Why does it seem windsurfing is fading away

drysuit2 · Joined: 01 Apr 1997 Posts: 119

“I'm thinking windsurfing replaced dinghy sailing and racing from such classes as Sunfish, Laser, Windmill, 470, 420, and Fireball. A good number of windsurfers also came from the ranks of the catamaran sailors. ….”

That’s interesting. For me Windsurfing represented freedom. As in I no longer had to spend an entire weekend trapped on a boat. Whether it was family cruising with my Dad; working the Bow, or sitting for hours, as rail meat on race boats. I am pretty sure that’s why till this day, I still have a distain for racing.
I was pretty lucky: I have been sailing with a great crew of guys for the last 35 years. While we went through all the phases of gear: from easy to sail…to fast, unrealistic, and un jybe-able…back to easy to sail. It’s been the NON-competitive, supportive nature of our sailing that has created our friendships.
This sport has given me so much with out keeping score. However, though we have developed a few young guns, I would have the estimate the average age of the windsurfers I sail with to be 50.

That troubles me. A 16 year old has no way of getting his windsurfing gear to the beach; unless he has the equivalent of a “soccer Mom”. When I was that age one of the boatyards on the bay kept a shipping container on the beach. We would pay modest rent to keep our boards there. Those type of properties no longer exist on my bay. It’s McMansions or high end Yacht Clubs. And forget the ocean; it’s a half hour drive. Easy if you are my age, but not if you are 12…

bkiggins · Joined: 01 Aug 1999 Posts: 101 Location: Castle Rock, CO

I'm sure I'll get flamed hard, but take a moment to think about this before replying:

Take a look at most threads on this forum, it's a complete nerd fest, filled with arguments about the best technique or the size and dimension of everything... I suspect for a lot of people, that's a turnoff. 99% of the population doesn't care how something works, they just want it to work. (Think dial tone in the telecom industry).

People are busy today, and their recreational time is valuable to them, so they gravitate to things that don't take a degree in rocket science to understand... so, how to fix it?

I think people need an entry point where they can just go out and have fun 80% of the time without having to over think everything. Couple that with a reasonable price point (sub $1k for an entire setup), and you might (might because there are tons of recreational activities to choose from) bring growth back tot he sport.

Just food for thought, donning flame retardant suit now.

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

Do you work for Bic?

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

ronm41 · Joined: 02 May 2007 Posts: 180

WutUpWitU · Joined: 21 May 2000 Posts: 52

maybe it is simpler than all this?

windsurfing is one of those sports where you
really gotta wanna

and you can't teach or really push that

you have to see it one day and say to yourself

that's unreal Shocked

and no matter what, i'm gonna do that Exclamation

thombiz · Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 799 Location: Corpus Christi

Amen!

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

Windsurfing is supercheap, compared to motocross, roadracing, waterskiing, and even ski/snowboarding.
And all those sports have the same techno talk and knowledge as windsurfing.
If you want simple jungle sports, try soccer, basketball, and solo running.

thombiz · Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 799 Location: Corpus Christi

I do agree that windsurfing is super cheap, but windsurfers are some of the most frugal, tight wallet'd people on the planet. You would be surprised how many 12, 13, 14, even 15 year old sails I repair in a season. I just sold some almost new sails for $295 each. I tried selling them before at $325 and got absolutely no interest in them. From where I sit, most windsurfers still are caught up in the pricing of the 90's.