Windsurfing

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A windsurfer tilts the rig and carves the board to perform a planing jibe (downwind turn) close to shore at Maui, Hawaii.

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

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A windsurfer in the final stages of a forward roll at Sardinia, Italy.

Windsurfing is a surface water sport that combines elements of surfing and sailing. It consists of a windsurf board usually two to four meters long, powered by the effect of the wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and comprises a mast, wishbone boom and sail. The sail area ranges from less than 3.0m² to more than 12m² depending on the conditions, the skill of the sailor and the type of windsurfing being undertaken.

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. Indeed, until the 1990s participants would regularly use different names to describe the sport, including sailboarding and board sailing. Despite the term "Windsurfing" becoming the accepted name for the sport, participants are still called "sailors" and not "surfers".

In fact windsurfing can be said to straddle both the laid-back culture of surf sports and the more rules-based environment of sailing. Although it might be considered a minimalistic version of a sailboat, a windsurfer offers experiences that are outside the scope of any other sailing craft design. Windsurfers can perform jumps, inverted loops, spinning maneuvers, and other "freestyle" moves that cannot be matched by any sailboat. When compared to surfing, 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 traditional surfers. Extreme waves aside, many expert windsurfers will ride the same waves as surfers do (wind permitting) and are themselves usually very accomplished without a rig on a conventional surfboard.

The sport has a potentially shallower (longer) learning curve when compared to other so-called "extreme" sports, like snowboarding, freeride Mountain Biking or kitesurfing. The average beginner starting off on a 3.8 m long board with a tiny triangular sail in less than 5 knots of wind on a shallow lake often struggles to see the similarity between what they are doing and the images they see in magazines of a more advanced sailor using a 2.25 m board to ride waves in 20-30 knots of wind.

Key to this is the difference between displacement sailing and hydroplaning (referred to as "planing"). The former takes place in light winds (up to 10 knots) and involves the hull moving through the water using (typically) a centreboard and fin or skeg for stability and lateral resistance. Directional control is achieved via the rig and weighting one or other side the board, or sinking the tail.

When the wind gets above 8-10 knots (typically 15 knots+ for recreational equipment) the board ceases to move through the water and instead planes on top of the water, skimming over the surface at much higher speeds. To make the most of planing conditions, the board needs to be smaller and can dispense with the centreboard as sufficient lift and lateral resistance are provided by the fin (or combination of fins). When planing, changing direction is achieved via rotating the rig and engaging one of the rails (edges) of the board which is referred to as carving. Though windsurfing is possible in winds from near 0 to 50 knots, the ideal planing conditions for most recreational sailors is 15-25 knots.

Beginners must develop their balance and core stability, acquire an understanding of sailing theory, and learn a range of techniques before they can progress to planing windsurfing.

Initial lessons can be taken with a Windsurfing School, which exist in reasonable numbers in most countries. With coaching and favorable conditions, the basic skills of sailing, steering, and turning can be learned within a few hours. Competence in the sport and mastery of more advanced maneuvers such as planing, carve gybing (turning downwind at speed), water starting, jumping, and more advanced moves can require lengthy practice. Training DVDs exist which are useful in a sport where it is difficult for a coach to be close to a pupil particularly when learning the more advanced maneuvers.

Nevertheless, windsurfing is a sport which, once mastered, can be enjoyed, even at an advanced level, well into retirement and then at a more sedate level for considerably longer still. This is partly down to the fact that windsurfing crashes tend to cause less injury than those sports which take place on harder surfaces (although being reckless whilst windsurfing in advanced conditions can still cause serious injury due to the speeds and altitudes involved).

Windsurfing is predominately undertaken on a non-competitive basis. Organised competition does take place at all levels across the world and typical formats for competitive windsurfing include 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, as equipment became more specialized, requiring more expertise to sail. Now the sport is experiencing a modest revival, as new beginner-friendly designs are becoming available.

