Second hand stuff can be cheap .
I think you should be able to get a perfectly good board and a couple sails and rig for under $1500.00
That should get you started .

1985 Gaastra Speed Slalom 3 cam 5.2 retailed for $500.

Rob11 said..
May be worth looking at entry level gear not top end carbon boom to start with.

Also I beg to differ a carbon boom makes a hell of a difference to how the rig feels and believe it or not to your wallet in the long term... But most do not seem the bigger picture.

On another topic, you're probably knee deep in the artificial inflation and price hike by buying everyday items (coffee, milk etc) and real estate... The great Aussie dream!

I've got a lot of gear - mostly Neil Pryde stuff - booms, masts, sails, universals - the boom doesn't seem to make that much difference to the rig. Carbon is marginally lighter but the extra cost can not be justified IMO. How does a high end, expensive boom make a big difference to your rig set up?... Just curious because I've just discovered the big positive difference marrying the same brand masts with the same brand sails.

gollyone said..

Rob11 said..
May be worth looking at entry level gear not top end carbon boom to start with.

Also I beg to differ a carbon boom makes a hell of a difference to how the rig feels and believe it or not to your wallet in the long term... But most do not seem the bigger picture.

On another topic, you're probably knee deep in the artificial inflation and price hike by buying everyday items (coffee, milk etc) and real estate... The great Aussie dream!

I've got a lot of gear - mostly Neil Pryde stuff - booms, masts, sails, universals - the boom doesn't seem to make that much difference to the rig. Carbon is marginally lighter but the extra cost can not be justified IMO. How does a high end, expensive boom make a big difference to your rig set up?... Just curious because I've just discovered the big positive difference marrying the same brand masts with the same brand sails.

Stiffness, weight and longevity is what you gain from buying a carbon boom.

you have to make the switch one way or the other to feel what the extra stiffness does for you. But its worth buying carbon for longevity alone.

I think the thread got a bit diverted to carbon boom discussion but as an example SUP can be quite expensive to start with as well although it's a big market now.

Foiling - now that's an expensive start up.

I think to a degree what makes windsurfing "expensive" is that you're buying all of the components as separate items, as opposed to say cycling where you walk into a shop and buy a bike, walk out and ride away.

If you wanted to put your own bike together with all the topline gear, you'd be baulking at the price of it all just as much as what you do with windsurfing gear. Even more so.

I think that is what is actually missing from windsurfing really. You can't just walk into a shop and buy a set up as standard anymore.

Personally in the last few years I have given away a perfect 7.8 slalom sail, an Ezzy 460 rdm, a delta weed fin, sold a 5.8 slalom sail for $100 that was as new and only used a few times but no one wanted a sail a few years old, and sold a CA board cheap. I had a large board given to me to use with my foil and also I bought a as new Gladiator freeride for $200 to bash over chop slapping, again no one wanted it but it's a ripper board plus I got a brand new Chinook carbon boom for under a grand retail.
As for booms, at 183cm and 85kg I couldn't get an alloy boom to last longer than 10 months slalom sailing open ocean, the new carbon boom replaced my 10+ year old carbon boom which did break after going A up, so even though not cheap they are.

Plus here in the WA forum section I have seen some very good gear go for free, there's a lot of generous people in this sport.

I do think there is too much marketing BS, you read it here on how good the graphics or cut outs are on the latest year boards, ffs nothing wrong with good cheap s/h gear, it'll go just as fast, high and far as the new stuff, pilot dependent

your right BUYING a carbon booms hurts ...i busted 3 alloys before buying my first carbon boom ,but 10 years later i still have it ,but replaced it this year ..
So i would of busted 3 alloys in 10 years at 300 each ,so its worth it ,also i don't wash my gear ,and alloy corrodes ,plus you get more direct feed
out of a carbon boom ,and more power out of your sail ,so think of it as a investment ...

I seem to buy secondhand boards these days ,a few years old for $1000 -1500 is cheap

my surfing buddies do 2 boards a year ,sometimes 3 ,at 750-1000$ each ,windsurfing is ok .
sometimes i thing windsurfers are like Lamborgini Owners ,they take pride in their gear and its their pride and joy to own
such nice gear.

i have a uncle who worked his arse off and spent bugger all ,now he's very rich ,but he's now too old to enjoy it ,live for the day
and forget about tomorrow ...

Tardy said..
your right BUYING a carbon booms hurts ...i busted 3 alloys before buying my first carbon boom ,but 10 years later i still have it ,but replaced it this year ..
So i would of busted 3 alloys in 10 years at 300 each ,so its worth it ,also i don't wash my gear ,and alloy corrodes ,plus you get more direct feed
out of a carbon boom ,and more power out of your sail ,so think of it as a investment ...

