I windsurf and windfoil with a group of about ten guys on Lake Norman, just outside of Charlotte in North Carolina, as our main base.

This is where we sail 99 percent of the time. We also sail at the Outer Banks (six hours), Wilmington, and Charleston (three hours). The coast is always a royal treat with what is rarely found at the lake: constant, strong wind.

We call our group the CLT Windsurfing Junkies. We've got:

• Jose Bartok from Argentina;
• Jose from Cuba;
• Alex from Russia;
• Jeff, who's a Gulfstream/Learjet pilot for the uber-wealthy - and it definitely shows in his windsurfing technique: rock-solid perfection, tuning, and course racing, a machine;
• Michael, a surgeon;
• Me, aka Bermudaboy, originally from Florida, with my worn-out fame-to-claim of going to college with and being on the same windsurf team as Irie-Mon Brian Talma, and beating him in the Collegiate Nationals on Chesapeake Bay at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis;
• Donald, a civil engineer who does kitesurfing, wing foiling, and windsurfing;
• Stephen from two hours away in Asheville, who learned as a kid windsurfing in Bonaire;
• Maciek from Poland;
• Alberto from Milan;
• Filippo from Italy, who somehow works with the Federal Reserve;
• Jonathan Weston, the guy who took all those videos and movie live shots with crazy camera setups of windsurfers in the 1980s and 1990s;

So, a pretty eclectic collection of misfits, with both angry and patient wives.

October 19, 2025: The Shocking Loss

On October 19, I show up at the park probably just after Cuba's finest, Jose, and it's supposed to be a really cranking day with winds above 30 knots, and like always on Lake Norman, it's gusty.

I overestimated my foiling prowess, as I brought my IQ board, a Maui double-luff 7.0, and an Aeon race-course foiling kit with a 900 front wing. I was worrying about my overconfidence-inspired car load-up.

I'm the test guinea pig that goes out first, then gets all the dudes' questions about how and what they should rig up.

On the first tack out from the beach, which happens to be straight toward the basketball super-legend Michael Jordan's lake mansion, I immediately realized the conditions were way too nuclear for the gear I was on.

The chop in the lake was easily 1.2 m high and spaced crazy tight. My foil mast is one meter high, so I was wondering how long I could last with this spacing.

When I got closer to the far side, I headed to the leeward/backside of the Jordan mansion point, gybed around in a controllable wind shadow, and went back out into the maelstrom on a starboard tack and just began to feel that maybe the conditions were manageable.

About 250 meters into the tack, I was pointing higher and higher to bleed off the worst gusts and felt more confident that I just had to shake out these jibbies and tame these conditions.

Just after that thought - Bam! My Chinook boom head completely exploded, sending parts flying toward my face.

A millisecond later, a bigger and more mysterious explosion roared - Bang! - a splash, and next, my head was underwater without a clue about what had just happened.

I slid back aboard, checked the boom head and saw it was totally destroyed, began to derig the sail, and stacked the parts on the deck.

Just before I tried to slide my body over the derigged gear, I felt that the board was unnaturally slippery.

I wondered if the big bang was my fin box getting ripped out of the board. I leaned the board's rail up just enough to barely see the hull.

Miss Fin Box was fine. Mr. $3,600 Aeon foil kit was solidly gone! It was somewhere down 12-18 meters sunk in the muddy bottom of Lake Norman.

I disappointingly surf-paddled my foil-less board back to the beach, met by my CLT Junkie buddies, and the first one selflessly asked, "What size sail do you think I should rig up?"

I always wear my Garmin Fenix watch with the Sail Racer App, so as soon as I got home, I pulled up my tracks in Garmin Connect and studied my course.

I determined to disregard and not search for the foil in the vicinity of fast legs above 16 knots and set the furthest boundary to search up to just past the 13-knot point.

October 20, 2025 | Search #1

I thought I had a pretty good idea of where the kit snapped off, and I found a professional diver that evening.

We met up at the lake the next day, on October 20 - me paddling my IQ with only my adventure handheld GPS Etrex 20 and the coordinates from the chart; he with a Key West skiff, scuba gear, and a boat anchor.

He followed behind my IQ board as I led him to the starting search-center GPS coordinate, and when I gave him the go-sign, he dropped his anchor.

He dove for about two hours and went through two full tanks - no luck.

He seemed to have gotten a little hypothermic and reported that natural light wasn't penetrating through the cloudy/dirty water, and that stirring up the bottom silt with his fins made visibility near zero.

So, that ended my first search attempt and the disappearance of $300.

I learned from this 1st search that I needed something more accurate than my Etrex 20 GPS, which only put me within 5–10 meters of the target coordinate.

Worse yet, it had a tiny screen in which the pointer itself took up a big portion of the display.

I tried two different iPhone 16 off-road GPS apps; both enhanced GPS accuracy through the mobile phone's signal networks.

The first app was disappointing, but the second, Gaia GPS, was great and got me within 1.5 m of my tests on both land and water.

No dollars disappeared, and it's still in the free subscription period.

From the pro diver's sour report on silt and visibility, I ran with my idea of making a trawl net.

I settled on making a 2.4-meter-long net from a volleyball net, thinking this mesh size would be best for low drag and for pulling behind the paddled IQ board, and better at tangling the wings into a bigger mess and trapping them.

I fastened a thin, flexible steel bar along the bottom and three small floats across the top, just enough to keep the net vertically stretched.

From the net to the IQ board stern, I used 15-20-meter-long drag lines.

October 25, 2025 | Search #2

On October 25, I plotted the coordinates of a waypoint track through the highest-probability red zone, then set extreme boundary coordinates at the north and south ends.

