic Techno 293 youth one design class.
Kathleen has spent many years competing and coaching internationally in a variety of Olympic and Pan-American class dinghies. Drawn to windsurfing in 2011, she campaigned in the RS:X, the Olympic windsurfing class, through 2016. Kathleen brings a high level of racing and coaching experience to the table and has a clear vision of where she wants her program to go.
Q: What are your objectives for the BBYC youth windsurfing program?
My main objectives are for the kids to love being on the water, introducing them to the sport of windsurfing, and the ultimate goal of creating a high-level race team and lifetime participation in the sport.
Q: How does windsurfing contribute to the kids’ lives?
Windsurfing gives them a sense of freedom, and they are already hooked at ages 12-15. They love learning to control the board, the sensation the board gives, and interacting with nature. They like being able to just hop on a board and sail after school, and it’s a great outlet for their energy. Doing an individual and independent sport builds their confidence. The kids also love having a sport that’s unique relative to what the other kids are doing at their school.
Q: How is the BBYC program structured? In what way is it special?
The thing that’s different about BBYC is it’s one of the oldest and most exclusive yacht clubs in Miami, which normally you wouldn’t think would lead to a windsurfing program. However, one of the younger commodores is a windsurfer, and to attract kids and new members, they decided to start this program.
The program is a full-scope developmental Bic Techno program and it’s one of only two that exist anywhere in the US. We have both fun classes and a racing group with kids of ages 10-16. We have high-level windsurfing coaches, not just recreational windsurfers, that are able to teach the skill set that Bic Techno racing requires. There are very few windsurfing instructors in the country that can coach the kids to this level.
We made a huge effort to get correct equipment, and in some cases we had to import gear from Europe. Some of the kids are really tiny and having small, lightweight rigs, correctly sized harnesses and other appropriate equipment helps them learn really fast, have more fun, and love windsurfing more. We guide them a lot in terms of equipment, both in purchasing and setup. We have one tiny girl who is an amazing, natural windsurfer, but we had to cut the luff sleeve of her Techno sail to get the boom low enough!
We also host regattas, and BBYC already hosts the Orange Bowl (a huge annual youth sailing event in Miami) and an annual RS:X regatta before the Miami World Cup. We’ve also competed in Mexico and will go to the Techno Worlds in El Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain, next October. Kids need to have exposure to higher-level sailors so they can set clear goals for raising their own skill level.
Q: What about Miami makes it a special place for a youth windsurfing program?
Many high level windsurfers come here annually, and they kids have met and been coached by Olympic role models like Demita Vega and Nicole Level from Mexico, Americans like Farrah Hall and some of the local RS:X men, and Europeans like World Cup champion Helene Noesmoen from France. With these guest coaches plus Alex Morales, who runs all the foil and slalom events here, they have the opportunity to be mentored by and connected to an amazing community of windsurfers.
Q: How is windsurfing a great platform to be excellent at any kind of sailing?
Most of the kids who race Techno are involved in other clubs’ sailing programs (Optis, Laser, FJ, Snipe) and they have lots of opportunity during the year to sail in other boats. The relationship between windsurfing and sailing is a two way street and the two sports help each other. Tactics and strategy, feel, trapezing, and athleticism are all things related to both windsurfing and sailing. For example, it’s more obvious how to see the wind in a sailboat, but windsurfing gives better connection to waves, sea state, tiny wind shifts, and current. Windsurfing also requires lots of finesse and agility, which in any dinghy is major – windsurfing gives sailors a very useful type of athleticism, balance, and strength.
Q: Do women sailing coaches face any particular challenges? How have men and women contributed different strengths to your program?
Having a balance between male and female coaches is the best for any program. I’ve had a lot of success in retaining a majority of girls, and they use my past success and current racing as a reference point for their own development. However, bringing in Alex has added more boys to our program and he has a personality that hooks kids. This should send a message to sailing and windsurfing programs that both male and female coaches are important in retaining kids.
Women are paid much less in sailing jobs and regardless of how high our skill level is, it’s harder to make a career out of it and give back by raising the level of the sailing community. For example, married men with children can help support their family and do an Olympic campaign by getting pro sailing jobs. Women don’t have that opportunity; they can’t take off a week to fund campaigns and family life by coaching.
In youth sailing, women make amazing coaches. Women are analytical, detail-oriented, and very team and community focused. They are also very patient with kids, and make more of an effort to psychologically coach them and find out what their individual qualities are. In general, women coaches need to feel as respected as men and we put in a lot of work to get there.
If you look all around the country for Americans who can coach windsurf racing to a high level, you will only find a few, and the majority of those are women.
Q: What improvements would you like to see across the USA to develop the windsurfing community and culture?
First, we need to raise the awareness of windsurfing as a viable option for young sailors who don’t want to race Optis or 420s or have been burned out by youth sailing programs. A lot of current Olympic windsurfers started in Optis or other types of boats, and finally chose windsurfing. It’s important for families to know there is another pathway for their kids in high level sailing, or simply to keep them active and enthusiastic about being on the water.
It’s also very important that we create good windsurfing coaches in the US. There is a stigma in the American sailing community that windsurfing is not sailing, and they fail to understand how technical and difficult windsurfing is. You need technical coaches that understand board handling, know how to tune equipment, and how to race.
Good instructors teach kids correct skills and to have fun, and in turn they learn faster and stick with the sport. If you have coaches that can build confidence, board or boat handling skills, and tune gear properly, kids will love both sailing and windsurfing.
No more pushing water: Windfoil warrior is getting it done
Alex Morales, one of the biggest personalities in American windsurfing, has long been a dynamic presence in the Miami windsurfing community. A veteran competitor in windsurfing, he became a member of the Cuban Olympic windsurfing team in 1989. In 1992, he sailed on a Bic Rhumba from Cuba to Miami, and never since has he looked in the rear view mirror.