History

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Illustration from US Patent 3,487,800, issued to inventors Jim Drake and Hoyle Schweitzer on January 6, 1970

Windsurfing, as a sport and recreational activity, did not emerge until the later half of the 20th century. But before this, there have been sailing boats of various designs that have used wind as the driving force for millennia, and Polynesians have been riding waves for many of them, undertaking day trips over oceans standing upright on a solid board with a vertical sail. Therefore, crediting a single person with the invention of windsurfing would be presumptuous.

However, because of the financial stakes in the manufacture and sale of windsurfing equipment, and the way in which a sport invented by core activists was eventually commercialised, there has been considerable dispute and litigation between parties claiming the rights to the invention. As with many modern commercial disputes, the origin and ownership of the final design was resolved in court, and it was accepted that the earliest modern design originated in the U.K. By Peter Chilvers in 1958.

Universal joint, moveable sail, steering

In 1964, over a discussion on water sports over a brandy at his home in Southern California, RAND Corporation aeronautical engineer Jim Drake and his former Rockwell boss and now good friend Fred Payne, who worked at The Pentagon, discussed options for creating a wind-powered water-ski which would allow Payne to travel on the Potomac River. That night they developed the idea of a kite powered surfboard. On later reflection, Drake didn't like the integrity of the idea and dismissed it. There were already a number of sailboard designs available, and Drake also was concerned about the integrity of a design needing taut wire close to a human body to keep the sail upright.

Still developing the idea, Drake's wife met the pregnant Diana Schweitzer, and the two families became good friends through their children. Drake mentioned the idea to surfer Hoyle Schweitzer who wanted to develop it, but Drake was still unsure of how to control and steer what he envisaged in a design concept as a surfboard with upright sail design, whereby the sailor stood upright on the board holding the sail.

The technical problem was that most boats steer by varying the angle of attack in the water between the centre board 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.

In 1967, while driving between his home and a contract at the Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, Drake had time to reflect on early 1600s based sail ship control. Rudders then were weak and ineffective, mostly used for trimming course. Hence with multi-masted boats, the sailors would trim the upper sails on the forward and rearwards masts to steer the ship.

Dismissing the idea of a design with two upright sails, Drake decided to move the sail by rotation, as moving it linearly would require a mechanical system. Experimenting with a rotational design which became the concept for the universal joint, whereby the angle of attack of the sail to the board could be varied to allow control of both power and craft direction. Drake finished the design by using an earlier but for them failed invention of East Coast racing sail, and added a wishbone boom.

Windsurfing International

In 1968, Drake and Hoyle together as individuals filed the very first windsurfing patent, which was granted by the USPTO in 1970. There is no evidence that they had knowledge of any prior inventions similar to theirs, but Drake accepts in retrospect that although he can be credited with invention, he was "probably no better than third," behind Englishman Peter Chilvers and mid-west based Newman Darby.

The early windsurfing boards were made of foam in the garages of Drake and Hoyle, with the booms, tees and daggerboards hand crafted in teak. Hoyle sub-contracted the manufacture of the teak items to boat builder Ennals Ives in Taiwan, but the quality and costs of transportation brought other issues. One of the early customers was Bert Salisbury, and the first international shipment of a container of boards went to Sweden. Early customers also included Lufthansa pilots who had read about the board, who simply included one as personal luggage on their return journey from Los Angeles International Airport.

To ensure the quality of the product and handle marketing, in 1968 Hoyle and Diana Schweitzer founded the company Windsurfing International in Southern California to manufacture, promote and license a windsurfer design. The jointly owned patent was wholly licensed by Drake and Hoyle to Windsurfing International. Working in a factory unit in Torrance, California, Hoyle, who had previously built personal surf boards in his garage, was unhappy with the durability of the early "Baja Board." He therefore developed a new mould, based on an old Malibu surfboard design that Matt Kivlin had developed, which the company sub-contracted for mass manufacture to Elmer Good.

The company registered the term "windsurfer" as a trademark at the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 1973, launching the craft as a one-design class. Going one-design was influenced by the success of the Laser and Hobie Cat classes. Each Windsurfer had an identical computer-cut sail, a technology new at that time and pioneered by Ian Bruce and the Laser class.

