All about windsurfing | Authentic history, facts and factors you need to know

 All about windsurfing?

Whenever we talk about water sports, our talk will be incomplete without mentioning windsurfing. Many people know about windsurfing, and many of us will be confused and searching for windsurfing. In our life, we have bucket lists for things to do. In this bucket, many of us have a list of water sports. The water sports are always fun-filled games, a lot of people enjoy it and experience some fun of blowing wind with trilling. So here in this article, we provide full information about what is windsurfing?

windsurfing

The most popular and unique sea sport in which the rider rides on the water on a sailboard. Also called boardsailing, it consists of sailing and surfing elements. In this sport, you and the force of nature, water, and wind work together at the world’s beautiful beaches to give you your life’s best moments. 

It’s a straightforward and recreational sea sport, for windsurfing you don’t need to be healthy; just simply know balancing on water and the right techniques of controlling yourself in different winds. For safety, most of the beginner and intermediate practice it in flat water. Once you are skilled, it needs meager efforts in the right condition, like steady wind and flat water. 

The windsurfing has large and small boards that usually come with 2 to 3 meters with a connected sail. The sail size is changeable ( range of area more than 12 m2 and less than3.0 m2), which you can change based on your experience. 

Windsurfing seems very hard at first, but it’s a straightforward and most enjoyable game because, in the sea, you chase the dream waves and ride on every changing wave, which gives the best feelings. Windsurfing is also a body workout in which all the body parts do exercise. But the main muscles which are used in windsurfing are the core body and forearms.

The core body is the body midsection, which involves all the back, front, and sides muscles. So in windsurfing, balancing yourself on the board in which you use the midsection of the body.

The forearm is the part of the arms between the wrist and elbow. We use the forearms to hold the boom.

Introduction to top sailboards for beginners. But if you are entirely new and don’t even see windsurfing in real life or don’t know anything about it, it will be difficult to understand. Remember that, sailboard will move, depending on the rider’s intention or skill and wind conditions. Have a look on wakesurfing aspects.

Youth

The sailing brand produces light weighted and short windsurfing for children. It makes it easy for children to take part in windsurfing. Robby Naish started windsurfing at the age of 11 and won the first championship at 13.

Beginners

It’s effortless to learn windsurfing because of the development of high and more expansive beginners’ boards. The beginner has to start on a large board in safe flat water. It will take 3-4 weeks of daily sailing to become intermediate in windsurfing.

Pros and Cons of windsurfing

Pros

● Good source of exercise.

● Can go faster which you want.

● If you are skilled, you can catch air.

● You can reach any place where the boats aren’t reached.

● Completely depower the sail.

Cons

● You need faster wind.

● It can be harder to start in the water.

● In the wind, you can’t sleep.

● Get tired.

History of Windsurfing

The research shows that before the invention of windsurfing, people designed different types of boats pushed through the wind with a vertical sail; people also enjoy these boats with the blowing waves of cool breeze.

 After the invention of windsurfing, people don’t know how to use windsurfing. But when it became one of the Olympic sports in 1984, the people started taking an interest, and the boom of windsurfing sport continued in1990, becoming the most popular sport. 

Through windsurfing, Robby Naish is now the world’s top rider and became very popular and wealthy. After some years in the 2000s, the craze of windsurfing increased day by day globally; it was the fastest-growing sport.

Where was windsurfing invented?

Windsurfing was first invented in America. Nowadays, windsurfing is the most popular real adventure activity for every age and full-body exercise with fun and thrill. The windsurfing sport is trendy in some countries such as Spain, the home of windsurfing sport in which the beaches are open all the time for windsurfing sports, the ground for windsurfing in Spain is Sotavento beach. 

Egypt, the red sea in Egypt, is where all the windsurfers want to go. In Egypt, most of the hotels are offering windsurfing activity packages. Washington and Columbia’s river is the most popular place for windsurfing. The best season condition is from May to September,

Columbia Gorge is also famous in Columbia for windsurfing; in Gorge, the temperature in summer is in the range of 60º to 100º Fahrenheit, and the water temperature is around 40º Fahrenheit. 

USA Outer banks is a destination for family tourism in which everyone can take part in windsurfing, also an excellent place for other stunning activities.

Who invented windsurfing?

Windsurfing was invented by Newman Darby, together with his wife. The first creator of windsurfing in 1948 at the age of 20 was known as windsurfing. He uses a handheld and rig fixed on a universal joint; in windsurfing, you will shift your body with the sailboard’s movement and maintain your balance. People say that he didn’t sell his sailboard until 1964. He was continuously trying to improve their windsurfing.

