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While Darby's "sailboard" incorporated a pivoting rig, it was "square rigged" and suffered all the associated limitations. The sailboard was operated with the sailor's back to the lee side of a kite-shaped sail. Darby's article boasted that " can learn to master a type of manoeuvering that's been dead since the age of the picturesque square riggers"

Windsurfing can be said[by whom?] to straddle both the laid-back culture of surf sports and the more rules-based environment of sailing. Although it might be considered[by whom?] a minimalistic version of a sailboat, windsurfing offers experiences that are outside the scope of other sailing craft designs. Windsurfers can perform jumps, inverted loops, spinning maneuvers, and other "freestyle" moves that cannot be matched by any sailboat. Windsurfers were the first to ride the world's largest waves, such as Jaws on the island of Maui, and, with very few exceptions, it was not until the advent of tow-in surfing that waves of that size became accessible to surfers on more traditional surfboards. Extreme waves aside, many expert windsurfers will ride the same waves as surfers do (wind permitting).


Windsurfing is predominately undertaken on a non-competitive basis. Organised competition does take place at all levels across the world, including in the Olympics. Typical formats for competitive windsurfing include Formula Windsurfing, speed sailing, slalom, course racing, wave sailing, superX, and freestyle.

The boom of the 1980s led windsurfing to be recognized as an Olympic sport in 1984. However, windsurfing's popularity saw a sharp decline in the mid-1990s, thanks to licensing battles, and equipment becoming more specialized and requiring more expertise to sail. The sport experienced a modest revival, as new beginner-friendly designs became available. Further pressure came as a proportion of avid windsurfers took up the similar sport of kitesurfing.









The technical problem was that most boats steer by varying the angle of attack in the water between the centreboard and the rudder, and Drake's question came down to simple operation of how a standing person could control both the power of the sail as well as the direction of the craft.[13]

Darby sailboard, Popular Science, 1965



Windsurfing InternationalEdit






Patent disputesEdit



In 1979, Schweitzer licensed[citation needed] Brittany, France-based company Dufour Wing, which was later merged with Tabur Marine – the precursor of Bic Sport.[16] Europe was now the largest growing market for windsurfers, and the sub-licensed companies – Tabur, F2, Mistral – wanted to find a way to remove or reduce their royalty payments to Windsurfing International.







Trademark disputesEdit







Boards and gearEdit



Most modern windsurfers (1990s and later) are derived from the shortboard design, and are intended to be used ideally in planing mode, where the board is mostly skipping over the surface of the water, rather than cutting through and displacing the water. Planing is faster and gives more maneuverability, but requires a different technique from the displacement mode (which is also referred to as slogging or schlogging). Generally smaller boards and smaller sails are used as the wind increases.

While windsurfing is possible under a wide range of wind conditions, most recreational windsurfers prefer to sail in conditions that allow for consistent planing with multi-purpose, not overly specialized, free-ride equipment. Larger (100 to 140 liters) free-ride boards are capable of planing at wind speeds as low as 12 knots if rigged with an adequate, well-tuned sail in the six to eight square meter range. The pursuit of planing in lower winds has driven the popularity of wider and shorter boards, with which planing is possible in wind as low as 8 knots, if sails in the 10 to 12 square meter range are used.

Modern windsurfing boards can be classified into many categories:

  • Speed boards: In essence an extremely narrow and sleek slalom board, built for top speed only.
  • Beginner boards: (Sometimes called funboards) these often have a daggerboard, are almost as wide as Formula boards, and have plenty of volume, hence stability.
  • Tandem Board: The most popular tandem board is the 'Starboard Gemeni II'.[citation needed]

There are many attempts to bridge the gap between any two of these categories, such as freestyle-wave, freeformula, and so on. These attempts are often successful in their own right, but every shape has its specific strong points and disadvantages. In short, a board with a lot of scoop, rocker or tailkick will turn more easily and respond to footsteering, but top speed and upwind performance will suffer. A board with a straight mid- and aft waterline will plane earlier, thus giving good upwind performance, but will not footsteer without the sailor actively shifting weight. In 2013 a Norwegian inventor Sundin Gjessing patented a prototype board which changes its tail shape with a footswitch - an attempt to combine speed and turning ability into one hull. The board has not been put into production. The original Windsurfer board had a body made out of polyethylene filled with PVC foam. Later, hollow glass-reinforced epoxy designs were used. Most boards produced today have an expanded polystyrene foam core reinforced with a composite sandwich shell, that can include carbon fiber, kevlar, or fiberglass in a matrix of epoxy and sometimes plywood and thermoplastics. Racing and wave boards are usually very light (5 to 7 kg), and are made out of carbon sandwich. Such boards are very stiff, and veneer is sometimes used to make them more shock-resistant. Boards aimed at the beginners are heavier (8 to 15 kg) and more robust, containing more fiberglass.[19]


Modern windsurfing sails are often made of monofilm (clear polyester film), dacron (woven polyester) and mylar. Areas under high load may be reinforced with kevlar.