Through the IQ's aft foot straps, I passed a 1.5-meter-long wood pole spreader and trailed the net lines from it. I paddled around the red zone for about seven hours, really painting the bottom of the lake with my search tracks.

No luck... and $82 disappeared.

Search #3

I decided a bigger, more professional trawl net was needed for the third A search.

I used similar volleyball netting but made everything twice the size, using steel chain along the bottom instead of the flat steel bar. I also made two weighted otter boards like those found on real trawlers.

The offset angle of the attachment ropes to the otter boards makes the boards flare outward, causing the mouth of the net to always be open wide.

To pull this big boy, I needed the help of my neighbor, John, who kindly offered his Ski Nautique and his help with the search.

I programmed a bigger rectangular zone with NW, NE, SW, and SE boundary coordinates.

At the last minute, I also decided to go to the local dive shop to rent my scuba gear and two full tanks.

The third B plan was developed into a dive in the morning by dropping a heavy construction cinder-brick anchor, and just above it, setting a floated, rotatable carabiner attached to a line from which I would hold and do expanding circle searches of the bottom.

The plan was based on the idea that if visibility was reasonable, after completing a circle, I'd let the line out 1 meter, rinse/repeat, up to either find the foil or rule out a 40-meter-diameter patch of lake bottom.

If that didn't work per plan, we'd try pulling the big otter-board trawl net within the four-coord perimeter box covering 144 square meters of lake bottom.

November 16, 2025 | Search #3 A, B, and Z

The morning dive was a fruitless disaster.

I set the anchor, got to the bottom face-first, and visibility was less than 40 centimeters. Seconds after I started the first circular search lap, I realized that wearing fins was a colossal mistake.

Even after getting my BC perfectly neutral, I found that I couldn't perform controlled, increment-expanding circles, and the best I could do was keep letting out more and more line just to stay ahead of the expanding, stirred-up silt cloud.

I was effectively making laps with more than two meters of unsearched gaps, with very little chance of detecting the foil and zero chance of ruling out the area as searched and foil-free.

After finishing the air in the first tank, we switched to the otter-board net search. Although we spent four hours plus dragging it in tight patterns behind the Ski Nautique, we had no luck.

I was pretty surprised, and a little proud, of how well the net's otter boards worked in keeping the net wide-open and untangled the entire time.

It was after this 3B search that I began to seriously doubt that the foil had just sunk straight to the bottom.

I began to think that instead it flipped upside down with the mast facing downward, and then glided down the water column in a totally unpredictable direction and distance.

$80, $70, and $74 disappeared holding hands.

CLT Junkie Michael, the surgeon, suggested I order a fish cam and display off Amazon, and separately, of my own volition, a diver's LED bar light also from Amazon.

$127 disappeared.

November 21, 2025 | Search #4: The Hardest of All

This was a different ball game! I got to Lake Norman at 5 am and was out on the water dragging my fish cam before sunrise.

Once the sun came up, I had to wear a cap with a black plastic garbage bag stapled to its brim; that way, I could block out the sunshine and ambient light and see the cam display screen.

However, it was pretty shabby, and most of the time the wind would blow the bag's edges between my eyes and the display.

I also found it very difficult to follow the iPhone tracks, watch the cam display, and keep the camera from diving into the muddy bottom.

The cam has a wide-angle fisheye lens, and with the water visibility so bad, I had to try to keep it within about 30 centimeters of the bottom.

Search depths ranged from 12 to 18 meters, and the cam, though weighted, was quite light, so it was almost impossible to keep its wire straight down.

Any drop in paddling speed or wind change would cause it to swing aft or forward, pulling it too high or kamikazing into the mud.

This meant I had to continually adjust the length of the cam's wire with one hand and my teeth while paddling with the other, keeping one eye on the display and one eye on the iPhone GPS.

It didn't add up to effective searching.

At one point, I thought I had momentarily seen the foil, but it was probably just a hallucination from long hours and exhaustion.

After nine straight hours without a single break, I reached shore with lots of new catfish and bass friends and stiff legs that wouldn't stand up.

What I learned from Search #4:

1. I needed to create a black box and shade hood to keep out ambient daylight, and a stable black box mounting post at exactly my eye level while sitting up straight on the board;
2. I needed to mount a Fresnel lens in front of the display to make the image larger and easier to see;
3. The cam was made for rear-facing dragging. With limited visibility, items on the bottom would appear for a millisecond and disappear as the board moved. To re-inspect something was impossible. If I slowed or stopped, the cam would dive into the mud. I needed a method of forward-facing dragging that maintained consistent depth;

November 24, 2025 | Search #5

I modified the cam by reversing the guide pins, gluing plastic wings to its tail, and wrapping tape around the wire at the balance point to pull it forward.

I added large fins to the back of the LED light bar.

I used a splinted Chinook mast extension as a base post to mount a black spray-painted cardboard box with Velcro on the bottom so I could adjust its position. I used an old car headrest cover as a light shield over my head.

I headed out to the lake for the first time, promising myself I would stay away from the red zone and search beyond it, guessing in which direction and how far the foil might have flown.

I was carrying a big cinder-block anchor with a big buoy atop the IQ board to drop on the foil if I located it. I worried that if I got tangled in the anchor line while dropping it, it would drag me to the bottom.

As I straddled the board to get on in the shallows - concentrating only on safety - I ended up sitting on the board in a location that made multiple cracking sounds.

I looked down beneath my crotch and saw that all the yellow fins had cracked off their mounts.

