For some, clip art brings to mind the same connotations as the font Comic Sans. Both were cute and easily available so both were used over, and over and... well, you get the idea. Is there a Powerpoint or PTA flyer that doesn't use one or the other? Both are good ideas that have become victims of their own success.

Inevitably, the world of clip art collided with the world of windsurfing. Windsurfing forty years on still carries connotations of fun, excitement and adventure - characteristics advertisers like to associate with their products. Advertisers and artists don't always worry whether the details are just right. After all, they are selling the sizzle, not whether the steak weighs 240 or 242 grams.

Let's say you have a hotel in Myrtle Beach, SC. How do you set yourself apart from other countless hotels? Having a name that evokes sun and fun is a good way. The "Parasailor"? Nope, somebody will think it a special facility for the physically disabled. How about the "Windsurfer"? We were so enthralled when we learned such a hotel actually existed, we wrote about it in a recent post.

"Farnsworth, we need an image for our logo."
"Well sir, how about this one? It's a sail boat. We erased the back sail. Doesn't really look like a windsurfer but I'm betting not a single guest will ever know the difference."
"Perfect. Farnsworth, you're a genius." (apologies to Jim Gaffigan)

Windsurfing for all the thrills, spills and laid back attitude, is in many ways a sport of precision. After all, to the consternation of every beginner, centimeters and millimeters count whether it's where you stand, tweaking the downhaul, outhaul or getting the harness lines just right. We dwell on the most minute differences in mast bend, fin shape and bottom rocker. For all of our free-spirit appearance, most of us display a bit of inner nerd in one way or another.

The collision is violent and, in many cases, not very pretty. It's not that most of the images lack technical accuracy. We're not talking about someone putting four battens in a race sail. It's not even like every cartoon character having only three fingers and a thumb instead of four. We're talking things that physically do not or can not exist. Like highway rubberneckers, let's look at the carnage. For fun, we'll be using a graphic from our website circa 1996 or so as a divider. Just to prove that we suck, too.

A prevalent theme with most generic windsurfing clip art is the sail design that sticks faithfully to the original Windsurfer design - a colored dacron triangle. As long as there is a colored triangle, a board and some sort of animal (typically, mammal) standing on it, it's a windsurfer. Here is a simple graphic with those basic elements. We can ignore the lack of a boom as a stylistic choice but the sail is about the size of the one on my old Mistral Windglider. Okay, the proportions are out of whack and the sail looks like a unruly table cloth on a windy day but I get where this one is coming from.

Again, colored triangle, board, mammal (CTBM), ergo windsurfer. This artist strives for a bit more technical accuracy and includes the boom. However, the boom is attached to... what? Neither ends of the boom are attached to anything. As well, that's one curvy mast.

One interesting detail of this graphic is that Ralph Macchio, the Karate Kid, was the model for the mammal/windsurfer.

This clip not only has the basics of CTBM, but is fairly faithful to windsurfer design circa 1978. Perhaps that's one of the original Charlie's Angels on the board? All looks good. Sail, windsurfer, board... wait... half of a board. The little detail of the board in front of the mast seems to have been left out. Or, is this the windsurfing equivalent of hanging ten?

Sometimes, a graphic designer, to justify his or her paltry wage, has to prove that they attended art school.

"Yes, I attended the Van Pugh School of Design. I focused on early 20th century Abstractism. This is a deconstructed windsurfer as Picasso might have painted. Mast bend is a rigid construct. Instead, I let the sail and mast bend as they wish. Likewise, the boom is really the keyboard with which the windsurfer plays his music. It is detached from the sail like we are detached from our fellow man by the encroachment of modern technology."

Finally, a boom that's attached to something. However, the mast is straight up the middle of the sail like a kite strut and the battens look more like a skeleton's rib cage. The sail window is towards the clew end. I guess so that's so he can see his GoPro camera when it's on the downwind side of the sail. We'll charitably assume he's standing on the front of the board, not out of ignorance, but because he's doing a shaka or some other freestyle move.

How painful is it to see the "Bro" backwards ball cap?

Another CTBM. This time the mammal is a dog. Again, the artist is boom challenged. Not finding a good picture of a windsurfing boom, the artist instead used a bathroom towel rack or a coat hanger. We can't really tell from this angle.

Also, we aren't sure what the mast is actually doing. It's not holding the sail up. Maybe a satellite radio antenna? Perhaps it isn't a mast but a pole that the dog is chained to (for you grammar National Socialists, "the pool to which the dog is chained").

Plus points for foot straps. Minus points for one foot strap being in front of the mast. Can you imagine getting catapulted, guys? More minus points for a rudder. Look closely, it's there.

This animated gif has the basic CTBM, except this mammal seems to be... humping? Seriously, it's like Triumph the Insult Dog's idea of a windsurfer. The more you look at it, the more you can't scrub out of your mind the image of a Pomeranian having it's way with a stuffed animal (Click this link and you'll get exactly what you think you'll get).

This one seems pretty pointless. What in the hell would anyone do with a picture of a windsurfing koala?

The boom. The boom. Can't ANYONE get it right?

Is this really that hard?

See? It can be done. Bravo, I say, bravo!