Talking about catamaran history, reminds me on the " patin a vela" which I owned and sailed twenty years ago in South-France.



The story is that the first protypes of these cats were already tried by spanish munks between 1800 and 1900.
Later-on in the beginning of 1900 the rump shape as it is still today, was developed in the northern part of Spain (catalonie).

The special thing about this cat is the lack of rudders.

You have to move the lateral point of the hulls with your weight and you can shift the point of effort of the special shaped sail a bit with the sheethandling.

So tacking means going forward with all the crew weight and sheeting in. While jibing means sheeting out and going with your weight as far as possible to the stern. (And helping with a feet in the water for passing the dead-point).

So far before windsurfing was "invented", the used steering mechanism, was already existing and used for more then 100 years on a cat design.
The only real invention on the windsurfboard was the mast-joint to the board, which could be directed in every direction.

I have to search for some old holiday pictures