But at last, he did not have enough money to make more changes and maintain their windsurfing work. His wife, Naomi Darby was the first windsurfer; she also helped her husband create the windsurfing. After this, in 1968, Jim Drake and Henry Hoyle Schweitzer worked and developed windsurfing in California. Nowadays this sport is trendy, and you can see them in the summer season.

Windsurfing Vs. Wind foiling

Wind foiling is the replacing of a usual fin with a hydrofoil, basically the same as windsurfing. In light winds, the foil enables you from calmly flying. In my own experience, wind foiling is very similar to windsurfing, and also, the feeling comes from both.

 For windsurfers, it’s the right way of tasting their first foil by merely adding one tool to their kits, and they will be able to windsurfing. At first wind, foiling sounds like an expensive investment, but you will only use two sails or one foil, one board, and one boom in wind foiling. 

People get disappointed if they go to a windsurfing spot, and there they find the wind too weak, so in this case, the wind foiling is the best option because, with a foil, you only get real fun when the wind is slow. Every day we meet many people who get bored of windsurfing because of waiting for fast wind in windsurfing; you need fast wind around 20 knots to do some fun. While wind foiling, we don’t need fast wind for fun only need light wind around 7 knots. Simply said, windsurfing is best for those places where the wind is speedy, and wind foiling is best for those where the wind is weak. Wind foiling is best for all ages, demanding less body strength.

Pros and Cons of Wind foiling

Pros

● Foot straps are a perfect spot that will secure your feet.

● While learning, it will help you in controlling foil.

● Foot straps are essential for jumping.

● Half straps maintain your stability and provide support, also decrease the chances of injuries.

● While in no straps gives full freedom for movements.

The foot straps are crucial for beginners, which will help them edge control, proper foot placement, etc. And those who have experienced years can remove the straps, not an issue.

Cons

● Foot straps have the risk of sticking your feet in the straps.

● Half straps have less lock than full straps.

● No straps make it challenging to get bored and feet in an accurate position.

● The foil will get you bored because it moves through the wind without any force.

● You have to upgrade all the windsurf gear.

Sailboarding Vs. Windsurfing

Many people are confused between these both words and searching for the difference, but there is no difference between sailboard and windsurfing, it’s just like he falls or he falls off. Windsurfing is called sailboarding. Now you will be thinking why they give two names to the same sport because Newman Darby was not only the inventor of windsurfing. He just opened a way to a new water sport and is now known as the windsurfing father. Darby said after the invention of sailboarding:

“sailboarding is sailing with a difference: you get all the fun of handling a fast, responsive boat, and have the fun of spills without the work of righting and bailing out.”

So that means that sailboarding is the right name for windsurfing. Nowadays, two words are widespread for sailboarding, which are windsurfer and windsurfing. When the industry created this sport, they started the windsurfer as a trademark, which we can simply say logo. In many countries, the sport lost its legal approval. In the USA, the sport was registered for a few years. Nowadays, the registration ends up in the USA and fails their validation. But sailboarding is still the favorite sport of people, and no one wants to receive a prosecution letter from the court.

Windsurfing Vs. kitesurfing

Kitesurfing is a water sport invented in 1984, which is also called kiteboarding. Having different names for the same sport, it most similar to windsurfing. We control windsurfing through the sail and kitesurfing control through the kite; the kitesurfing board is like a snowboard connected with your feet. Like parachuting, the sail is attached to your body. It’s the riding behind a kite that needs high-speed wind to move the board on the surface of the water. 

If you love adventurous sports, you must try kitesurfing. Starting with this sport, you need some discussion and research to determine which spots are best for kitesurfing; this sport does not require waves. It is better in a flat water location with wind force. In my experience, windsurfing is safer than kitesurfing.

Nowadays, the kites come in different sizes; before 2006, these kites have only one size, which they called C-size because their shapes are curved like C, so they named it C-shape kite. After 2006 the sport became popular, and they invented more sizes and shapes in kites, which people buy in their experience. If you are fond of kitesurfing and want to buy it, here we provide some necessary information about kitesurfing gears:

Types of kite

There are three types of kite.

C-kite

It’s an old type of kite which looks like C. But if you are a beginner, then stay away from this type of kite; never try it. The reason is that C-shape kites are very difficult to use as a beginner compared to other kinds of kites, and flying the wrong kite is a common mistake that every beginner at first is dangerous.

Bow kite

The bow kites are more empowered than C-kites and more familiar. When it came down to earth, blow kites lose more power and become slow, which is considered safer than C-kites.

Hybrid kite

The hybrid kites are between the C-kites and bow kites, which give the feel of both like C-kites with safety. If you are a beginner, try first bow kites that are safer than both of these.

