Talk:List of World Championships medalists in sailing (windsurfer classes)

Just a few questions or precisions.

I find the Board header on top of the article confusing. Is the list below that of Windsurfer (brand, the Original, etc.) Worlds Championships? If so, should be more explicit. Esp. that the other headers are quite explicit Mistral, Formula, etc.

The multiple winners in the Windsurfer section has to be confusing to non-racers. They're most likely weight classes, a mention should be made of this fact.

The Worlds in 1983 was in Kingston, Canada, not Hamilton. And reverse that for 1987 Kingston down the board.

Quite a few Windsurfer Worlds are missing after 1987. Two mentions are the 1989 Worlds in Belmont or Newcastle, Australia, and the 1990 Worlds in Adelaide. The 1984 Worlds in Perth is also missing. I believe those were days where the Worlds were true world-wide events in participation (1983 and 1984), so well-worth mentioning. From memory, Kingston had 550 entrants.

The premier years is esp. missing stuff, perhaps the site Original Windsurfer by Ted Schweitzer could help fill in the gaps.

Graveline was not US in 1979, she was from Quebec, Canada. Nor do I believe she won in 1979, couple of years later maybe. All the Worlds had both male and female entrants, so there should be at least the same rows for both genders. 1983 is missing at least.

Is the article about racing or includes freestyle too? Reason I'm asking is the the Worlds in Windsurfer at least (and I believe some Mistral) also have freestyle comps. There is a distinction to be made between those winning the races, strictly, versus the overall winners per weight classes, that include freestyle as well as slalom and long-distance in the case of Windsurfer. If there is a category about Funboard, then I sense this article is not about racing per se, and then there should be freestyle and slalom categories, and mention of freestyle as separate events in the Worlds Windsurfer of the 80s.

Mistral: Worlds started before the years mentioned. Contact the company, which unlike Windsurfer still exists. They will gladly give you all the details am sure.

If this article is about racing, then Division II boards used to be an important component of the racing world in the mid-80s. However ugly and bulky, those boards were a major competitive class in its days.

Kona Worlds might be found here too.

One final observation: a list of World championships should probably include Olympics, starting in 1984 in

1987

According to this the 1987 Championships were held in Sweden and the women's gold was won by Barbara Kendall: http://www.letgo.co.nz/about-barbara-kendall.html Jamie Mackay (talk) 23:26, 30 July 2012 (UTC)

1973 Worlds or just Nationals?

Users rglambsb and Dicklambsb, possibly the same person, have first added a footnote stating the 1973 competitions was not a Worlds event according to IWCA, however the IWCA website - referenced in a recent edit - lists 1973 among World Championships. Can you please provide justification & verifiable contemporaneous references supporting the assertion that this event was not a Worlds? There is known confusion on the topic introduced by later public statements/published materials in the 80s and more recently, however at the time and for several years following the event, the organizers of the competition - Diane and Hoyle Schweitzer - wrote articles and were quoted in publications they published themselves referring to 1973 as a Worlds competition.

FROM RGLAMBSB: I HAVE STRONG EVIDENCE OF THAT THE 1973 EVENT WAS THE US NATIONALS AND THE FIRST WINDSURFER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS WERE HELD IN AUGUST, 1974.

November 25, 2021

The Windsurfer Class held US National Championships in 1972 and 1973. The first World Championship (a combined US Nationals and Worlds) was held in August 1974 at the North American Sailing Center at Association Island, NY. Apparently a year or two after the 1973 Nationals event, Bruce Matlack, the sailor who won the Senior 1973 US Nationals trophy in Mission Bay (along with Susie Swatek, Women’s champion), began claiming that because two Europeans and a Tahitian participated, the 1973 event was really the first Worlds and that he is the first World Champion. The Class Association does not recognize that claim. Although this has been pointed out to Mr. Matlack and his supporters many times, Mr. Matlack persists in making this claim, to the point of sending threatening and intimidating communications to writers and film makers if they correctly name the 1974 event as the first World Championship.

The Windsurfer Class has never considered the 1973 event a World Championship. The official Windsurfer Class Schedule, the trophies, the T-shirts all label the 1973 event as the US Nationals. The post-race results were published in many publications, including the official Class publication, then called Windsurfing News, as the US Nationals. Windsurfer Class Yearbooks all name the 1974 event as the first Worlds. A “Nationals Nostalgia” event was held in Mission Bay for several years after the 1973 Nationals. Copies of all records of these items exist.

In Facebook exchanges in 2020, Mr. Matlack and some of his friends claimed that Windsurfing International and the Windsurfer Class Association changed the level of the event by agreeing to pay the airfares for the top two finishers in the first European Championship. They also asserted that the Europeans were told by the promoter that the event would be a World Championship. That may or not be true, but even if it were true, it’s irrelevant. Only the International Class Association has authority to change the level of an event. Had the class done so, the subsequent published results and Yearbooks would have called the event the Worlds, not the US Nationals. The fledgling Class would have had every incentive to call the 1973 Nationals a World Championship to add to the prestige of the class when it was working hard to gain adherents.

