World Champion. Developer. Father.
How it all started
and what’s next
How did you get into gear design and starting Goya?
I was tuning my skateboard when I was 6, back, my brother will work on the graphics while I would be tuning the tracks and rest of the hardware. As soon as I got hooked into windsurfing, I understood that to be able to ride how I wanted, I would need to spend almost as many hours developing the gear as I did in the water. I would look at magazines and videos when I wasn’t in the water and draw my ideal moves, sails, boards, fins, etc. Along that time I started working with the local custom manufactures in Argentina and when I turned 18 I moved to Maui to ride all day long and live my dream. Here I started riding for different shapers and designers while helping them along their R&D programs. 5 years later, in 1994 I got together with my close friends and we started our own brand and factory, that was and is Quatro today. We didn’t have to convince anybody anymore, we just did the designs that we wanted to ride and we would build them with all new materials that directly influenced our riding and the way other people felt about windsurfing. So really it was those passionate windsurfers from all over the world that bought my gear and were stoked with the sport that started the brand.
And how is it working in Goya?
I work together with a team that been focusing their whole life around windsurfing, the office, showroom, loft and factory are in Haiku, 5 minutes away from one of the most consistent and mixed conditions in the world to ride on. The mixed conditions that Maui has to offer along with a huge amount of visitors from all over the world, allow us to test the gear ourselves and receive direct feedback from our customers. So everyday we ride and hear feedback that is put back into the products, business and sport. All revolve around our passion and development for the ultimate ride, company and sport. When the new years gear arrive I’m just as excited about it as I was with my first board 25 years ago.
Do you look towards technology or experience?
In 1992 we started experimenting with the first styro/sandwich windsurf boards and with the new light weight gear was that inspire our riding into the double loop revolution, later on1996 we started working with our first CNC shaping machine, with it came all the concave and double concaves bottoms that later led to the twin fin, Quad development and with them complete change on outlines, bottom shapes and the way we will ride waves forever. So yes with the same crew we continue working on today at our factory and loft now we are searching into greener materials, so really it is both, the experience that comes from the consistency, team work and the technology, the commitment to make it better everytime.
What does Goya offer that the competition dont?
By developing boards and sails together we are able to combine designs and directly bring across our view for the sport. I also see the windsurfing industry as a community project, we are all learning and seeing how we can improve the sport, one thing I’m sure, it will take a lot more than one brand and one vision to really take windsurfing to where it deserves.
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How do you see the sport and its future?
Bright! Today we have a mature sport, people that windsurf run the industry, there is a reason to the existence of every brand and every product out there, we have exact weather forecasts, affordable airlines specially inside Europe, some even without excess baggage fees for windsurf gear, clubs and shops all over the world, you can really plan your windsurfing holiday and get the most from a few days. 20 years ago windsurfing business was hot, so a lot of brands showed up, but the level of the gear sold wasn’t the best, and the customers weren’t having the best experience as their gear was big, heavy, slipper and the range very limited. Today we might not be selling as much gear as back then but a lot has to do with the longevity and range of the products we have help develop along this time, there is still a lot of good years left in products that people are riding out there, so how much gear we are selling today is not directly related by how many people are actually enjoying the sport, the same way that you couldn’t tell the downfall from the peak back then. The truth is that the more I travel, the more people I see enjoying windsurfing, from all ages, social groups, it is a sport that all you need is water and a little wind, it has the potential to became the most popular water sport in the world.
What are you most proud of to date?
To be part of this great sport and it’s people that have become my extended family along my friends & family.