I seem to buy secondhand boards these days ,a few years old for $1000 -1500 is cheap

my surfing buddies do 2 boards a year ,sometimes 3 ,at 750-1000$ each ,windsurfing is ok .
sometimes i thing windsurfers are like Lamborgini Owners ,they take pride in their gear and its their pride and joy to own
such nice gear.

i have a uncle who worked his arse off and spent bugger all ,now he's very rich ,but he's now too old to enjoy it ,live for the day
and forget about tomorrow ...

That is a classic with the uncle.
Live life

After over a 25 year break , just for giggles I bought a fifty dollar complete dunger and replaced the uni joint , ( the only rule no 1 ) , and it was fantastic and sunny . Even though I was older and unfit by a long shot it was one of my best sails ever . In five knots . I remember the glistening sun on the water , the birds , the boats and the people on the beach .I even remember the song on the radio as I was driving home
You can still get a old Wally complete for $50 .

Mark _australia said..
Gollyone- think about how much difference 1-2cm of outhaul tuning makes
or a gusty wind compared to a nice constant one.

Boom flex changes the outhaul setting on-off-on-off as you sail along. It gives you the 'wrong' outhaul in gusts. Just your body hanging offit and bouncing over chop will make the sail flex due to boom movement. Not drastic but you can feel it for sure.
A stiffer boom just feels nice. Lighter swing weight makes a massive difference with very long boom lengths (anything over about 7m I reckon ally just gets really bad)
Lighter weight helps a lot for freestyle and wave tricks too

Yes not as big a difference as the right mast curve as that can make it all borderline unusable. But assuming all your equip is relatively modern and setup right, a carbon boom is probably the first 'upgrade' after getting all matching sails n masts

I dunno, Mark, how can a wrong mast curve make a sail "borderline unusable"?? I'm not saying it doesn't make a difference; apart from windsurfing I also do boat sailing where we can adjust mast bend gust by gust, so I'm very well aware of the effect of bend. I spend far too much time 50ft in the air with spanners tweaking yacht stays to ignore the effect of bend.

But when we are saying that the wrong mast bend makes a sail "almost unusable" it may be an example of why the sport is quite costly. Perhaps we are often too picky about our gear; perhaps we are not willing to just accept that it doesn't have to be the best that can be created and yet the sport can still be fun. Maybe we're too worried about the hardware and not enough about just working on technique and having a good time rather than looking for problems with our kit.

Look at it this way; in a big blow in a championship racing fleet, sometimes the top six or so will get around without even looking like falling, while half of the fleet of 40 may be unable to even make it to the finish - even when everyone is on the same gear or pretty much the same gear. The average sailor will probably be one of the people who cannot finish while the top guys (and we are talking amateurs here in Oz) will be sailing with their hair dry. You can give a good sailor a crappy old board, a mis-matched mast and sail that may seem "almost unusable", and they will finish 4th out of 40+ when 20 retire. So in the overall package of getting around a course (just to use this example) the gear itself is not really a big issue for the average sailor - their problem is themselves and not whether their sail is "almost unusable".

Maybe if we worried more about sailing and less about the ultimate performance of our gear, the sport would be doing better.

Back to the original post , of being too expensive to get into, I would disagree.
Most of us could put a beginners package together and give it away for free , just to get an enquasitiiv a go.
Being perfect training gear or old Wally doesn't matter .
If someone can go out and return not that far downwind , he , she , could be hooked .
It's not so much about the gear as it is the teacher and conditions .

As to expensive - yeah I can't get a taker for a $1300 carbon boom at $400 with a free fast modern no cam freeride sail thrown in.
l've refurbished boards that are as good as new - literally- and can't sell them

The world champs could ride 2012 gear and still kick all our arses but you NEEED a 2020 board...?

OTOH I am looking for broken SUP paddles to help out noobs and kids - no offers.

If you compare the "price range" of new or used equipment 20-30 years ago and now, now its significantly more expensive, not to mention the larger "price range". But as Rob11 mentioned, everything got more expensive, on the other hand incomes olso gone higher (most countries).
Opposite, life standards gone higher but people opt to get oled tvs, macbooks and german cars, more alternatives to spend their money on.

Main reason of decline might be diversion. There were not many alternatives back then, and now there are, kite board being the main diversion from windsurfing, plus many more other extreme sports people can chose to commit, which were not widely available back then. Most alternatives are easier and cheaper to start, even motorsports.

But i olso agree high prices have an effect as well, indirect though. New and expensive equipment look cooler, so gets more attention from kids :)

LeeD said..
1987 Robbie N on 1987 gear outstrips ANY of us on 2019 gear.

More rubbish Lee. Nobody broke 40kn until 1988.
In 1987 the record was still Pascal Maka at about 39.something knots which he did in 1986.

People do 40 all the time now.

One legend right here on seabreeze has done 40 on a waveboard.


Yes I get what you're saying but you took it a bit far......