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Windsurfing is a surface water sport that combines elements of surfing and sailing. It consists of a board usually 2 to 2.5 metres (6 ft 7 in to 8 ft 2 in) long, with displacements typically between 45 and 150 litres (9.9 and 33.0 imp gal; 12 and 40 US gal), powered by wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and consists of a mast, boom and sail.
On “short” boards The sail area generally ranges from 1.5 to 12 square metres (16 to 129 sq ft) depending on the conditions, the skill of the sailor, the type of windsurfing being undertaken and the weight of the person windsurfing. On long boards, upon which the sport was first popularized -sail areas and board lengths are typically larger and the athleticism required is much less.
Many credit S. Newman Darby with the origination of windsurfing by 1964 on the Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania, United States when he invented the "Darby sailboard", which he did not patent due to limited financial resou...moreWindsurfing is a surface water sport that combines elements of surfing and sailing. It consists of a board usually 2 to 2.5 metres (6 ft 7 in to 8 ft 2 in) long, with displacements typically between 45 and 150 litres (9.9 and 33.0 imp gal; 12 and 40 US gal), powered by wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and consists of a mast, boom and sail.
On “short” boards The sail area generally ranges from 1.5 to 12 square metres (16 to 129 sq ft) depending on the conditions, the skill of the sailor, the type of windsurfing being undertaken and the weight of the person windsurfing. On long boards, upon which the sport was first popularized -sail areas and board lengths are typically larger and the athleticism required is much less.
Many credit S. Newman Darby with the origination of windsurfing by 1964 on the Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania, United States when he invented the "Darby sailboard", which he did not patent due to limited financial resources and inadequate legal advice. His main focus of his “Darby Industries” was to sell plans such that any school age child could build one for under $50. Rather than building personal wealth, his focus was to introduce youth to the sport of sailing in even very shallow water. In 1964, Darby began selling his sailboards. A promotional article by Darby was published in the August 1965 edition of Popular Science magazine.Darby told me in the presence of his wife Naomi, that the mechanical universal joint picture was removed in editing due to magazine “space considerations”. I believe this was a “pivotable” error, like many others in the Darby story. He told me he did not think it was important as he preferred the more simple rope universal joint anyway. This was Darby- Artistic, practical, minimalist, gracious,- always inventive, and his wife, Naomi was the first ever sailboarder.
While Darby's "sailboard" incorporated a pivoting rig, it was "square rigged" or “kite rigged” and was subject to the associated limitations. The sailboard was operated with the sailor's back to the lee side of a kite-shaped sail. Darby's article stated that "...you can learn to master a type of maneuvering that's been dead since the age of the picturesque square riggers"
Windsurfing straddles both the laid-back culture of surf sports and the more rules-based environment of sailing. 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).
At one time referred to as "surfing's ginger haired cousin" by the sport's legendary champion, Robby Naish, windsurfing has long struggled to present a coherent image of the sport to outsiders. As a result of attempts to claim the word "windsurfer" as a trademark, participants have been encouraged to use different names to describe the sport, including "sailboarding" and "boardsailing". The term "windsurfing" has persisted as the accepted name for the sport, and the word "windsurfer" persists for both participants and equipment.
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. That same year saw the first international professional tour and the first year of the Aloha Classic event at Ho'okipa on Maui's north shore. The Windsurfing boom continued and expanded into the 1990's with the Professional side of the sport becoming immensely popular across global media. Windsurfing had a larger global media presence than Surfing during these years. This popularity attracted significant sponsorship deals which in turn further promoted the sport with extensive paid advertising.
Many of the world's top riders, particularly the European riders, became wealthy and very famous athletes.
Windsurfing's popularity across global media saw a decline toward the end of the 1990s. This has been attributed to many possible problems within the sport including licensing battles, equipment becoming too specialized, requiring excessive expertise, the splintering of Windsurfing into various niche groups around the world and splintering of the fundamentals as constant reinvention of technology challenged what it was to be 'a windsurfer'. On top of these internal issues there was a coinciding drop in major sponsor support, directly caused by the steady introduction of international bans on cigarette advertising during the 1990's. Cigarette industry advertising had become the dominant source of sponsorship support during the early and mid 1990's boom years for the professional level of Windsurfing. With the internationally legislated withdrawal of these large companies, the money spent on promoting the sport and paying for add space declined steeply and Windsurfing receded from public view across global advertising and media generally.
After some lean years in the early 2000's, the sport has seen a steady revival. New beginner-friendly designs have become available and new corporate sponsors have emerged to once again invest in advertising and promoting the sport to align corporate values and interests for marketing.
The sport of Windsurfing is one of constant re-invention, innovation and of pioneers in water sports generally. With the advent of kitesurfing, created by windsurfers, many avid windsurfers took up the similar sport for some variety after many years on the traditional windsurfer style equipment. More recently 'foiling' has become a major new interest among many windsurfers. As of 2019, longer, wider boards that are easier to sail are coming back and engaging a new generation. The sense of what it is to be 'a Windsurfer' or 'a surfer' is also changing as watermen like Kai Lenny break down barriers....less
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