The International Formula Windsurfing Class are proud to announce that the family of the late Eckart Wagner have generously donated a perpetual trophy to the Class. The winnner of this years Formula Windsurfing Youth World Championships will be the first recipient of the Trophy. The 2003 championships will take place at Torbole, on Lake Garda, from 5th -12th July -as part of a Festival of Formula, with class titles at stake for Junior, Espoir and Masters.

Eckart Wagner

Eckart Wagner passed away at the young age of 64 on October 31st in 2002.

The well known Scuttlebutt Newsletter published: ‘Eckart was one of those larger than life characters, adding excitement and interest to anything and everything he became involved with.’

He was born 1938 in Kiel/ Germany as son of a sailors family and found the track quite early. In 1956 he won his first Kiel Week. He studied law but his bigger passion was sailing: He travelled to San Diego in the early 60s to meet Lowell North who taught him the art of sailmaking. In 1965 he started North´s first european sailmaking loft in Germany. Performing well he created the biggest loft in the North system.

With the elements he became more and more successful: At the Olympic Games 1972 in Kiel/ Germany nine medallists choose North Sails handcrafted by him.

Eckart Wagner was hardly satisfied – full of energy. He always wanted and requested more, more challenge, more success. In 1981 he initiated North Sails Windsurfing with world-wide R&D activities and series production facilities in Sri Lanka.

At the peak of his sailmaking career in 1984 he was requested to chair as President of North Sails world-wide.

The AeroSail project in 1992 was a quite successful champaign to create a platform for teambuilding, technology transfer, sponsoring and communication in sailing. The long term goal was a German Americas Cup Champaign – due to the economic crises the funding was stopped in 1996 after e.g. successful Olympics for Jochen Schuemann in the Soling and Paralympics.

Eckart Wagner was a business man by heart but also a successful sailor. In 1974 he became European Champion in the Star and World Champion in the Half Ton Class and in 1976 in the Two Ton Class. He participated in the Olympic Games four times from 1960 to 1972 in the Star Class and the 5,5. He qualified for the Olympic Games 1980 in Moscow but due to the political crisis there was a Olympic boycott by numerous western Nations.

Eckart Wagner retired from North Sails and sail making in the early 90s, spreading his time between his favourite Lake Starnberg/ Germany, Whistler/ Canada and Columbo/ Sri Lanka.

As a champion sailor he continued to race his Star, raced vintage cars and coached his daughters’ Olympic Champaign in the Yngling Class. Most fitting, his last regatta was a victory, with his brother, at the Gold Cup on Lake Starnberg.

He wrote in his last letter to friends and family: “You see I’m busy, sometimes too busy but I enjoy it”.

He lived life to the max until the end, an end that came all too quickly.