Windsurfing

Windsurfing, also called sailboarding or boardsailing, is a wind-propelled water sport that combines sailing and surfing. The rider stands on a board and holds a triangular sail by a wishbone boom, with the sail attached to the board by a universal joint, so the body steers the rig instead of a rudder. Earlier sailboard-type craft were built by Peter Chilvers in England in 1958 and Newman Darby in Pennsylvania in 1964, and the modern design was invented and patented in the United States between 1967 and 1970 by the California engineer Jim Drake with Hoyle Schweitzer, who went on to commercialise it through Windsurfing International, which led to long royalty disputes. The sport grew quickly in Europe and North America in the 1970s and was globally popular by the 1980s. Boards are classed as longboards for light winds and course racing, or shortboards for planing, and disciplines include racing, freestyle and wave sailing. It entered the Olympics as a demonstration sport in 1984 and as a full sport from 1988.