Pros and Cons of Kitesurfing

Pros

· In kitesurfing, it is possible to take up a kite without any experience.

· Easier than windsurfing to start in the water.

· Short and easy for learning.

· More controllable.

· Superior way to reduce weight and slim.

Cons

● The kites have more chance of breaking than sails.

● Need someone to help with the launch.

● Need a large clear area for launching.

● Very difficult to take the kites from the water.

● It’s challenging for beginners when things get wrong, then the kites are out of their control, which is dangerous.

Frequently Asked Questions

Some questions which people frequently asked about “Windsurfing.”

Is windsurfing hard?

The question which most beginners ask is whether windsurfing is hard. As compared to other water sports, it takes some time to learn, but if you are serious about windsurfing, then it’s elementary. If you take a look at the planet, nothing is hard; everything needs little hard work, effort, and practice for learning. As a beginner in windsurfing, don’t expect you to start with waves in the first week; first, you need to practice the flat water. 

There is no fixed time in which you will learn. Some people learn windsurfing in a month, and some people take years. But it’s not very difficult as it seems. In windsurfing most important is to know the body maintenance on the board, also know the equipment from both out and inside; most people don’t take the gear seriously, which is the reason for causing injuries.

Is windsurfing dangerous?

Yes, windsurfing is a dangerous sport. And the primary source and mistake of danger is the own equipment, which the beginners never check before going to the beach. Make it a habit whenever you go to start your surfing, first check your equipment. Because we don’t have any control over seawater while other sports have some security terms, which reduces the chance of failure equipment and injuries.

The other reason for danger in windsurfing is not knowing the right way and crashing on other people. Windsurfing is like driving in which you must have to know the rules of the road. If you don’t follow the rules of windsurfing, then you are not able to surf. While in a crash, you will probably injure yourself as well as some other non-windsurfing people. The most common injuries of windsurfing are:

● Lower Back pain

● Shoulder injuries

● Knee injuries

● Ankle and foot injuries

Is windsurfing a good workout?

Windsurfing is one of the great body workouts where you can lose weight with so much fun, not getting bored. Windsurfing is learning to balance on the board and build your core stability, in which you use all main muscles such as arms, back, front, and legs, etc.

 Windsurfing has some benefits. Mental health improves mental health. Clear the mind when you are busy n learning. You will forget all your stress and depression because surfing requires complete focus. It’s a great way to forget our day to day problems. Improving sleep Surfing exercise will help to take better sleep at night. 

Some people don’t sleep at night properly and thinking about their daily problems all night, exercise refreshes their mind, which improves sleep. The awesome thing about surfing is that it does not feel like exercise and gives us all the advantages of workout with fun, which you can quickly burn calories research say that you can burn 1000 calories in every hour and lose bodyweight.

Before starting surfing in the water, warm-up and stretch the body. The cold muscles cause injuries; also, changing position during windsurfing for an extended time will help prevent the forces from pain and tightness.

Does windsurfing build muscle?

Windsurfing improves the body muscles, also one of the best exercises for fitness. The forces used in suffering are the upper body, which is used in controlling core strength, and the lower body is also essential for balancing. A lot of surf research says that we mostly use;

● In upper legs and hips: Hamstrings, Quadriceps, and Gluteals.

● In the lower leg: Anterior Tibialis, gastrocnemius, and soleus.

● In the shoulder girdle muscles: teres major, Latissimus dorsi, and deltoids.

● In core muscles: Spinal erectors and rectus abdominis.

Is windsurfing difficult to learn?

Before starting windsurfing, everyone wants to know about it, is it difficult because no one wants to waste their time on a sport which is very difficult in learning. Windsurfing is easy for beginners when they know the basic instruction of this sport, they can surf on water. In learning, windsurfing takes a month or some weeks but mastering it takes years. That’s why some people say that it is elementary, and some say it’s tough to learn. 1.56 million people participate in this sport, but we all know that people quickly quit a sport whenever they find some difficulties. Most people try to learn it for exercise to build body muscles and lose weight.

What involves windsurfing?

There are many instruments involved in windsurfing sports, but the paramount need is a surfing board and a rig. A surfing board is one of the most critical equipments which involves windsurfing sport. Provides a surface where you can stand, long as 2-3 meter, lighter boards are best for surfing. The other important equipment rig: the act of support you hold on made of the mast, a boom, and sail. The different types of equipment are:

Wetsuit, It’s a suit which protects from the sun and scratches and keeps you comfortable in the water.

Water shoes will protect the feet from scratches.

Sunglasses, The sunglasses cover the eyes from sunlight and other reflection.

The helmet is also a source of protection that protects the head from injuries.