A lady wavesailor,
A cool young guy freestyling
Slowboat & friends speed sailing,
A family with a young child using a kids rig

Windxtasy said..

A lady wavesailor,
A cool young guy freestyling
Slowboat & friends speed sailing,
A family with a young child using a kids rig

ditto ditto, but I do love the dude sailing over the falls, made me laugh

It would be hard to market nowadays. Kids ( and society in general) want instant gratification. They are not interested in spending time mastering something difficult, they need it quick and easy. In my time I've seen all the spinoff sports to the sports I loved. Skateboarding spewed out rollerblades for those who found it too hard to grab a board while in the air. Surfing spewed out boogers for those who couldn't stand up or now sup for those who like to stand up but can't transition from lying down paddling to their feet. And windsurfing came up with kitesurfing.

Windxtasy nailed it I think.

And Dan, not enough green thumbs ....

While I always think appealing to kids is great and worthwhile, i really think the target market should be a bit older. 25-35 year olds are prime candidates for the following reasons.

1.Windsurfing gear is expensive and requires a certain level of disposable income that is more common in the 25 - 35 year old demographic.
2. 25-35 year olds are the main adult demographic involved in sports / exercise ( have a look around the gym and see who is there)
3. Windsurfing appeals to people who actually like the feeling of learning things in a progressive fashion ( not impatient 15 year olds).
4. Surfing scares quite a few people as the fear of waves is there from day one. Windsurfing only gets scary when you progress a bit but the feeling of moving powered by the wind is there from day one. I have taught my girlfriend and her friend in the last few months. They love the fact that when you feel scared or outta control you can just sheet out or let go and it all stops.

Given this thought, and that you are appealing to people learning, and you can emphasise the social aspect of the sport - my suggestion for images would be people ( male and female together) planing together along on freeride boards with nice clear water, sunshine and scenery. or alternately someone carving a gybe around someone sitting on their board against a nice shoreline.

1 image is sufficient:

Marketing Windsurfing in the long, distant, historical past (feel old now?) was so much easier because it looked like this:


A Sailboarder makes his way to the shops for some new clogs.

Now there's beginner gear, family gear, wave, freestyle, freeride, slalom, race, light wind, cross-atlantic, red bull extreme... it's no longer a simple, one-dimensional sport.

I guess you have to find your target market first. I'm not sure who they are, used to be 20-30 year olds, I guess it still holds. Mostly male. Guys that want a moderate adrenaline rush, in the water, and have probably sailed or skated or surfed or similar in the past.

...Snowboarders. The two seasons line up nicely too.

market windsurfing ??
must be winter down under now
i am deciding "do i stay or do i go"
no marketing required
just need to convince the better half

MrCranky said..
Even the most amazing windsurfing vids on youtube have bugger-all views.

Most windsurfers who are right into it, the total addicts, are too busy doing it to watch it on youtube. Youtube is for things that are so new that people go to investigate it online to see what it is about.
Windsurfers would come here for advice or maybe watch an instructional vid on youtube, but you will not find people (who don't windsurf) looking for it on youtube en masse like you might with kitesurfing or wingsuits or a new class of idiocy like Jackass
Eg - millions play chess but how many hits are there for chess videos......?

Thus I don't think it is a good indicator.

dan berry said..

It would be hard to market nowadays. Kids ( and society in general) want instant gratification. They are not interested in spending time mastering something difficult, they need it quick and easy. In my time I've seen all the spinoff sports to the sports I loved. Skateboarding spewed out rollerblades for those who found it too hard to grab a board while in the air. Surfing spewed out boogers for those who couldn't stand up or now sup for those who like to stand up but can't transition from lying down paddling to their feet. And windsurfing came up with kitesurfing.

Green thumbs for this dribble really ?

Pretty hard for kids to come on here and respond to being "not interested in spending time mastering something difficult"

brett_perth said..

dan berry said..



It would be hard to market nowadays. Kids ( and society in general) want instant gratification. They are not interested in spending time mastering something difficult, they need it quick and easy. In my time I've seen all the spinoff sports to the sports I loved. Skateboarding spewed out rollerblades for those who found it too hard to grab a board while in the air. Surfing spewed out boogers for those who couldn't stand up or now sup for those who like to stand up but can't transition from lying down paddling to their feet. And windsurfing came up with kitesurfing.

Green thumbs for this dribble really ?

Pretty hard for kids to come on here and respond to being "not interested in spending time mastering something difficult"

Looks like somebody owns a booger, a SUP and also kites?

Or what about...

I'd give the job to the Horicultural Industry Network.

If they can promote celery, then they can sell anything to anyone.

New marketing slogen "Windsurfing---The perfect hobbie for when you retire."
Like Mark said, if people are interested in a sport they watch lots of vids on the net (Utube etc) but no dancer vids on the net ever get many hits so there is not alot of interest these days.
But then again, alot of the older crew dont know how to turn a computer on so its probly not fair to say its a sign of interest in windsurfing.