mistral board

Question
I have a Mistral TCS board. It also says COMPETITION at the front of the board. I bought it used to try windsurfing, and see if my wife and I like it. I would like to know the approximate. age of the board, and what the line that comes out the hole in front of the mast slot is for. Thanks a bunch for your time!

Answer
Hey Roy,

Your board is from the late 1980's. The line on the front of the board is a Euro thing. Europe required all windsurf boards to have a safety line from the board to the mast. If the mast separated from the board, it would still stay attached by the safety line. USA and other countries did not require it but because most boards of that time were made in Europe, they came with the safety line.

The other possibility is that your board has a movable mast track and the line is from the track system and has broken. There are a couple of ways to determine what type of track you have.

Is your track just a slot with a wide spot at the aft end that the slider nut from your mast base slips into? Then you slide the base forward or back to the chosen position and tighten it.

Or, is there a part that the mast base fits into and locks down with a pedal at the aft end that release the car to move forward and back? If your track is more like this, does it seem to work properly? If not, it could be that the line is broken and thus the track won't release and slide.

Hope this helps.
Keep on sailing,
Windlover