Two designs of a sail are predominant: camber induced and rotational. Cambered sails have 1–5 camber inducers - plastic devices at the ends of battens which cup against the mast. They help create a rigid aerofoil shape for faster speed and stability, but at the cost of maneuverability and how light the sail feels. The trend is that racier sails have camber inducers while wave sails and most recreational sails do not. The rigidity of the sail is also determined by a number of battens.



Rotational sails have battens which protrude beyond the back aspect of the mast. They flip or "rotate" to the other side of the mast when tacking or jibing, hence the rotation in the name. Rotational sails have an aerofoil shape on the leeward side when powered, but are nearly flat when sheeted out (unpowered). In comparison with cambered sails, rotational designs offer less power and stability when sailing straight, but are easier to handle when maneuvering. Rotational sails are usually lighter and easier to rig.

A windsurfing sail is tensioned at two points: at the tack (by downhaul), and at the clew (by outhaul). There is a set of pulleys for downhauling at the tack, and a grommet at the clew. Most shape is given to the sail by applying a very strong downhaul, which by design bends the mast. The outhaul tension is relatively weak, mostly providing leverage for controlling the sail's angle of attack.

The sail is tuned by adjusting the downhaul and the outhaul tension. Generally, a sail is trimmed more (flatter shape) for stronger winds. More downhaul tension loosens the upper part of the leech, allowing the top of the sail to twist and "spill" wind during gusts, shifting the center of effort (strictly, the center of pressure) down. Releasing downhaul tension shifts the center of effort up. More outhaul lowers the camber/draft, making the sail flatter and easier to control, but less powerful; less outhaul results in more draft, providing more low-end power, but usually limiting speed by increasing aerodynamic resistance.

The disciplines of windsurfing (wave, freestyle, freeride) require different sails. Wave sails are reinforced to survive the surf, and are nearly flat when depowered to allow riding waves. Freestyle sails are also flat when depowered, and have high low-end power to allow quick acceleration. Freeride sails are all-rounders that are comfortable to use and are meant for recreational windsurfing. Race sails provide speed at the expense of qualities like comfort or maneuverability.

The size of the sail is measured in square meters and can be from 3 m2 to 5.5 m2 for wave sails and 6 m2 to 15 m2 for race sails, with ranges for freestyle and freeride sails spanning somewhere between these extremes. Learning sails for children can be as small as 0.7 m2 and race sails up to 15 m2.



A sailboard will move, depending on wind conditions and the skill or intentions of the rider, in two entirely different manners, with two different displacements; it will either sail or hydroplane (referred to as "planing"). A sensation likened to low-level flying may be experienced by the hydroplaning windsurfer.

Under Sailing Conditions (light winds, less than appr. 12 kts)Edit


Directional Control is achieved by moving the rig either forward (turning away from the wind) or aft (turning towards the wind). When jibing, the clew of the sail is let around and allowed to rotate out and around the mast.


Under Planing Conditions (strong winds, more than appr. 12 kts)Edit


In planing conditions a harness is typically worn to more efficiently use the rider's weight to counter the force in the sail. As the wind increases, the rider continues to sheet the sail, the fin generates more lift, and the board gains speed, transitioning onto a plane. The volume of board in the water (displacement) decreases, and the rider moves rearward, stepping into the footstraps for improved control. When planing, the board skims on the surface rather than displacing water as it moves. Planing can be achieved at different wind speeds depending on the rider's weight, sail and fin size, wave conditions, and rider ability. With modern equipment planing can normally be achieved at a wind speed of around 12 knots. The transition from displacement motion to planing requires a jump in energy, but once planing, water resistance decreases dramatically. This means that it is possible to continue to plane, although the wind has dropped below a level that would be required to transition to plane. A board in plane can be much smaller than a board moving by displacement (thereby gaining an advantage in gear weight and board control). Lateral resistance to the wind is provided by the fin alone (generating more lift at higher speeds) and a centreboard is no longer used (smaller boards do not have one). A fin generates lift, transferring a strong load to the board, and so is usually constructed of carbon fiber for accurate shape and strength. A low-pressure area develops on the windward side of the fin, which can lead to cavitation, leading to a sudden loss of lift, called "spin-out" (equivalent to "stalling" in flight terminology). Ideal planing conditions for most recreational riders is 15–25 knots of wind, but experts can windsurf in much windier conditions. Planing is considered one of the most exhilarating aspects of the sport.


