Bruce Peterson claims Gorge Cup windsurfing series title, again

For Peterson, the win marks his seventh in the last nine years. Last year he was second to le Roux, who raced consistent all summer but modestly credited a Peterson injury as the determining factor in the result. In 2006 Dale Cook and Peterson went head to head in seven days of racing, with Cook finishing just faster four of the seven days to take the win. The grudge was left on the river, it would seem, since Cook is still on the Sailworks’ payroll as a Sailmaker and customer service maestro.

–– Adam Lapierre

In looking into Peterson’s official title at Sailworks, a quick search yielded the following, fascinating background about the poineering and industry-leading Hood River windsurfing company (story found at sailworks.com).

The Sailworks Story

It seems that Bruce Peterson always wanted to fly. As a high-schooler growing up in the windy, seaside port of Victoria, BC, Bruce spent hours making paper airplanes and flying power kites with his friend Ross Harrington. “I was fascinated by wind and foils,” says Peterson. “I just couldn’t get enough of that stuff.”

When the short-board windsurfing craze hit in the early 1980’s, Peterson and Harrington quickly established themselves as young up-and-comers to watch. And their rise to prominence was indeed lightning fast - both as sailors and sail designers. By the summer of 1983, they were both making and testing sails for celebrated Windsure Windsurfing in nearby Vancouver. “It was great,” remembers Peterson. “I was actually getting paid to travel down to the Gorge from Canada to windsurf and test sails.”

Peterson was smitten with this magical Columbia Gorge wind zone and soon decided to move down full-time. “At first I was making sail under my own company name - Strait Winds,” he says. “But by the late summer of 1986 I was starting to get much more involved with Dave Russell at Rushwind Sails in Hood River.”

By the spring of 1987, with a string of international racing successes to his credit and boasting a well-established reputation as a hard-working - and visionary - sailmaker, Bruce was offered a partnership position at Rushwind. It was an offer he couldn’t refuse. The Gorge-based company had landed a very lucrative contract making race sails for global giant Gaastra Sails, which meant that Peterson would be doing research and design work with some of the most talented sailors of that era. The next two years went by like a whirlwind. “For a few years running I was rotating between Hood River and Perth, on the west coast of Australia, for hardcore windsurfing all year long. It was definitely exciting. But it was also exhausting.”

Never one to hold back on a good idea, Peterson immediately got in touch with his pro-racing buddy, Australian Bruce Wylie. His next call was to former Gaastra master sail designer Mark Thornburrow in Hong Kong. Combined, the three men had more knowledge and experience with windsurf racing and sail design than just about anybody on the planet. But they still needed a strong business partner. Fortunately, it didn’t take them long to find one. By December of 1989, Japanese businessman Yatusada Seto had agreed to partner up with the three sailmakers. And so Sailworks was born.

“Our primary focus at first,” remembers Peterson, “was on making competitive race sails. All we wanted, basically, was the freedom to make foils that would allow us to win races on the international circuit.” And they succeeded beyond their wildest expectations. In May of 1990, barely four months after the new brand was launched, Bruce Wylie blazed to the front of the pack at the first World Cup race of the season in Japan - and stayed there. “That first victory was huge for us,” admits Peterson. “It really validated all the hours and all the work we’d put into the new sails.”

Meanwhile, back home in Hood River, Bruce and wife/business-partner, Amy (whom he’d met while working in the Rushwind loft), set about establishing the Sailworks R&D facility. Putting in impossible hours, both spent a lot of time on the phone, on the computer, in the loft, and of course, on the water. “It was busy,” admits Amy. “But it was a fun and exciting time.”

And slowly the dream grew. In May of 1990, the first batch of Sailworks production sails were delivered to importers in Japan, USA, Australia and Canada. The concept behind the Sailworks designs - even then - was very straightforward: keep it simple! For the next decade Sailworks would only produce three lines of sails - race, freeride and waves. It was a design philosophy that was destined to become the company hallmark.

Sailworks continued to grow and thrive. In 1997, the company made a significant move to compete with the larger global brands when it set up its own independent sail production facilities in China. “Up till that point,” explains Peterson, “our sails had always been built in mass production facilities. So when Mark Thornburrow set up a new sewn goods factory near Tai Ping we decided to jump on the opportunity and establish our own small production line there. And it completely changed the way we did business. Suddenly we had way more autonomy, complete cost management and could control our destiny better.”

That same year witnessed the birth of what is widely considered one of the most successful all-round sail designs in the history of the sport - the Sailworks Retro. From South Padre Island to the Great Lakes, from Hood River to New England, the Retro delivers what windsurfers everywhere want: power, range - and easy rigging. “It’s been our biggest seller by far,” says Peterson proudly. “And even though we keep experimenting with new designs every year, it’s still very much our flagship model. In many ways, the Retro represents everything the Sailworks brand stands for.”

Persistence. Vision. Passion. Commitment. Sailworks has defined the cutting edge of sailmaking technology. Today, the company represents a standard by which every other sailmaking outfit compares itself. “We may not be the biggest,” says Peterson. “And we may not sell the most sails. But we certainly have the most satisfied customers.”

As for the future, Peterson is quite clear about his goals for the company: “I want Sailworks to continue epitomizing the passion and soul of the sport while creating equipment that captures the essence of windsurfing,” he says. And then he smiles. The little boy who always wanted to fly is now front-and-center. “And I still get excited about making a fast jibe or busting a big air...”