In 1968, Hoyle's computer business collapsed, and he and Diane moved to Newport Beach; at the same time Drake accepted a two year secondment to The Pentagon, and moved to Washington DC. Immediately, Hoyle offered Drake to buy out his half of the patent, and it was only when Hoyle pointed out ownership of the company that the relationship between the pair began to fall apart. Having returned to California, in 1973 Drake sold his half of the patent to Windsurfing International for the sum of $36,000.

Patent disputes

Through the seventies, Schweitzer aggressively promoted and licensed the Windsurfing International design and licensed the patent to manufacturers worldwide, mainly through competition and the publication of a magazine. As a result, the sport underwent very rapid growth, particularly in Europe after the sale of a sub-license sold to Ten Cate in Holland.

At the same time, Schweitzer also sought to defend his patent rights vigorously against unauthorized manufacturers. This led to a host of predating windsurfer-like devices being presented to courts around the world by companies disputing Windsurfing International's rights to the invention.^{[citation needed]}

In 1979, Schweitzer licensed Brittany, France-based company Dufour Wing, which was later merged with Tabur Marine - the precursor of Bic Sport. 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.

Tabur lawyers found prior art, in a local English newspaper which had published a story with a picture about Peter Chilvers, who as a young boy on Hayling Island on the south coast of England, assembled his first board combined with a sail, in 1958. This Board used a universal joint,one of key parts of the Windsurfing International patent. They also found stories published about the 1964 invention of the Darby Sailboard by Newman Darby in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

In Windsurfing International Inc. v Tabur Marine (GB) Ltd. 1985 RPC 59, with Tabur backed financially by French sailing fanatic Baron Marcel Bich, British courts recognized the prior art of Peter Chilvers. It did not incorporate the curved wishbone booms of the modern windsurfer, but rather a "straight boom" that became curved in use. The courts found that the Schweitzer windsurfer boom was "merely an obvious extension". It is worthy of note that this court case set a significant precedent for patent law in the United Kingdom, in terms of inventive step and non-obviousness; the court upheld the defendant's claim that the Schweitzer patent was invalid, based on film footage of Chilvers. Schweitzer then sued the company in Canada, where the opposition team again financially backed by Bic included Chilvers and Jim Drake, and Schweitzer lost again. After the cases, no longer obliged to pay Windsurfing International any royalty payments, the now renamed Bic Sport became the world’s largest producer of windsurfing equipment, with an annual production of 15,000 boards.

In 1983, Schweitzer sued Swiss board manufacturer Mistral, which is today still a major sailboard manufacturer, and lost. Mistral's defense hinged on the work of US inventor Newman Darby, who in the mid-sixties conceived the "sailboard": a hand-held square rigged "kite" sail on a floating platform for recreational use. Darby's published version did not show any connection between the rig and the board (the mast simply rested in a depression on the board) but it did refer to a "more complex swivel step for advanced riders not shown". He published his "sailboard" design in August 1965 Popular Science magazine. Darby organized Darby Industries Inc in 1964 to build these sailboards. However, the sailboard never gained popularity, and Darby's company ceased operations by the end of the 1960s.

Eventually US courts recognized the Schweitzer windsurfer as an obvious step from Darby's prior art. Schweitzer had to reapply for a patent under severely limited terms, and finally it expired in 1987. Shortly thereafter, having lost its license royalty income, Windsurfing International ceased operations.

In 1983, Australian courts reported a patent case in "Intellectual Property Reports" 3 IPR 449, attributed the first legally accepted use to an Australian boy, Richard Eastaugh. Between the ages of ten and thirteen, from 1946 to 1949, aided by his younger brothers, he built around 20 galvanized iron canoes and hill trolleys which he equipped with sails with split bamboo booms. He sailed these near his home on the Swan River in Perth.

It is acknowledged in the courts that the separate Chilvers, Darby inventions pre-dated the Drake and Schweitzer patent.

