Kitesurfing: history and evolution
As an alternative practice to windsurfing, kitesurfing was born. It can be said that in the 80s of the last century this sport modality was born that hooks you so much and has so many followers today. Thus, as you can see, kitesurfing is a really young sporting activity, although it is true that if we wanted to go back to the embryo of this spectacular sport we would have to go back a long way in history, specifically to the 12th century, since it is in China and Indonesia from that time where the embryo of what today is a sport practiced by thousands and thousands of people can be found.
From those kites that dragged small boats from China and Indonesia of yesteryear to the modern equipment of today made up of your kite, your steering bar, the harness, the board and the fastening ropes, as well as all the accessories that can be used (neoprene suit and booties, helmet, life jacket, sand buggy or all-terrain skateboard, etc.) a long time has passed, a time in which both the foundations of this sport and its development have not stopped evolve.
But as was said, it is not really until the most recent history where we can really find the closest thing we understand today as kitesurfing, specifically we must go back only to the year 1977 to find the invention and patent of a board which is propelled by traction by an element that could be considered very similar to a parachute, and which, in turn, is propelled by the wind.
So it could be said that the father of kitesurfing was found in 1977, but it wasn't until a few years later, right at the beginning of the 80s, when an American, Dave Culp, designed the first kite that had a leading edge that is bouncy. And it is from this moment, from the development of Dave Culp that was preceded by the patent mentioned in 1977 by Gijsbertus Adrianus Panhuise, the evolution of this sport has been unstoppable and its technical development impressive.
Thus, for example, throughout the 1980s the Leeganoix brothers incorporated a variant that has survived to this day with full force, since they introduced the modality of incorporating a kite to drag them on skis. And then, at the end of the same decade of the eighties, came another revolutionary turn for kitesurfing, the kites capable of upwind came from Cory Roeseler.
Finally, from the 90s of the 20th century until today, kitesurfing entered a phase of professionalization and unstoppable popularization. With this, the areas where surfing multiplied, as well as the schools where to learn it, the shops where to buy material and many other complementary offers around it. In the same way, the championships of this sport began and the first champions of the same emerged, until the present moment in which there is a great variety of professional and amateur follow-up of kitesurfing.
