JonesySail said...
As someone who kites/sails/sups along with a host of other sports and loves windsurfing more than anything, and has sailed for nearly 20 years kited for 10.
I can tell you one of the bigegst problems with the sport and what stops people from taking the plunge.
Over complicated, too much equipment, too much cost.
Seriously, when an interested person see someone rock up to the beach with a big fat trailer multiple boards and sails etc (often just for themselves) and adds up the $$$ and complexity, they just go..too hard, too expensive (same as I do when I look at Car racing, too expensive)
Lets face it, the guy who can plane well in under 10 knots has way more windsurfing $$ invested in the guy who cant, formula boards massive fins 10m sails are not good for our sport.
watch the crew at place like Gero WA, 1 board 2 sails for most of them, sail better longer and harder than 90% of people on the east coast. Ok we dont have that wind over here, but seriosuly 2 boards 4 sails should see most experienced sailors through most conditions. One design for racing is best as its skill/fitness not equipment that will make the difference, not that I think the NP one design is the answer, at least Tecno class is afordable.
I have been kiting in 10-18knts mainly last 10 years, wavesailing board +2 sails in strong winds, life was simple! Now that I have swapped my wave gear for Slalom I find myself fussing over equipment again, wondering how fast I am or am not, and costs...hmmm....
like most things in life, when you simplify it , its gets easy, and often popular.
Promote one design racing, and ban giant fat boards, giant fins, giant sails...if thats what you want to do..get a yacht!
You can have as much or as little gear as you like - i don't believe it puts people off. You talk as if you have concrete proof. In SEQ some have more gear because they enjoy more than one discipline, others are serious racers, and if you wish to be competitive in slalom you need more kit. If you live in gero and love waves - you only need gear for those conditions. But if you also enjoyed slalom and waves then you would need more gear. Just like if you enjoyed competing in road cycling, time trials, tack, bmx and mtb (downhill, cross country).
Windsurfing is not that complicated, it is portrayed as hard, and can be if a novice is given the wrong information. And it is not that expensive if you don't want it to be. Using SEQ conditions again as a reference, you could easily enjoy windsurfing in SEQ with one board and 2 sails. You would be on a 130L 70 wide freeride with a 7.5 and 6.0, and i would think it possible to sail 80% of the days that I have available. Total cost probably around the 3k mark depending on what level of gear you want to buy.
So ultimately I challenge your comments that windsurfing is both costly and complicated. If my 7 yr old can sail then it is not complicated, and his gear cost a total of $1500. Now i compare that to his BMX that he races ($750 +) and he will grow out of that faster than the windsurf kit. So expensive compared to what?
I think it is more of a problem when individuals make out their opinion as fact. It makes me wonder how you portray the sport to others?
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). And the thing was the number of pele standing around watching this 7 year old out there on his own sailing back and forth. Now I know that there are a number of kids that can do this, but can guarantee, that my local association would get 10 fold more media press and exposure with a 7 year old being the focus than an adult. This is where windsurfing needs to direct its attention if it wants to refill its ranks.