I had spent so much time and care making them, and now I had stupidly broken them. It was so bad that instead of getting angry, I just started laughing my head off.

I put in a good four-hour search, and even without spotting the foil, I could feel the progression of improvements and efficiencies.

What I learned from Search #5:

1. I had to add a hinged front lid to the black box and blackened goggles to shut out ambient light:
2. I had to place the cam display side-by-side with the iPhone Gaia app so that when viewing through goggles, my brain processed one combined view:
3. I needed to adjust the light bar to about 2.4 meters up the wire, away from the cam, to prevent glare/backscatter from suspended silt:
4. I had to mount the cam on a deep-ocean fish-trolling downrigger heavy steel ball to keep it straight down;
5. I had to create a reel for letting out and reeling in wire in increments;

December 3, 2025 | Search #6

I implemented all the gear adjustments and felt super confident. Before leaving for the lake, I sent the Junkies group WhatsApp the following message:

"I'm heading to Lake Norman now to try out the new setup - I explicitly explained to Fate that this is not a search but a practice session only of the new equipment."

I was out on the water for about two hours, working further and further up the fast-speed track zone.

At one point, I swore I saw the foil for a split second. I dropped a mini anchored marker buoy, but it turned out to be a branch coming out of the mud at a slant resembling a foil mast.

The equipment improvements were like night and day.

About three hours in, I was paddling upwind above the course-track area where I had been foiling between 20 knots down to 16 knots, paddling upwind of the track and letting the slight wind slowly push me back over my tracks at a tangent when - Holy Smokes! - those white letters spell Aeon!

It was on its side, front and tail wings pointing up at a 45-degree angle. Beautiful.

I over-rushed the kick-off of the brick-buoy marker. As it went overboard, the rope immediately tangled, and I drifted about 10 meters downwind while trying desperately to untangle the anchor line.

I spent the next two hours searching for it again, knowing I must be passing right beside it with the cam.

Right as it started to get dark, it showed up again, filling the entire display. This time, I had prepared my anchor line coiled in a reverse "S" formation so it wouldn't tangle.

I kicked it off the deck with glee; the weight shot straight down as intended. It took a while to get exactly on top of it again to kick off a second buoy.

After that, I shut the display off and concentrated on paddling in and around the buoys, recording multiple Gaia GPS and Etrex 20 target waypoints.

I called my wife first to report the excellent news, then texted the CLT Windsurfing Junkies group. My phone wouldn't stop.

I told my wife I was too cold, tired, and dangerous to try a lone dive with my mini-scuba tank, and that I would head home and dive tomorrow. 

I worried police or fishermen might move my buoy markers, but calmed myself, thinking I had more than six different GPS coords around the spotting.

On the 40-minute drive home, I called Donald and joked about how I predicted I could trick Fate into concentrating on screwing up my equipment instead of preventing me from locating the foil.

It was the most pleasurable ride home from the lake ever.

December 4, 2025 | Dive Day

Supreme civil engineer and CLT Windsurf Junkie Donald demanded that he be my surface support and that we use his canoe and my IQ board in tandem for the glorious recovery.

I was so freaking nervous something would go wrong, and I wouldn't locate it, or I'd get snagged on an old branch or fishing line and end up in the evening news dead with no foil, and Donald crying into the camera that it was all his fault.

We got to the lake around 1 pm after I stopped by the dive shop to pick up gear - $57 disappeared. We took photos before launching. Note the big cinder-block anchor on the bow of the IQ board.

Our plan was to drop the big anchor between the two smaller anchored buoys from the previous evening, then pull up and stow the old ones.

I tied the cinder block in a basket formation so I could lower it slowly and reduce silt stir-up. Instead of diving headfirst, I would descend feet-first and land on the cinder block to avoid creating a silt boom.

I would go down only with booties and no fins, then get perfectly neutral on the cinder block and baby-crawl in expanding circles if I couldn't locate the foil.

I hoped I'd see the foil once perched on the block, but that wasn't to be. The day was cloudy and dark, and visibility was at its worst when I reached the block.

I had prepared a device to float 60 centimeters above the brick to prevent the expanding-circle line from snagging, but I hadn't secured it properly, and it slipped free twice, requiring two round trips up and down the line.

On the final descent, I noticed my safety knife was gone - only its holder remained on my forearm.

In my free hand, I carried a net bag containing my second safety knife and the LED light bar. I thought, "Dude, whatever you do, don't lose this knife, you moron," and giggled out half a tank of air bubbles.

As I rotated in baby steps around the cinder block, one hand on the anchor line and the other extending the bagged light bar as far as I could, I became totally negative and instantly depressed:

"This is it. I have failed. I'll never find it in this shitty visibility and probably get trapped in this doom. This sucks."

I got the expanding-circle rope ready, released a drop of air from my BC, and let myself drop into the mud in a crawl position. Visibility was so bad that keeping my mask close to the bottom was the only way.

I let out enough line so my left hand could feel everything on the bottom between me and the cinder block, and began the first circle.

I could really only see the mud surface, but inexplicably, sometimes in front of me, a little clearer "window" of horizontal view would drift by in the silted water and then disappear.

About three-quarters through the first circle, I saw - through the edge of a ghost window - a small portion of a black, perfectly man-made, straight something.

Before the little window disappeared, I threw off the search-circle line from my left hand, dropped the net bag with knife and light from my right, extended my body and arm as far as I could through the tiny window, and my finger clamped down on the fuselage so hard that I was sure I would bend it in half.

Before the dive, Donald and I reviewed the strategy and safety plan, and I explained that if I located it, I would not get excited; I would first tie a search line to the fuse, return to the surface, and drag it up safely.