Boards and gear

In the 1970s and 1980s, windsurfers were classified as either shortboards or longboards. Longboards were usually longer than 3 meters, with a retractable daggerboard, and were optimized for lighter winds or course racing. Shortboards were less than 3 meters long and were designed for planing conditions. However, this classification by length has become obsolete, as new techniques, designs, and materials have taken the sport in new directions.

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A windsurfer using a slalom board to perform a small jump.

Most modern windsurfers (1990s and later) are derived from the shortboard design, and are intended to be used primarily 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 (i.e., lower volume, shorter length, narrower width) boards and smaller area 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 and lower winds has driven the development and spread of wider and shorter boards, with which planing is possible in wind speeds as low as 8 knots, if sails in the 10 to 12 square meter range are used.

Modern windsurfing boards can be classified into these categories:

• Freeride: Boards meant for comfortable recreational cruising (mostly straight-line sailing and occasional turning) at planing speed (aka blasting), mainly in flat waters or in light to moderate swell. They typically fall into the volume range of 90 to 170 liters. The so-called freeride sailing movement diverged from course racing as more recreational sailors chose to sail freely without being constrained to sailing on courses around buoys.
• Formula Windsurfing Class: Shorter boards up to one meter in width, for use in Formula Windsurfing races. See below for a more detailed description.
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  Windsurfing in the late evening on a longboard at Sandbanks in the 1980s (Poole Harbour, England).
• Wave boards: Smaller, lighter, more maneuverable boards for use in breaking waves. Characteristically, sailors on wave boards perform high jumps while sailing against waves, and they ride the face of a wave performing narrow linked turns (bottom turns, cutbacks, and top-turns) in a similar way to surfing. Wave boards usually have a volume between 65 and 90 liters, with a length between 230 and 260 centimeters, and 50 to 60 centimeters in width. A general rule is for a sailor to use a wave board whose volume in liters is about the same as the sailor's weight in kilograms - more volume providing additional flotation for sailing in light winds, and less for high winds, where less volume is needed to achieve planing. In recent years, the average width of wave boards has increased slightly, as the length has shrunk, while the range of volume has been maintained the same more or less—according to board designers this makes wave boards easier to use under a wider range of conditions by sailors of differing abilities. The most common sizes of sails used with wave boards are in the range of 4.0 to 6.0 square meters, depending on the wind speed and the weight of the sailor.
• Freestyle boards: Related to wave boards in terms of maneuverability, these are wider, higher volume boards geared specifically at performing acrobatic tricks (jumps, rotations, slides, flips and loops) on flat water. Usually 80 to 110 liters in volume, and about 240 to 250 centimeters in length, with widths frequently in excess of 60 centimeters. Freestyle boards began to diverge more noticeably in design from wave boards in the early part of the 2000 decade, as aerial tricks (the Vulcan, Spock, Grubby, Flaka, and related New School maneuvers, almost all involving a jump-and-spin component) became the predominant part of the freestyle repertoire, superseding Old School moves, in which the board did not leave contact with the water.
• Slalom boards: Shortboards aimed at top speed, rather than maneuverability or ease of use.
• Beginner boards: (sometimes called funboards) these often have a daggerboard, are almost as wide as Formula boards, and have plenty of volume, hence stability.
• Racing longboards: Mistral One Design, or the Olympic RS:X class race boards.

There are many attempts to bridge a gap between two of these categories, such as freerace, freestyle-wave, freeformula, and so on.

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 brittle, 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, contain more fiberglass, or even have an indestructible molded plastic shell. For more information on construction, see.

Sails

A windsurfing sail is made of monofilm (clear polyester film), dacron (woven polyester) and mylar. Sensitive parts are reinforced with kevlar mesh.

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 to hold a rigid aerofoil shape in the sail, better for speed and stability, but at the cost of maneuverability and generally how light and easy to use 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.

Beginners' sails often do not have battens, so they are lighter and easier to use in light winds. However, as the sailor improves, a battened sail will provide greater stability in stronger winds.

