A Brief History

Discover the Development of this Exciting Water Sport

While windsurfing as a professional sport might be relatively new, it has a storied history. Windsurfing made its Olympic debut in Los Angeles 1984 and since then it has become a major sport. But centuries before the advent of the modern surfboard, the Polynesians were travelling through the seas by standing up on boards with sails.

The modern surfboard, legend has it, has come to us via a gentleman named Newman Darby. He is credited with the invention of the rudderless sailboard, which came up with in 1948 at the young age of 20. Darby’s surfboard was nothing fancy. It featured a handheld sail and rig atop a universal joint. Darby steered the board himself, tilting the sail using his own weight. The simplicity of the design could be due to Newman Darby’s simple nature, for the guy never patented his design!

10 years later, a certain Peter Chilvers from Britain designed a similar surfboard. However, the modern surfboard was to be designed a couple of years later through the combined genius of Jim Drake (aeronautical engineer) and Hoyle Schweitzer (surfer). They patented the design, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Most people don’t know this, but the first windsurfing world championship took place more than 40 years ago in 1973. Even at that time, it was said that every other home had at least one windsurf board.

And while windsurfing became part of the summer Olympics in 1984, it was in 1992 when women were allowed to compete in this sport at the Olympic games. This further boosted the popularity of the sport. In 1996, pumping the sail became part of the game for the first time, raising the bar for Olympic-ll surfers.

Even with such popularity, the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) voted to remove the sport from the Rio Olympics. But this decision was reversed to the delight of the global windsurfing community. So you can see that windsurfing not only has an interesting history, but a bright future as well.

Fatima M.
Freelance Blogger