That is not what happened. With my left hand, I crushed my BC inflator button and shot to the surface, no care for a safety stop.

With my right hand, I held the foil high over my head so it would pop out of the surface like a Greek Cross Diver at Epiphany. My mind tried to say, "Where is your light and second knife?" but I refused to listen.

I popped out of the lake in perfect triumph and absolute happiness. It was a tremendous feeling - hard to explain.

Donald looked just as happy. Before handing him our treasure, I asked if he had gotten the video of me surfacing; he wasn't sure.

So I suggested I go back down about four meters and we repeat, and this time he gets the glorious-victory-breaking-the-surface shot for posterity.

Which we did - happily. We were in the best spirits, yelling, screaming, enjoying the find like it was Blackbeard's treasure.

After loading the cars, we went to a local bar to toast and celebrate success.

After the toast, I said, "Hey Donald, let's promise each other we will never tell anyone that we didn't get the original video and that the second one was staged."

Donald agreed, and we laughed like we ruled the world.

A few beers later, I said, "Hey Donald, show me both videos." He motioned, "Hold on," while searching his phone. His expression slowly shifted from perplexed to agitated, then to sad.

He looked up and said, "I swear - I swear I don't know what happened - but both videos are gone!"

Hours later, driving home through rush-hour traffic, I thought:

"Wow... you know what? When Don told me he lost the videos, I was bummed... but the more I think about it, the more it makes the whole story an even better story!"

Thanks to all the CLT Windsurf Junkies and Masami, my lovely wife of 37 years, who put up with all my crying about this, and special thanks to Donald, who made the find happen.

Words by Anthony Vandenberg | Windsurfer

Maciek Rutkowski successfully completed a 227-kilometer-plus foil windsurfing marathon from Sweden to Poland.

The Polish windsurfer and former Professional Windsurfers Association (PWA) World Tour champion battled 20-knot gusty winds to connect Karlskrona in Sweden to Wladyslawowo in Poland.

Rutkowski cleared Mission: Baltic amid bumpy seas, low temperatures, and grey skies in nine hours.

The adventure raises funds for treating three-year-old Malwinka, who's battling Rett syndrome, a severe genetic disorder that leads to the loss of the ability to speak and walk.

Maciek Rutkowski spent four years planning the crossing of the Baltic Sea, including special endurance training in the gym and mental preparation.

"We prepare as best we can, but to be honest, ultimately I don't quite know what to expect," the windsurfer said before departure.

"Luckily, after all these years, I know my body quite well, so I guess I'm gonna have to just trust it and read and react."

A Unique Feat

The foiler carried supplemental bars and gels to replenish water and energy levels.

A modern support boat backed Maciek Rutkowski's expedition, equipped with two 350-horsepower engines and satellite internet.

Rutkowski rode a NeilPryde RS:Flight Evovi sail, a JP Australia Hydrofoil 85 board, and an AEON windsurfing foil 450/550 front wing.

Upon arrival, Maciek Rutkowski had a crowd of friends, fans, media, and windsurfers waiting to cheer him up and celebrate this unique feat.

"After two hours, I lost my nervous system. I could not see well and feel too well. There was lots of pressure on the harness area," Rutkowski explained.

"At the start, I got cold and had some unexpected spasms in areas I did not expect."

"T​he time was going really slow. At some point, I thought 30 minutes passed and it was only 10 minutes."

"I ​had to force myself to eat and drink. When I saw the coast, I shed some tears."

"It was the hardest I've ever done in my life. I was overpowered the whole way. As soon I reached the coast, cramps hit like crazy."

The Guinness World Record for the fastest Baltic crossing by a windsurfer is yet to be validated.

Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com

In the late 1970s, a unique watercraft promised a sailing revolution. The Wingsailer resembled an aquatic version of Anakin's Jedi Starfighter featured in "Star Wars."

The Wingsailer hit the sailing scene in 1979 as a 12-foot monohull that traded fabric and wire for a rigid, airplane-style wing.

Designed by Ron Latham and built by Fiberglass Unlimited in Durham, North Carolina, it was the first true wingsail offered to recreational sailors.

It looked very futuristic and somehow inspired by the sci-fi movies and series of the time. It cost $1,495.

The "Latham Wing" replaced the familiar triangle of canvas and boom with a three-sided fiberglass frame and a Dacron sleeve, producing more drive per square foot than a conventional sail.

A Fresh Silhouette on the Water

At just over ten feet long, the Wingsailer's low, wide hull and upright wing gave it a distinctive profile. There was nothing quite like it.

The hull measured 10'3" overall, with an 8'6'' waterline and a 4' beam.

It weighed only about 60 pounds - light enough for one person to carry - yet carried up to 300 pounds on board and sailed best with about 175 pounds of crew.

A simple centerboard dropped to a 25'' draft for windward work and tucked up to 3'' for beaching or trailering.

Efficient Wing Design

The design was smart and sleek.

The rigid wing spanned a modest 27 square feet, compared with the 55-90 square feet typical of 12-foot boats with soft sails.

A metal mast ran through its leading edge, turning on a pylon amidships at a fixed 20-degree rake.

A slat at the trailing edge controlled airflow, opening slightly to spill gusts or sealing tightly in light air.

Because the wing's airfoil shape stayed stable under load, the Wingsailer heeled less and pointed higher into the wind - a near-run-of-the-mill boat could often only manage 40-45 angles off the wind, while the Wingsailer could squeeze closer by keeping its angle of attack positive.

It had everything to become an instant market hit.

