Windsurfing
Windsurfing (also called
boardsailing) is a
surface water sport involving a windsurf board, usually two to five meters long and powered by a single sail. The rig is connected to the board by a flexible joint. The sport could be considered a hybrid between
sailing and
surfing. The sail board might be considered the most minimalistic version of the modern
sailboat, with the major exception that steering is accomplished by the rider tilting the
mast and sail or, when planing, carving the board, rather than with a rudder.
Windsurfers can travel over flat water as long as there is enough wind; they can also cut into breaking
waves and perform spectacular stunts. Windsurfing also includes speed sailing, slalom, course racing and freestyle disciplines.
Though windsurfing is possible in winds from 5 to 50
kts, the ideal conditions are 15-25 kts.
Lessons can be taken with a school. With coaching, The windsurfer will be able to sail, steer, and turn within a few hours.
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A windsurfer using short board to perform a small jump |
Peter Chilvers as a 12 year old English boy on
Hayling Island on the south coast of England, was the first person to produce a board with a sail. This board formed the basis for modern windsurfers.
Chilvers has successfully won the
patent for the windsurfer in the UK, Europe, Canada and America. Other worldwide patents are still being contested. The history of windsurfing, and its ultimate inventor are a source of much conjecture in the windsurfing community. The courts recognise Chilvers as the father of windsurfing after successful legal action in 1980,83,85. See
Windsurfing International Inc. v Tabur Marine (GB) Ltd. 1985 RPC 59. This case set a very significant precedent in Patent law in terms of
Inventive step and non-obviousness.
Invention of windsurfing has also been attributed and to 3 other inventors.
Newman Darby is often incorrectly credited as the first man to conceive the idea of connecting a hand-held sail rig fastened with a universal joint to a floating platform for recreational use, in the early sixties. He published his design in August
1965 Popular Science magazine. Darby had organized Darby Industries, Inc. in
1964 to build what they called
sailboards. However, Darby's boards were inefficient and did not enjoy significant popularity [
1].
Jim Drake, a Californian aeronautical engineer and his friend
Hoyle Schweitzer with his wife Diane Schweitzer commercially developed the windsurfer and made it commercially successful. Drake had designed a surfboard-like board with a triangular sail and
wishbone booms, connected to the board via a universal joint, and Schweizter popularized the new sport. The details of the original designs are available in Drake's
whitepaper on windsurfing. Also, the history of invention is discussed in
this interview with Jim Drake. Drake recognizes he re-invented what Chilvers and Darby have conceived earlier.
Drake and Schweitzer patented the invention in
1968. Schweitzer incorporated
Windsurfing International for promoting the sport and managing the patent, and bought the rights from Drake in
1973.
Windsurfing caught on in Europe, and local companies started manufacturing windsurfing equipment. In
1983 Schweitzer sued a Swiss board manufacturer Mistral for infringing on his patent, however Mistral won the case by bringing up prior art by Darby. Schweitzer had to reapply for a patent under severely limited terms, and finally it expired in
1987.
Windsurfing has experienced a boom in the 1980s. Windsurfing became an Olympic sport in
1984, however, windsurfing was in a sharp decline in mid-1990s, as the equipment became more specialized, requiring more expertise to sail. Now the sport is experiencing a modest revival, as new beginner-friendly designs have become more readily available.
Boards used to be classified into shortboards and longboards. Longboards are usually longer than 3 metres, have a retractable
daggerboard, and are optimized for lighter winds or course racing. Shortboards are less than 3 metres long and are designed for
planing conditions. However, this classification by length has become obsolete in recent years as the sport has developed very quickly in materials and techniques, and longboards have nearly fallen out of use.
Shortboards, that is most boards produced nowadays, are designed to be used primarily in
planing mode, where the board is sliding 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 displacing mode.
Many windsurfers don't even consider sailing if the wind is not enough to plane. Lower volume boards are used as the wind increases. Larger shortboards should be planing with adequate, well tuned sails at wind speeds of 12
knots. The aim of planing at lower winds has driven the development and spread of wider and shorter boards, that plane in wind speeds as low as 8 knots.
Modern windsurfing boards can be classified into these categories:
; Freeride: Boards meant for comfortable recreational blasting, mainly in flat waters. They typically fall into the volume range of 120–170 litres.
; Formula Windsurfing Class: One metre wide boards for use in Formula Windsurfing races. See
below for a more detailed description.
; Wave boards: Small, maneuverable boards for use in the shorebreak. These boards allow to perform high jumps while sailing against waves, and let the sailor surf the face of a wave in a similar manner as
surfers do. These boards usually have the volume of 65–90 litres.
; Freestyle boards: Small boards geared at performing tricks on flat water. Usually 80–110 litres in volume.
; Slalom boards: Shortboards aimed at top speeds, 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.
Also, 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 [
2].
Sails come in many sizes and shapes.A modern windsurfing
sail is made of monofilm (clear polyester film), dacron (woven
polyester) and
mylar. Sensitive parts are reinforced with
kevlar mesh.
Currently, 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 manouevrability and generally how light and easy to use the sail feels. The current 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 don't have battens, so they are lighter and easier to use in light winds. However, as someone improve, a battened sail will provides greater stability in stronger winds.
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. This feature is much appreciated in the freestyle and wave riding disciplines.
In comparison with cambered sails, rotational designs offer less power and stability when sailing straight, but are easier to handle when manoeuvering. 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 just to keep the sail from flapping.
