Ideas for getting people into windsurfing

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5 years ago

General Gps & Speed Waves Foiling Gear Reviews Lost & Found WA NSW QLD SA VIC TAS

echunda

VIC

765 posts

echunda

VIC, 765 posts

24 Sep 2020 10:57am

swoosh said..

Looking at some Maui rental places, rental cost is around USD70 a day, so at the very best case hire cost would be AUD100/day. And Maui is super high turnover and probably lower costs than most of Australia. Would you pay $100/day? And that's before needing the gear to be delivered to wherever you want to sail etc. Realistically considering utilization rates would be much lower, Australia tax etc, it wouldn't be surprising really to see $150 /day for short term daily rate.

Even just to hire a cheap $400 foamie surfboard at the beach is usually around the $40-50/day. A foamie is an order of magnitude cheaper than a half decent freeride setup.

I don't think many sports, some much bigger than windsurfing have really solved this problem.

I'd pay $90 - $100 per day for half decent gear (2009+) at Inverloch and happy to pay for any damage that I cause.

As the club knows, Inverloch has a captive market with the possibility of a lot of ex windsurfers staying at the campground/caravan park and having a family weekend away and a windsurf (win, win).

The whole issue is, no one will put up the cash needed to invest in enough decent gear that will allow enough sailors on the water to make it viable, not profitable, viable.
Potential roadblock would be insurance.
The only other would be ensuring rental kit isn't 'borrowed' by club members without paying.

Gestalt

QLD

14953 posts

Gestalt

QLD, 14953 posts

24 Sep 2020 11:24am

swoosh said..

echunda said..
I left the sport a couple years ago. A large challenge for me to windsurfing, is transporting the kit to your favorite spot. It's a big commitment to have the vehicle and storage where as kiting is much more compact (which is where most go). Bring convenience to the thought process. I'd love to head to Invy and pay membership + hire charges for gear designed for an intermediate sailor . I'm not interested in using old kit (longboards) or beginner gear. Happy to pack up and leave the water stoked and not having to worry about carting the gear home.

And what about damage?
Track day motorcycle riders know all about this if they've ever hired a bike...

Have a 'standard' agreed price list the customer signs and acknowledges prior to taking the kit. If it's damaged.. there's the price and it's already off the credit card.

I'd be there every available weekend if it was there and I'm certain a lot of ex windsurfers would be the same.

Looking at some Maui rental places, rental cost is around USD70 a day, so at the very best case hire cost would be AUD100/day. And Maui is super high turnover and probably lower costs than most of Australia. Would you pay $100/day? And that's before needing the gear to be delivered to wherever you want to sail etc. Realistically considering utilization rates would be much lower, Australia tax etc, it wouldn't be surprising really to see $150 /day for short term daily rate.

Even just to hire a cheap $400 foamie surfboard at the beach is usually around the $40-50/day. A foamie is an order of magnitude cheaper than a half decent freeride setup.

I don't think many sports, some much bigger than windsurfing have really solved this problem.

MarkSSC said..
Today, a passer-by stopped and asked me a question about windsurfing. He asked me how we learned to sail as we do. There a no coaches or schools offering tuition that he knew of. Therefore, the whole idea of getting into the sport was a big problem because he did not think he had the ability to learn by experience. I suppose that there would be others out there thinking the same thing.

This is exactly my point where I think the industry needs to invest if they want to grow the sport. That said, can understand if people with the numbers have run them and found that the return just isn't there for such a niche sport.

oddly on the weekend just gone a group of us were out on LT's and we had 5 different groups of people walking by enquire if they could rent the gear. it must be a nostalgia thing where people identify with the longboard because it very rarely happens with shortboard gear.

Gorgo

VIC

5124 posts

Gorgo

VIC, 5124 posts

24 Sep 2020 11:54am

Forgive the negative comment, but don't you think all these things have been tried over the past 40 years? In the early days you could rent gear all over the place and come and try days were fairly common.

You need to think of something completely out of box to stand a chance of changing the current situation.

One thing I have noticed, I have been putting in the time to develop my wing foiling skills. After a session I almost have a queue formed of mostly older guys wanting to know about wing foiling. Also lots of dog walkers and cyclists passing by stop to ask about stuff.

Subsonic

3413 posts

Subsonic

WA, 3413 posts

25 Sep 2020 5:56am

Gestalt said..

swoosh said..

I've had people ask me if im renting gear just by having the back of my van open

Harrow

NSW

4521 posts

Harrow

NSW, 4521 posts

25 Sep 2020 10:55am

How to get people into windsurfing....

Turn of the NBN.
Ban smartphones.
Stop reducing the capacity of car parks near the beach by making them look fancy.
Stop forcing people to work longer and longer hours.

actiomax

NSW

1576 posts

actiomax

NSW, 1576 posts

25 Sep 2020 2:05pm

Wyangla dam is having the dam wall raised cost of 400 million is there anyway we could squeeze out of that a couple of channels & make our own ludrizt & have speed challenge here get some screen time on tv sports news I reckon people would love that and I reckon the town would love an attraction like that .
There would have to be somewhere around that were it would work it's 55square km already & going to be bigger again

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