Windsurf · Funboard revolution
1988
The riders take over the World Cup
With no say in a tour run by the manufacturers, the professional windsurfers found their own association, the PBA.
PBA
Professional Boardsailors Association, the riders' own tour, 1988–1995
The professional World Cup of 1983 was run by the manufacturers, through their association WSMA, renamed the World Boardsailing Association in 1986. The riders who made the show had no say in how it was run.
At the 1987 World Cup in Zandvoort, in the Netherlands, they decided to set up an organisation of their own, independent of the manufacturers. The Professional Boardsailors Association was founded at the next World Cup, in Guadeloupe. Most sources date that to 1988; one gives 1987.
From 1988 to 1995 the PBA ran the tour and awarded the world titles. Any organiser who offered enough prize money could now register a World Cup event, and the calendar grew to as many as forty events.
Heavy debts ended the association in 1995. From 1996 the tour ran under a new riders’ association, the Professional Windsurfers Association.