Back in 1958 a young Peter Chilvers attached a sail to a makeshift board via a rotating joint and windsurfing was born. Fast forward to 2015 and Hayling Island is noted as being the spiritual home of windsurfing in the UK and centre of excellence for a number of other watersports.
Even though a lengthy court case was fought back in the 80s between Hoyle Schweitzer and Jim Drake (who brought the modern windsurfer to the masses in 1968) over patent rights it was eventually Chilvers who triumphed.
In honour of Mr Chilvers engineering feat and contribution to watersports on the island Stagecoach has named one of their buses after him. The Havant link route 30/31 bus will have Peter Chilvers name adorning the front windscreen. Gil Carter won a competition to get the inventors name placed on one of the buses and hopes Mr Chilvers will appreciate the tribute.
There will be three other iconic names linked to Hayling Island placed on buses. The Coppist The Hayling Billy and The Olive Leaf are all significant to Haylings extensive history. These names will now be displayed for the public to see.