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The windsurfer in the foreground is using a camber induced sail and is fully planing using the footstraps, while the other is using a rotational sail and is not planing.

Rotational sails have battens which protrude beyond the back aspect of the mast. They have to flip to the other side of the mast when tacking or jibing, hence the rotation in the name. Rotational sails have aerofoil shape on the leeward side only when filled with wind. They can be absolutely flat and depowered when sheeted out.

In comparison with cambered sails, rotational designs offer less power and stability when sailing straight, but are easier to handle when maneuvering. Also, rotational sails are much easier to rig.

The leading edge of a sail is called the luff. The mast is in the luff tube. The rear edge is called the leech. The front bottom corner of the sail, where the mast foot protrudes, is called the tack, and the rear corner, to which the boom is attached, is called the clew. The bottom edge, between the clew and the tack, is called the foot.

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 there's a grommet at the clew. Most shape is given to the sail by a very strong downhaul, bending the mast in the luff tube. The outhaul tension is relatively weak, mostly to provide leverage for controlling the sail's angle of attack.

The sail is tuned by adjusting the downhaul and the outhaul. Generally, the sail has to be trimmed more for stronger winds. More downhaul tension loosens the upper part of the leech, "spilling" the wind at the gusts and shifting the center of effort of the sail down. Releasing the 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, and less outhaul brings more overall depth to the sail, more low-end power, shifts the center of effort upward and to the front, and may limit 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 flat when depowered to allow riding the waves like surfers do. 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. Racing 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 from 6 m² to 15 m² for racing 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 racing sails being up to 15 m² large.

Indoor windsurfing

Indoor windsurfing competitions are also held, especially in Europe during winter.

One of the more well-known, the PWA/UWKA World Indoor Windsurfing Championships are held during the annual London Boat Show at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre in London in January. Each year a massive indoor pool is constructed and housed in a marquee. Powerful fans propel the boards along the pool. The competitions held include slalom style races, jumping competitions and more.

Additional equipment

• Harness
• Harness lines
• Joint
• Wet suit/Dry suit
• Footwear
• Helmet
• Personal flotation device
• Fin/Skeg
• Travel Gear - Sail Bags, Board Bags, Car Racks

Competitions

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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
• Slalom
• Super X
• Speed Racing
• Freestyle
• Wavesailing

Freestyle and Wave are judged competitions, the sailor with best technique and diversity wins. Olympic Boardsailing, Formula windsurfing, Slalom and SuperX are races where many sailors compete on a course, and Speed Racing is a race where sailors compete on a straight 500 m course in turns.

Early scoring programs on portable computers

Windsurfing led to the development of scoring programs on early portable computers. Because Windsurfing regattas were drawing a large number of competitors at remote locations, Windsurfing International sponsored the development of software running on portable computers to score regattas, starting with the 1976 World Championships in the Bahamas. The software, named OSCOR, was developed for the HP9825 (then a $20,000 computer) and later ported to the TRS-80. The OSCOR software was eventually donated to the United States Yacht Racing Union.

Olympic class

In Olympic Windsurfing 'One Design' boards are used. All sailors use the same boards, daggerboards, fins and sails. The equipment is chosen to allow racing in a wide range of sailing conditions. This is important for the Olympic Games, as events have to take place regardless of whether there is enough wind for planing.

The Neil Pryde RS:X is the current Olympic class which was used for the first time in the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Formula class

Main article: Formula Windsurfing

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Formula racer in San Francisco Bay.

Formula windsurfing has developed over the last 15 years in order to facilitate high performance competition in light and moderate winds. Formula is now a class of windsurfing boards controlled by the International Sailing Federation that have the principal characteristic of a maximum 1m width. They have a single fin of maximum length 70 cm and carry sails up to 12.5 m². Class rules allow sailors to choose boards produced by multiple manufacturers, as long as they are certified as Formula boards and registered with ISAF, and use fins and sails of different sizes. With the sail, fin and board choices, the equipment is able to be tailored to suit sailors of all body shapes and formula windsurfing presents one of the fastest course-racing sailing craft on the water. Formula Windsurfing is popular in many locations around the globe with predominantly light winds and flat water.

