deejay8204 said...

I am really sorry about that, I didn't mean to point that at you

no worries

deejay8204 said...

I have only been on the water a few times now & last weekend was the first time I was able to turn the board around and make it back to the shore line. All in 1 Day I was doing this not weeks or years.

Takes me back to the first time I sailed. Just bought my Windrush Clubman new and off to the lake I went, never been near a sailboard till then. Rigged it how the salesman told me and into the water I went. Havin great fun falling in but did not notice the wind was off shore, it did not matter 'I was windsurfin'. Then it dawned on me that I was getting further away from the shore and better head back somehow

By this time I am out of the nearby hill's wind shadow, mid summer, NE blowing and I am running out of puff trying to uphaul the sail from the water (the usual story). Cut a long story short, another windsurfer going past me asked if I need help. He happened to have a length of rope in his bumbag (don't know why he would) and tied one end to his mast base and the other end to the 'handle' on the front of the clubman. Took me back to shore

I can still play the movie of this in my head as if it was yesterday. Some things you just never forget, like your first kiss.... but that's another story

Interesting thread!

deejay8204 said...
mine is an old rope to mast and boom as well. I love vintage stuff, and your right it teaches a bit of history and patience as well.

Those "rope to mast and boom" tie-on arrangements were terrible things, in my opinion. (Albeit necessary; it's all we had). It was such a fine line between a sloppy connection, vs. crushing the mast.

The clamp-on boom was a great advance in convenience and functionality. I wouldn't want to go back to using tie-ons again.

its all about progression, imagine if kiters were still learning on 2 line kites, or if learner drivers were driving 30 year old cars...

however windsurfing gear is overpriced, it costs about 350-550 to make a board, but then you have:

sponsored riders
research and developement
admin staff
accountants
managers
plane tickets for flying everyone around
shipping costs
eff up costs (expensive for severne atm, hehehe, just a dig)
advertising
hot women promoting the sport
sponsored events
iphone apps
production costs....

say fanatic for example $3000 for a board with some carbon kevlar in it and $3600 for a textreme version.

no wonder i took up kiting [}:)]

Bristol said...
Interesting thread!

Those "rope to mast and boom" tie-on arrangements were terrible things, in my opinion. (Albeit necessary; it's all we had). It was such a fine line between a sloppy connection, vs. crushing the mast.

I adjust the rope so by the time you bring the boom to right angle with the mast, you have to hear a couple of fiberglass 'cracks'. So I guess you can say

- no cracks = too loose
- couple cracks = right on
- too many cracks = too tight

Couldn't agree more with Smithy on the commitment thing.

I teach a fair bit, and I get a lot of "too hard this" after a mere 10-15 minutes, on ideal club Go boards or nice SUP for learning, with nice on-shore light breeze in a mere 2 feet of warm water and sandy bottom. Never, ever had that on the old gear.

I've been very careful about potential learners the last few years. I direct brats towards easier choices in life - and you know what I mean.

wow, great posts, really enjoyed reading them, some great stories and memorys, me, im along time listener, first time caller, so here goes, ha, i grew up on scottland island in the eighties and everyone windsurfed, i started at about five, we had one designs, sea skip, then eventually got serious on a bombora new toy, haha, it was a sweet time, thats when we moved away, so the sport was going well in the earlier ninties , i took windsurfing up about five yrs ago, ive really enjoyed the journey so far, just a hobby lake blaster, the gears great, i love the whole gps thing going on, ive gone to sandy pt the last couple of years, im loving the pilgramiage feel about that trip plus get to hang with some great people, and watch some heros set the water on fire, i love the basic vibe in sydney and central coast wear i sail, people are still helpful, and kind, even behind a little competitiviness, the gps, everyone, all the lake sorta of blasters always want to improve, i did heaps of bodyboarding and competitions, from local monthly comps, to port teams challenge, nationals, etc, and heaps of amature boxing, about a yr ago i tried my first windsurfing comp, slalom racing at ramsgate, it was sorta fun, but didnt really compere to the other sports id competited in, people were great, but it was not well organised and overall boring, i wouldnt bother going back to another, so really i can only buy formula gear to compete on, mmmm, not interested right now, so there doesnt really appear to be a platform for sailors like me, lake, speed theme, wannabes, to come together, compete, have fun, thrive, thats probably why people luv the gps so much, cause its the only real competitive vibe, at local level, amongst friends, other team members, etc, i dont know how popular boxing wouldve have been, if fighters never fought each other, ha, the sport does seem to be full of the older statesman if you will, which isnt a real good sign for the sport as a whole, personally, i love it, not too many people in the line up, thats what sorta killed of surfing for me, the vibe is friendly amongst sailors, yeah, the gears dear, i think its worth it, and i live in sydney, sometimes weeks between session cause of poor conditions, how sweet does it feel to sail all day, now its over, at home finished dinner sitting there, just feeling so great, so happy and vibrant, exhausted and so excited about the next sess, i just feel like a grommett again, been surfing all day, ha, i dont know what killed windsurfing for some, for me, and you dudes, it aint dead for us, were still loving it and living it, ha, i wanna go windsurfing!

