while the leisure of people using stand up sails to propel boats and boards, has been used for a millenia, the sport of windsurfing developed more recently. ancient polynesians were some of the first civiliztions connected to traversing the oceans, using designs similar to windsurf boards used today.

the first patent for a windsurfing board was filed in 1968 by jim drake and hoyle schweitzer - their design was based on the unpatented work of s. newman darby who was selling and riding windsurfing boards as early as 1948. in fact, an article written by darby was published in the august 1965 edition of a popular science magazine, explaining how and why people would go windsurfing.