Large sails in combination with the 'wide-style' design allow planing in very low wind conditions as well as control and usability in high winds and bigger sea conditions. Non-planing sailing is very difficult with this design and racing is only conducted with a strict 7 knot wind minimum in place. Formula boards are used on "flat water" as opposed to coastal surf; but racing is still held in windy conditions involving swell and chop. In 2008, a Formula Windsurfing Grand-Prix World Tour began, with events in Europe and South America complementing the single-event World Championships as a professional tour for the Formula class.

Formula boards have excellent upwind and downwind ability, but are not as comfortable on a beam reach unless fin sizes are reduced. This explains why the course is usually a box with longer upwind and downwind legs, or just a simple upwind-downwind return course.

Slalom

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

• Figure of eight: All of the course should on a beam reach with two floating marks that have to be jibed around.
• Downwind: More than two marks are laid and sailors sail a downwind course - gybing around each mark only once.

Slalom boards are small and narrow, and require high winds. Funboard class racing rules require the wind of 9-35 knots for the slalom event to take place.

Super X

This is a new discipline in windsurfing competitions, a cross between freestyle and slalom. The competing sailors are racing on a short downwind slalom course, have to use duck jibes on all turns, and are required to perform several tricks along the way, such as jump over an obstacle, spock or even front loop. The competitors are required to wear protective equipment.

Speed sailing

Speed sailing takes several forms. The ISWC (International Speed Windsurfing Class) organizes (under the umbrella of the ISAF) competitions in various locations around the world known for conditions suitable for good speeds. The events are made up of heats sailed on a 500m course. The average of each sailor's best 2 speeds on the 500m course, which is typically open for 2 hours per heat, is their speed for that heat. As such it is possible for the sailor with the outright fastest time not to win the heat if his second best time pulls his average down. Points are given for the placings in the heats and the overall event winner is the sailor with the best point score (again not necessarily the fastest sailor). Likewise points are given for places in the events and at the last event a World Speedsurfing Champion is crowned.

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 is held by French windsurfer Antoine Albeau, ratified at 49.09 knots (90.91 km/h - 56.49 mph) on the Saintes Maries de la Mer Canal in March 2008. The Women's 500m Record is held By Karin Jaggi also on the Saintes Maries de la Mer Canal. 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, sailors 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. With over 2000 sailors registered it is possible for windsurfers all over the world to compare speeds.

Freestyle

Freestyle is a timed event which is judged. The competitor who has the greatest repertoire, or manages to complete most stunts, wins. Freestyle is about show and competitors are judged on their creativity. Both the difficulty and the number of tricks make up the final score. Sailors who perform tricks on both tacks (port and starboard), and perform the tricks fully planing score higher marks. High scoring moves include: Shaka, Burner (funnel ponch), Double Forward Loops, the Funnell (invented by freestyle champion Ricardo Campello in memory of Andy Funnell), the Chachoo and the Clew First Puneta (switch stance Spock (windsurfing)), Eslider, Flaka. The latest freestyle windsurfing has been well documented in the film Four Dimensions.

For novice windsurfers, low-wind freestyle tricks are an appropriate start, such as sailing backwards with the fin out of the water, or transitioning from a sailing stance to sitting on the board while continuing to sail.

Wave

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Wave jumping wipeout. While attempting a forward loop in storm conditions off the coast of Cantabria, Spain, a windsurfer gets catapulted into a high double flip.

Wave Sailing is commonly held to be the pinnacle of windsurfing with those windsurfers capable of riding the biggest waves being seen as the leading figures in the sport.

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 clockwise (forward loop, cheese roll) and anti-clockwise. 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, etc.).

Recent innovations have included combining moves whilst airborn (i.e. the pushy-forward - a push loop followed by a forward loop) and one professional sailor, Richard Campello, has made attempts at a triple (three complete rotations) forward loop during a 2008 PWA competition.

