How Did The Sports Branch Off Of Surfing

Did sports branch off of surfing or were they created on their own? Six very popular sports and many more branched off of surfing. While they each came from surfing, they all still have their own history. They all became what they are for a reason. Windsurfing, for example, didnt start out as a sport. It started as a means of transportation. “Sailboards” were created to transport people across large bodies of water. They were created over a thounsand years ago. Now windsurfing is a popular sport. Kneeboarding is a sport similar to surfing. The main difference is that instead of standing on a board you ride on your knees. Kneeboarding was created by surfers who used homemade kneeboards behind boats. Skimboarding was created in a time of boredom.
They tried to skate on the water with pieces of wood. “Wakeboarding came onto the scene in the 1980s when surfers started hitching rides on boats with a rope, similar to waterskiing” (Winkler1). Wakesurfing is one of the first sports to branch off of surfing. It predates even waterskiing, which is usually considered to be the first “behind the boat” sport. “Wakesurfing (similar to, but not the same sport as, wakeboarding) is a water sport in which a surfer trails behind a wakeboard boat, surfing the boats wake without being directly attached to the boat” (What Is Wakesurfing?). The last sport of this paper is kitesurfing. Kitesurfing is a sport where you ride across the surface of the water on a board, while strapped to a kite. The force of the wind is your propulsion. “Kitesurfing as a recreational sport began in the 1980s, but didn’t gain popularity until the turn of the millenium” (McGuigan1). There is many other sports that branched off of surfing. This is just a few. Thats a background of each of the sports, but what caused these sports to branch? Why was surfing not
Surfers need something to do when there isn't any waves. Surfers experimented with boats for example. That's how sports like wakeboarding and kneeboarding were invented. "Wakeboarding came onto the scene in the 1980s when surfers started hitching rides on boats with a rope, similar to waterskiing” (Winkler1). Wakesurfing is similar to wakeboarding. The main difference is the surfer surfs the wake of the boat with no bindings to the boat. “Wake surfing is well known to be the oldest "behind the boat" sport, even predating water skiing. When done right, wake surfing will give you the feel of riding an endless wave (without the sharks or paddling). In recent years the sport of wakesurfing has grown rapidly in popularity” (What Is