Re: 60 minutes - Why did they fail to mention that long before the first tow-in, these huge waves (eg Jaws) weren't "unrideable" - they were the exclusive domain of those crazy guys with sails on their surfboards??

sausage said...

I think until we're prepared to wear boardies over our wetsuits then I don't think we'll attract those young whipper snappers.

I'm 22, started windsurfing last year (do I fit into the young-whippersnapper catergory?)

Windsurfing way more attractive then kiting for me (sailing/surfing background, not wakeboarding or skating), wanted something that was sailing but easier, faster, cheaper and more convenient and flashy

WetWilly - too true, but 60mins doesn't know a bodysurfer from a windsurfer

I'm just worried about in 15-30 years when the older mob of windsurfers pack up their boards, will there still be gear being manufactured for me?

555 said...

Probably.. it's still really popular overseas.

I was talking to a guy from the south of France a couple of months back, and he was amazed that we could just leave our kit on the grass unattended.

Apparently they have guys in big vans over there who will pull up alongside a parked car with windsurfing gear on the roof, leap out with big bolt cutters, chop the roof racks off the car (!!!), throw the whole lot in the back of the van and drive off.

they must be the creditors

I agree with a lot of the points raised however what is lacking over here is the whole holiday windsurfing that happens in Europe. So many of my mates back home (UK) get into windsurfing by doing it on holiday such as the greek islands, Egypt etc.. and there is a whole tourist industry that is built around windsurfing holidays e.g. Planet Windsurf / Sportif etc...
People go on these windsurf holidays year after year where there is good instruction, constant winds and no need to travel with gear. This is one big reason why windsurfin is more popular in Europe.
The whole idea of holiday windsurfing over here is non existant except a few Aisian destinations and Lano...
Kiting will also suffer the same in the future as windsurfing now the heyday will stop just like windsurfins heyday camr to an end in the 90s..

WS'ing appeals to me because it's niche and it's a difficult to master. WF'ing is definately in it's dark ages I reckon. I think it will come back (probably in a different flavour), but kiting will one day get trashed for the latest offering. For the moment, our scene is small, helpful and chilled out. You don't get the w*kers like you get in other hobbies/sports.

Poida said...

my precious,

Stop trying to make the rest of us jealous - its working

did I see you in the star board video posted in

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=42482

Nuff said Pointmun allready said wot had to be said so shut the fk up,let thhe over priced industris suffer and go bust like they have allways done.....Underground promotes itself, not the expected mainstream no where to look next blks

i hope Andre Paskowski keeps churning out those home made vids of gollito and friends. thats about the best sailing footage i've ever seen not filmed from a helicopter (not so sure about some of the music). surely that kind of stuff posted onto youtube must help things along somewhat. i'd rather sit at home watching that on channel 9 sport for 3 hours instead of dumb-ball

I'm getting to the point now where I usually avoid posting on threads like this one as I'm starting to think they are pointless.

I'll post this time as it just gives another perspective as to why the windsurfing retention rate is something like 20% while most other sports are 40% or whatever...

Like most people these days, I don't have an infinite number of free hours in the day (but still more than most working full time). If I'm going to spend some time on recreation, I want 3 main things from it. They are fitness/health benefit, entertainment, and time efficiency (in that order of priority). Cost is also a major factor, but is hard to place it as a priority.

I'm going to compare cycling for fitness, flat_water_SUP and windsurfing, all of which I try to do.

Fitness/health benefit:

Cycling has a good result here obviously and I've already lost 4Kg in the last few months. Cycling is not easy but worth it for me.

SUP has some aerobic benefits (about the same or less than walking for the average paddle) and benefits in core and upper body strengthening (but nothing great).

Windsurfing is entertaining but unless it is blowing, I don't believe there is a great fitness benefit compared to the other two.

Entertainment: (This one is obvious)

Windsurfing is the most entertaining by far.

SUP comes in second as the scenery is nice and relaxing.

Cycling is OK to be doing something, but mainly an exercise in pain and achievement more than anything else.

Time efficiency:

A 1 hour cycle takes 1 hour 15 minutes (setup time etc).

SUP on the harbour for 1 hour takes 2 hours.

Windsurfing for 1 hour at Botany takes a total of 3 hours. On the harbour would still take more time than SUP as more packing and setup time.

Cost:

Cycling takes little more than $1K to setup on a flat bar road bike. (Like many I already had the bike etc).

SUP costs about $2.5K to setup with one board and paddle. (I already had an old Windsurfer hull longboard which is tougher anyway and got a $200 aluminium/fibreglass paddle).

Windsurfing minimum of $3k which is what it cost me last year.
(By the way, I'm not new to windsurfing as I started in about 1983).


In addition to the above the availability due to weather if far less restrictive to cycle or SUP that to windsurf. Consequently I cycle and SUP about twice a week each and windsurf maybe one a month currently on average (less lately).

When I weigh up the cost to recreational benefits listed above and the frequency of use, anyone can see why Mr Average would have a hard time justifying windsurfing.

[The above is the way I currently see it. If for some reason you disagree of are in some way offended by the above post, it was not my intention to offend, just to post what I believe to currently be the truth from my perspective. I'm not interested in arguing about it so don't waste your key strokes.]

Nobody, where I live, an hour or so of windsurfing takes all day:

30mins-1 hour to get to the beach

30 mins to rig up 3 sails and lay 2 boards out

several hours to wait and pace up and down, talk to friends, tinker with gear

a short nap

30 minutes to sail, IF the wind is kind enough to blow for that long

Another 30 minutes to an hour of light-wind sailing, freestyle etc

Maybe 2 hours of beer drinking with friends, while derigging the sails and putting the boards away in between rounds

Shower, change, one more for the road

...that's windsurfing!!

..I think I'll move to WA...

nobody said...

I'm getting to the point now where I usually avoid posting on threads like this one as I'm starting to think they are pointless.

Yep, never stopped us before though!

I was having dinner with a few people the other night and a German bloke said something along the lines of "everybody in Germany windsurfs".
(perhaps Trauma could confirm?)

I'm curious, are kite numbers still growing, or have they started to stagnate? It's been nearly ten years now.

red said...

I believe we'll see a resurgence in the sport when the current crop of "beginner' boards slowly filter through the second hand market.

realises that he/she will not pay $1000-2000 for a new-style setup.

Then they go and gets a $200 board of ebay (old school - long board) and gives up in frustration.

So true, exactly what I did, learners are often kids or uni students (both poor)
And learning on a broken race board with broken sails is a bitch (even with the added advantage of being a small boat sailor beforehand)

Oh yeah and I think we need more T&A (chicks in swimwear) in our mags like surfing and kiting mags. Sex sells!

I remember when I was a kid there was a windsurfing shop in Parramatta (NSW)!