Dean 424 said..
Jenna De Rosnay.

I see what your doing there Dean

^^^
spellcheck didn't work

Robby. He has done so much for the sport and is the true water man and is still pushing the boundaries.

The man himself JP - Jason Polakow, so much style and focus on the waves, especially big waves of consequences !!, a true freak !!, I'm sure he could blast speed / slalom kit if he wanted too !

Reflex Films said..

It easy to look at the stats but if you go a bit deeper there are some more interesting contenders.


Looking at Pure Skill Antoine Albeau is a great all round skilled waterman. His wave sailing and jumping (and even freestyle - like spocks ) is pretty damn good. At a shoot in Maui he was one of the few guy that had a really good percentage on his jumps - I had him land a big back loop right next to me (I was shooting from the water) and there was no doubt he was going to make the landing and keep me safe. All with a big grin on his face.

For my money Pete Volwater is right up there. He could win races and I saw him bang out to wave 360s in a row on the same wave at Hookipa back around 2006.

And he had double forwards on lock way back in 2000. In 06 Pete was the best all rounder on the planet for sure.

Tati Frans -a sublimely skilled all rounder who can freestyle (his sky high Shakas were the bomb back in the day) and throw double forwards (saw him do it at Hookipa on a proto starboard) and be a serious contender in races too.

I really like the guys that are a bit more all round.

Locally in OZ we had Simon peters back in the day who still is a ripping wave sailor in huge wave and was crazy fast on race gear - nearly untouchably so back in the day.
Byron marsh was amazing - same with Scott mckercher too who racked up PPWA/ PBA winds in racing along with World titles in wave sailing.

With respect, there's a lot more to the sport than waves and PBA style racing. When I checked a while ago, for example, there seemed to be far more pros racing the Olympic class than PBA, with far more pro coaches, and many more nations. And when people compared the standard of the two types, the only evidence ever shown to indicate that the PBA sailors were better was basically fans saying "but they are in more ads".

I'm not saying that the PBA guys are not as good, but Robby could hold his head high in both the PBA and Olympic styles, and at a time when the sport was much bigger and there was much more money to entice people into becoming pros.

Robby won his first world championship aged 13 (1977). Hes a true icon & arguably one of the best sailors in the world. 21 world Titles to his credit

Naish is definitely an icon, legend and probably more visible that Dunkerbeck. I don't think he ever really pursued the competition thing. Dunkerbeck was a competition machine.

Robby Naish www.pwaworldtour.com/index.php?id=7&tx_pwasailor_pi1%5bshowUid%5d=271&cHash=9730ed3c15
World Champion 1983-87 (Pre PWA)
Wave results: 1997 Ranked 2nd
1996 Ranked 6th
1998 Ranked 4th
World Champion 88,89,91
2015 11th place Nove Aloha Classic

Dunkerbeck en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B6rn_Dunkerbeck
Overall World Champion (1988-1999)
Race World Champion (1988-1999) and 2011
Wave World Champion (1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2001)
Freestyle World Champion (1998)
Speed World Champion (1994)

I stand corrected. I see the 21 world titles mentioned in several places, although I can't find a list of them.

On a separate note, I am reading a story about foils and how Naish is the current market leader in producing foils. Seems to me Naish is the Apple of the water sports industry. They come along just behind the initial pioneers (kitesurfing, SUP, now foils) and take it to the next level.

www.pwaworldtour.com/index.php?id=7&tx_pwasailor_pi1%5bshowUid%5d=271&cHash=9730ed3c15

Robby won the overall Windsurfer worlds 76-79, and took a bunch of discipline titles (ie course race, slalom, marathon and freestyle) while doing so. Those regattas were limited to about 350-400 entrants, who normally had to win their way through national selection trials in fleets of 200 or so. That was in the days when regattas in North Queensland would get 60+ locals alone, and when you had to have a sail number in Europe because water space was licensed and rationed because of the crowds.

He then won the Windsurfing World Cup 83-87 overall. For most of that time he won two or three of the discipline world titles as well; he won the complete set (Race, Wave, Slalom, Overall) twice.

Robby was clearly leading the way in gear development as much as anyone in the '80s, with his Raceboards (shaped by his dad, Rick) and slalom boards by Harold Iggy and Rick. He also lead the Gaastra team when they invented cambers and was the first guy, I think, to do shortboard freestyle in competition. He was certainly a long way ahead of the pack in shortboard freestyle, doing spin tacks etc as transitions in wave heats.

The sport will have to change a lot for another Robby to come along. For a start, it will have to become about 10 times bigger (or more) like it used to be, with many more people trying to become pros. Then we'll have to get someone else who can excel on 12'+ longboards when racing Olympians in light winds (and with respect to the current PBA guys, they were not competitive on RSXs) as well as winning in the waves and in high winds.

Obviously the changing nature of any sport makes it harder to be an all-rounder like that, but even making allowances for the progress there isn't anyone who comes close IMHO. It's not just talent - it's that the sport has become factionalised and almost no one tries to be an allrounder in the same way any more.

Agree with Chris and others above, the top allrounder is Robby Naish
Others who could get the mantle include:
Ken Winner
Bruce Wylie
Jessica Crisp

Do technique GooRoo'z qualify?
Here's Cribby teaching Andrew Robinson how to gybe, the rig flip's incredible

in 1987 Robby also won the Womens overall

Al Planet said..
If it was a contest for radness then Mark Angulo....no contest.

I remember MarkA came to Aus for the '86 comp series. He was pretty progressive in the waves, but he didn't like raceboards.
One of my first wave boards was made by his dad Ed, it was an awesome board.

My vote for best all round Aussie windsurfer would be Jess Crisp as she has competed at four Olympics on Mistral and RS:X, and was '94 & '95 PWA overall world champion.

Oz has some good sailors l agree .Ben Serverne Steve Allen J.P. Phil Mcgain Slowie Mark (Hedgie) Scotty mckerger the list goes on.l have seen some talent in all of my twenty years of sailing. Also Jessica crisp & some other girls that put some guys to shame.

WA guys who were all rounders in the 80s

Nick Poll- WAs Robby Naish
Peter Dans
Lach Simpson
Dave Green
Dave Sheen
Gil Stubbs
Scott McKercher
Ash Nicol
Steve Snyder also sailed 7 foot gun surfboards!