Build Quality and Materials

Fiberglass Unlimited relied on hand-laid fiberglass hulls and wing slats, supervised by Frank Meldau, whose work on the Isotope catamaran and Cheshire dinghy had already earned a reputation for strength and lightness.

All fittings - pylon base, centerboard fairleads, rudder gudgeons, and cleats - were bonded or bedded in resin putty, then reinforced with fiberglass tape and resin to ensure watertight joints.

Positive flotation in the hull means it could be righted in minutes after a capsize.

Quick Assembly and Rigging

From the car top to the cockpit, rigging took only minutes. Once the pylon was bedded and glassed to the deck (an owner-one-time job), the wing assembly dropped in.

The aluminum mast squared into a fiberglass foot and head, cables tensioned the slat, and a few tie-strings secured the Dacron sail.

A push-pull rudder system snapped into gudgeons, and the centerboard downhaul and rudder line each led through deck fittings to simple cleats.

No stays, spreaders, or boom clamps.

All you needed to do was just slip the wing into its carry bag, lash it under your roof racks, and tie the hull down with four lines to bumpers and bars.

Car-Top Transport

At 60 pounds and 10 feet long, the Wingsailer was made for car-top travel.

Owners needed only crossbars at least four feet long, a bit of carpet on the bars, and 30 feet of 1/4'' rope.

Two bow lines to the bumper prevented side-to-side play; one stern line through the rudder gudgeon stopped fore-aft slip.

The wing rode in its bag under the bars, tied at head and foot. Once home, you just had to lift the hull off easily. No trailer was required.

On-Water Performance

In a 2-3 knot breeze, the Wingsailer "ghosted" along; at 5-8 knots, it felt lively, and in a 15-18 knot blow, it planed like a Windsurfer.

Without a boom to dodge, beginners could sit back and let the wing find its own angle by easing or trimming the sheet.

The low heeling moment kept the boat flat, though experienced sailors could induce slight leeward heel for drive.

The push-pull rudder took a little practice, but the steering was direct and responsive.

Wingsailer: A Beginner's Sailing Guide

Do you own a Wingsailer? If so, do know that it is relatively easy to sail. Here's how you can get going fast:

Running (wind from astern)

Let the wing swing fully out to catch the maximum breeze and zip straight downwind.

Reaching (wind from the side)

Ease the sheet so the wing sits at a 30-40 degree angle off center and maintain boat speed.

Beating (wind toward the bow)

Trim in the sheet until the wing shows a slight bow and steer at about 45° off the wind.

The rigid profile helps the boat point higher than a soft-sail dinghy.

Tacking

Build speed, lean into the turn toward the wind, then pull the wing across as you pass head-to-wind.

In strong wind, the wing will swing itself; in light air, you may need to pull it by hand.

Righting After a Capsize

Swim to the centerboard, grab its flange with one hand and the hull's upper edge with the other.

Lean down to push the board, letting trapped water drain from the wing as the boat pops upright.

Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com

It is said that during childhood, we build our worldview, influenced by family, school, and cultural context, with emotional experiences also playing a role.

It was my parents who shaped my education.

It was through their example that I built my reality, because somehow, in so many details that now crowd my memory chest, they transmitted the need to always try to be the best version of ourselves.

Whatever we did. But always based on our own capacity. And never through comparisons. Be it at school, in games, or in sports.

Sports tend to emerge in a child's life from the age of seven.

This is when we come into contact with concepts such as rules, justice, and the merit of others.

At its core, it is the ideal age to teach fair play, to help accept defeat, to reinforce the value of effort over results, and to create a healthy environment in the sports context.

Here, coaches play a fundamental role, as they act as ethical role models, transmitting values through what they say, how they behave, and how they react to results.

My first coaches were my parents and my older brother.

They were the ones who, during my school years from ages eight to 11, patiently introduced me to the most fascinating sport I ever practiced: windsurfing.

Later, it was my coach who took on this role, fulfilling it religiously for 33 consecutive years.

The way they did it, their unique approach to sport, shaped my way of living every moment spent on the ocean.

Thus, sports went on to be an instrument for a meaningful life.

Marketing Culture Fuels Disrespect

Sporting competition is the stage par excellence where every athlete reveals themselves, with everything they have and everything they are.

Even though it emerges early on, when identity is still being formed, it raises more doubts than certainties in the mind, just like water and wind.

In my first competition, I was 11 years old. I didn't finish. I couldn't do it. I was left powerless on that never-ending second lap.

My hands clinging desperately to the appeal to return to the club made it irresistible. I cried quite a bit in that journey between water and dry land.

No one criticized me. No one laughed at me. I felt understood. But that day I swore never to quit a race for those reasons again!

Modern sport lives in the idolatry of its extreme exponents, turning them often into products, overshadowing their human side.

This culture creates pressure on athletes, often pushing them toward the unthinkable. Doping. Match-fixing.

Disrespect for teammates, coaches, referees, and game rules.

When I started competing internationally, it was 1987, and the ethical foundation that had been instilled in me was so solid that, even though I adored good results - and it was for them that I remained a sports competitor for decades - what really moved me was the never-ending pursuit of perfection.

Of effort, dedication, and thought. Which, like a stone thrown into the water, rippled into other dimensions of my life.

Don't think my journey was free of stumbles.

But if I can now look calmly back, with no stains, it is thanks to those who educated me in the earliest stages of my life.

To them, I am deeply grateful.

Words by João Rodrigues | Olympic Windsurfer and Ambassador for Ethics in Sports

A 90-year-old man died Wednesday, March 12, after falling through the ice while windsurfing on Lake Chemung in Genoa Township, Michigan.

