So much for windsurfing being only for men: This prejudice dates from a time when the boards used to be bulky, the sails used to be heavy and the wetsuits fitted only strong boys. Women have been strongly stirring up the windsurfing scene for the past few years.

In the middle of the 90s the windsurfing amazons appeared
The sport’s growing popularity among women was mainly caused by the umpteen times world cup winners and twins Daida and Iballa Moreno from Gran Canaria, who entered the world cup stage in the middle of the 90s (at Gran Canaria even a statue was built for them), and their Swiss colleague Karin Jaggi. All of them did not only reach the top of the windsurfing scene very fast, but still dominated it down to the present days. These pioneers are now challenged by “young guns” like Sarah-Quita Offringa or Alice Arutkin, who are only 18 and 17 years old and already outstrip many men.

Women have to windsurf hard for recognition
They are a confirmed community; the female surfers of the PWA Tour, the windsurfing sport’s professional tour. They succeeded in putting their dream into action. They are professional female windsurfers. Even though, it is a lot more complicated for them to realize this endeavor, than it is for their male colleagues. It is more difficult to reel in sponsors and the prize money amounts to only the half. Whereas, men are rewarded with 30,000 Euros for one discipline at the PWA Tour, women only get paid with 15,000 Euros.

Karin Jaggi reports on her more than ten years experience as a professional female windsurfer: “When I began, the starting fields were always crowded, which means that 32 women regularly participated in a competition. Then it became financially more difficult to survive the tour and the girls were the first ones, who were topped. They lost their sponsors and consequently their delight to survive in this male domain, too.”

The “tender gender” windsurfs on a very high level
Fortunately, many things changed until today. Bulky material is history. Nowadays boards and sails are light. More and more manufacturers show an interest in female windsurfers by providing them with new concepts. Offringa, the Moreno twins, Nagoshi & Co present how radical one can surf with the new material by showcasing reckless jumps, a radical new freestyle way of surfing and stunning speed races. Fifteen or twenty years ago, when windsurfing experienced its boom time, something like that was inconceivable. The sails were heavy and especially light women hardly had a chance to maneuver them.

And how about nowadays?
The women in the windsurfing scene amaze everybody. The icons Jaggi and Daida and Iballa Moreno are followed by a generation of keen, self-confident and ambitious girls, like Sarah-Quita Offringa (Aruba), the 18 year old freestyle world champion; or Alice Arutkin (France), who is only 17 years old and beat the best female windsurfers of the world by winning the difficult Wave competition in Sylt. In 2008 she was voted “Rookie of the Year” by the PWA. These two girls and their female colleagues carry the windsurfing sport in a new, modern era. This attracts more and more ladies to start windsurfing.