Who said we could not get rid of pumping.?
Once upon a time a group of serious “men in black” decided that rig movements could not be controlled in windsurfing. As a consequence pumping must be allowed, and rule 42 dismissed.
*USYRU Boardsailing Committee Minutes, 3/24/84
Pumping is an integral part of the freesail system, Technically, you can't sail a sailboard without kinetics of this kind. We, therefore, propose to the USYRU and IYRU (ISAF) that pumping should be completely ignored when the freesail system is in use. In the words of "Sail-to-Win" correspondent Guy LeRoux:" Any boardsailor who says he doesn't pump is lying."
Quite a novel decision considering it was made sometimes in the mid 80’s – after we had been happily competing according to the rules for almost 15 years. We hear arguments like; 1) if we cannot control a variable we try to remove its effect by randomizing the sample so that its effect is "averaged" out, or 2) Most racing requires a high level of fitness, even car racing, so why shouldn’t that apply to windsurfing.
In effect it means that we simply took the easy way out, and allowed cheating that pumping or “air rowing” clearly is - according to the basics of sailing; a boat shall compete by using only the wind and water to increase, maintain or decrease her speed. To justify it as being something good because it is physical, is an even bigger illusion. The most effective pumping does require movements that unarguably are dangerous to your back.
If we agree to the fact that the harness made the sport more brainy and elegant, I hope we also can agree that this brainless pumping pest has the exact opposite effect. It is brutal.
Pumping was not allowed in the 84 Olympics, but the event was perfectly hosted and I assume we can agree that the best man won. Robby Naish won the Windsurfer Worlds in 1976 simply because he out- sailed us all and deserved the victory. If pumping would have been allowed at the time, I seriously doubt he would have finished in the top 10, - at the age of 13 and weighing in at approx. 41 kilo.
Decision made; we wanted to get back to sailing – and re-installed rule 42 despite being warned by all the “scholars” out there.
Based on my own experience – racing in the Windsurfer class for 9 years, I kept telling myself it could be done, but could it be implemented instantly in today’s pumping world and to a majority of competitors that perhaps don’t even know how to race without automatically moving the rig.
It is with profound pride that we can declare the Kona Class absolutely “pest free” today. We have proved that it is possible, and we are largely enjoying the obvious advantages. Welcome back girls. For the first time in the history of windsurfing we have a female (European) champion in a mixed fleet, as well as a bronze medalist in the worlds – in a fleet consisting of 30% girls.
The oldest competitor at 75, and the youngest at 8 years of age.
Enough said.
Welcome back to fair, tactical sailing.
