felixdcat said...

I don't care if it is cool or popular! I windsurf because I enjoy it and it gives me kicks and adrenaline rushes, I do not want it to become extremely popular. What will I gain for it; more peeps doing it = less parking space, less water space, more gear getting stolen, more agro .....
Love it to stay the way it is.
Young peeps stay out of my sport!

I agree with this in part.
-people on our forum, visiting our forum, getting into the sport, meeting windsurfers at beaches etc often comment on what a great bunch of people the windsurfing community are. Full of help and advice, good sense of humour, grounded in life etc.

I like it like that. Good people at the beach to sail with!
I'd hate to have our car parks and rigging areas full of dickeads with bad attitudes who don't really care about the sport, but just "do it 'cos it's cool"

eg When my mates and I have a sail there are no near collisions on the water through arrogance or ignorance, and when we have a beer after a sail, you can be sure any cans end up in the bin, not on the foreshore.

When we teach others to windsurf we should choose wisely....
- grow the sport in the right direction.

......to me the quality of the people participating in our sport is more important than the quantity.

Make windsurfing cool again??
....careful what you wish for....

I believe the two sports can't really be compared.

Yes, they both use water.
Yes, they both use wind.

But that's about it.

The equipment is completely different.
The learning process is completely different.
The physical movements are completely different.

Just enjoy whichever of the two sports you are into, unless, of course, you do both!

Cheers

finally

albers said...

I believe the two sports can't really be compared.

They cannot be compared as sports because one is a sport and the other one ain't.

They come back ashore fresh as a rose, whereas many of us come back exhausted after a good session. There are exceptions: yes sailboarding a 2m sail in a 3 knot wind is not very sporty. Competitive kiting like long distance races might be demanding, I don't know, but the 98% we see every weekend at the beach is more like reading a book.

Kiting is something you do because you don't want to do a watersport - nothing wrong with that. Before I pick my students, I take them to the beach, and I show them the difference. I really, really push them towards kiting, or other easy stuff, if they don't want to work too hard. Technically you could say I promote kiting...

As you say, to each his/her own. Nothing wrong with activities either, as long as said activities don't interfere with real water sports once on the beach.

And another thing....

Windsurfing went through the "cool" phase years ago, in the '80s. Robby Naish was one of the biggest sporting stars in the huge German market. 250,000 spectators watched live during the ten day Dutch World Cup. Security guards were needed when there were autograph sessions. Here in Oz, we had something like 5 choppers circling over the Cannon Run with cameras.

And it all turned to crap. The two years in which the above events occurred saw the boom start to turn to bust. Windsurfing went from being the fastest-growing watersport to one that was notable for the speed of its collapse.

Going for the cool extreme spectator-oriented look didn't work last time, it doesn't work for most other sports, so why bother?

One of the boom sports of today is sea kayaking - ironically, much of the growth in that sport was built on the simple, cheap low-performance polyethylene manufacturing that windsurfing turned its back on. Windsurfing dumped such "low tech" stuff and collapsed - kayaking picked up the techniques and in some cases the very operators and very same machinery and boomed.

And finally, even on spectator appeal - go to the IOC site and download the TV ratings for various sports at the Olympics. Supposedly "extreme" disciplines are almost always outrated by less-extreme versions of the same sport. Road cycling far outrates "extreme" BMX and MTB. Flat water kayak racing outrates "extreme" white water kayak slalom. People rowing boats on a still lake far outrates the 49ers and Tornado cats, and the slowest water sport (swimming) is the highest-rated. Supposedly-sexy beach volleyball is outrated by "boring" normal volleyball.

People watch the sport that they do, but they don't often seem to get into a sport by watching it unless it looks easily accessible.

I'm doing a PhD on the impacts of technology on sports participation, and neither I or my supervisors can find any proof of the idea that making a sport extreme o increasing viewership will get people to participate. There is a LOT of evidence to point the other way.

terminal said...



You cant be cool if you try to be cool.



Yes you can...

but most of the posts are my dribble

We really do need a lotofwind at the moment

jermaldan said...

Zed said...

I think within 2 - 3 years kiting numbers will drop.

Because all the owners will be stuck up trees and powerlines? ;P

Ha ha yeah maybe. Nah I think due to the relatively cheap cost and short learning curve, the number of kiters will continue to rise which means more and more noobs and guys who just don't give a f*ck. Sooner or later (in WA anyway) a kiter is going to seriously injure a member of the public and then it's bannings/restrictions/fines.. you'll end up with 80 kiters trying to kite in one small little spot - numbers will drop. It's amusing that a few years ago Kiters were all "ha ha kiting is more popular than windsurfing" now they're like "kiting is more popular than windsurfing - f*ck my life..."

jermaldan said...

Meh... I got nothing, I just want to see this thing go to six pages

I'll see your six and raise you seven.

I could care less if more people sail or not.
Crowds piss me off, and it's bad enough getting a park at Currumbin most of the time anyway, cos it's such a choice place.
OTOH, a minimum number of sailors are needed to keep the shops afloat.
I don't need more people to sail to order to validate my choice of recreation.

In competition, its all about performance.

I like that its a performance driven sport. That doesn't mean that you restrict the applications. If you want to cruise around on a Serenity, you can and it does what it was designed for very well, and Starboard also led the way into developing good kit for learners and kids.

It doesn't have to be high performance - just very fit for purpose. Windsurfers dont wear boardshorts over their wetsuits because its unnecessary. If things work, they get kept, and there's very little style discussed compared to function.

The only problem with that that I see, is that the high performance gear costs more, development each year is now marginal and in the current economic situation, sales will drop more than they would with cheaper, heavier gear.

SWS said...

It seems to all come down to money it is easier to make money on expensive gear even selling less than selling reasonably priced gear.

Then why is hyundia twice as profitable as Lexus?

Cheaper gear would be great if it was available but besides myself and a few others, who would buy brand new not quite top of the range cheap sh!t. Probably not too many people. Also what other material is available to build cheap mass produced boards. Polyethelene board require very expensive moulds that for a few exception make a very second rate board. ASA is a bit better but still has limitations. Sails could be made from dacron which would be good for a year before they bag out.
Any way did that rant get to page 6

You could be well set up with a decent kit for less than $3000. Most people with a job could afford this if they saved up for a few months.

Of course the cost of living is going up all the time and appears it will continue to skyrocket. Australia was once known as a cheap place to live but now its becoming a much more expensive place to live.

Perhaps the time will come when we can all sell up in Australia and retire to Maui. Then we will complain about too many windsurfers with nowhere to park and rig up.

Cost and amount of gear has little to do with the popularity.

It's been said before, and a browse through the buy and sell pages shows that perfectly good gear can be picked up cheap, also beginners gear is cheap compared to pro/ limited edition stuff. All sports are the same, look at anyone that's serious about cycling.... How mang bikes do they have and how much do they cost $1500, $2000 - more like $5000 each. My mate likes to fish. All his gear excluding boat cost several thousand. My father in law plays golf ... Two sets of clubs each cost between $2000. -$4000.

The one and only thing that turns people away from windsurfing is that it's feckin difficult. People that see the sport and think they would like to try it all want to be planing in the straps soon as they start ..... How many people do you k ow or have seen try it a few times then quit. I even know of a few that have spent a couple of grand on kit, seen them use it half a dozen times in one season then never seen them again.

And since no-one can make it as jet skiing, swimming, cycling or skiing .... It always going to be a niche .... Reserved only for those with patience and resilience. It's that simple.