According to the Livingston County Sheriff's Office, emergency responders were dispatched around 2 p.m. after witnesses reported seeing the man fall through the ice.

His head remained above water, and rescuers were sent to reach him.

The Brighton Area Fire Department was the first to arrive.

Firefighters managed to reach the man and keep him above water, but they were unable to pull him out.

The Livingston County Dive Team also responded, but due to the distance from shore and poor ice conditions, they could not reach him.

Boats were not an option due to the fragile ice.

Hard to Get Back to Shore

Rescue teams then called the U.S. Coast Guard for assistance.

A rescue swimmer from a Coast Guard helicopter was able to remove the man from the water.

Once onshore, Livingston County EMS personnel attempted life-saving measures, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Brighton Fire Chief Michael O'Brian stated that reaching the man from Howell was not the biggest challenge, but rather getting him back to shore safely.

Crews spent nearly an hour attempting to reach the victim using a boat before calling in the Coast Guard for aerial assistance.

Authorities have warned residents to stay off the ice as recent temperature fluctuations have made it unstable.

Michigan State Police also issued a statement urging caution, stating, "Use caution if you are thinking about venturing onto bodies of water at this time of year. If you aren't sure, stay off."

Honeycomb Ice

The Sheriff's Office described the ice conditions on Lake Chemung as "honeycombed," a dangerous state that makes ice weak and prone to breaking apart.

According to the Department of Natural Resources, honeycomb ice is formed when the surface thaws and water seeps through cracks, weakening its structure.

The incident marks another drowning in southeast Michigan lakes.

Several similar deaths have occurred in recent months, including a 61-year-old Waterford Township man who drowned in Maceday Lake in December and a 78-year-old Clay Township man who drowned in Anchor Bay in November.

Authorities continue to emphasize the dangers of unpredictable ice conditions, especially as winter transitions into spring.

The world's most extreme windsurfing event is back in the water.

The wait is on for Red Bull Storm Chase, the extreme windsurfing competition that only takes place in vicious gale-force winds.

Eight of the best storm sailors in the world will travel to Denmark for the invite-only contest to battle for the crown of extreme sailboarding.

There is no fixed date or precise location for the event.

The specially selected riders will be notified when and where the contest will go down only when a perfect storm hits the Danish coastline.

Receiving the call for Red Bull Storm Chase is considered one of the most prestigious honors in the sport, and athletes will come from all corners of the globe to take part.

The contest promises wild rides with over 100 kilometers per hour winds, massive jumps, and huge impacts as the windsurfers push their skills and equipment to the absolute limits.

No storm? No contest. The spectacle will strictly only take place in the most powerful storm Mother Nature can provide.

Waiting Period Is Open

The chase has begun, and the waiting period is now open year-round.

There is no set month or season when the perfect storm needs to be found.

Athletes could include Red Bull Storm chase veterans Philip Köster, Marcilio Browne, and Ricardo Campello. Spain's' Marc Pare could also potentially feature.

Riders will predominantly be scored on their jumps and wave-riding ability.

Technology will be available to capture the 3D data of the jumps, including height, width, G-force, and air time.

Red Bull Storm Chase last happened in 2019 in Magheraroarty, Ireland, with Australia's Jaeger Stone winning ahead of German duo Philip Köster and Leon Jamaer.

The duration of the contest could be one or two days, depending on the length of the storm.

An experienced safety crew on land and in the water ensures the safety of the participants.

Antoine Albeau has done it again. The French windsurfer has broken the world record for the fastest speed over 500 meters.

The 52-year-old windsurfer born in La Rochelle, France, drove his sailing equipment at 53.49 knots (99.06 kilometers per hour) through Namibia's Luderitz Speed Challenge speed strip.

Antoine Albeau rode a new 5.3 NeilPryde sail and last year's JP custom board to break a nine-year-old record set by himself at the same venue.

In 2015, the sailboarder hit 53.27 knots (98.65 kilometers per hour). Now, he improved it by 0.22 knots.

Albeau's best run had two different speed records: one taken from his GPS (53.71 knots) and another from the competition's device (53.64 knots).

However, the world's fastest windsurfer had to wait a couple of hours for the official timing, which is extracted from the event's video system.

"What a joy tonight to see my time and new windsurf speed world record validated after video verification," expressed Antoine Albeau.

"It was just an amazing feeling when they gave me the time."

"The old record was 53.27 knots. I was hoping that I might just beat it by a tiny bit."

A Special Day at Luderitz

The turn of the month changed everything at Luderitz, and Albeau couldn't be more stoked.

"I was waiting to hear them say something like 53.32 knots, but it came in at 53.49, so there was a good gap between the records, and the feeling when I heard the time was incredible."

"I have come down a little bit now, but the feeling at the moment was amazing and unforgettable. I checked in kilometers per hour, and it was 99.06 kilometers per hour."

"I was on the prototype of the JP speed 40 from last year, the exact prototype of the board which is now the production speed board."

"I was on the new prototype speed sail that Robert made me, the 5.3, which is the new evolution of the EVO for next year. The sail was amazing."

"The wind was maybe around 40-45 knots."

The next goal is the 100-kilometer-per-hour barrier, which is "only" 0.51 knots (0.96 kilometers per hour) away.

December 1, 2024, was a special day for many other windsurfers who were also able to beat personal and national records.

Jenna Gibson also set a new women's world speed record in windsurfing.

The British sailor accelerated to 47.58 knots (88.11 kilometers per hour) and broke Heidi Ulrich's 2022 mark set at 47.16 knots (87.34 kilometers per hour).