Wave riding, by contrast, is much closer to surfing in style, and involves the rider performing a series of top turns and cutbacks whilst riding an unbroken wave back to the shore. Unlike surfing, the rider does not utilise any sections of the wave that have started to barrel - although top wave sailors are able to incorporate aerial moves into their wave riding and will use overhanging lips to launch themselves out in front of the wave as part of this.

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 the annual event in Cape Verde (which boasts an impressive track record in recent years), true world-class wave sailing can only really be seen in non-competitive freeriding sessions around the world.

Competition wave sailors thus have to be very adept at performing in sub-optimal conditions (often small, messy waves and onshore winds). A typical wave contest will score two jumps going out and two wave rides coming in. A good heat would consist of a clean forward rotating jump, a backward rotating jump, a long slashy wave ride and a trick on the face of the waves such as a goiter or wave 360.

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. Recently it was divulged that the first prize for winning a PWA wave event in Grand Canaria was a mere £5,500..

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Wave sailing at Ho'okipa Beach Park, North Shore Maui, Hawaii, a location for international wave competitions.

International stars

• Robby Naish: one of the first windsurfing champions to gain international fame, he dominated the early years of competition in the 1970s and 1980s. Pre-PWA World Champion from 1976 to 1979, PWA Overall World Champion from 1983 to 1987, and PWA Wave World Champion in 1988, 1989, and 1991.
• Bjorn Dunkerbeck: the successor to Naish, he dominated competition for many years in the late 1980s and 1990s. Twelve time PWA Overall World Champion.
• Stephan van den Berg, World Champion 1980-1983, winner first Olympic windsurfing contest in 1984.
• Antoine Albeau: 13 times World Champion in various disciplines : Formula windsurfing, Super X, Freestyle, Slalom, Race, Speed, Overall. Holder of the windsurf speed record.
• Josh Stone: freestyle pioneer, inventor of spock, PWA Freestyle World Champion in 1999, 2000
• Ricardo Campello: a freestyle innovator, he created many difficult moves, PWA Freestyle World Champion in 2003, 2004, and 2005.
• Kauli Seadi: pioneered freestyle maneuvers in wave competition. Ranked first in PWA Wave competition in 2005.
• Tonky Frans:One of the best freestylers in recent years. Ranked third freestyle at end of 2009. Won Midwinters Merit Island Freestyle Competition in 2001.
• Karin Jaggi: multiple PWA World Champion in freestyle, wave, speed competition, 1990s and 2000s.
• Natalie Lelievre: overall World Champion, 1984, 1985.
• Daida Moreno: PWA Wave World Champion, 2000–2005, Freestyle World Champion 2003-2006.
• Iballa Moreno: PWA Wave World Champion, 2006. Twin sister of Daida Moreno.
• Jason Polakow: PWA Wave World Champion, 1997, 1998.
• Kevin Pritchard: PWA Wave World Champion, 2006, PWA 1st overall ranking, 2000.
• Nik Baker: Three-time PWA Wave World 2nd Place, six-time Indoor World Champion.
• Gollito Estredo: PWA Freestyle World Champion 2007, 2009, innovator of new tricks.

Youth windsurfing

File:ChildWindsurf.JPG

A child practices uphauling a lightweight rig in a swimming pool

The students of windsurfing are the backbone of windsurfing.

Young adults and teenagers have dominated both the wave and freestyle disciplines year after year. Marcilio "Brawzinho" Browne and Jose "Gollito" Estredo are two windsurfers which both won PWA Champions before reaching the age of 18. Several board and sail brands are producing "Kids Rigs" to accommodate these short and light weight windsurfers.

See also

Similar sports

• Land sailing
• Land windsurfing
• Surfing
• Wakeboarding
• Water skiing
• Kite surfing

External links

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• Windsurfing at the Open Directory Project
• International Race Calendar Formula Windsurfing including results, equipment list, reports, photos and videos
• Official Formula Class Website
• International Event Calendar Slalom Racing with results, reports, photos and videos
• Quebec Windsurfing Association (Canada)