wing sails...?

Hi everybody!

I seen once in old windsurfing book (I think 80's), guy in Gorge windsurf using weird sail: short mast connected to board, and on top of the mast connected something like bat wing. Is anybody knows what is this? My friend (he's roller skater) when seen this thing, said: it's may work with roller skates. Is it possible to find such wing?

Thanks,

From the inventor of sk8sailing: http://www.windskate.com/

WARDOG

That was called the Wind Weapon. Developed in part by Tom Magruder (unsure of spelling) the Wind Weapon was named for the results of some brutal crashes in high wind.

I think you are talking about Tom Magruder's WindWeapon. It was a wing-type device; I've seen it on a windsurfer, canoe, landsailor but not skates. A search for wind weapon gave me this http://www.skywings.fi/index.htm. It looks close to what I remember . The site does refer to using skates. Good luck and good padding!

The Aloha Classic II video has a few clips filmed in the Gorge.

There is a modern version of the wind weapon available called the Skimbat. See http://www.skywings.fi/

I think the sail area is around 5 meters. I was considering buying one for snowboarding but decided to get a kite instead - mostly because I thought it wouldn't be powerful enough for the light winds we get where I live.

I'm kind of suprised that no one hs tried these skimbats out out on the water in high-wind places like the gorge or maui. If it works in the snow with a snowboard why wouldn't it work in the water with a wake board or a directional kiteboard?

I remember seeing color photos of a guy using a similar but heavier looking rig in an old windsurfing book (mid 80's?). I think the book said that the the problem was that it was too easy to get pulled off of the board - but the guy was on a gigantic long board with no straps.

A smaller board with straps or bindings should solve that problem.

Andrew if you windsurf you should talk your friend in to getting one of these things and then borrow it to try out on the water and report the results here.

Thank you guys!

If you'd like more information about the Wind Weapon, you can reach Tom

If you'd like to hear about the wind weapon, get into your time machine and turn the dial to early 2nd term of President Reagan