sboardcrazy said..
I've got a friend who sails an old 80's Wally and wants to upgrade to more modern kit- no gear for him to try out other than mine and most of mine is unsuitable.
Local shop only orders in boards when you want to buy..certainly not a progressor / beginner friendly sport around here. Once you're in the know especially in GPS circles you can get gear etc but not for people like him.
He's just going to have to take a punt and buy something and hope it will do the job.

Well we got him a board - a 125 Tabou Bullit. Got to find a 6m 2nd hand rig and then a few tips from me ( bad habits and all) and hopefully he'll be on his way!

People are generally now used to instant satisfaction or results in these days of instant news, snap chat, twitter, facebook, and an iphone permanently attached to the palm of their hands.
Windsurfing requires way too much time be get good at, for those in need of instant gratification, and you'll have to put your iphone down.
SUPing, quick results, relatively speaking.
Kiting, quick results, relatively speaking.
Fast food, the only fuel you'll need, and only requires one hand to eat.

So many good & interesting POV raised in this topic, the last from the USA guys are quite true, people want quick cheap and easy, very few prepared to work hard and long to the achieve the skills base. The best counter to this is 2 weeks dedication at well equipped windsurf resort.

Not sure the technical aspects of the sport kill it, that just consumer choice..you can get by with very little gear if your honest with yourself and your sailing.
Although I do think the most focus should be applied the most common/popular type of sailing style and gear, to have the most effect.

The other part seems true also the 'industry' seem to spend all their efforts into getting current participants to update gear, and very little on promoting to the outside world, and with SUP on the go they do seem to focussing most of their efforts towards SUP as quite simply this is where the growth and $$ is.

So if windsurfing is a drug, and we know it is.. spend less time on those already hooked and more time on getting more people hooked..a drug dealer gives the first hit for free to get one hooked...the 'industry' needs to think the same, they seem fixated on just getting a 'upgrade' sales instead of new participants.
The equipment has never been easier to learn on than now, especially with inflatable tech, so no better time than now, I don't believe the cost issue is massive factor, didn't stop kites.

In this part of the world the industry just leave it to a handful of 'volunteers' to get people hooked and hope that they then get a sale, the 'industry' not volunteers needs to 'invest' into the sports growth for it to prosper.

Take a leaf out of the AFL/NRL/Soccer Cricket junior development programs/marketing they are spending heaps (and always have) on getting people hooked, and the long term rewards and results are proven. Even Lawn bowls has a newbie strategy/plan in place!

These industry's don't sit back and rely on volunteer support only, sure there is heaps there also, but they do invest. A pro footballer especially the newbies just on contract are put to work, doing clinics, lessons, school PR etc, a sponsored or pro Windsurfer does what??? The industry may give them discounted or free gear, but again how does that promote the sport to the world?

If I was a 'brand' my 'pro sailors' would be spending 75% of their time on promoting the sport, 25% on Comp and self promotion within the industry.

Name the 'fully paid for and sponsored' 'industry' come and try/learn/promote program in your area, what schools program are they running in your area?

Media also is key, what would the 'industry' media/marketing strategy to the mass market be? How are they pushing the sport at mainstream media? I doubt there is a strategy in this country or resources dedicated to the cause. Given that the sport is so small it may have to be joint effort across the brands sharing the cost, which would actually be quite a realistic idea/goal, it all starts with a 'strategy' and I fail to see any evidence of one from the industry in this country.

Call me simple, but imagine a van/trailer in each state travelling to a suitable learning spot offering free come and try weekends every weekend, that alone would ensure a great uptake, but has regular and consistent. RQYC - Cam and the team have the closest to that going on in Brisbane and its doing a great job, amazing program and service...but again this isn't 'industry' initiative doing it, its volunteers and participants giving up their personal time.

It all has to start from the top as a joint industry effort, with a plan and strategy, done properly and executed consistently over 2-3+ year time frame,I have no doubt the sport will again grown in Australia.

Left on its own, it's in trouble.

