F2 History

1979

F2 history

When Peter Brockhaus founded F2 in 1979, windsurfing was only 10 years old. Peter was there from the very beginning - he had built up Windsurfing Germany and then founded Mistral. The early "sailboards" all had their quirks. Heavy and even leaky boards, rigs that didn't convert wind into propulsion, parts that broke.

When Peter launched his own new brand against strong international competition, he had a decisive idea:  "fun & function".

 

1981

F2´s bestselling funboards (1981-1984)

With F2, windsurfing was called a "fun sport" for the first time. The fun boards Lightning / Strato / Comet / Sunset / Starlit, all designed by Jürgen Hönscheid, the best strong-wind surfer at that time.

From the beginning, F2 only built "funboards". They were called that because they were much more fun to ride than the old sailboards. They were equipped with foot straps for jumps and waves. They had retractable centerboards and rigid fins. Short booms and efficient sails made funboard surfing a lot more fun than traditional windsurfing. The better functioning of the F2 boards made the brand a worldwide success within a very short time and the market followed F2.

Watch video on youtube

 

1983

F2 production boards winning world cups (1983-1989)

From the beginning, F2 was the only brand whose racing team used production boards in the Euro Funboard Cup and World Cup. All the other teams came with custom designed boards, partly as expensive as a used BMW.

The Lightning was an excellent board for course racing and Sunset and Starlit for Slalom and wave riding contests.

 

1983

F2 wintersport products

F2 had started in 1983 with its first ski bindings. The design,- optically and technically was outstanding. However, the success in an oligopolic market was limited. The power of Salomon & Tyrolia was overwhelming. Sport equipment dealers showed reluctancy in changing their focus.

 

1985

F2 Epoxy technology

Until 1985 Epoxy technology with super light styrofoam cores was unknown. F2 and Mistral succeeded at the same time to resolve the problem in connection with styrofoam and gelcoat. Before  F2 could deliver stainless boards they sold boards with finish defaults to the market of young enthusiasts and encouraged personal design. The customers would repair the gelcoat on their own and give the board a personal finish. In this way F2 solved a huge production problem. Thousands of boards with optical faults could be sold and the young customers were happy to own a super light and strong epoxy board from F2.

 

1986

F2 lifestyle campaign

After introducing the full board range in epoxy,  F2 could hardly increase the product quality and created instead a strong lifestyle campaign in order to enhance customer loyalty. F2 became the brand of a young innovative target group which is shown in this campaign.

In 1986 market demand decreased because new sports such as mountain biking, rollerblading, snowboarding, etc. started to compete with windsurfing in terms of time and money. People were often  frustrated by lack of wind and turned to alternatives.

 

1988

Catalog 1988

 

80ies and 90ies


F2 sport legends

It all started with Jürgen Hönscheid from Sylt. Jürgen was Germany´s wave and strong wind hero. He was the only accepted European windsurfer in Hawaii where the first Panam Cup took place in Kailua, 1978.

Later they followed him to Sylt and la Torche where the European Funboard Cup, organized by Peter Brockhaus took place. As windsurfing was much more popular in Europe than the US, several American boardsailors  regularly showed up in European events.

Beside Jürgen the F2 racing team had Klaus Walther and Kai Schnellbacher with international performance level. Kai was cool enough to use only F2 production boards. His list of victories in World cups like La Torche was impressive.

Soon later there was a new “kid on the block” Björn Dunckerbeck. At the age of 15 he was invited by Peter Brockhaus to the Sylt Funboard Cup and got introduced to Jürgen and the F2 team. This venture gave Björn a strong boost. After that he became soon F2´s leading figure in the World Cup. He won against Robby Naish and all the other cracks in the 80ies and 90ies whenever they met.

Björn was the dominator in the windsurfing sport until 2010.

 

up to 2010

Björns incredible career started with F2

Björn Dunkerbeck is without a doubt the most successful windsurfer of all time. With 42 World Cup titles he even outperformed Robby Naish, the other legend of the sport.
For his World Cup titles klick here.
At he age of 14 he started in the Euro Funboard Cup for us. And over the years he collected this incredible list of 42 World Cup titles.
Björn, the terminator. In the nineties he dominated the sport at his will.
Today, Björn is still sailing speed competitions. His dream is to crack the 100 kmh border line. So far his record is some 99 kmh.

 

 

2000

F2´s dark years

In the early years of 2000 kite surfing and even surfing became more popular. Windsurfing lost its predominant role on the water. Every year windsurfing figures would decrease and F2´s new owner had no idea how to stop the decline of the company.

 

2008

F2 ´s new owner

Finally in 2008 Bernd Flügel from Hof/Bavaria/Germany bought the remaining pieces of the former great company and started from scratch.

He redesigned a quiver of new boards and added kite surfing and especially stand up paddling to the F2 product line. Bernd also cut down marketing costs and gave up to be on the leading edge in every category. Since then F2 concentrates more on the family market. 

Today, the water sports segment is growing worldwide significantly because there are constantly new developments and new markets arising in emerging countries.

 

2021

F2´s future

F2 has just celebrated its 40th anniversary. If you consider that in 1980 when the company exposed for the first time its product line in Paris at the “Salon Nautique” there were more than 100 windsurf brands competing. F2 has overcome all these years of strong competition and changing markets with greatness. The brand is today, according to a market research study in Germany still the most popular name and will enhance its position with fresh capital and improved visibility and dealer network.

F2, fun & function is more than a brand. It is a product philosophy. If it´s followed seriously, success will be a faithful companion.