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 makes the sail flatter, easier to control, but less powerful, and less outhaul brings more
camber, more low-end power, shifts the center of effort to the front, and limits the speed by increasing the aerodynamic resistance.
Different sails are used for various disciplines of windsurfing: wave, freestyle, freeride, race. Wave sails are reinforced to survive the surf, and are absolutely 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 accelerations. Freeride sails are all-rounders that are comfortable to use and are meant for recreational windsurfing. Racing sails, obviously, provide speed at the expense of qualities like comfort or maneuverability.
The size of the sail is measured in square metres and can be from 3m
2 to 6.5m
2 for wave sails and from 6m
2 to 12.5m
2 for racing sails, with ranges for freestyle and freeride sails spanning somewhere between these extremes. Learning sails for children can be as small as 1.7m
2 and racing sails being up to 15m
2 large.
Indoor Windsurfing has added a lot to the sport, especially in the European winter when many competitions are held. One competition is held annually at the Schroders International Boat show, at London's Excel Centre 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.
Permanent Indoor windsurfing facilities are being constructed around the globe including Germany and other parts of Europe.
*
Harness* Harness lines
*
Universal (joint )* Wet/dry suit
* Footwear
* Helmet
*
Personal flotation device* Fin/Skeg
In windsurfing competitions, there are the following disciplines:
* Olympic Windsurfing Class
* Formula Windsurfing Class
* Slalom
* Super X
* Speed Racing
* Freestyle
* Wave
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.
Olympic Windsurfing Class
In Olympic Windsurfing 'one design' boards are used. All sailors use the same long boards with
daggerboards and the same relatively small sails. This choice of equipment is motivated by the requirement that the board could be used in a wide range of sailing conditions, both planing and non-planing. This is especially important for its use in the
Olympic Games, as the event has to take place regardless of whether there is enough wind for planing.
Currently
Neil Pryde RS:X is the olympic class that is going to be used for the first time in the
2008 Summer Olympics.
Formula Windsurfing Class
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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, which is typically 70cm long and carry sails up to 12.5 m
2. Class rules allow sailors to choose boards of different designs, as long as they are certified as Formula boards, and use fins and sails of different sizes.
Large sails in combination with the 'wide-style' design allow planing in very low wind conditions. However, if these requirements are not met, the boards cannot be used and events will not take place, as non-planing sailing is very difficult with this design. Formula boards are used on "flat water" as opposed to coastal surf; but racing is still held in windy conditions involving swell and chop.
Formula boards have excellent upwind and downwind ability, but are not very comfortable on a
beam reach. This explains why the course is usually a box with longer upwind and downwind legs, or just a simple upwind-downwind loop.
Slalom
Slalom is a high speed race in a course shaped like a figure of eight. Most of the course goes on a beam reach with floating marks that have to be
jibed around. 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,
body drag or even
front loop. The competitors are required to wear protective equipment.
Speed Sailing
Speed sailing competitions take place on a straight 500 m course. The sailors have additional 300 m to accelerate before their time is measured on the speed course. Competitors complete timed runs on the course with the winner being the sailor with the quickest time. The current record is held by Finnian Maynard at 48.7 Knots.
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) score higher marks. 3 x World Freestyle Champion, Ricardo Campello (V111), has dominated the sport since its early inception. High scoring moves include; Double Forward Loops, the Funnell (invented by Ricardo in memory of Andy Funnell), the Chachoo and the Clew First Puneta (switch stance Spock).
Wave
Similar to freestyle (though wavesailing preceded freestyle) except that the stunts are generally performed in surf and points are awarded for how well the waves are ridden. A typical wave contest will score two jumps and two waves. 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.
International Stars
* Bjorn Dunkerbeck
* Robbie Naish
* Karin Jaggi
* Natalie Lelievre
* Daida and Iballa Moreno
Anyone above the age of 3 can start windsurfing with lightweight sails and boards. People from the age of 8-15 can become involved in t-15 windsurfing and can get together with other clubs and race for prizes. There is also freeride sailing where youth sailers can just have fun.There is also the Techno 293 (T293) class for juniors (under 15)competing on a 6.8m sail and youths (under 17) competing on a 7.8m sail. Both classes compete on the Bic Techno 293 (205l volume) . They compete in winds from 5 - 25knts. The current world champion is Ali Masters from Bristol, UK.
A windsurfer holds the outright World Speed Sailing Record: Irish born sailor
Finian Maynard who competes for the
British Virgin Islands reached an average speed of 48.70
knots (25.05 m/s or 56.05 mph) over a 500 metre course at
Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (France) on
10th April 2005 [
3]. This exceeded the previous record of 46.82 knots (24.08 m/s or 53.88 mph) set on the
13th November 2004 by the same sailor at the same venue. These performances brought back to windsurfing the record which had been held for over 11 years by the asymmetrical wing-sailed trimaran,
Yellow Pages Endeavour.
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Allison Shreeve Ranked number 1 in the World in Women's Formula Windsurfing
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The Basics of Windsurfing*
Royn Bartholdi's site - a comprehensive catalogue of freestyle tricks*
Guy Cribb's technique articles*
The Windsurfing Technique Forum*
World Windsurfing and Kitesurfing Directory*
An article on windsurfing history*
Wiki listing over 700 windsurfing spots*
A news article about the Hayling Island redevelopment*
Details of the Windsurfing redevelopment proposalThis is from the Havant borough council website
*
World Speed Sailling Record Council*
Asian Windsurfing Tour
