The inventor of windsurfing, the American Newman Darby, dies

At the age of 88, the inventor of windsurfing, Sidney Newman Darby Jr. Born in Pennsylvania, a professional billboard, his great commitment to navigation led him to put a candle on a surfboard in 1964... one of the reasons for his extraordinary invention was the difficulty he had in his hometown, Wilker Barre, to practice surfing normally, because of the little wave he enjoyed the beach. The solution to this problem was solved by Newman with the candle on the surf board, while he could handle it with a nylon rope. For the inventor "Windsurfing is like sailing but with a difference. Get all the fun of flying a fast and responsive boat. You can enjoy the fun of the waves without the work of straightening and chilling. And he can learn to master maneuvers that have been dead since the time of the picturesque shipowners."

Over many years, he had a legal discussion with Jim Drake and Hoyle Schweitzer who had the invention of windsurfing in the 1970s. Newman and his wife fought without achieving their object... the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institute acquired the first sketches of the windsurfing table and recovered the letter and videos that Darby himself sent to American Windsurfer magazine in 1996 when the publication quoted Drake and Schweitzer as inventors of the sport. The windsurfing boom was experienced in the 1980s and led to its recognition as an Olympic sport in 1984, although its popularity had a strong decline in the mid-1990s due to the battle for the patent, and it now has tens of thousands of fans in the world.

The "wind" entered our country in the late 1970s, holding the first Spanish championship in Mediterranean waters where the first national champion of the Cristóbal Aegea class was proclaimed. At that time, the national secretary was the Barcelonese Ramón Tressens and the most qualified technical Isidro Rigau. The second edition of the Spanish championship was held in Bayona waters organized by the Mount Real Club of Yates with the support of Solar Nivea and the victory of Javier de la Gandara who had his greatest rival in the Spanish-Dutch Ronald Van Vien. In those years, two national circulites were created with succulent prizes: the Mares Jhonie Walker and the Fibrester. It was the golden years of the class.

Manuel Pedro Seoane
Director II Spanish Windsurfing and Fibrester Circuit Championship