Fall Recovery: In strong winds it is difficult to uphaul the sail (pulling it out of the water while standing on the board) so waterstarting is necessary. This is done (while water treading) by positioning the mast perpendicular to the wind, lifting the luff out of the water to allow the wind to catch the sail, and then having the sail pull the sailor onto the board. As the sail becomes powered, it is then trimmed to bring the rider, board, and sail back onto a plane. Occasionally a rider may be unable to waterstart if the wind has dropped. If this happens the rider can wait for a gust and "pump" the sail to get back on the board. If this becomes hopeless uphauling the sail will be necessary.


Learning to windsurf used to present the biggest barrier to the sport's growth, but with the development of new, wider (80 to 100 cm), high volume (more than 200 liters) beginner boards the transition time from beginner to intermediate has been reduced. Beginners, starting off on a large board with a tiny triangular sail in less than 5 knots of wind on a shallow lake, often struggle to see the similarity between what they are doing and the images they see in magazines of advanced riders using a 2.25 m board to ride waves in 20–30 knots of wind. But with good instruction windsurfing can be picked up rather quickly, not unlike other extreme sports like Kitesurfing, or Snowboarding.







Indoor windsurfingEdit



Additional equipmentEdit


Slalom at the 2005 national championship at the Columbia River Gorge.

In windsurfing competitions, there are the following disciplines:

  • Olympic Windsurfing Class
  • Formula Windsurfing Class
  • Raceboard Class
  • Slalom
  • Big Air
  • Super X
  • Speed Racing
  • Freestyle
  • Wavesailing
  • Freeride Master blaster
  • Tandem


Early scoring programs on portable computersEdit


Olympic classEdit


Formula classEdit

Formula racer in San Francisco Bay.




Raceboard ClassEdit



Slalom is a high-speed race. Typically there are two sorts of slalom courses.



Big AirEdit


Super XEdit

This discipline is a cross between freestyle and slalom. Competitors race on a short downwind slalom course, must duck jibe on all turns, and are required to perform several tricks along the way. Competitors are required to wear protective equipment. The Super X discipline was short lived and is now largely unpracticed; it reached its peak in the early 2000s,



On record attempts controlled by the World Speed Sailing Record Council (WSSRC) competitors complete timed runs on a 500m or 1 nautical mile (1,852m) course. The current 500m record (for Windsurfers) is held by French windsurfer Antoine Albeau.[27] The women's 500m Record is held By Zara Davis, from England, also in Luderitz. The Men's nautical mile record is held by Bjorn Dunkerbeck and the women's mile record is held by Zara Davis both set in Walvis Bay Namibia

With the advent of cheap and small GPS units and the website, Speedsurfers have been able to organise impromptu competitions amongst themselves as well as more formal competitions such as the European Speed Meetings and Speedweeks/fortnights in Australia.[28] With over 5000 sailors registered it is possible for windsurfers all over the world to compare speeds.

Speed Sailing Records Date Sailor Location
53.27 knots 5 November 2015 Antoine Albeau Luderitz, Namibia
52.05 knots[29] November 2012 Antoine Albeau Luderitz, Namibia






Robby Naish competing in a wave sailing event at Sylt, Germany

Bearing some similarities to freestyle, wave sailing has been part of the sport for much longer. Indeed, modern freestyle started off, in essence, as wave sailing without waves. Wave sailing took off during the rapid development of windsurfing on the Hawaiian islands of Oahu and Maui. It can be seen as comprising two distinct (but related) parts, wave riding and wave jumping.

Wave jumping, as with freestyle, involves stunts of varying levels of difficulty which are performed after the rider has jumped from the peak of an unbroken wave (having sailed towards the wave, thus using it as a ramp). These are commonly referred to as aerial moves and include both forward rotation (forward loop, cheese roll) and backward rotations(back-loop, push-loop). The rider and his equipment rotate, doing single & double rotations and jumps where the sailor contorts his or her body and equipment (table top and Crazy Pete, Marwin, etc.).



These days most top wave sailors spend very little time competing as the type of conditions required (massive swells producing clean, well-spaced waves and strong winds blowing cross-offshore) are very hard to guarantee months in advance (when planning an event). Thus, aside from a few annual events held in locations with consistent wave-sailing conditions like Maui (Aloha Classic) and Cape Verde[31] (which boasts an impressive track record in recent years). World-class wave sailing can also be seen in non-competitive freeriding sessions around the world.


The lack of a guarantee of top class action is often cited as a reason why wave sailing events fail to attract the same level of TV coverage (and accompanying corporate activity) as other extreme sports despite the stunning visual spectacle and obvious aspirational appeal to key demographics. Many windsurfers around the world are OK without this spotlight as it allows them to be a part of something free of the corporate pressures.


