Wave-riding legend Robby Naish turns 50!

Robby Naish is windsurfing royalty. A pioneer of kiteboarding and world record setter, his name is internationally renowned and he is the first person to have gained long-lasting fame in the sport.

Naish, who began surfing and sailing in his early years and then started windsurfing at the age of 11, won his first windsurfing world title in the Bahamas to become the youngest world title-­‐holder in the history of the sport at age 13.

He successfully defended his crown the following year in Sardinia, Italy and made it a hat trick of world titles when he triumphed again in Cancun, Mexico in 1978, and again in Florida in 1979. For the following decade, he dominated windsurfing competitions worldwide, travelling extensively and competing in more than 20 countries each year on the professional tour.

An excellent slalom and course racer, his Hawaiian upbringing from the age of five has provided him with a special affinity and talent for wave riding. He made a clean sweep of all four titles in the inaugural Pro World Tour in 1983 -­ clinching the overall, the wave riding, the slalom and course racing championships -­ and repeated the feat in 1984. Over his windsurfing career, Robby earned himself a total of 24 world championship titles and over 150 event victories.

In 1995 Robby founded Naish Sails Hawaii, a company designing and manufacturing windsurfing equipment, which is sold world wide under the Naish brand. In the late ‘90’s Robby was a pioneer in the new sport of kiteboarding, a discipline in which he won the slalom world title in 1998. The following year, he won the kiteboarding world titles in both slalom and jumping. The Naish brand quickly became a world leader in the development of kitesurfing equipment.

In 2006 Robby was again influential in the growth of the new sport of stand up paddle surfing, and again the Naish brand has been at the forefront of the development of SUP equipment. Today Naish is the premier stand up paddle brand in the world and offers the most complete range of stand up paddle boards on the market.

Robby remains incredibly active in all three sports: windsurfing, kitesurfing and SUP. Today his time is spent between constant equipment development and testing, promotional events and traveling the world in search of wind and waves. His name has become synonymous with boardriding, and Robby is recognized over the world as one of the great watermen of our time.

Some Achievements
• 24 times Windsurfing World Champion: He won his first world championship title at the age of 13 in 1976 -­‐ youngest world champion in the history of windsurfing
• Kiteboarding world slalom champion in 1998 and the
• Kiteboarding world champion in both slalom and jumping in 1999
• Member of the Laureus World Sports Academy
• Winner of “Lifetime Achievement Award” and
• “Kiteboarder of the Year” at the NEA International Sports Awards (Munich 2000)
• Winner of “Boarder of the Millennium” in the French Boarder Awards (2000)
• Hall of Fame (PWA, 2002)
• Member of the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame
• Lifetime Achievement Award (Nuit de la Glisse, 2012)

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