I can't imagine the sport ever dead completely. All the time there are people sailing, there are always going to be some that say they would like to do it standing on something smaller and more manoeuvrable, and easier to get down to the beach. Although kiting competes for a lot of the attention windsurfing tries to get, they are different fundamentally that I think they can both exist. I do think the fun side of windsurfing needs to be promoted as much or more than the extreme side to get kids and families involved.

I remember many days as a kid (well kinda) sailing, not planning, with some mates out. just tacking around, trying to knock each other off. ramming each other on old plastic boards, and just messing around until dark. We tried to copy those old videos of jumping from one board to another and carry on going, climbing up the rig and still moving. Or, just dropping the sail and sitting around having a chat out to sea, marvelling in the unique view that we had. This was our summer and we couldn't give a hoots that we weren't planning. We still had a lot more fun than sitting on the beach and it wasn't costing us anything to do. What should be the difference now. You couldn't do that on a kite or a boat. It was fun.

I believe the "COOL" factors heavily in the decline of windsurfing.

For a start, you are 99.99% in the drinks for the first 6 months of your windsurfing endeavour. You became the entertainment for folks hanging around the beach. If you still have much skin left on your elbows and knees, and you didn't bust your voice box from constant swearing, the next 6 months may see you enjoying some "quality" time on the water, and not in it !

If you still believe what John F Kennedy said "We do it not because it is easy, but because it is hard !", then you may experience a brief few seconds of being on the plane, before you soiled your teeny weeny red budgie smuggler and let go of the lot. Then possibly another 6-12 months, before you are brave enough to hook into a harness line, and face the prospect of doing some involuntary somersaults with double pikes ! 2 years or more, I reckon, before you can comfortably hook in and lean back, and let the wind do all work for you.

On a jet ski, you are an instant hero. You can blast around to impress your girlfriend. Hawaii Five-O stuff, or Bondi Beach Rescues at your finger tips. Of course, the varieties of affordable Quad bikes that can take you anywhere, clime any mountain, but not necessarily take you home alive !

We are not a patience society. What do we want ? When do we want it ? We want it NOW !

I love windsurfing and the feeling you get from it, but kitesurfing is so much easier with regards to handling gear and also the cost of replacing....

You only have to look at the dated PWA website and that we're still going on about current exploits of past heroes like Robbie, Jason and Bjorn to know the sport is stuck in the past.

And people are right about it being uncool. The sport has very much become like skiing when snowboarding came onto the scene. The participants are all older, wear unfashionable clothes and have more money. Only difference is skiing reinvented itself. I'm not sure windsurfing is capable unless it can tap into the SUP market better. When I'm rigging up its amazing how many kids on the beach don't even know the name of the sport.

i don't think it will ever be big and maybe not even get to its former popularity but it's pretty average that Australia can't even manage an RSX representative even though NZ can. This is the Olympic class and unlike most windsurfers can be used in light winds and learnt on. I'm bias but I reckon we should all have a big board of some sort - even if it's just to give the odd friend a go before the wind picks up.

windsurfing is probably best compared to other 80's fringe sports like hang gliding and waterskiing. As the participants of those sports have aged they have declined in popularity. I'm not holding my breath but I only hope that somehow the sport becomes relevant again. Let's face it, how much better is it getting pushed along by the wind than paddling into it.

"If they have a poor image of windsurfing, fill your facebook stream with videos of Gollito Estredo or Phillip Kosta."

But won't that just reinforce the daunting image you mentioned? And if presenting radical freestyle is going to make the sport more popular, wouldn't it have become a lot more popular over the last 15 years we've been doing that, or the 15 years before that we spent presenting wavesailing? Does saying "hey, this is windsurfing, and you'll never be able to do it" attract many people?

To try to compare the images of various sports, I checked out their Wiki pages pics. The majority of pics on the pages for sailing, road cycling, SUPping, MTBing and kayaking showed people doing something they could do on day 1. Only 2 pics out of the 13 on windsurfing showed something they could do on day 1. Many of the other pics were of people doing stuff even experienced fanatics can't do.