International starsEdit

  • Clare Seeger : One of the top female windsurfers in the 80's. She was also No 1 British Champion for 10yrs. Sadly being only a woman no professional photographer had their cameras on her when she became the first person to do a double back loop,on Maui, Hawaii.
  • Peter Boyd Moved to Maui in 1980, and pioneered several windsurfing maneuvers. He was the first to perform an aerial loop, which was considered impossible by many.[citation needed] The maneuver opened the door to a variety of aerial loop variations, including the push loop and double rotations. While innovation was his main focus, Boyd did defeat World champion, Ken Winner several times at International competitions.
  • Mark Angulo: Early pioneer of many wave sailing moves, including the wave-face 360.
  • Josh Angulo: Mark's younger brother and early pioneer of Cape Verde.
  • Thomas Traversa: PWA Wave World Champion 2014 and winner overall of the RedBull Storm Chase.
  • Björn Dunkerbeck: the successor to Naish, he dominated competition for many years in the late 1980s and 1990s. Twelve-time PWA Overall World Champion.
  • Dave Kalama: Although known for his big wave surfing and stand-up surfing accomplishments, he is an outstanding windsurfer and invented the move known as the Goiter.
  • Stephan van den Berg, World Champion 1979–1983, gold medal winner first Olympic windsurfing contest in Los Angeles, California in 1984.
  • Guy Cribb: four times world championships runner-up in the 1990s. 13 UK champion titles.
  • Natalie Lelievre: overall World Champion, 1984, 1985.
  • Daida Ruano Moreno : PWA Wave World Champion, 2001–2011, Freestyle World Champion 2003–2006.
  • Iballa Ruano Moreno PWA Wave World Champion, 2000, 2012, 2014. Twin sister of Daida Moreno.
  • Philip Köster: PWA Wave World Champion 2011, 2012 and 2015
  • Víctor Fernández: PWA Wave World Champion 2010 and 2016
  • Boujmaa Guilloul: 1st PWA event Hawaii Pro wave 2004, 2014 1st AWT Pro Fleet - Starboard Severne Aloha Classic, 9th PWA Starboard Severne Aloha Classic, 2010 ranked 20th overall PWA Wave, 2009 8th Cabo Verde Wave, 2008 ranked 19th overall PWA Wave, 2007 ranked 14th Wave, came 5th in Guincho.
  • Arnaud de Rosnay: Photographer, and windsurfing adventurer. Best known for his open-ocean windsurfing exploits, and numerous long distance crossings in conflict areas. Lost at sea in November 1984 in the Taiwan Strait. He created the first speedsailing event in 1981, a 40 km race in Maui. 80 competitors participated in the first event, Arnaud de Rosnay finishing second behind Robby Naish. He is also credited with the invention of Kite surfing (1980) and land sailing (Speedsail 1977), even crossing a distance of 1380 km in the Sahara in 1979,

Youth windsurfingEdit

A child practices uphauling a lightweight rig in a swimming pool



In Maui, there is a growing band of young wave sailors, led by Kai Lenny, a multi-sport waterman, and Gustav Häggström (Sweden), who are beginning to gain access to the most extreme wave sailing spots, including the legendary Jaws break on the island's North Shore.


Robert (Robby) Naish took up the fledgling sport of windsurfing at the age of 11, and in 1976 won his first overall World Championship title at the age of 13.

See alsoEdit

Similar sports:


  1. ^ See S. NEWMAN DARBY WINDSURFING COLLECTION, 1944-1998 #625, Archives Center, National Museum of American History Archived February 19, 2015, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ^ Sailboarding. Popular Science, August 1965. 
  16. ^ a b "History". Bic Sport. 
  17. ^ Zelasnic, Laura. "Technology, invention, and innovation collections". Archived from the original on July 2, 2012. Retrieved August 6, 2011. 
  18. ^ see pages 104–105 of judgment cited
  20. ^ "Lemelson Center Invention Features: Newman Darby". Archived from the original on November 23, 2005. Retrieved August 6, 2011. 
  21. ^ Professional Windsurfers Association.
  22. ^ "UK Windsurfing Association.
  27. ^ "Windsurfer Breaks Speed Record at Over 60 mph". Retrieved 2015-11-29. 
  29. ^ "24 Hour Distance". Retrieved 2011-08-06. 
  30. ^ "The Ricardo Triple Challenge". Retrieved 2011-08-06. 
  31. ^ Cabo Verde World Cup 2009.
  33. ^ "Marcilio 'Brawzinho' Browne".
  34. ^ "Jose 'Gollito' Estredo".
  35. ^ "Philip Koster".
  36. ^ "Double Trouble: Philip Koster" Archived August 21, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. (video).

External linksEdit