Tues
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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-(