swoosh said.. Chris 249 said..
Bit confused about your response here, I basically completely agree with you on all points. Just pointing out the reasons that for the average punter, windsurfing isn't "THE Sport".
I sailed dinghy's as a kid, and actually wish I had stuck to it. My comment about lasers being boring was exactly to point out what you are saying in that it doesn't have to be high performance to have a good following and be a heap of fun. And the best thing about laser formula is the equipment has stayed the same, it's all about sailers, and any idiot can basically jump in and make it around a course. In my opinion windsurfing needs a similar format one design class. The gear needs to be cheap enough <$2000 so that any half interested windsurfer would go say sure why not I'll grab a kit. I agree with what someone else mentioned earlier in that longboards are the go, but not $3000+ boards. We need Roto-Molded polyethylene longboards, with fibreglass masts and dacron sails, can bash around the marks with your mates and not worry about a few bumps. Go back to the roots of the sport, with equipment that people of any skill level can sail, and durable and cheap enough you don't mind people of any skill level borrowing your kit.
Yeah sure the one design class has existed a few times already in windsurfing, but at least with RS:X it just seems too complicated and expensive.
As for slalom/formula, as a racing class they seem a little bit doomed, bit too condition dependant, and it's a never ending high-tech arms race driven by the manufacturers with a +$10k/season buy in cost. For the same price you can buy a laser which boasts a bigger more competitive field, and your gear doesn't go out of date every season. The GPS racing thing was probably the best thing that has happened to slalom style gear.
The current state of the longboard racing side of things just seems confusing to me. e.g. upcoming raceboard titles, there is 3 different classes and a myriad of different boards. A new setup from what I understand probably north of >$6k, and there are 3 different classes, in a sport where the typical field across all classes might be <10 sailers. Sure I could pick up a old second hand one design something, but seems pointless to race something out of date in a hodgepodge field of competitors that I could probably count in one hand.
da vecta said..
RETRO BOARD: Competitor entering with a board manufactured 1995 or earlier;
HYBRID CLASS ONE: Allows boards up to 3m in length with a maximum sail size of 7.8m. (Includes: Techno 293, RSOne, RSX, Phantom 295)
HYBRID CLASS TWO: Allows boards over 3m in length with a maximum sail size of 7.8m. (Includes: Phantom 320, Kona One, WOD) Both Hyrid Classes will have a shorter course.
That's just the opinion of a recreational windsurfer, who loves windsurfing, but honestly, it was a big commitment to learn. And as much as I'd like to start racing, and I think a good racing community would really help build the sport, none of the options really look attractive.
p.s. the guys who are trying to grow the sport from the ground, at least here in QLD, are doing a fantastic job. I just talked a few friends into it and took my misses down to the learn to windsurf thing the guys at RQYS are doing, and it's the best thing that's happening in the sport in my opinion. But for me it also highlights the problem, in that the learners are on these big plastic boards, and the racers show up with these flash $3k+ carbon boards, not to mention rig cost! Contrast that to lasers, and well you can learn to sail on a laser.
As one of the guys organising the up coming raceboard nationals and also running the learn to windsurf at RQ thought I would try to explain what we have attempted to do because I agree it could look confusing to a recreational windsurfer.
First I don't agree cost is the major barrier to the sport, a laser is what 10k and its a pretty cheap sailing class, many of the other off the beach classes get more expensive from there and then if we start to consider other pastimes, such as motorbikes, fishing boats, horses etc etc people are prepared to spend money on what they want to do
Also there is a cheap one design class under 2k, Windsurfer One Design and there are guys racing them all over the country.
Second RSX with one board and one rig cant really get much simpler, same for all one design classes and although I agree RSX is expensive in fairness to Neil Pryde they have to supply free gear to the big regattas as part of there Olympic obligations so that cost is built into the gear and its still the cheapest Olympic Class
Raceboard and formula and slalom I guess as well are all "box rule" therefore allow for different manufacturers to produce equipment within a defined set of rules, there are arguments both for and against one design vs box rule but that could be a whole other thread.
Last year with the Raceboard nationals it was only open to Raceboards but that covers a lot of boards including techno, rsx, rsone etc etc due to the "box rule" nature of the class rules ie not one design, we added some extra divisions this year to give people an option to participate in the regatta and have races within the race because it would be unlikley for say a techno or rs one to beat a phantom 377 even though they are all class legal race boards. So instead of trying to split the field among different divisions we are trying to give people an opportunity to participate in a regatta that they otherwise would be unlikely or unable to enter and enjoy competitive racing within a division that suits the gear they have. I know it seems confusing and seems like we are splitting an already limited field but the intention is to increase participation if possible.
Regarding the learn to windsurf at RQ, the boards we are teaching on are RSX and techno's so really just like lasers the gear they are learning on is the same gear that would take them to an Olympics or a youth world championships, or at the least that is true of the boards the sails are obviously not the same. As for the racers on the flash 3k+ boards I don't see any difference between that and a laser rigging up next to a 49er, it may well intimidate some people but it may inspire others to aspire to racing the "flash" gear
PS thanks for telling your mates about it, they keep coming down and bringing more mates and all seem to be having a great time I'm not sure how many we had in Saturday but every piece of kit we had was out on the water and the vice commodore dropped by to check it out and the amount of people on the water increased his urgency to get the windsurfing storage built asap so we can use the extra gear.
As to why isn't windsurfing THE sport I think there are factors that make it difficult to enter the sport, ie mainly the learning curve requires a degree of persistence and opportunities to learn are limited. A common theme among our participants are the barriers ie the cost of commercial lessons are high and the time it takes to become independent makes it to hard for many. One of the aims at RQ was to reduce those barriers to entry which I think we have done but that would be difficult outside a sailing club, we have access to reception staff to take bookings, maintained safety boats we just grab off the pontoon already fuelled ready to go, toilets, showers, a cafe, the club is now building a windsurfing facility to store sails already rigged and boards in racks 20 feet from the beach, insurance coverage and recognised instructor qualifications etc etc all really good stuff that makes it easy to roll up and just concentrate on teaching people and pack up and go home. In other words infrastructure that windsurfing is to small to fund on its own, but as part of a sailing club everything we need is already there.
The upside for the club is the windsurfing activities are generating additional activity at the club with increased memberships and visitors and at the of the day RQ, Yaching Qld and Yachting Australia are very interested and prepared to invest in activities that increase participation in sailing and as windsurfers I think we have a lot to offer to the sport of sailing
Also many people come along and enjoy the day but that doesn't mean they go out and buy one, everytime I race go karts I have a ball but never once have I thought about making go kart racing my sport, I think we just keep giving people the opportunity to try the sport and a percentage will stick the rest will move on, the important thing is to keep providing that opportunity.
but if all I can complain about is congestion I am happy 
