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Just like everything we own, do, or experience as though it’s always been here, kitesurfing was born as a thought. An idea that may or may not ever reach the physical realm, existing for a brief time only to the person who wondered what skipping along the top of waves and defying gravity for a few moments must feel like. 

That person was Gijsbertus Adrianus Panhuise. In 1977, the Dutch inventor filed a patent for a peculiar surfboard — one tied to a parachute and fastened to a harness with a trapeze belt. As an engineer and sailor, Panhuise’s professional and personal interests converged and hatched a completely new concept into the world. Despite being novel and appealing to a new generation of thrillseekers, Panhuise’s invention failed to gain commercial traction. As innovative as it was, it simply wasn’t very practical or easy to use. 

Revisiting a bold idea

The concept of kitesurfing faded into the background until the early 1980s, when two brothers, Bruno and Dominique Legaignoux, started experimenting with the idea. Competitive dinghy sailors-turned-surfers, they understood the mechanics of wind and the thrill of riding a wave. They believed they could combine the two into a new way of experiencing the ocean. 

Inspired by high-efficiency sailing experiments like the Jacob’s Ladder catamaran, which was powered by stacked kites, the brothers set out to design a wing that could pull a rider across the water, then relaunch after a crash without the rider having to swim to shore. They spent years developing the right balance of paper, foam, carbon, and fiberglass — a precise mix that would be light enough to float in open water and be supported by the kite. 

Engineering it to life


In 1984, Bruno and Dominique finally engineered a design that worked: the first inflatable kite with a propulsive wing and air bladders to keep its shape intact in the open water. Riders could now spend more time in the air enjoying the sport instead of constantly paddling back to shore. For the first time, kitesurfing had an endurance engine, not just a launch sequence. 
Fueled by this structural breakthrough, the sport finally had the engineering required to sustain flight — both literally and figuratively. The brothers unveiled their invention at the 1985 Brest International Speed Week; from that moment on, their inflatable wing became the foundation for every modern water-relaunchable kite that followed.

Nurturing that first spark

But sustainable success takes time and strategy. For years, the Legaignoux brothers failed to secure backing from major windsurfing brands. They spent the next decade perfecting the design of their kite until they brought their invention to the market independently in the nineties. Finally, almost 20 years after Panhuise’s first spark, kitesurfing caught on like wildfire. 

Word spreads the way it always does when something is both new and a little dangerous. Restless adrenaline seekers became the sport’s first evangelists, and kitesurfing gained steam — not through ads, but with silhouettes across the ocean’s horizon. From the beach, people watched strangers being pulled into the air, flying for seconds at a time, and thought, “I want to experience that magic.”

Scaling with the swell

Momentum swelled. By the late 1990s, competitions were drawing adventurers from across the globe. Brands also felt the draw, creating specialized gear to support a nascent yet growing kitesurfing industry. That spark of an idea that once lived only in Panhuise’s mind — and then, only in two brothers’ designs — became a way of life for thousands.


The leap from concept to culture isn’t magic, and neither is growth. Growth is precision engineered; a meeting of strategy and execution that creates the momentum through which bold ideas take flight. Kitesurfing’s journey from forgotten patent to global sport was the culmination of years of engineering discipline, incremental improvements, and careful alignment between idea and execution. The original concept was undoubtedly transformative, but it couldn’t thrive in the unpredictable conditions of the open water until it had a purposeful system to support it. Only then could it attract a community, scale globally, and truly sustain its momentum.

Make it bold. Make it fly.  

As with kitesurfing, business growth requires more than inspiration alone. It’s the structure behind the vision that turns possibility into momentum. At HexaGroup, we hatch bold ideas. Then, we design growth systems that help them drive measurable value across every customer touchpoint — from awareness to brand loyalty. Because just like kitesurfing and the physics of flight, growth requires us to pull at the wingtips and control from the core. It’s a feat only possible when brand, marketing, sales and service work in lockstep to help bold ideas take flight. 

Let’s grow. 

 

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