The Hibiscus in Windsport Art

Thanks to its status as the state flower of Hawaii, the hibiscus is one of the most popular motifs in windsport art, and widely found in website logos, icons, border designs, and banners.

A striking example is the hibiscus that punctuates the small banner ads in the left column of the Wahine Surfing website. Infused with intense blue and magenta chromas, the flower has been stylized to the point that its petals resemble kites, and it's central shaft, a board crowned with stars. For all its apparent virility, this central shaft is, in botany, the flower's female organ, the pistil.

A modest black and white line drawing of a hibiscus stands duty on the Wahine logo. It seems to me that if Wahine wanted black and white for its logo, it might at least have dared something like the ink pad style that appears on Hawaiian Watersports .Com. Oh well, ink pads aren't that daring anyway, to tell the truth.

Though associated with Hawaii, the hibiscus is thought to have originated near the Indian Ocean. Thus Pro Surf Extreme Kenya may fairly stencil the hibiscus across the top and bottom of its webpage plus employ it as online booking and newsletter icons. My, that little flower does a megapixel of work!

Today the hibiscus, nearly as widespread as windsports, even decorates the banners of German websites such as Flowsports and Silke Gorldt Stiftung, where it receives a tasteful, if numbingly repetitive treatment. You may recall that Germany borders the North and Baltic seas, not the Indian Ocean.

In addition to websites, the hibiscus appears on boards. One board, from custom designer 6Boards, combines a hibiscus with a motto ribbon, a Victorian filigree, red stars, and a black sunburst. Although it does not star in this ensemble, after countless hours backstage, the hibiscus must enjoy getting out there to have a little fun.

The questions remain, "Has the hibiscus spread into snowkiting country?" and "If so, what role does it play there?" Well, "no" and "possibly none". I did discover a snowboard with a flower motif, however the flower was definitely not a hibiscus. But that will be the subject of a future post.

By the way, the hibiscus is related to cocoa and hence to my nom de plume for this blog, tocoa.

Welcome to Off Board Transitions

Off Board Transitions is dedicated to windsport art and graphics including paintings, drawings, sketches, cartoons, cover art, designs, decals, banners, and logos. By the way, the cartoon of the kiteboarder, snowboarder, and windsurfer (posted May 5) represents my own effort. My name is tocoa. I am assisted by decodeideas. 

Let's begin with a logo displayed by Fun Sporting Action Sports Magazine at the bottom of their community page.

The logo appears in connection with Flowsports and the Silke Gorldt KidsCamp. This simple blue & orange on white graphic imaginatively fuses the ideas of medieval armor and a madcap race to the beach.

My guess would be that this logo is intended to communicate the importance of safety at this particular kids windsport camp. Silke Gorldt, as you may know, lost her life competing at Zingst in 2002. It was her death that catalyzed the development of modern windsport safety technology. 

I'll see if I can find out more about this logo and get it posted to our blog. Thank you for reading Off Board Transitions!

 

Multiple authors

This is a blog with multiple authors. One of us is providing the art, the other one is providing assistance.

Here is an art picture to get the discussion started.