Windsurfing medicine

21.1 Windsurfi ng 21.1.1 Origins A sailboard is defi ned as a surfboard with a free sail system, a swivel-mounted mast set on a freerotating universal joint [ 1 ]. Although modern windsurfi ng has its origins in the 1950s [ 2 ], it is unclear as to whether the sport had a single inventor or if various experiences led to similar results. In 1948, a 20-year-old American, Newman Darby, began developing the idea of a rudderless, keelless sailboard with a rig mounted on a universal joint allowing sailors to steer by orienting the sail manually and shifting their weight. Darby began selling his “sailboard kit” in 1964. The British inventor and engineer, Peter Chilvers, is also credited with the creation of an early version of a sailboard in 1958 on Hayling Island on the south coast of England [ 3 ]. Also in 1964, the aircraft engineer Jim Drake and the businessman Hoyle Schweitzer began experimenting with a surfboard made from foam and teak with a sail mounted on a rotational system allowing the angle of attack of the sail to the board to be varied and a rope attached to the boom to pull the sail out of the water. The system allowed the sailboarder to control both sail power and craft direction and was fi nally patented by Drake and Schweitzer with the name “wind-propelled apparatus” granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Offi ce (USPTO) in 1970 [ 4 ]. In 1973, they registered the term “windsurfer” as a trademark at the USPTO and launched the craft as a one-design class. Thanks to Schweitzer’s untiring promotion, the sport enjoyed a rapid rise in popularity throughout the 1970s leading to its inclusion in the Olympic Games from 1984 onwards in the form of a course racing event.

Although windsurfing enjoys a reputation of being a fairly safe activity, a wide range of acute and overuse injuries and illnesses as well as some life threatening have been connected to this sport. Acute injuries mainly affect the lower limbs. These consist mostly of sprains or “foot strap injuries” and of lacerations or wounds caused by contact with equipment or the sea floor. Lower back pain is widely reported as the most common chronic symptom followed by tendinitis and enthesitis. Wounds need to be treated with caution, as infection is commonly caused by sand and water contamination. Infectious diseases are also reported since windsurfing is often tolerated in areas where bathing is considered to be unsafe due to water pollution.