Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines the aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wakeboarding. Kiteboarding is among the less expensive and more convenient sailing sports.
Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing gained a popular following across Europe and North America by the late 1970s and had achieved significant global popularity by the 1980s. Windsurfing became an Olympic sport in 1984.
Big wave surfing is a discipline within surfing in which experienced surfers paddle into, or are towed into, waves which are at least 20 feet high, on surf boards known as "guns" or towboards. Sizes of the board needed to successfully surf these waves vary by the size of the wave as well as the technique the surfer uses to reach the wave. A larger, longer board allows a rider to paddle fast enough to catch the wave and has the advantage of being more stable, but it also limits maneuverability and surfing speed.
A foilboard or hydrofoil board is a surfboard with a hydrofoil that extends below the board into the water. This design causes the board to leave the surface of the water at various speeds.
A windsurfing harness is part of the trapeze used in the sports of windsurfing and kitesurfing to connect the rider to the rig by a line attached to the boom or kitesurfing bar. It consists of a girdle-like contraption that is worn around the body, with a hook for attachment. Hooking-in the harness is done by pulling the sail toward the body and hooking into the harness lines on the boom. The harness turns windsurfing into a long lasting activity, taking the weight of the sail off the arms of the windsurfer.
Pete Cabrinha is an American big-wave surfer, windsurfer, kitesurfer and artist. He is the founder and brand manager of Cabrinha Kites.
Michael William "Gebi" Gebhardt is a former professional and Olympic windsurfer from the United States, who competed in five consecutive Summer Olympics, in the Olympic sailing discipline/event of windsurfing. He was born in Columbus, Ohio.
The Aloha Classic is touted as "the single most prestigious event in the windsurfing world". Held at Ho'okipa Beach Park on the north shore of Maui, this event enjoys outstanding wave riding conditions showcasing the best wave riders from all over the world. The event takes place each year in late October and early November for the best wind and wave conditions and it is common to have 15–20 foot wave faces during the contest. Since 2011 the event has been run by the International Windsurfing Tour (IWT) as the Grand Final of The IWT Wave Tour. The IWT is the Hawaiian based organisation for the wave riders of the Asia Pacific hemisphere. The Aloha Classic has often been the final event of the Professional Windsurfers Association (PWA) crowning the PWA Wave World Champions.
Jim Drake was an American aeronautical engineer who is widely credited with the invention of the sport of Windsurfing. He patented his windsurfing concept in 1968. Drake conceptualized, designed and hand built the first board and articulating sail rig prototype in his garage. He started the sport's first company, Windsurfing International. He produced multiple championship winning windsurfing board designs throughout his career, as well as created a popular offshoot of windsurfing with the world's first un-masted wing sail. Drake would go on to become an altruistic figure head for the sport he pioneered over the course of his lifetime.
The Boracay International Funboard Cup is an international funboard cup competition held yearly on Boracay island in the municipality of Malay, Aklan. Started in 2008, the event is one of the region's biggest windsurfing competitions.
Kristin Boese is a German female kite surfer. In 2009, she was shortlisted by the International Sailing Federation for the ISAF World Sailor of the Year Awards.
Kai Lenny is an American professional big wave surfer, stand-up paddle (SUP) surfer and racer, surfer, tow-in surfer, windsurfer, kitesurfer, wing foiler and celebrity watersports enthusiast. Lenny lives on Maui.
Sean O'Brien is an Australian professional windsurfer competing on the PWA World Tour and the International Formula Windsurfing Class Tour. He was ranked 7th in the World in Formula Windsurfing in 2012 and has won 11 Australian Windsurfing Titles across three racing disciplines, the most of any Australian windsurfer.
Jimmy Lewis is a Hawaiian surfer, sailor and surfboard shaper.
Lena Aylin Erdil is a professional windsurfer from İzmir, Turkey. She is competing in the PWA World Tour mostly in the slalom event. She is currently sponsored by NRV, Starboard Windsurfing, Point7, Salzbrenner Würstchen and FGH.
Jesse Richman is a big-wave kitesurfer and a big-air kiteboarder. He is a two-time world champion and the first kitesurfer to get barreled at Jaws. He is also known for his world record 790-foot tow-up and 170-foot jump over land.
Robby Swift (K-89) is a British Professional Windsurfer.. Competing internationally in the PWA World Tour as a wave/freestyle sailor. He is currently team rider for Neil Pryde and JP Australia and sponsored by many other companies such as Mystic Windsurfing. He is named after the legend Robby Naish. He was the Youth World Champion, in Racing and Slalom 2000.
Jason Polakow is an Australian professional windsurfer from Victoria. He founded the watersports company JP Australia and was the first windsurfer to ride big wave of Nazare, in Portugal. Polakow gained notoriety in 1991 when we won the Marui/O’Neill World Cup Grand Slam contest against Robby Naish becoming the first non-Hawaiian ever to win a World Cup Wave contest in Hawaii. Polakow won the PWA World Tour wave world title in 1997 and 1998.
Wing foiling or wing surfing or winging is a wind propelled water sport that developed from kitesurfing, windsurfing and surfing. The sailor, standing on a board, holds directly onto a wing. It generates both upward force and sideways propulsion and thus moves the board across the water. The recent development of foilboards, which plane very early on a hydrofoil fin and thereby lift off the water producing low friction, represent the ideal complementary hydrodynamic platform for wings. This young sport is poised to become wildly popular.
