After experiencing a spectacular boom in the early 1980s, windsurfing has been in decline for a decade. A small community of diehard windsurfers are now believing it will make a comeback. Is windsurfing ready for a renaissance?
Late June. The atmosphere is festive in Anse-à-l'Orme Nature Park, located on the western edge of Montreal. The wind is blowing at 15 knots this morning on Lac des Deux Montagnes in a northwesterly direction, with gusts up to 25 knots. For canoeing or kayaking, it's an absolute horror, but for surfing, it's paradise.
Six surfers, all smiling, chat and adjust their gear before jumping into the water. When the wind picks up, these mostly retired surfers put their lives on hold to play in the wind. They will only get off their boards when Aeolus’s breath calms down or their bodies get tired. “When the day is windy, I warn my wife not to wait for me for dinner,” Eric Gouin, 68, a surfer since he was 18, tells me happily. Get out your calculator: That means he’s been on the board for half a century behind the isothermal suit!
The hobbyist's car is loaded with gear. Each enthusiast has two or three boards, several sails and their masts, and at least one wishbone, the collar that controls the sail. They go out into the water, come back to adjust their gear, then head back out to the wave in a round trip that continues until they find the perfect combination to reach windsurfing nirvana: Planning, That is, when the board creates its own wave that you surf. From the moment you feel such intoxication, windsurfing can become an obsession.
