The History of Windsurfing
In 1965, S. Newman Darby from Pennsylvania, designed a board that was 'pushed by the wind.' He described his invention in the 'Popular Science' journal as "Sailboarding: An Exciting New Water Sport for High-speed Water Fun." The first practical board was designed by two Americans from Southern California: Jim Drake an aeronautical designer and Hoyle Schweitzer, a keen surfer and businessman. After working on various systems they decided to use a 'universal joint' for their 1968 'windsurfer'.
Schweitzer bought out Drake's share of the business and began producing SK-8 boards, handmade from fibre glass. Within a short space of time he began using polyethylene, a longer lasting and cheaper material. The suppliers of polyethylene, Dupont, advertised this inventive use of their product and the news of windsurfing spread worldwide.
In 1968, there were only 12 windsurfing boards in existence. By 1973, 150,000 sailboards had been sold in Europe from European and American sources. Now it is estimated that there are over half a million windsurfers just in the UK.
Speed Milestones
The windsurfing world speed record is run over a 500 metre course. Here are some of the first ground breaking speeds achieved on windsurfers.
| Date | Windsurfer | Speed (in knots) |
| 1977 | Derk Thijs, Netherlands | 17.1 |
| 1979 | Clive Colenso, Great Britain | 19.2 |
| 1980 | Jaap van der Rest, Netherlands | 24.45 |
| 1981 | Jaap van der Rest, Netherlands | 25.2 |
| 1982 | Pascal Maca, France | 27.82 |
| 1983 | Fred Haywood | 30.82 |
