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.
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.