She has also become the first woman to hit a two-second peak of 50 knots.

The 2024 Luderitz Speed Challenge runs from November 4 to December 8.

Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com

Tom Reuveny picked up a gold medal for Israel in the men's windsurfing with a phenomenal performance in the final.

Reuveny had not won a race in the Opening Series but saved his best for last by crossing the line ahead of the pack.

"I have so many emotions. I've put in so many years of hard work, and I had the perfect Medal Race," expressed Reuveny.

"I only had to win one race in this event, and I won the most important one. I knew I had to get a good start as Luuc and Grae are super-fast.

"I used what I learnt throughout the years and all the medal races that I've lost to make this one into a win."

The Netherlands' Luuc van Opzeeland and Great Britain's Sam Sills qualified for the semifinal race with fast finishes in the quarterfinal.

Van Opzeeland followed that up with another stellar showing in the semifinal, winning the race to qualify for the final. Reuveny was a close second, booking himself a spot in the grand finale.

"I'm pretty stoked about winning two races to get to the final. I had a bit of overspeed today. I managed to have clear starts and accelerate away," noted Van Opzeeland.

"In the first race, I rounded first, and then there was less wind for me than the guys behind me, but I managed to do a good laying there. In the second race, I managed to control the whole thing.

"I think the Netherlands has a very strong team, and we have sailors sitting at home who would have done fantastically here. That's the reason why we're so good."

The duo joined Australia's Grae Morris in the winner-takes-it-all-race, which Reuveny eventually mastered, soaring past the others to pick up a gold medal.

"That was an epic race, super fun. I was pretty nervous before, but the longer we waited, the more I settled and thought about what we were going to do," concluded Morris.

"It's going to be a while before we get to experience this again, and I think the wait made it worth it."

"I made a few mistakes and just tried to keep my head clear and take my next opportunity to do what I could."

"I took everything I've done, everything I've trained for, and put it into that moment. It could have gone better, but I'm super happy, so no regrets at all."

Gold for Maggetti

Marta Maggetti wrapped up a memorable gold medal for Italy in the Women's Windsurfing with a fine performance in the Medal Series.

Despite not winning a race in the Opening Series, Maggetti rose to the occasion when the pressure amplified to top the podium.

Peru's Maria Belen Bazo and China's Zheng Yan were the top two in the quarterfinal race and progressed to the semifinal, where they met Maggetti and Israel's Sharon Kantor.

The reigning world champion, Kantor, won the race and was closely followed by Maggetti, meaning the two progressed to the final to face off with Great Britain's Emma Wilson.

With the standings decided by the final race, Maggetti switched into gear and took the lead halfway through and did not relinquish her position, crossing the finish line ahead of the other two windsurfers.

"I'm so happy. I wasn't stressed today. After I finished the semifinal, I cried a bit, but then I focused and told myself I wanted the gold," told Maggetti.

"In the first lap, I was close, but in the third, I tacked for the mark before Emma and Sharon, so I did less distance on the race course."

"There was no public in Tokyo, no crowd, so the atmosphere here is different, and it's so nice."

Kantor followed to take silver, while Wilson got the bronze.

"I was a bit nervous, but it was an exciting situation. When I got to the final, I felt relieved. To get a medal for me is enough. I am so happy," said Kantor.

Wilson was frustrated. She dominated the Opening Series and fell in the decisive final races.

"I was ahead, made a mistake on the layline. I hadn't done a race yet, and the other girls had done a race, so they knew where the layline was, explained Emmal.

"I'll be proud when I get on the podium."

"The girls I race against are amazing. I have been racing Marta since I was eight, she's an amazing person so I'm really happy for her."

IQFoil at Paris 2024 | Final Races

Men

1. Tom Reuveny (ISR)
2. Grae Morris (AUS)
3. Luuc Van Opzeeland (NED)

Women

1. Marta Maggetti (ITA)
2. Sharon Kantor (ISR)
3. Emma Wilson (GBR)

Grae Morris proved consistency pays off as he secured a medal in the men's windsurfing for Australia in Paris 2024.

Morris struggled at the start of the Opening Series, but managed to rally to climb up the leaderboard and eventually finish on top.

That means he automatically qualifies for the final race, where he will win a bronze medal at the very least.

"It's super hard being at the top and staying at the top," Morris said.

"It feels good now, but knowing that you have to pull off the next best thing tomorrow makes it a bit nerve-wracking, but it's all honest work."

"I does ease my mind a little, knowing that I'll be coming home with something in my hand, but I'm not fully satisified until it's over and the gold medal is still in play and that won't leave my mind tonight.

"It's not about winning every race, it's about being super accurate and staying in the top ten and minimising mistakes."

"It's not about completely dominating. It's about being a second in front at the finish, just like running."

Israel's Tom Reuveny finished three points behind Morris overall, closing out the day with a second-place finish in race 13.

He will go straight through to the semifinal race, alongside New Zealand's Josh Armit, who in turn finished three points behind Reuveny.

The remaining athletes that finished between fourth and tenth will go into a quarterfinal, and the top two from that race will join Reuveny and Armit in the semifinal.

Poland's Pawel Tarnowski, who finished fourth, said: "I think I lost a top three position in the last races."

"I stopped on the last mark before the finish, although I was going quite well in the top ten which would have given me a top three position."

"The quarterfinal is going to be tough for sure. It was very inconsistent out there today. I hoped for a better finish at the end of the day."

Wilson Rules

Great Britain's Emma Wilson secured a medal in the women's windsurfing by topping the rankings at the end of the Opening Series.

