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Just saw that the co-inventor of windsurfing Jim Drake has passed away.
Will have to raise a glass to the guy that has given me so much enjoyment over the years. RIP Jim.
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:-(
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RIP ..... respect
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Thanks for the sport.  Holding up the mast - they said it would never work. |
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RIP Jim and thanks for all the fun you brought me
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Jim Drakes drawing of the first windsurfer... known then as the skate.
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Thanks, Jim! RIP
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Thanks for everything Jim (and Hoyle).
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aus301 said...
Jim Drakes drawing of the first windsurfer... known then as the skate.
It is really staggering how the basic design has remained the same. Even though every single part has been improved.
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I first met Jim in Maui in 2000 when he was having his first kitesurfing lesson in his seventies. I have since that time caught up with him 5 or 6 times in Thailand and he has always had heaps of interesting projects that he has been working on be it with Starboard or the US government.
RIP Jim, you will be missed.
Pics etc
http://www.star-board.com/2012/news_events/read.php?post_name=5931
In memory of Jim Drake
"Jim Drake changed the lives of millions of people and will continue to do so.
Windsurfing has made people experience the wind, waves and water in new ways.
The sport has made converts travel and even settle on the opposite side of our planet.
His spirit was always to include everyone and especially women and kids into windsurfing.
Jim and his wife Sam spent years with us in Thailand developing designs and strategies to
increase the popularity of windsurfing. He was always optimistic and especially happy to
challenge the status quo. His view on “one design” versus free choice of windsurfing gear
for the Olympics was well known. His designs, like the Formula 175, the worlds most winning
race board ever took competitive windsurfing to a new level.
Jim was an early adaptor of paddle boarding and he has helped design a number of winning
designs like the K15. Some of his later designs are still being tested and his ideas on the future
of paddle board designs may soon be shared.
He had so much more to give and reminded us on how precious each hour of life is."
Svein Rasmussen and the Starboard family.
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RIP Jim.
Loved this bit of your work
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this is from surfertoday.com
Jim Drake, the co-inventor of the "Windsurfer" and father of modern windsurfing, has passed away at the age of 83. The North American aeronautics engineer improved the early design by Peter Chilvers and Newman Darby.
In the 1970s, Jim Drake and his partner Hoyle Schweitzer submitted the patent for their "Windsurfer" design, based on the Newman Darby's techniques. They credited him for their version of the sailboard.
Jim Drake learned from Darby's developments and upgraded the board and rig layout, as well as the universal joint which stands modern and used all over the world.
Drake was born in California in 1929. Thirty five years later, he was trying to develop a kite powered surfboard that would allow him to sail down the Potomac River.
Later, he meets Hoyle Schweitzer - a keen surfer - and they decide to build and test their first models in Marina del Rey. After falling several times, he knew he had to introduce the uphaul. Watch an historical video documenting these water tests, here - http://www.surfertoday.com/videos/7542-testing-the-windsurfer-in-1967
By 1967, they had already named it "Baja Board" but, interestingly, it was a Public Relations professional who found the perfect word for their sailing concept. "I have the perfect name for it! The Windsurfer!", the PR yelled. Name accepted.
In 1973, Jim Drake sells his half of the patent to Windsurfing International, owned by Hoyle Schweitzer, for $36,000. The windsurfing business grows and is very popular in Europe during the 1980s.
The US courts decide that the "Windsurfer" is strongly inspired in Peter Chilvers and Newman Darby's prototypes and Schweitzer closes his Windsurfing International. Jim Drake's contribution to the sport of windsurfing is decisive.
"I have an optimistic view about the sport (...) The one that's brought on by the media is the picture of the sport as being this athletic circus trick of jumping waves and whirling around this great wide ocean", Drake once told.
"Well, that's simply not what the sport is. Just not at all. It has much more broad application and pleasures to it. Because people who are athletically inclined but not as superbly coordinated as Robby [Naish] can enjoy the sport in many regards without having to ever get airborne".
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Don't rest in peace, Jim. Rest in 15-20kts, warm water, blue skies.
We are indebted to you.
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A big thanks Jim,you changed my life for ever  |
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Thanks Jim.  |
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MikeyS said...
Don't rest in peace, Jim. Rest in 15-20kts, warm water, blue skies.
We are indebted to you.
No kiters out.
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in the late 70's there were no extreme sports, windsurfing lit the wick!!
chik chik boom |
