Hi, I’m Larry – the new owner of MK Windsurfing. I’ve owned a lot of MK kit over the years and have always liked the brand image it has established over such a long time. For me, it means no-nonsense, high quality kit at a good price… I’ve got a lot of exciting plans for MK but essentially the message remains the same – great product, great value.
… a bit of history
2020 Carbon boom upgrades and new sizes launched with CPW and CPSL added to the range
MK launches new product range – CPX / CPS carbon booms plus exciting new mast extensions…..
Larry Chan bought MK Windsurfing in 2016. Larry is an expert windsurfer and has an eye for great design. He has re-branded MK and sourced some outstanding products from all over the world. His story begins now….
The Solus boom takes over from the long-standing Ergo-Grip II. Also The CPIII (bump and jump / slalom) boom was added to the range with a brand new “EP” shape. It combined high radial stiffness (plane perpendicular to sail) with a super-comfortable grip.
The internet changed everything for MK and lower margins forced MK to sell direct to the public. As it turned out this was a good move both for MK and its customers and MK sales surged.
MK became a well known brand in the UK by 2003 and carbon mast extensions were added to the product range. These offered an incredibly light and strong alternative to aluminium extensions (which for skinny masts needed very thick walled tubing).
In 1999, MK started production of carbon booms but the first generation led to a number of warranty issues as the layup technology was not perfected. Only when the Carbon ProII (wave) came out did MK carbon booms really take off. The CPII was very strong having a monocoque construction and an excellent strength distribution profile.
Paul Davey, purchased MK Windsurfing following an Engineering Masters Degree at Manchester Uni. Paul had been scraping together money to buy windsurfing equipment since he learned to sail in Menorca 1986. Living in Crowborough East Sussex, MK was the nearest windsurfing equipment supplier – that’s how he first met Mike and Howard and ordered his first custom board from them.
One of the most important technical innovations Paul made was to use a spring-line to bend the boom tube. Mike originally poured fine sand into the booms to stop them kinking when bending them around a former. By using a spring, Paul doubled manufacturing capability and produced a cleaner curve… he also gripped the booms on a straight tube which was later bent into an arm shape. When Hawaiian Proline developed a clamp moulded over a continuous tube, Paul sourced this essential part to a Taiwan supplier Kuji Sports International where he commissioned them to manufacture the Series Six boom for the UK (twin tail design 140-240cm). The Series Six was so successful that Paul licensed the design to Gaastra International.
Howard and Mike parted ways and Paul Davey (a young mechanical engineering graduate/windsurfer) bought MK. Mike gave Paul a week’s training and some sound words of advice.
A big part of MK was custom board manufacturing. Mike and Howard sourced the components from Seabase in Cornwall (who also supplied footstrap plugs, fin boxes and the famous Chinook boom clamp). Neither were good at art, so board graphics tended to be linear shapes filled with colour with a bit of spray fading. They produced a wide range of boards – all for South Coast conditions. They also made a few needle speed boards and Howard entered Weymouth speed week where Fred Heywood managed 30.8 knots in 1983.
Howard was a well respected and talented sailor and tested everything to destruction – he was a big guy at over 6ft! If he couldn’t break it, it was strong enough for you! Not only were the booms strong, a company in Tunbridge Wells provided an architectural anodising service (as used by Lloyds bank in London) which gave their boom tubes a distinctive bronze colour. It also provided an amazingly good chip resistance finish that helped prevent corrosion. Not only that – Mike filled the tubes with a two part isocyanate foam which expanded and prevented the booms from getting water-logged… a good idea but later dropped (by the then new owner Paul) because it didn’t add the stiffness Mike was hoping for.
Both Mistral and Nautix claim to have made the first adjustable boom but it is possible that MK made it as they produced one in 1981 well before Mistral or Nautix filed unsuccessful patents. The original MK adjustable boom adjusted in very much the same way as today but stainless pins where held in with velcrose straps to stop them falling out. It was effective but a little fiddly.
Mike Martin and Howard Keeley originally founded MK Windsurfing after a trip to Hawaii where they saw and photographed Robbie Naish who was just 14 years old! The very first booms were made from wood and had very narrow wishbone shape. The inhaul was a piece of rope and it flopped all over the place. The use of aluminium tubing revolutionised boom making and it was in Hawaii that Howard and Mike met a guy who showed them a way to bend aluminium using an ironing board as a former… This technique was broadly unchanged when Mike and Howard came back to the UK to set up MK Windsurfing.