Time constraints, instant gratification, team sports, money/career sports all had a huge impact on windsurfing. Hell we would have windsurfed on ferro boards if we had to! But then we had weekends at the beach, Only dad worked. Sport was for fun and if you were seriously talented with a ball then you'd consider it more than just a bit of fun and actually look at state/national teams and practicing 5 days a week.

Try and explain that to a teenager who now can't survive for 30mins without facebook and is more concerned with their looks. Their loss!

jsnfok said...
its all about progression, imagine if kiters were still learning on 2 line kites, or if learner drivers were driving 30 year old cars...

The thing that gets me is that for lots of us, lots of gear has "progressed" backwards, because it is designed for conditions you rarely get in Sydney or similar places.

The typical peak windstrength on a summer day in Sydney is something like 12 knots, and that's windier than most areas in the world. Most people get to do their sport maybe one day per weekend and one afternoon, so the chances are that they if they use typical modern gear, they will get a decent sail once every couple of weeks and the rest of the time they will schlogg around, plane intermittently, or stay ashore. That's not a good return on leisure time, money, storage etc, and it makes learning difficult.

Imagine if you were playing a team sport in which you were left on the bench every second game. You'd probably get pretty narked pretty quickly. The "progression" of windsurfing gear has lead to people being "benched" most days.

The strange reality is that on a typical day around Sydney Harbour, an original teak-boomed Windsurfer would leave a typical modern board for dead. I don't know of any other sport in which "progression" has lead to a dramatic reductionin performance in typical conditions like that.

Of course it's different in WA and places like that, but they are pretty rare.

Chris 249 said...

It's interesting to compare SUP and cycling with windsurfing. Road bikes are really heavily restricted in design, so that anyone can ride them easily. Cadel and Wiggins ride bikes that a grandmother can ride, and the sport is easy to learn. Streamlined recumbents are miles faster than a racing road bike, yet they are almost completely ignored in favour of the slower, simpler, easier-to-use and more accessible road bike. The fans flock to Tour stages where they can run as fast as the pros can ride.

SUP is slow, simple and easy.

Windsurfing has completely ignored those lessons, and it's struggling while cycling and SUPing are booming. Not surprising, really.

Yes very interesting observation!!

SUP & Cycling dont require specific weather conditions, and they both use the physiology of the rider as its engine! hmmm? Is there a lesson here? (clutching at straws I think )

Interesting read...I'm another one who bought a windsurfer (actually 3 setups) in the early 90's. The problem was that I had no idea, 400kms from the nearest w/surf lessons/shop and the fact that I bought the gear of a jockey & I was >100kgs at my peak meant that after a few weekends of trying to rig the sail (I had no internet then either) and failing miserably, I decided to shelve the kit in the shed roof-space & continued with mainstream sport.

Only when a mate turned up 15 years later with a 'GO' and modern sail, I decided to give it another chance & after a few (ok, about 20) cracks at it, got planing & was hooked!

Although I see the original poster's point, I also agree that we can easily 'evolve' ourselves to a point where (and this might be more due to my geography) there never seems to be enough wind. I'm now down to a board that doesn't float me, so need a decent wind to get going. The sad thing is, the memories of cruising on a big board & sail are still my favorite, however I seem to keep wanting to get out on smaller gear - which means less TOW.