Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1990)
Tues Page 4 The Battalion JL n 1984 a t hirteen-year-old Elliot Le Boe was teaching people how to windsurf, two years after he taught himself. At age 11, Elliot, along with his father and brother, took up the sport. Their equipment was heavy and cumbersome by to day’s standards; it was quite a hand ful for Elliot, who has always been unusually tall and lean for his age. His age is what is so amazing about Elliot — a very young par ticipant in a very young sport. Elliot, now a 19-year-old freshman at Texas A&M, has been racing as long as he has been teaching. His racing career be gan to take off after he won the 1986 Mistral Southwest Regional Championships at Gal veston Bay — quite a feat considering that the majority of Elliot’s com petition was almost twice his age. After the win, Mis tral, the large sporting goods manufacturer that sponsored the event, of fered Elliot partial fac tory sponsorship. Elliot won over 20 major races for Mistral, including the 1987 National Championships in Corpus Christi, Texas. Elliot was ranked No. 1 in Texas last year accoi ding to the United States Boardsailing Asso ciation (USBA) rankings, the ma jor national sanctioning body for windsurfing. And he’s well on his way toward being No. 1 in 1990. For the last two years, Elliot has won every Texas race he’s entered, until this past weekend when he fin ished second in the Screaming Reach in Corpus Christi — a race he won last year. His brother David said that Elliot was a little disapointed about his second place finish, but also describes him as being, “One of the best boardsailors in Texas, if not the best.” Elliot said he and David occasion ally windsurf together and that, “He (David) always used to be better than me. Now I’m a whole lot better — I’ve stayed with it.” While Elliot has focused on wind surfing, 24 year-old David has other things on his mind. He will graduate with two degrees in May —one in ac counting, another in finance. He is also to be married just after graduation. Elliot changed sponsors four months ago, from Mistral to Bic Sports, which is part of the company that makes Bic pens. Al though it’s not a full sponsorship, Bic supplies Elliot with all the equip ment he needs to race, and helps him with travel expenses. Elliot travels with four Bic surf boards (over $1300 each), eight Bic masts, nine sails pro vided by Ultra Profile Sails, and seven or eight fins — provided by an other company called Ul tra. Elliot races on pro duction sailboards. “You could go out and buy the same board(s) I have,” he says. Elliot says one reason for cor porate sponsorship is that people can see racers winning on pro duction boards, rather than cus tom made boards. Elliot is quick to add that not all windsurfers are sponsored by manufacturers, and that beginner outfits sell for around $300. He says that lessons from surfshops usually cost around $80, and that, “they usually take that off the price of a set-up to get people sailing.” Elliot still teaches during the sum mers and has been working for M.D. Surf and Skate of Corpus Christi since last summer as an instructor. Elliot says he hopes to earn full factory support and pursue a World pfi A.- - - , ^ " - ... ; Cup championship. He also hopes to sail at the Bic World Championships in England this year, adding that, “ ... it would be the high point of my season.” Elliot admits, “If I got a good enough offer, I’d drop school and surf.” He adds, “I’m not sure what my dad would say about that.” It might help his dad to know that El liot says he would pursue his busi ness degree after he was done rac ing. Elliot’s 1984 Toyota Tercell sta tion wagon has been closing in on the 100,000-mile mark while carry ing Elliot and his full load of equip ment from competition to competi tion. But as successful as Elliot is at age 19, that station wagon has a long way logo. Photos and story by Fredrick D. Joe f lartn ired and | ically year-(