There is a lot of research about why people don't do sports, and lack of time is normally the biggest issue - so shouldn't we also be showing the sides of our sport that doesn't need huge slabs of available time?SUPping, kayaking, road cycling etc are booming and they don't really push the radical stuff- they show people how easy it can be. They show a sport that people can do in the available time.*

Like you say, we CAN all teach friends how to windsurf. We don't even need a widestyle beginner's board. Most people can get tacking or gybing on day 1. The basic stuff isn't too hard, but for some reason we keep pushing a form of the sport that is too hard for even the majority of fanatics, and which people know they cannot do.

None of this is meant to be dissing freestyle, or waves, or any other form of windsurfing, which are all fantastic. It's just that there is a ****load of evidence from many forms, ranging from academic research to just checking out boom sports, that shows what works in promoting a sport is showing the stuff that the average person can actually do on their restricted time and budget. What each of us loves to do personally can be completely different to what we should present to the average person we want to get into the sport.


*Of course, if you live in WA or where AH has his great little junior programme working, it's a different story.

^^^^
Good to hear that you are glued to Kitesurfing as I live in fear of an influx of nostalgic ex-kitesurfers returning to windsurfing and transforming it into some sort of aquatic "Portlandia". A place where its always 1990.

Its much better if we all teach someone new how to windsurf and experience that vicarious thrill of someone else getting hooked on the sport...

zemax said..

Al Planet said..
^^^^
Good to hear that you are glued to Kitesurfing as I live in fear of an influx of nostalgic ex-kitesurfers returning to windsurfing and transforming it into some sort of aquatic "Portlandia". A place where its always 1990.

Its much better if we all teach someone new how to windsurf and experience that vicarious thrill of someone else getting hooked on the sport...

A mate of mine did just that, at first my cousin tried to teach me windsurf on a 1992 76l sinker, howling 25kn seabreeze, wanting me to get beachstarting straight up... not really pleasant, my only achievement was snapping the vintage Z boom! I thought no way will I ever even stand on that skinny board!

Then, a good mate actually taught me on some recent gear, 130l freeride board and on a gentle Sunday morning, granted, it took me a few mornings just to get the hang of it, but I was up and planning after 5-6 sessions. Now onto my 3rd seaon, I can't wait to see the green arrows lighting up on the forecast! I know he taught a few of us, and Jez is always busy on Sunday mornings teaching newcomers, it doesn't look THAT gloomy for windsurfing...

What you said about learning to sail on a small board rang true. I have seen quite a few instances where people tried in vain to teach learners to sail, on choppy water, and strong wind !

I believe it is very irresponsible for the teachers to do that because the first couple of lessons are the most important. If you are forever in the drinks, and got hit by the rig, left, right and centre, you are most unlikely to want to keep doing it. On a couple of occasions, I have told the optimistic teacher that it is a waste of time, and a discouragement to teach a learner in such condition, and with unsuitable gear. I got a blank look, possibly a hidden message like "F-off and mind your own business !"

I was lucky that, when I started windsurfing, the surf shop owner was very generous with his time and efforts. He refused to sell me a board that was as big as the Titanic unless I get some lessons first. And guess what, he gave the three free lessons ! It goes to show that most windsurfers are a good bunch

KookieMonster said..

Chris 249 said..
"If they have a poor image of windsurfing, fill your facebook stream with videos of Gollito Estredo or Phillip Kosta."

But won't that just reinforce the daunting image you mentioned? And if presenting radical freestyle is going to make the sport more popular, wouldn't it have become a lot more popular over the last 15 years we've been doing that, or the 15 years before that we spent presenting wavesailing? Does saying "hey, this is windsurfing, and you'll never be able to do it" attract many people?

Like you say, we CAN all teach friends how to windsurf. We don't even need a widestyle beginner's board. Most people can get tacking or gybing on day 1. The basic stuff isn't too hard, but for some reason we keep pushing a form of the sport that is too hard for even the majority of fanatics, and which people know they cannot do.

