This is an addenda on the article History of LBs at the Olympics, by Bruce Kendall.

I seem to recall that 1984 was the only year where freestyle took place, it was one of those "demonstration sports" then. I know from the country I was sailing at then, that freestyle was a criteria for qualifying, but I believe the qualifiees were different names than the racers. I don't think it had counted for overall placing and all that, as it did then in normal W/S championships.

Anyways, I vaguely remember, having spoken to a dude who went then and who took 3 weeks to sober up, that it was run off Mission Beach, in San Diego, in sometimes nil, sometimes strong winds. The variable winds had made for a difficult event, where some were greatly advantaged over others.

Some dude from Germany had won, he had told me, with a new set of moves. The then-1983 World Champion had not done well.

I'd be curious to hear more from anyone still around from that era, that was in San Diego then.

Cheers,
PC