It may seem crazy but I’d like to say a big thank-you to the recent weather – a lack of wind and a snowed-in Britain was just what the doctor ordered.  This was no simple health check but a rewrite from the ground up for our boards.co.uk website.

With frost on the windows and the team huddled around an array of monitors, the plan for an all-new BOARDS site was hatched. Forget the spangly colours of days gone by – content will be our shining light for the future, though of course that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten our roots.

Active forum topics may be new to the front page, but dive in and you’ll discover that history isn’t just a thing of the past but here for you today. But don’t just search for a long-lost thread – soon you’ll be able to peer into our testing vault, which until today was kept under lock and key for the privileged few. boards.co.uk will become open to all.

While the BOARDS team will bring you the latest news and stories from around the globe we know you have plenty to say, and there’s no better way to deliver that than via our sister site at mpora.com. Share your video, pictures and chat and we’ll take care of the rest. Old boards.co.uk logins should still work – and all members are now also registered with mpora.com too, with exactly the same details. Unfortunately, a few duplicates mean that some members’ old login names may no longer work at boards.co.uk. In which case, if you find that you can’t log in, please add ‘boards_’ to the start of your username. (e.g. ‘boards’ becomes ‘boards_boards’).

This may be the third incarnation of boards.co.uk and a new look at the virtual world of windsurfing, but this is where it starts to get real. Eyes down for a new, free, classified system coming soon. Enjoy the ride.

Dave White and the BOARDS team