Windsurfing

The early sailboards that ushered in this now internationally popular sport first made their appearance in 1973, with booms made of heavy wood, which was later replaced with light aluminum, with mast composed of epoxy strengthened with carbon fibers, the latter also used for reinforcement in the newer Dacron sails.

Similar light materials have replaced heavier ones for the boards. Modern advanced windsurfers can travel at 80 kilometers (49.6 miles) per hour, though the present world record is more than 86 km, or more than 53,3 miles per hour. Vast distances, even oceans, can be traversed on these light weight, yet highly durable and flexible contrivances.

There are five categories of wind surfing, from the most popular and laid back first category, to the most demanding and impressive fifth category, known as ‘wave sailing’, which is performed in deep water with big waves and strong winds. The categories inbetween these two involve various tricks and figures, jumps and turns, etc. (both ‘freestyle’ and ‘bump and jump sailing’), whereas ‘slalom sailing’ is focused on speed that utilizes strong wind and great skill. Beaches all over Greece allow wind surfing, and the warm climate, huge coastline including many islands, and steady winds, all make Greece (particularly Poros & Mykonos) a very popular windsurfing destination.

Below are some very useful links about windsurfing:

http://www.greeka.com/greece/greece-windsurfing.htm

http://www.windsurfing.gr/

http://www.windsurfingmag.com/


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *