Old Windsurf Boards Find New Life as Electric Surfboards

Remember windsurfing? The very first of those noble but menacing wind-driven “surf” craft that infiltrated mere stick-and-skeg surfgoing lineups way back when? Yes, politics aside, they were pretty cool contrivances.

The modern windsurfer dates back at least to the 1960s, but for the millions of them manufactured over the decades, many have ended up neglected. Why? Well, if you yourself ever tried the sport, there’s a good chance you’re among the majority of us who found it too damned hard, complicated (particularly for non-sailing folk), and far, far too gear intensive.

Some hopefuls only came to that after making the hefty purchase of a heavy-duty board, mast, sail, etc., etc. So where did those rigs all end up? Many were left to rot, but plenty at least found shelter in garages, where they were more or less preserved.

Fast forward to this marvelously DIY year of our lord, and there is a burgeoning trend of people who are upcycling and modifying these wayward craft into electric-powered micro-vessels, according to DIY-trend reporting site Hackaday.

And why not? It beats letting the thing go to seed under your deck or hogging up precious rafter space in your garage (where surfboards you might actually use may instead find a home).

It turns out that the use of a centerboard—the removable “keel”—makes for much better steerage than a fin or set of fins near the tail. As on a sailboat (upon which centerboards can also be found), that keel offsets the lateral force brought by the sail and keeps the boat not only steering on track, but stable. What that translates to is the best design for a motor-powered SUP you’re likely to encounter, as of yet.

And then, as Hackaday also notes, there’s the king of surf novelty himself, Ben Gravy, whose solution of duct-taping two surfboards, one atop the other, and outfitting it with an electric trolling motor and 12-volt battery looks a little on the sketchy side. We might point him to an old windsurfer that surely must be lying about somewhere in the Garden State, but to each our own.

Who knows what this weird and wonderful world of surf craft holds next? Let’s just hope these nifty little ditties stay in their lane as modes of transportation—and well out of lineups.