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TIGA, icon of the golden age of windsurfing

27/02/2026

With you, we continue

Our vintage nod of the week is this advertisement for the TIGA brand from 1994, which recently appeared on our Facebook group Windsurfjournal.com and was a huge success, bringing back many memories for some...
In 1982, at the height of the windsurfing boom, Patrick Dussossoy created TIGA in France. Windsurfing became the king of beach sports: an explosive cocktail of extreme performance, bright colours and total carefree attitude. ‘Sea, sex and sun’ 80s style. TIGA embodied this spirit like no other brand.
By 1986, just four years after its creation, TIGA was booming: 52,000 boards sold, the undisputed world leader. Its radically shaped boards (no-nose, double-concave, HCS thermoformed) and ultra-colourful graphics took over spots around the world. World Cup Approved, they were used by the greatest names in the sport: Nathalie Simon, Alex Aguera, Raphaël Salles, Erik Thiémé... The exploits came thick and fast, as did the magazine covers.
The 1994 catalogue perfectly sums up this era: eight models lined up (264 VR, 257 VR, 268 SLR, 284 SLR, etc.), some of which would leave their mark on an entire generation of windsurfers. The HCS shock absorber system underfoot, the Footgrip II, the new G10 or Epoxy fins: TIGA wasn't content to follow, it invented.
Still present throughout the 1990s, the French brand slowly faded away in the 2000s, swept away like windsurfing itself by the arrival of kitesurfing and new water sports. But its legacy remains intact. TIGA is not just about boards: it's about memories of freedom, crazy colours and unabashed optimism. Today, these graphic archives remind us that, even in 2026, we can still recapture some of that FUN spirit of the 1980s and 1990s.

 

Source: TIGA Archives
Photo: TIGA Archives

tags: TIGA

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