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Ancient History
or how did I get here from there?
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Once upon a time in Germany, I thought the world
revolved around sailing, and I spent my youth tinkering with sailboats, and building
sailboat models, and dreaming up brilliant ways to
improve them. So, naturally, I became a yacht designer and boatbuilder.
After stints with the world's finest yacht yard in
Germany, and with two of the most renowned racing yacht Naval Architects in
the US, I hung out my own shingle in 1974.
My very first commission, the 54ft "Sunset Blvd" (on
the left), won the prestigious Transpac race in 1975.
Commissions came pouring in. |
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In 1980, I decided to put my money where my mouth was, and set
out to build my ultimate cruiser, a 46ft ultralight composite sailboat.
Before the hull was turned over, I had orders for a bunch more. And since
I found the hands-on building much more satisfying than the
pencil-pushing, I made it official and started my own boatyard. Through
contact with experimental aircraft gurus, I explored advanced composite
materials and manufacturing methods, and applied all this knowledge to a
gaggle of ultralight racing/cruisers. Life was good.
Then the gung-ho 80s fizzled, orders became sparse,
environmental restrictions tougher, and I went looking for some other
product to pour my accumulated experience into. |
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Then I tried windsurfing.
Within the first couple of minutes I knew that I was
going to windsurf for the rest of my life. Upon closer inspection I found
the exact same materials in windsurfing boards that I had been building boats out
of for eons. What was more natural than
to try and slowly phase out my working on sailboats in favor of
sailboards? The first year, I repaired about 40 sailboards; the second,
about 80, the third about 160. Then Epoxy surfboards became popular in
earnest, and my workload tripled. In my thirteenth year now, I am
currently working on job
#5486....
and loving it!! |
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