Why does it seem windsurfing is fading away

WAVEDAVE · Joined: 22 Aug 1997 Posts: 143

I have been windsurfing since late 80s and love it as much as I did when I started. It bums me out when I see more kiteboarders than windsurfers. I can appreciate kiteboarding but I just wished more people windsurfed these days and it had more publicity on tv and the such. The fact that windsurfing magazine has faded away really puts the nail in the coffin where this sport is going. Before long Iwill have to make my own gear because of lack of profit to be made from the brands. Evil or Very Mad

techno900 · Joined: 28 Mar 2001 Posts: 4161

wavedave,

From another thread where I posted this:

cgoudie1 · Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 11:47 am Post subject:

Dave, you just need to spend some time in the places
where Windsurfing has concentrated. Come to the Gorge, or Maui, and you won't feel so bad
(you might even think it's crowded). I'm not suggesting the sport isn't
smaller than it was in the 80s, but I don't see it shrinking anymore. And
with just the gear that's on the market now, (or what I have stored)
I won't run out in my lifetime, even if the manufacturers stop making it
today. ;*)

-Craig

nw30 · Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 12:00 pm Post subject:

spennie · Joined: 13 Oct 1995 Posts: 975 Location: Thousand Oaks, CA

First of all, totally agree with the above comments, and have some additions.

Windsurfing became a craze for a while when it was new. Now kiteboarding is the new thing. I work at a communtity college, and I can't even begin to count the number of times people have said to me "Ooo, you windsurf? Is that when you have the big parachute thing up in the sky?" "No, that's kiteboarding" "Wow, those guys jump really high, can you do that?" "No, I'm 56 years old and have to go back to work Monday, and kiteboarding can be dangerous".

It's new, and spectacular, and easier to learn (MUCH easier, I'm told by people who know), and the youngsters are flocking to it. It's very much like snowboarding VS skiing when that started up, and for the very same reasons. We skiers had many of the same problems, too - Stupid kids had no manners and didn't know the rules, flying around running people down, and generally being arrogant & obnoxious. Eventually they learned that they couldn't just do whatever they wanted, there were rules and etiquette to follow, and everyone learned to coexist. (Except at Alta. YAY!) The kiters went through a similar learning process, and now everyone is pretty much getting along, with a few exceptions.

Snowboarding isn't going away any time soon, and neither is kiting. But people still ski, don't they? And people will always windsurf, people like me & my wife, who plan to windsurf until we drop in the water, dead. The trick is to keep the sport alive and in people's minds, and to bring new sailors into the sport whenever the oppotunity arises. Keep an old big board & small sail around so if someone shows interest you can take them for a trial run right away while they're thinking about it. Buy from your local shop even if it does cost you an extra $20., if you can't spare $20. to keep this sport alive, you're in the wrong sport.

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

When non-WSers ask me about kiteboarding, I just tell them to Google kitemares and get back to me. Not one has gotten back to me yet.

As for crowds, they get worse every year where I sail. Hurray for $4 gas!

Mike \m/

WAVEDAVE · Joined: 22 Aug 1997 Posts: 143

I have been to maui and what a blast that was in 2010. Although most of the crowd there were in their mid 50's plus which made me feel young at 40. I am seriously thinking of moving there at least for a little while, possibly picking up a teaching job. If I can look back when I am old and grey and say I did it well than I will have no regrets.

Maybe I will open a small windsurf rental place with fanatic gear on the side Laughing

GURGLETROUSERS · Joined: 30 Dec 2009 Posts: 2643

No, no, no! S.U.P.ing does not replace proper longboard sailing for purposeful time on the water in lighter winds. S.U.P.'s have nowhere near equivalent sailing performance.

If sailing, not paddling (or surfing) is a persons motivation for being on the water, how will settling for an inferior sailing machine hold their interest? What infuriated me when Boards magazine tested S.U.P.'s for light wind SAILING was that they thought they had hit upon something nobody knew before, that light wind sailing and cruising was great fun, and a sailing S.U.P. was the ideal machine for the job!!!

Any 'proper' performance longboard, either old or new, would have run ringsw around the ruddy lot of them in that lower wind range. (And would have disappeared over the horizon had the wind picked up enough to plane properly.)

They were trying to pass off the S.U.P. as something it really isn't ... it is basically a paddling machine with a surf bias, with inferior sailing and planing properties as a consequence.

spennie · Joined: 13 Oct 1995 Posts: 975 Location: Thousand Oaks, CA

GURGLETROUSERS:

First of all, best avatar name on iWindsurf.

Your comments about SUP with a sail VS real windsurf board were correct, except for someone like me, who would love to tool around on a giant SUP with a sail when it's under planing wind and catch a few small waves. Those conditions are a lot more common where I live (SoCal) than planing conditions. I can't even imagine catching a wave on an Equipe or RS-X. Well, I can, but it's not pretty.

No, an SUP won't keep up with a real windsurfer, but if you're just toodling around, who cares? Casey Hauser & I used to take out 2 giant poly beginner boards & play "Knock the other guy down without falling yourself", ramming allowed, for hours on end. It was a blast, and no centerboard required. Sometimes we would "race", again ramming allowed.

Everyone just needs to choose what's best for what they're doing, that's all. When I finally get my surf/sail/SUP and I find that it's big enough & stable enough to teach on, then that's what I'll use, and get rid of my 40-pound roto-molded beast once & for all.

dllee · Joined: 03 Jul 2009 Posts: 5329 Location: East Bay

I"m ambivelent about SUP...tried it 15 times, but never in surf.
I have windsurfed with guys on SUP's, specifically the Exocet duck tails, and they are not much slower than anyone else on freestyle gear. Some short Starboard SUP's can chop hop and turn pretty well, about the same speed as freestyle windsurfers.
That is fast enough for 90% of the windsurfers around.
But living on the coast, with real waves, short SUP with a mast track, at least 2 front straps, seems to be an ideal 5 sport tool. You can SUP, windsurf, paddle prone, kayak paddle sitting, and still surf small waves, AND, you can kiteboard in really light winds WITH THE SAME BOARD.