Windsurf · Pro era & decline
1996
The PWA takes over the World Cup
After the riders' association PBA collapses under its debts, a new association runs the tour, now as the PWA World Tour.
4–3
Seats on the new board: four for the riders, three for the brands
The riders’ own association, the PBA, had run the professional World Cup since 1988. In 1995 it was liquidated because of its debts.
Its successor was the Professional Windsurfers Association. Sources give 1995 or 1996 as its founding year, but they agree that from 1996 the World Cup ran under the name PWA World Tour. The riders, led by Phil McGain, took control: for the first time they held the majority, with four seats on the new board to the brands’ three.
Under the PWA the tour changed with the sport. Alongside racing and wave riding came new disciplines: freestyle crowned its first world champion in 1998, and in 2019 foil became a discipline of its own.
dronepicr · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
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