1976 - 1979 A Lifestyle Brand Personified
Although Mistral would be first launched at the Dusseldorf Boot (Boat) Show in 1977, it was already being conceived as early as 1974. In the image below, Mistral's founder, Peter Brockhurst, is seen sailing an original Windsurfer® during a 1974 photoshoot by photographer Michael Garff in the Bahamas, using a storm sail with 'Mistral' screened onto the panels. These photos were subsequently published as covers for Europe's first Windsurfing Magazine, which he also created.
Mistral 1974-1979
Peter Brockhaus operated as the most successful retailer of the original Windsurfer® throughout Germany, selling more units than in the United States. Quality and design issues, beginning in 1974 and '75, convinced him to create his brand of board, leading to the founding of Mistral. Mistral's first collection in 1977 consisted of windsurfing-specific sportswear, hardware and accessories. A holistic water sports lifestyle brand that embraced a love of wind, water and the windsurfing life. Since then, Mistral has survived and thrived, morphing with the ever-evolving nature of watersports. ‘I assembled a team for the first-ever testing of various boards on the market on Lake Garda [Italy] in July 1976, which concluded the ‘Speedy’ board was the best, a copy of the Windsurfer® board in polyester. I had promised the test team not to influence the test in any way. From this, we had the blueprint for the first Mistral board. I had invited Heinz Bader from Scobalit, a plastics manufacturer who, at the time, made the Windrider board, to the test. I told him I wanted to create ‘Mistral’ as my new brand; would he be willing to give up Windrider, and would Scobalit be our producer in a joint venture? We officially founded Mistral AG in October 1976. It was an equal 50/50 shared ownership of Mistral between Heinz Bader and me. He would be responsible for production and finance, and I was in charge of products, marketing and distribution. Ernstfried Prade was commissioned on royalty to design our first board.’
1977 - The Official Brand Launch
The new brand, Mistral, was a huge success at its release in 1977 in Düsseldorf, ironically due to the inclusion of Mistral Sportswear, courtesy of Christian Müller-Kittnau. It elevated the brand’s image and holistic approach in sync with the hardware, featuring matching graphics and colours. The hardware included an improved mast foot and boom courtesy of Ernstfried Prade, who had designed a patented system which he sold to Mistral. ‘We launched Mistral in 1977 at the Düsseldorf Boat Show, where we displayed our first board, the ‘Superwind’, an all-around board. From the beginning, the Mistral brand had an impeccable image, in fact, better than the board itself.' After the first board, the Superwind, Brockhaus needed another board designed, and after consulting Prade, he went to work developing the next incarnation. During the winter of 1977, Hans Fichtner enters the picture. Brockhaus states, ‘Hansi Fichtner shaped and helped design the first Mistral Competition under the direction of Ernstfried (1977). Hansi was the shaper. He also shaped the Mistral M1 (1979), the Open Division II Class all-out racing board, which was phenomenal, winning all the races then.'
When it came to bringing on board the Naish family, Brockhaus comments, 'Eventually, we exchanged some phone calls and discussed cooperation with Mistral. He was keen to give up his dislike of being a school teacher. I later travelled to Hawaii in 1977, and a contract was signed.’ Rick Naish would be a Mistral designer and would receive royalties from sales for Rick Naish designs put into production. Robby was like a dowry for us, testing these designs and other products at Kailua Beach. He was still too young to sign a contract.’ This was to prove a seminal moment in the history of the brand which would last for over 20 years. Brockhaus, however, would, at the end of 1979, depart Mistral to found F2 to focus entirely on Fun Boards.
Mistral in 1979 - The Original Lifestyle Brand
