There has been a lot of discussions as to putting limits on the raceboards.
I really feel that it should be done immediately to prevent the problems that windsurfing had 10 or 15 years ago when we board builders (me included) started an "ARMS RACE" of trying to make wider and wider boards. This eventually stopped many people from getting into racing because they had to buy a new board and fin every month to keep up with the newest developments. Finally a restriction was put into place at 100 cm, but it was a little too late to keep the masses interested in racing and windsurfing in general. Have you seen how big and ugly these boards are and then try to check one in at the airport or put it on your car roof top?
There are also concerns of shipping these wide boards as checkin luggage or on FED EX, etc. I think the widest boards that FED EX takes in the US (domestic shipping) is 70 CM. They will not take the 85 wide windsurf slalom boards. As for international, each country has different limits with Fed Ex, UPS, TNT, etc..
I think a 70 cm limit would be very wise to implement now to keep the masses interested in the sport. Then you could race with just one or two boards in both extremely light winds or higher winds. Bruno has been winning the PKRA event in St Peter-Ording, Germany this week with a 59 wide for instance in very light wind races.
We board builders can always make a wider board that might perform at little better in the really light conditions but you risk killing the number of people that might be interested in the sport! Do you want just 15 fortunate elite sponsored people racing or tons of people getting involved. The Olympic Committee is probably very interested in where the IKA goes with this too.
Remember that wider boards mean bigger fins and so on and so on. The fins are $200 each. This is what I mean by an Arms Race...
We should really learn from the mistakes that were made in windsurfing and put limits now before it is too late! We have a good thing going here and ought to protect it...NOW!
AA