Chris, regarding the the image, I guess it really depends on the personality of the folks you are encouraging to learn, its probably different for different people. Personally I got a mate into windsurfing in high-school (MKSeven), by just leaving magazines on his desk showing Jason Polakow and Robbie Naish riding monster waves and doing forward loops. It made us want to windsurf (even if we still can't forward loop lol). On the other hand I look at pictures of folks kayaking or SUPing on flat water or windsurfing on wallys and think, what is the point? (not that there is anything wrong with those sports, but it would not attract me personally, so you know, horses for courses.)

You are of course right that you don't need a modern widestyle board to teach someone, my point is simply that its easier to learn short-board riding now than ever, but a lot of people still talk about it as if it is as difficult as it was during the needle nose fad, which probably puts a few people off. I had a mate come down this summer and give the long board a go, he (miraculously from my point of view) sailed back and forth across the bay on his first day in a gentle breeze, can in and told me he could not see what all the fuss was about and never came back. Floating around on longboards is not for everyone. I guess I'm just saying there is no one way to teach or to get people into the sport. Its just going to depend on the person.

To some extent, people who are time poor and don't want too much of a challenge are probably better off on a SUP anyway.

I'm sure you're dead right - different strokes are for different folks. There's no one way to teach or get people into the sport.

About challenge - after doing just about all types of windsurfing (waves, slalom, freestyle, longboarding, cruising, instructing, etc) since 1978, I still find something as simple as getting a longboard upwind in 8 knots of breeze is a massive challenge - as long as you're trying to do it as well as ex-Olympians and people like that. Like the 100m run, everyone can do it but there's a huge challenge in doing it better.

If I look at my other sports (cycling and boat sailing) it seems that a lot of the reason they are doing better than windsurfing is because they give people a challenge that's not restricted to windy conditions, and they give it in a more sociable atmosphere in a lot of ways. If people were told how windsurfing as something that could be either relaxing OR challenging, even if it's not windy, then maybe more of them be interested. And some of us relish a challenge, but not when we can't challenge ourselves unless the wind cooperates - then everything becomes so much out of our control that the challenge evaporates.

It often seems to me that where windsurfing loses it is that it hasn't found a sort of seamless flow between the relaxing stuff (like the flatwater SUPping and leisure kayaking) and what is seen as the more challenging or weather dependent stuff. In sports like cycling, yacht sailing or sea kayaking you can give yourself a heart attack or scare yourself ****less by going further or harder, without getting into racing or being dependent on the wind. They also allow you to challenge yourself a lot on the same sort of gear you can ride to work or use any day on the harbour, and there is probably more respect from the guys who do the "extreme" stuff towards the guys who do the other stuff really well. As an example if you are a good sailor in the slow, simple but popular Laser dinghy class, you get quite a lot of respect from the top guys in the 'extreme' side of sailing like Sydney-Hobart racing or America's Cup foilers. You don't get similar things happening in windsurfing.

I don't mean to be hyper-critical and hypocritical....just raving about a problem that the sport doesn't seem to have really got to grips with. Sorry about getting the widestyle point wrong. Cheers, and I hope you don't put yourself in hospital like I did trying for forwards!

MrSpinout said..
Add to what have been said:

- The large size of the gear and required storage
- Cost of gear
- Need for a car to transport your gear

Those 3 were the reason why I stopped for 10 years

+ Children.

I would instantly join a club (and pay a premium) if they has decent gear available on the beach ready to sail. I'm not interested in old long boards or large beginner kit.

Sailing has stood the test of time because they offer storage at or very near the waterfront as well as a range of boats you can lease for the season. Kids come along and are drawn into sailing because their mum or dad do it.

I sold all my kit to move to dinghy racing for this reason.

Some pictures of the weekend at RQYS, had about 18 or 20 people attend for the Saturday morning session half kids half adults.




The new bic windsups arrived and got christened, old RSX in the background with cut down fins make good learning boards







Bic Nova rigs a working great, light weight and durable plus by not having a super short boom it helps to control power of the sail as its not either on or off but power can be increased gradually.




Two container's acting as temporary storage whilst we wait for the windsurfing shed to get built, plus a brand new Nova 4.5 getting unwrapped and rigged urgently as one of the participants waits to get it wet for the first time.