His claim was completely debunked by Mr. Matlack’s own words, as quoted by a friend and zealous defender of Mr. Matlack’s claim and not disputed by Mr. Matlack. The friend said Mr. Matlack told him that when he found out, on his arrival at the 1973 event, that two Europeans were coming, he asked the Event Organizer, Diane Schweitzer (US Sailing National Hall of Fame Inductee), what would happen if a European won the US Nationals. The friend quotes Mr. Matlack as saying that she was “stunned” by the question, meaning, of course, that she hadn’t thought of this before, and therefore no notice of an event level change could possibly have been made prior. And, of course, had the event been changed to a Worlds, there would have been no reason to be stunned, and in fact, no reason to even ask the question. That conversation resulted in the event being called the 1973 Windsurfer Open National Championships in the subsequent race report in the official class publication, Windsurfing News. Other publications printed the results as simply the 1973 Windsurfer Nationals.

For a World Championship to be legitimate, the Class Association must provide notice to all National Class Associations and members via a notice of Race well in advance of the event and publish a listing in the official class schedule. Providing notice well in advance ensures that all those who wish to compete at the level of a Worlds get a chance to do so. The International Class, as will be clear, never intended the 1973 event to be anything but the US Nationals and everything official shows that the 1973 event was conceived, run, and results published at the time as the US Nationals and in subsequent official Class Yearbooks as much as 10 years later.

The 1973 Women’s National Champion, Susie Swatek, corroborated that she remembered the 1973 event as the US Nationals (she would have had every incentive to claim it as a Worlds if it were true). Further, the event organizer told me unequivocally in a 2020 email that the 1973 event was the US Nationals, not a Worlds.

Mr. Matlack claims that he has published proofs from periodicals that he was the first world champion. He points to a listing in a 1976 issue of Windsurfer that erroneously characterized the 1973 event as the Nationals/Worlds. This was clearly an inadvertent error, as the only combined US Nationals and Worlds in class history was the 1974 event (the 1973 Nationals was two days; the 1974 combined event was seven6 days). All of these published “proofs” result from either a simple mistake or Mr. Matlack’s claim that he has fed writers and publishers and watered and fertilized over the years. Apparently he has convinced many people. The adage that a lie travels around the world before the truth can get its boots on is particularly apt in this instance.

I’ve asked Mr. Matlack and supporters on Facebook to show any contemporaneous written evidence to support their claims. They provided none. I further asked them if they would be willing to have each of us submit our cases to members of the National Sailing Hall of Fame to act as adjudicators. I received no response. When I asked him to publish this document next to his evidence so readers can make up their own minds, he did not respond.

Following is the documented basis for the 1973 event being the US Nationals, not a Worlds.

Left: Notice in Race Schedule of Windsurfing News announcing 1973 US Nationals in Mission Bay on Oct 13/14 1973. This is the event Mr. Matlack claims was a Worlds. Right: Publication of the results in Windsurfing News, a newsletter published by the Windsurfer Class Association. Note that the write-up mentions that two Europeans and a Tahitian participated, and that the event was the 1973 Open National Championships.

I HAVE PHOTOS OF THE PUBLICATION SHOWING THESE - HOW CAN I GET THEM INTO THIS DOCUMENT?

The trophies: Left: Commemorative Glass Right: Women’s National Championship Trophy awarded to Susie Swatek in 1973. An identical trophy was awarded to the men’s overall champion in 1973 but that trophy has not been found. It’s hard to read, but it says Windsurfing Women’s National Championship and was awarded to Susie Swatek.

I HAVE PHOTOS OF THESE

Post-Race PR and Results went out to Publications as 1973 Nationals:

I HAVE PHOTOS OF MOTOR BOATING AND SAILING MAGAZINE WHICH PUBLISHED THE RESULTS AS THE “1973 US NATIONALS” The Windsurfer Class Yearbooks list the 1974 Worlds at Association Island as the first World Championship:

I HAVE PHYSICAL COPIES OF THESE BOOKS AND PHOTOS OF THE RELEVANT PAGES.

It is ironic that the photo used by Mr. Matlack purportedly showing him being presented the World Championship trophy in San Diego in 1973 actually depicts the US Nationals trophy. As you can see, it is identical to the Women’s Nationals trophy above.

I HAVE PHOTO OF MR MATLACK HOLDING THE “WINDSURFING MEN’S NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY” WHICH IS IDENTICAL TO THE WOMEN’S, BUT THAT MR MATLACK USES AS HIS ACCEPTING A WORLDS TROPHY. 

Mr. Matlack does deserve credit for winning the US Nationals twice (1972 and1973) and finishing second in the first World Championship. However, one would have to suspend disbelief entirely to believe Mr.Matlack’s claim of being the first Windsurfer World Champion. The overall title and designation as first Windsurfer World Champion belong to Matt Schweitzer of California/Hawaii for the Men and Bep Thijs from The Netherlands, for the Women. I hope Mr. Matlack will discontinue his shameful charade.

Sincerely, Dick Lamb, International Windsurfer Class President 1976-1983. 72.194.35.211 (talk) 00:40, 25 December 2021 (UTC) I SIGNED — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rglambsb (talk • contribs) 17:45, 24 December 2021 (UTC) 72.194.35.211 (talk) 00:38, 25 December 2021 (UTC)

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cc: Bryanmcdonald

eecharlie 07:23, 17 December 2021 (UTC)