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From the very beginning of the sport's short history, I have watched with interest as the windsurfing boards that sailors have ridden have rapidly evolved.
Innovation has been the word of the hour as frustration with the look and feel and performance of equipment has moved creative sailors to push the limits of design, materials and technology. But these have been a few intense decades as we have watched the miracle of human ingenuity and performance.
An industry pioneer, Peter Brockhaus from Germany, is considered the father of European windsurfing and brought windsurfing to Europe in 1972. With designer Ernstfried Prade, he founded Mistral, now one of the largest manufacturers of windsurfing boards in the world.Mistral was one of the companies licensed by Schweitzer to manufacture the original Windsurfer. Though some would argue the point, it is likely the most recognized windsurfing brand in the world.
From 1980 to 1999
Rick Naish designed most of Mistral’s production windsurfing boards.
Mistral’s original one design Pan-Am boards were first developed in 1983 and were the forerunners of all modern race boards. They led to the release in 1989 of one of Mistral’s most famous and successful longboards, the Equipe. The same year they launched the Mistral Screamer which became an instant classic, winning many board tests and achieving enormously popular cult status.
In the early 1980s Peter Brockhaus left Mistral and founded F2 Windsurfing. With pro and designer Jürgen Höhnscheid, he introduced the funboard to the world. These were revolutionary windsurfing boards that solved many of the handling problems of existing boards; boards that were stable at high speed, could function in very low winds, could foot steer and jump but still had the necessary volume.
All the first models, the Starlit, Sunset, Bullit, Comet and Strato were his designs, and all were planning hulls. The Sunset Slalom retains the record as the longest serving board design in production (and popular) for over a decade. 
Another pioneer of windsurfing boards was Bic Sport. Bic Sport was formed by Frenchman Baron Bich in 1979. He bought an established manufacturing facility, Tabur Marine, which was close to the sea and already producing 30,000 boats/year. This facility (that produced 15,000 boards/year) married to Bic’s existing distribution power and know-how, that could take their boards all over the world, quickly made them the world’s largest producer of windsurfing boards.Bic Sport has since been responsible for many of the world’s best-selling recreational designs.
One of their first designers was the innovative Ken Winner
who was quite capable of putting out blockbusting boards. Consequently Bic Sport defined windsurfing through the late 80’s and early 90’s with legendary boards such as the Astro Rock that outsold any other board of its time.
Tiga and Tabou are both board brands that are owned by Bic Sport. They aquired the existing board brand Tiga but launced Tabou.
A German company, HiFly, has been there since the beginning. It is the only worldwide manufacturer that has produced windsurfing boards in blow-molding technology since it was established in 1978. Making robust and durable boards that were extremely popular with beginners, they met the needs of the average sailor and lead that sector of the market. HiFly’s Klaus Jocham, a freelance designer who’s known for bringing widestyle and deep v to surfboards, was one of the pioneers of the widestyle board revolution in the late 90s.
HiFly also contracted Seatrend to build a line for them in the early ‘90s.
Another German company, Fanatic, is a solid and popular brand that is primarily orientated towards wave and freestyle and has been at the forefront of windsurfing competition for many years. In 2004 Sebastian Wenzel, Fanatic’s shaper since the mid 1990s, implemented a revolutionary process in production board design with his CAD/CNC system.
In 1994
four-time world champion Svein Rasmussen founded Starboard.
Based in Thailand, Starboard has rapidly become a huge player in the windsurfing equipment industry because of its unique philosophy: to make windsurfing easier, and help more people enjoy the sport. In 1997 Svein met
the man who started it all, Jim Drake.
Jim has been designing and testing boards with Starboard ever since then.
You can see a wide selection of windsurfing boards here.
By the late eighties enthusiasm for windsurfing was waning because manufacturers were overlooking beginners and forgetting that its original success came because anyone could do it. If you could only surf in places like Hawaii then 80% of the world was out of luck.
In 1998, with this in mind, Starboard pioneered the widestyle revolution and introduced the Go windsurfing boards. This wider board gave it better stability, better acceleration, better speed in light winds and provided better pointing capability. This gave the Go an all around blend of performance, fun, comfort and value that changed the whole windsurfing equipment industry, setting the standard for what boards look like today. The Go boards became the world’s most popular boards and made Starboard the world leader in 2002, a position they still retain.
In 1997, Australian wave sailing legend Jason Polakow launched his own board brand, JP-AUSTRALIA. JP are known for their popular wave and freestyle designs.
Wave Champion Josh Angulo's board company.
In the mid 1980s Drops was born when Italian Mario Vinti realized the tremendous need for innovation in windsurfing boards. He began shaping his first boards in his garage and through the years has grown Drops into a symbol of quality and innovation.
Another Italian, Roberto Ricci comes from Tuscany and has been shaping RRD (Roberto Ricci Designs) boards since 1995. It is a young brand but well respected with many test winners.
A Switzerland board company with a strong racing pedigree.
In 1994 Quatro was founded on Maui by four of windsurfing’s top sailors and shapers: Keith Teboul, Francisco Goya, Jason Prior and Sean Ordonez. With its core purpose is to push windsurfing forward, they have grown from a local business to a vanguard organization, serving some of the world’s best windsurfers.
A young windsurfing board brand started by wave champion Fransisco Goya.
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The House has one of the largest selections of windsurfing boards and gear.
Return from Windsurfing Boards of Legend to Windsurfing Legends