People
As an early adopter of the internet partly through my windsurfing connection I used the internet as a resource to inform and collect information. One contribution I could make was to support our international windsurfers by creating web content for them. Initially this involved receiving emails which I then reformatted into web pages and added them to their “pages”. Later as I progressed into programming and databases I created custom content management systems (CMS) so they could update their own stories. Some of this is lost, but some still exists…
Commercial
Like the windsurfers, the commercial sector was not terribly up with the play, so I created a web pages for most shops and other businesses involved in the industry, as well as a banner ad system to promote them across the various pages on the site.
Wayne Warwick
Not surprisingly I got as many inquiries from surfers about New Zealand as I did from windsurfers. Naturally I decided to create a surfing guide, but not being a surfer I ran into a problem of where to source my information. I discovered that a book already existed – “A Guide to Surfriding in New Zealand” by Wayne Warwick. Naturally he didn’t want to me to just put all his information on line, but I offered to promote his book on my site, and he offered me a commission for doing so (but best of all I got a free copy). Sadly Wayne died while surfing in Bali in 1997.
Energy Engineering Ltd. – Speedmate Surf
In the days before GPS this was the way to record your sessions and speed runs.
Watercooled Sports
Still going – I’m deeply indebted to Tony for looking after me year after year when I came down to Dunedin for Windsurfing NZ AGMs and subsequently also to race. The shop is still in the same place and going strong.
Madl
oop
Alan McIntosh is also still doing a sterling job in Auckland (no web page now, just a redirect)