For the past 15 years, Alex has been the promotor and sponsor of all the Formula class and slalom events in Miami. In 2010, he started his own, handmade in the USA board building company, Tillo International. His can-do scrappy attitude, along with his passion for windsurfing, windsurfers, and his dedication to the American spirit of enterprise, independence, and hard work is paying off. Now at the forefront of windfoil development in the United States, Alex is creating some of the best performing and most affordable shapes for both boards and foils available on the market today.
Through windfoil and sheer force of character, Alex is getting local Miami windsurfers passionate about their sport again. He is organizing weekly windfoil races for the local sailors, which are bringing together old and new friends to have fun racing and training. Participants are learning higher-level windfoil skills such as how to pull off a great flying start, speed testing to compare differences in equipment, sail tuning, racing strategy, and foil board maneuvers. In addition to his effort to raise the level of racing in Miami, Alex is helping to coach the youth team at BBYC and gaining new ground by teaching other Miami windsurfing community members to foil.
Q: What is your end vision for the Miami windsurfing community?
A: I would like to see a high level of windsurfing here. Miami has so much to offer in terms of logistics, access to water, and a quality sailing area. It’s the only venue in North America that holds Olympic sailing regattas, and we have infrastructure, yacht clubs, and enthusiasm for sailing. Flat water and foiling gives us a huge amount of wind range, and we don’t need to be in Maui or the Gorge to have fun windsurfing. I don’t see why Miami cannot be the premiere venue for windfoil racing in North America.
It’s also really encouraging to work with the local BBYC youth windsurfing program and see the progress of new generation in the sport. You can actually see the sport moving forward – these kids just want to windsurf every day of the week. It’s a huge reward to see the vision working, and I’m super stoked.
Q: How does making windfoil boards and foils tie into that picture?
A: Foil is the future, and high performance sailing is here to stay. You have to bring the best technology to match the interest of kids, and sailing an Optimist dinghy designed in the 1950s just doesn’t cut it any more. Foiling pushes the limits in both technology and athleticism, and we can create high tech user-friendly products for kids. In order to advance kids’ sailing, the hydrofoil is the best tool we have. Nobody is sending faxes and telegrams any more, and we can’t market old school windsurfing gear to kids today, but we can put them on a foil with a top end of 25 mph in light wind.
Q: How do you feel that your company, and other small companies making windfoil, will help invigorate the sport and the windsurfing industry?
A: Hydrofoil has been around forever, but the windsurfing industry has remained very conservative in the last few decades. It took windsurfing longer than the other sailing industries to commit to foiling. Now we are just starting to get rid of drag and stop pushing water around. In the market, everyone wants to be playing –it’s moving fast and super competitive. There are a lot of small companies like mine taking up the challenge. Everyone is fighting to be at the front of development, technology and manufacturing; this is allowing more and more windsurfers to have the windfoil experience. Beginner, intermediate and advanced; if everyone can fly and feel free on the water with new technology I am super happy to be a part of that.
Q: What is the difference between buying your gear and buying gear from one of the big windsurfing companies?
I put a lot of honesty into my equipment development, and always put the needs of the customer first. My equipment is always ahead of the curve but doesn’t need expensive updates all the time. The system I created is more stable than production foils and has the option to be upgraded inexpensively as the technology develops. The Tillo International Model 3 foil is strong and has efficient connections and low drag. You can keep the same foil system and upgrade masts and wings on your own schedule, while the core system stays the same. With other companies, this modular system is not as refined. I give the rider an economical, strong, fast and stable system by using less expensive and durable materials like G10 for the mast and wings, and a marine grade aluminum fuselage because the lifespan is much longer. There is no breakage, no bending or corrosion. With some other brands, if you break something, you have to buy the entire system again. There will also be problems with matching parts. The one that suffers is the customer, and production foils that are re-designed and replaced every year by the big companies make foiling more complicated for the average windsurfer.
Q: Why did you choose to build boards and foils, instead of doing something less difficult with your life?
Someone has to do it, and I have a lot of passion for it. You have to choose if you want to live your life the easy way or if you want to put all your energy into something that might make less money but gives you a real emotional reward. I used to do easier work but I wasn’t happy doing it; now I am much happier.
Q: What potential do you see for the US to create success in windsurfing? What attitude do other windsurfers need to take for this to happen?
The first rule is this: do not promote windsurfing as a destination sport. This is one of the main reasons why we fail – we try to windsurf all the time in the places we don’t live. We need to develop windsurfing where we live and sail there with whatever equipment we need to maximize that. Then the idea of the windsurfing destination becomes fiction. We need to push for backyard windsurfing in the US and forget about the island paradise wind condition places. None of that works to develop the sport, because development is all about creating infrastructure and grass roots programs. Keep the local scene active and interesting and we’ll grow the sport, it’s very simple. Stop looking around for real estate in Bonaire, stop flying to Brazil, sail in your backyard and promote your sport in your hometown. Build energy, events and infrastructure and stay at home. How does windsurfing die? It goes to Maui. Never go to Maui.
It only takes a few dedicated people to create forward momentum in the windsurfing community. With the vision and choices of just two people, Miami has become the highest-level windsurfing venue on the East Coast. The choices we make define whether our windsurfing community, and our appreciation of that community, grows or stagnates. Even if you feel your time doesn’t allow you to make a big contribution, you can still make a difference by showing up to local events, spending a day teaching your grandkids to windsurf, learning how to be a good windsurf instructor from other instructors, or just making friends with other sailors at the beach. Any small investment of promoting windsurfing in your backyard is another inch of ground that American windsurfing can gain, and another inch in closing the culture gap.
Farrah HALL 