Fast forward to 2010

I had been;

Racing in the Windsurfer class at a high level from 1972 to 1981.

• Living through a 3 year odysse’ as a windsurfing vagabond in the Turks & Caicos Islands. (Bahamas)
• Spending another extremely interesting and lucrative 8 years back in my home country Norway – riding the windsurfing wave at its peak – as both distributor and retailer.
• Working with production and marketing at the Cobra factory in Thailand for 3 years.
  Establishing and operating a production facility in Indonesia for 4 years, producing the Australian brand Strapper on license, as well as initiating Starboard together with my friend Svein Rasmussen.
• Working at Starboard for 4 years, setting up communication, forums and communities

While at Starboard – which at the time were focusing on short and wide boards, I started to feel uncomfortable for two main reasons; (Although he company was successful and gaining market share, windsurfing was loosing as a whole)

The sport was struggling to attract sponsors, and the reasons were obvious; We went far too technical in early 90's . Along with lighter hitech equipment designed to perform in planing conditions only, - came the "no planing, no racing" syndrome. The longboards disappeared - and with them the tactical racing in sub planing mode.
Minimum wind limits of 10 to 12 knots where introduced in most classes, which in reality had transferred windsurfing into a high wind sport. Exciting on windy days, disaster in light wind - and nothing but a gamble for the sponsors. Add to this that the windsurfing population have shrunk to a mere 10% since its peak in the mid 80's.

1) The Wide boards became a hit due to their stability, early planning and amazing speed when powered up. (with over-sized sails) Truly something new to the sport, but with significant drags as far as accessibility and user friendliness goes.
2) I clearly saw the need for a renaissance in terms of a true One Design easy accessible longboard, which the management of said company did not favor, or believe in at the time.

It was 2005 and as a consequence I contacted Patrice Belbeoch, the owner of Exocet, and it was Eureka. He instantly shaped the board, and I saw my long time dream coming true; Developing the One Design concept, class and community, which today is a serious independent entity in the shape of Kona Windsurfing co.ltd. managed by Joachim Larsson and yours truly.

Welcome 2010 and 1000’s of potential “born again and wanna be windsurfers.”