Great stuff...fun days...always interesting to go back in the time machine and have a look around...;-)
As far as the "invention of windsurfing"...before Chilvers...Darby...Drake/Schweitzer/Parducci...there was Tom Blake on Oahu with his "sailing surfboard" in 1931...and, Riki Ebisu on Maui in 1941...etc...
I think Tom Blake's efforts pre-date Darby's by 30 years, and he invented the fin, hollow boards, water housings, and the modern surfing
lifestyle.
Here is an excerpt from the definitive Tom Blake biography: "TOM BLAKE: The Uncommon Journey of a Pioneer Waterman."
http://www.legendarysurfers.com/surf/legends/ls07_blake.shtml#skeg_1935 From the Gary Lynch book:
> In 1931, Tom Blake went on to invent the sailboard. "Actually," Gary corrected me, "1931 was the start of the invention of the sailboard. That
> was gradual. Tom used an umbrella at first, then a crude sail and so on until a first version of the first complete 'sailing surfboard', as he
> called it, was up and running and even in competition by 1935. 1940 was the first production models by L.A. Ladder."
> The year 1931 also saw Blake's first production surfboard, manufactured by Thomas Rogers Company, Venice, California. The 1931 hollow board now featured transverse
> bracing.
>
> Around 1934-35, the Robert Mitchell Company Tom Blake boards featured the "Tom Blake Approved" logo. Later on, the 1940 version of the "Hawaiian Hollow Surfboard,"
> U.S. Patent Number 1872230, was manufactured by the Los Angeles Ladder Company,
> This model also was "Tom Blake Approved."
>
> Hollow boards, camera housings and sailboards were soon overshadowed by Tom's
> application of fin to surfboard. One of his most enduring contributions the surfboard
> skeg -- or "fin," - eventually caused a quantum shift in surfboard riding and development.
From the Tom Blake autobiography by Gary Lynch:
http://www.legendarysurfers.com/surf/legends/ls07_blake.shtml#skeg_1935http://library.thinkquest.org/2804/windlink.htmlhttp://sport.iafrica.com/extreme/activities/192264.htm> The modern sport of windsurfing can be traced back to the 1930s when a surfer named Tom Blake, whose arms became particularly tired one afternoon from paddling his board out to
> catch the waves, thought he should be able to use the wind for propulsion.
> After some experimentation, he added a mast and sail to his surfboard. Later, he added a foot-controlled rudder and called his invention "a sailing surfboard".
> Blake's invention, however, was not widely received and it was another 30 years before S. Newman Darby took the idea a step further.
>
> Darby invented a rectangular sailboard to which he solidly attached a mast and sail. Steering was accomplished by moving a horizontal lever attached to both sides of the sail. Darby's
> invention was published in "Popular Science" magazine in 1965.
>
> Today's boardsailing or windsurfing is the product of a new sailing idea developed by three Californian surfing enthusiasts named Hoyle Schweitzer, Jim Drake and Allen Parducci in 1966 > and 1967. Their invention, initially called a 'Baja Board', consisted of a free-sail system that allowed the mast, boom and sail assembly to move in all directions around a universal
> joint.
>
> In 1969, Hoyle Schweitzer started a business which he called Windsurfer.
http://www.originalwindsurfer.com/site/main_1967.html