12/05
Windski celebrates its 10th anniversary:
For windsurfers who live where water turns to ice each winter, skiers who face hours of winter driving just to get to the closest alpine resort, environmentally conscious winter sports enthusiasts who don't care to snowmobile, or those who find the pace of cross-country skiing a bit under-whelming, a "new" sport is sailing in over the horizon, it's called Windskiing!
Although the concept of sailing on surfaces other than water has been around since the time of the ancient Chinese, it wasn't until ten years ago that an inventor named Clive Armitage set out to develop a product for sailing on powder snow.
Born and raised in Hawaii, sailing has always been one of Clive's great passions. While living and skiing at North Lake Tahoe, Clive found a similar passion in the quiet of the backcountry, skiing untracked powder away from the crowds, traffic and hustle of the resorts. "Cross-country and telemark skiing was as close to sailing during the winter as I could get, but if I wanted to carve turns downhill I first had to get uphill, something you don't have to do in sailing."
It was in 1995, while living in up-state New York; Clive conceived the idea of the Windski. Although intrigued by ice boating, Clive says, "Good, clean, smooth ice is not always available". A three or four hour drive each way to the closest resort for a day of skiing was just out of the question, and owning a snowmobile is just "not part of my nature". "I wanted to sail the fields of powder snow just out my back door, and to experience that same sensation of carving the powder at Tahoe."
So how did Clive come up with the concept of the Windski? "It's amazing what your mind can "see" while watching the light of a full moon glisten off fresh fallen snow during a 2 am feeding of your new born son." "Using a standard windsurfing (rig) mast, sail and boom the Windski, was originally a toy for myself, something I could go blasting around the snow covered farm fields on without going far from home."
Now as Windski celebrates its tenth anniversary Clive is still carving fresh tracks in snow. The Windski has grown from a private "toy" to a patented product produced for Windski LLC by Revolution Manufacturing of Utah. Finding a company that was willing to produce the 242 cm "ski" has been only part of the process of growing the company. When asked why Windskis aren't seen in every open field of snow, Clive responds. "It (Windskiing) is a rather new and eclectic sport, education and promotion of the sport to the public takes time. Look how long it took for the acceptance of snowboarding." Asked if Windskiing is difficult to learn Clive says, "Windskiing is easer to learn than windsurfing, the snow doesn't move and if you lose your balance you don't go for a swim. As a matter of fact, you don't even have to know how to swim. You can't get blown out to sea, as you can always just walk back to where you started."
Finally when asked about the future of Windski Clive says, "The first time you Windski uphill, take that first cross-country "sail", or have to "water start" because the snow is so deep, it will become clear why the Windski is simply the finest snow sailing product available."
Windsurfers refer to a sailing outing as a "session" and with winter just heating up it certainly looks as though Windskiing is poised to become, "The Second Season Session."
