Windsurfers, Windsurf, Windsurfing, Wind Power By Extreme Windsurfing

	Windsurfing Windsurfing is considered an extreme water sport by many. Windsurfing or sailboarding, as it is called to some, has allowed individuals to demonstrate amazing skills on the surface of the water. The combination of carving through the waters, spinning in the air with a splash down shows great athleticism. Windsurfing water sport lets you enjoyed being propel across the water at various speed by wind power. Windsurfers love to demonstrate their abilities whether in the ocean or on a lake. One must be agile and be prepared for any surprise either from the gust of wind or breaking waves in order to maximize your experience. This truly is an extreme action sport. Steering correctly across the sea at low or high wind speed, cutting through waves and flipping in the air is what windsurfers live for, especially in competition. Large waves such as Jaws (at Maui) open up possibilities of racing towards a finish line while experiencing the thrill of conquering new heights on the water. Today windsurfing has made its mark by holding world speed records for sailing craft’s. Competitive windsurfing has created new schools and programs around the world, and coaching has made it possible to improve the skill level of the avid windsurfer. There was a time when windsurfers were identified as shortboards or longboards depending on wind power alone. Longboards were about 3 meter longer. New techniques have blossomed which have aided in creating many different types of boards. Recreational or competitive windsurfing is all about having the proper equipment. In all extreme water sports (kayaking, fishing, kitesurfing and jet ski) windsurfing gear has the proper harness, personal flotation device, wet/dry suit, polarized sunglasses and helmets are needed. Even the rig is connecting to the board allowing the rotation and flexible joint called U-Joint to maneuver easily. The leaning and rotating of the mast is considered to be the rudder. Unfortunately many people neglect the care of their eyes, which leaves them exposed to UVA and UVB. Also, many people need prescription sunglasses, whether bifocal sunglasses or single vision. When you hit the water and begin to set sail you become the captain as it were, to create your new venture. Freestyle allows an individual to express their skills and potential. Flying high and splashing down on the water will exhilarate the average windsurfer. Understanding the current of the water as well as the wind power and how this affects you, the windsurfer, is very important. To start in the water or to learn any special maneuvers requires more advanced training and practice. In order to become proficient at this sport you must pay your dues out on the water. It’s beautiful to see the majesty of a skilled windsurfer, but one has to remember this was not achieved over night. Remember practice is the only true teacher which will help you advance. Windsurfing Sail. A windsurfing sail is made of monofilm (clear polyester film), dacron (woven polyester) and mylar. Sensitive parts are reinforced with Kevlar mesh. 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 maneuverability and generally how light and easy to use the sail feels. The 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 do not have battens, so they are lighter and easier to use in light winds. However, as the sailor improves, a battened sail will provide greater stability in stronger winds. In comparison with cambered sails, rotational designs offer less power and stability when sailing straight, but are easier to handle when maneuvering. 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 to provide leverage for controlling the sail's angle of attack. 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 lowers the camber/draft, making the sail flatter and easier to control, but less powerful, and less outhaul brings more overall depth to the sail, more low-end power, shifts the center of effort upward and to the front, and may limit speed by increasing aerodynamic resistance. Different sails are used for various disciplines of windsurfing: wave, freestyle, free ride, and race. Wave sails are reinforced to survive the surf, and are absolutely flat when empowered to allow riding the waves like surfers do. Freestyle sails are also flat when empowered, and have high low-end power to allow quick accelerations. Free ride 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.

	Windsurfing Windsurfing (or water windsurfing ) 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 near 0 to 50 kts, the ideal conditions for planing are 15-25 kts, with more common lighter winds resulting in displacement mode sailing. Lessons can be taken with a school. With coaching, The windsurfer will be able to sail, steer, and turn competently within a few hours. History 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. The history of windsurfing, and its ultimate inventor are a source of much conjecture in the windsurfing community. Some courts have recognised Chilvers' testimony as proof of prior art. His testimony led to a successful legal defense 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. No photo or plans of a 1960 era Chilvers sailboard were produced for the courts. Invention of windsurfing has also been attributed 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. 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 experienced a boom in the 1980s. Windsurfing became an Olympic sport in 1984. However, windsurfing popularity saw a sharp decline in the mid-1990s, as equipment became more specialized, requiring more expertise to sail. Now the sport is experiencing a modest revival, as new beginner-friendly designs are again becoming more readily available. Boards 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. 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 (wind snobs) 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.

	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 . Sails 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 manoeuvrability 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 one improves, a battened sail will provide 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 manoeuvring. 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 to provide leverage for controlling the sail's angle of attack. 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 lowers the camber/draft, makeing the sail flatter and easier to control, but less powerful, and less outhaul brings more camber, more low-end power, shifts the center of effort upward and to the front, and may limit speed by increasing 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 3m2 to 6.5m2 for wave sails and from 6m2 to 12.5m2 for racing sails, with ranges for freestyle and freeride sails spanning somewhere between these extremes. Learning sails for children can be as small as 1.7m2 and racing sails being up to 12.5m2 large. Indoor windsurfing 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. Additional equipment Harness Harness lines Joint Wet/dry suit Footwear Helmet Personal flotation device Fin/Skeg Competitions Slalom at the 2005 national championship at the Columbia River Gorge 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 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 class Formula racer using a Neil Pryde sail 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, with a maximum length of 70cm and carry sails up to 12.5 m2. 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 unless sail and fin size are reduced. 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 Allison Shreeve Ranked world number 1 in Women's Formula Windsurfing Bjorn Dunkerbeck Karin Jaggi Natalie Lelievre Daida and Iballa Moreno Jason Polakow Kevin Pritchard Youth windsurfing 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. Records Windsurfing and kitesurfing on the Columbia River at Hood River, Oregon 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. 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 .