hey all, read on a post here a while ago that there is no winsurf mags available here, i have looked in a few stores now and cant spot any, is this true and if so does anyone know of/ buy/ subscribe to any overseas. cheers

There's at least one you can buy online. Ok if you don't mind sitting at the PC to read. The only others I know of are Boards, Windsurfing and Windsurf.

Must admit, I much prefer reading a paper magazine rather than reading it online.

I reckon the best way to get a windsurfing magazine in print is to support Oz Windsurf. We could support them by at least reading it:

http://www.ozwindsurf.com.au/

Then we could click on their sponsors. I did and purchased some lockable roofrack straps through the website.

We could also support them by sending articles to them. I am sure they would love to get articles. Ozwindsurf seems to like publishing stuff about local spots and the people who sail there. They also like articles on food and vehicles we use. As the zine seems to be published in Queensland it would be great to get features from other states, just like Sailboard Extra seemed to concentrate on Victoria it was always good to read about stuff in NSW.

I may as well get the ball rolling. I wrote a review of the roofrack straps I bought. However the computer with the article was zapped in an electrical storm. The assessor still has it. Once I get it back I will try and recover it and send it to them.

Perhaps if Ozwindsurf got to a critical mass of revenue they would consider putting it out in printed form.

However its probable the age of the printed magazine is over and ezines are the way to go. Whats the point of paying for all the printing and distribution costs when you can view it at minimal cost on your computer?

yeh uk windsurf goes well...heaps of tips, usually a story on aus or somewhere else in the workd...good sail/board reviews

its funny as they do rider profiles and alot of them say they want to move to wa

I really do not know the way print makes its money, whether its from advertising or from circulation.

It would be the question of the carrot or the stick. Without decent circulation you do not get advertising. If you raise your cover price, circulation goes down, advertising revenue drops. If you raise your cover price you can circulate your publication in newsagents as they get a bigger cut and you make more money from sales.

Mobydisc said...

I reckon the best way to get a windsurfing magazine in print is to support Oz Windsurf. We could support them by at least reading it:

http://www.ozwindsurf.com.au/

Thanks for pointing us to Ozwindsurf Mobydisc, I can't believe I'd never seen it before!
So many familiar faces! The first article was about Hardie and Nebs
And there's so many shots of Pierre and Vando I think they must have paid off the editor!!

How often does it get released?

Hey boys .. we're hungry for content here.

All you need to do is click here
www.seabreeze.com.au/Members/Content/Contribute.aspx & start typing.

Articles & News items welcome!

www.seabreeze.com.au/News/Windsurfing/Summary.aspx

Good memory, they changed printers after that episode.
The name still exists but is just languishing in windsurfing hyperspace!!

Lets start posting to Laurie's suggestion, with all the characters on here it could be fun.

Mobydisc said...
Third idea is examining what needs to be done to revive windsurfing as a sport.

Get freesyle windsurfing on an ad for Coca-Cola. Like the kiting one back in 2001ish.

laurie said...

Mobydisc said...
Third idea is examining what needs to be done to revive windsurfing as a sport.

Send Harvey Norman and other TV retailers updated windsurfing pictures to put in their catalogs! Those pictures of opaque multicoloured battenless sails and fluro wetsuits have to stop!

Maybe thats the key to reviving the sport.

Too many sails made today are quite boring to look at. I recently bought a Neil Pryde RS6 second hand off the buy and sell. Nice sail but who came up with the colour scheme? Brown, orange and grey are pretty ordinary colours. Clear monofilm is nothing special and too many people do not clean their sails, making them look grubby.

The people who put those old multi-coloured sails in their graphic designs have spent years studying design and years practising in making ads that work. We should be learning from them and realising that colourful sails look better to the average person out there.

As for the beginner's board; we have about 99% rate, or more, in getting people going on their first day on a Wally. It's more stable in some ways than a Start, and it goes a lot faster in light winds or under a small sail.

The reason people find old boards hard is that they normally use a cruddy old rig on them. With a small rig - and you can use a very small rig since a longboard needs much less power - they are dead easy for most people. We had a 14 year old out on a Wally on Sunday, despite being a non sailor he was happily sailing around and tacking on his first ever day.....just like almost everyone else who tries it.

Starts are great in some places but other boards can be better in other areas (ie light winds and flat water where you need to be able to stay upwind).

stribo said...

laurie said...

Mobydisc said...
Third idea is examining what needs to be done to revive windsurfing as a sport.

Send Harvey Norman and other TV retailers updated windsurfing pictures to put in their catalogs! Those pictures of opaque multicoloured battenless sails and fluro wetsuits have to stop!

Damn right Laurie that annoys the hell outa me.Even on getaway when Jennifer Hawkins was learning to windsurf in the Witsundays ..Bloody old wally from the 80's
Now if she was on a starboard start she would have been sailing around having a ball .Instead she was whinning that it was so hard and tippy and heavy...I doubt she will try again

Did she have an instructor?
Was she trying to learn in 15 knots? (As I've seen some people try).
How big was the rig?
I had a single private lesson with a sailboard instructor and a longboard in 1983 and was sailing in 2 hours. I was 15 at the time and no giant.

Not exactly CBD, but the newsagent at Royal Randwick stocks both Boards and Windsurf. They only get 2 or so in every month though and are often gone by the week after they come in.

my 5 cents...

1) Windsurf mags (like most speciality magazines) make their money from advertising. the money they make from magazine sales barely pays for printing. You need a circulation of at least 15k to really attract advertisers. I believe Freesail isn't published any longer because they couldn't attract enough advertising.

2) The better mags in Europe (eg. Surf Magazine and Surfers Magazine both in German) have a circulation of around 45k to 100k. Most of their production budget goes into paying for articles and photography followed by printing.

3) Good articles and photos cost good money. Period! There is a reason why John Charter is now working as a full time staff with Boards UK. My guess it's mainly to save money.

4) The Australian market is probably to small to really sustain a frequently published windsurf magazine... sadly. But it's quite simple really: there aren't enough people interested in windsurfing in this country.

Btw. Borders (both Sydney CBD and Bondi Junction) usually has Boarders UK and the US mag Windsurfing on their shelves. They are usually a couple of months old.

It's probably fair to say that Windsurfing in Australia is too small to support an Australian magazine.
Maybe there could be a mag that covers Australia, New Zealand and SE Asia. Not only do you have a lot more people to buy the mag, but there are loads more businesses to advertise in it, including tons of resorts etc that probably wouldn't have considered advertising in a solely Australian publication.
The main problem with Sailwind quarterly was that you had already read all the stories etc in other international mags in the couple of months you were waiting for it to come out.
If it's not a monthly issue, then you're talking old news!