Kite

A Dutch patent application describes a surfboard pulled by a parachute-like kite that is hooked to the rider's harness.

Bruno and Dominique Legaignoux file a patent for a kite with an inflatable frame that can be relaunched from the water, the design kitesurfing is built on.

In New Zealand Peter Lynn builds the modern kite buggy and starts a line of traction kites that eventually leads to the water.

Bill and Cory Roeseler patent and sell a kite system with water skis and a bar with a reel, able to relaunch from the water and sail upwind.

Laird Hamilton and Manu Bertin ride Legaignoux inflatable kites off Maui, and the new sport gets its pictures and its name.

Raphaël Salles's windsurf brand makes its first kiteboard, the red 215, and can hardly keep up with demand.

The Legaignoux brothers' company brings the inflatable kite into series production; one history counts kite sales growing from about 100 in 1997 to 15,000 in 2001.

On Maui some 25 riders take part in the first kiteboarding contest; Flash Austin wins.

A big-air contest on Maui's north shore turns jumping into a discipline of its own.

Naish releases its first inflatable kite under licence from the Legaignoux brothers, and the big windsurf makers move into kiting.

Kiters vote to form their own professional association, the PKRA, and a new organisation starts building a network of schools and instructors.

Four-line inflatable kites become the industry standard, and wakeboard-style twin-tip boards take over from surf-style directional boards.

Susi Mai wins the first women's big-air title on Maui and keeps it for three years in a row.

Gisela Pulido wins the KPWT freestyle world title aged ten, the youngest female kitesurfing world champion on record.

A flat, bridled kite designed by the Legaignoux brothers reaches the market, with far more depower and a much wider wind range than the C-kites before it.

Rob Douglas sails 49.84 knots at Lüderitz on a stock 7 m kite, the first time a kitesurfer holds the outright sailing speed record.

Sébastien Cattelan becomes the first sailor to go faster than 50 knots; a day later Alexandre Caizergues raises the record to 50.57.

The International Kiteboarding Association is founded, and the sailing federation ISAF gives kiteboarding international class status.

Kristin Boese wins nine world titles on the PKRA and KPWT tours between 2005 and 2008, a Guinness record for a woman.

Kites take the outright speed record back from the hydrofoil trimaran l'Hydroptère, and Rob Douglas pushes it to 55.65 knots.

In May the sailing federation votes to replace windsurfing with kiteboarding at the Rio 2016 Olympics; in November it reverses the decision.

After years without a contest, the big-air event comes back at Big Bay in Cape Town; Jesse Richman wins.

Six kiteboarders take turns to cross the Atlantic from the Canary Islands to the Turks and Caicos Islands in 27 days.

Hydrofoil boards take over kite course racing, the Formula Kite class joins the ISAF Sailing World Cup and a foil tour starts in 2014.

Nuno "Stru" Figueiredo kites a 62-foot wave at Nazaré, recognised by Guinness World Records as the largest wave ever kitesurfed.

Alexandre Caizergues sails 57.97 knots over 500 metres at Salin-de-Giraud, a new kite speed record.

World Sailing puts a kite event on the programme for Paris 2024; in 2021 the IOC makes it separate men's and women's Formula Kite.

At the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, teenagers race twin-tip kiteboards for Olympic medals; Sofia Tomasoni and Deury Corniel win gold.

Patri McLaughlin rides a 72-foot wave at Jaws on Maui, the largest wave ever kitesurfed according to Guinness World Records.

At Marseille, Ellie Aldridge and Valentin Bontus win the first Olympic gold medals in Formula Kite.

The big-air contest in Cape Town gets its first women's division; Francesca Maini wins it.

Hugo Wigglesworth jumps 40 metres at Cape Town, measured by a sensor on his board, the first kitesurfer to reach that height.