Windsurf · Wide board revival
1998
Freestyle gets a world champion
Björn Dunkerbeck wins the professional tour's first freestyle world title, a discipline judged on tricks rather than on speed or waves.
Freestyle
First PWA world title 1998, Björn Dunkerbeck
Racing rewards speed, and wave riding rewards what a sailor does on a breaking wave. Freestyle is judged on tricks: on their variety, on their difficulty and on the style of the rider.
In 1998 the professional tour crowned its first freestyle world champion, and it was the rider who already dominated the overall ranking: Björn Dunkerbeck. It was one of his 42 world titles, and his only one in freestyle.
The discipline soon passed to a younger generation. From 2003 two riders from Isla Margarita in Venezuela, Ricardo Campello and Gollito Estredo, won the title in twelve of sixteen seasons, and the tricks kept moving on.