The time since Brazil has slipped by so quickly I almost forgot to update this blog.  I’ve been glued to my computer learning how to make the best use of video footage from Brazil, though I’ll have to admit that a stream of phone calls has slowed the process down. I’m not complaining - far from it. How could I when most calls start with “Sorry to hear” and ended with “So what’s next?”

Rather than staring wishfully into a crystal ball, looking through the glass of my lens will put me in the right direction. It hooked me long before I even discovered windsurfing, though it’s my time at Boards that’s given me the confidence to share my view - something I have to thank the team for.

While I took their first suggestion to join Boards as a piss-take, Gary and Duncan could see beyond the loud and chubby Tequila suicide-swilling windsurfer.  I guess we all have dark secrets (not that many would see a passion for everything digital as being something to hide). So maybe it’s my turn to return the favour and ask them to step out of the shade, as it seems criminal to let their years go to waste.

It doesn’t matter how far back you go, but anyone who’s ever enjoyed reading Boards will unwittingly be thankful of their efforts - though not as thankful as those submitting their work. I can’t tell you how many misdirected words of thanks came my way . “Thank you for running the article, more importantly, thanks for making me sound so good.” It happened so often my standard reply had to be shortened to “No problem. It wasn’t me but the team”.

My day often started out walking the dog while my iPhone read aloud the latest influx of articles, and I was seldom left without a smile on my face. Sure, some had humor, but with so many international submissions written in foreign tongues it was the translations themselves that left me grinning from ear to ear. Though thanks to the team my facial expressions would dance to in tune of the storyline before being finally being committed to print.

A cynical mind would say that’s just the work of a copywriter / editor, but then where do you find a good one who has a clue about a clew (let alone one that can translate it from French, or even Essex). But that’s just one point in a list of talents that’s far too long and involved for these pages, so this is just my way of passing along those thank you messages to those who really deserve them.

Apologies if the picture gallery doesn’t match the words but I’m sure you didn’t want a bunch of pictures of the boys at their desks and the only potential picture opportunity this week was of my return to Factory Media’s headquarters.

Hold that thought. No, we haven’t all been reinstated. I’d just popped in to give my personal thanks to the advertising and design side of the Boards team, though it seems I’m not the only one saying a final farewell to Boards.

Our designer Liam not only added style to our pages but also got himself hooked in the process with the help of Queen Mary and Club Vass. While the pages that would have told his story will sadly never materialise, I’m happy to have witnessed his progress and have no doubt he’ll be back on the water once he settles in to his new life.

The final farewell is more of a “see you later”, as I’m sure to find Fred Willis on the water regularly. Most of us are happy to see the back of a salesman, but Fred has always been more than that to the magazine he lived and breathed – and much more than that to windsurfing. Among the many projects he was involved with, Fred was never fully credited with bringing indoor windsurfing to our shores, but without him it simply wouldn’t have ever happened, and I know a lot of you out there would raise a festive glass to him for that.

Boards as we know it may be gone but it will never be forgotten.