Wilson had another productive day on the water, starting off with a win that ultimately put her 31 points clear of the competition.

For topping the standings, Wilson automatically qualified for the final that will determine which color medal she gets.

"It's really cool to be guaranteed a medal for tomorrow. It's the best we can get in this format, so I'm really happy," added Wilson.

"I just took it race by race and believed in my training that I've done all year, for the last three years. Just to perform how I've done this week at the Olympics is pretty cool."

"I don't approach tomorrow differently. I'll have food and physio and come back tomorrow like I have all week."

Trailing behind the Brit was Israel's Sharon Kantor, who managed to place second in race 13 today.

Kantor will progress directly to the semifinal race alongside Italy's Marta Maggetti, who finished 21 points off Kantor.

"I still have tomorrow to race, which is a big day. I will continue being with my team, eat, drink, and sleep. I'm just waiting for tomorrow," concluded Kantor.

"We had to wait for the wind. We were next to the island. We did one race, and then the wind dropped."

"We then found some wind, but it was gusty and tricky. It was a long day. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow."

The remaining athletes who finished between fourth and tenth will head into the quarterfinal race that will open the windsurfing action tomorrow.

IQFoil at Paris 2024 | Results After 13 and 14 Races

Men

1. Grae Morris
2. Tom Reuveny
3. Josh Armit
4. Pawel Tarnowski
5. Luuc Van Opzeeland
6. Nicolo Renna
7. Noah Lyons
8. Sam Sills
9. Ethan Westera
10. Elia Colombo
11. Nacho Baltasar Summers
12. Sebastian Koerdel
13. Ching Yin Cheng
14. Johan Soe
15. Nicolas Goyard
16. Mateus Isaac
17. Rytis Jasiunas
18. Makoto Tomizawa
19. Jingye Huang
20. Jakob Eklund
21. Francisco Cruz Saubidet Birkner
22. Vyron Kokkalanis
23. Robert Kubin
24. Rami Boudrouma

Women

1. Emma Wilson
2. Sharon Kantor
3. Marta Maggetti
4. Helene Noesmoen
5. Katerina Svikova
6. Maja Dziarnowska
7. Maria Belen Bazo German
8. Theresa Marie Steinlein
9. Veerle Ten Have
10. Zheng Yan
11. Mina Mobekk
12. Palma Cargo
13. Mariana Aguilar Chavez Peon
14. Kwan Ching Ma
15. Pilar Lamadrid Trueba
16. Sara Wennekes
17. Ingrid Puusta
18. Merve Vatan
19. Natasa Lappa
20. Johanna Hjertberg
21. Lina Erzen
22. Dominique Stater
23. Lorena Abicht
24. Chiara Ferretti

Grae Morris stormed into the lead in the men's windsurfing with his best performance on the water so far.

The Australian started with second in race seven and followed that up with a first and second in two later races to edge to the top of the leaderboard as the Opening Series passed the halfway mark.

Poland's Pawel Tarnowski held onto second spot with two strong fifth-placed finishes at the start of the day, which puts him just a point behind Morris.

Israel's Tom Reuveny completed the top three with mixed results, but a valuable third and fifth were enough to keep him in the hunt.

"It was not the best of days," said Reuveny.

"I had one BFD in the first race and a pretty bad race in the last one, but the results seem pretty ok."

"I'm still in the mix. Everyone had bad races, so it's a hard fleet, and everyone is sailing very well."

Unstoppable Emma

Emma Wilson kept her cool in the women's windsurfing to extend her advantage at the top of the standings.

After the Marathon Race had to be abandoned due to a lack of wind, the British athlete responded with three race wins, putting her 19 points clear of the rest of the pack.

Israel's Sharon Kantor is Wilson's closest competitor, and she was also the only other windsurfer to win today.

Italy's Marta Maggetti retained her place behind Kantor with three top-five finishes, keeping her firm in the hunt for a medal.

"I'm happy about the last Slalom course," added Maggetti.

"A bit exhausted as well. I'm happy, I'm staying focused, and my results are pretty constant, so I hope it stays like this."

"I really want to get a medal, so I'm happy I'm still close to this."

IQFoil at Paris 2024 | Results After 10 and 11 Races

Men

1. Grae Morris
2. Pawel Tarnowski
3. Tom Reuveny
4. Luuc Van Opzeeland
5. Josh Armit
6. Noah Lyons
7. Nicolo Renna
8. Sam Sills
9. Ching Yin Cheng
10. Johan Soe
11. Ethan Westera
12. Elia Colombo
13. Sebastian Koerdel
14. Nacho Baltasar Summers
15. Nicolas Goyard
16. Mateus Isaac
17. Rytis Jasiunas
18. Makoto Tomizawa
19. Francisco Cruz Saubidet Birkner
20. Jingye Huang
21. Vyron Kokkalanis
22. Jakob Eklund
23. Robert Kubin
24. Rami Boudrouma

Women

1. Emma Wilson
2. Sharon Kantor
3. Marta Maggetti
4. Helene Noesmoen
5. Maria Belen Bazo German
6. Theresa Marie Steinlein
7. Katerina Svikova
8. Veerle Ten Have
9. Palma Cargo
10. Mina Mobekk
11. Maja Dziarnowska
12. Kwan Ching Ma
13. Zheng Yan
14. Pilar Lamadrid Trueba
15. Sara Wennekes
16. Mariana Aguilar Chavez Peon
17. Ingrid Puusta
18. Merve Vatan
19. Natasa Lappa
20. Lina Erzen
21. Johanna Hjertberg
22. Dominique Stater
23. Chiara Ferretti
24. Lorena Abicht