I am picking up from a now closed thread . Just a few thoughts.
Yes, regretfully windsurfing is in full decline. I still keep on, at 78, but I am most of the time the only one on the water..People look at me like an oddity..Yesterday a young mom was walking her kid by the beach and said" Wow, my kid was really impressed with you.." Maybe SHE was impressed because of my age, but the kid had probably never seen a windsurfer before. A sign of the times..

True, all things human wax and wane and windsurfing could not be expected to be the exception...

It was perhaps inevitable that kitesurfing would marginalize and, to an extent, replace windsurfing, at least traditional windsurfing.

I also think, though, that the windsurfing industry has contributed to this, because it has changed its original vocation of a leisurely, affordable, family-oriented, perhaps romantic activity, centered on the enjoyment of nature, into a high-tech,( therefore expensive) speed- and- adrenaline, almost extreme, sport.

Its hyperbole-filled, marketing savvy has succeeded in creating a lucrative venue by catering to a trendy, young population of nimble contortionists and. acrobats, who fearlessly tackle two-storeys high ocean waves or foil 1 m. above the water.

These young windsurfers ( or windsurfers-to-be-) now have come to associate anything other than planing, wave-riding, foiling and speed with. grandpa and..stay away from it.

The lesser revenues for the manufacturers, caused by the dwindling number of traditional windsurfers have in part been compensated by the new windsurfing trend and the high-tech expensive equipment that goes with it.

The profits from a $ 1500 carbon foil on a $ 2000 foiling board my well make up for each lost customer of the previous ( cheaper) windsurfing era, but there should be a place for both. This is not the case.

Many who don't go for the new style of windsurfing, would get onboard, if only they could find moderately priced beginners' equipment, but it is not easy. Even the good old Bic Windsup I have, one of the best and cheaper beginner boards, for its width, stability and sturdyness, now sells for about $ 1000 USD and is not the latest technology.

In only a few years, its price has almost doubled, If you, like me, loathe the flimsy, wobbly, planing-only shortboards and want to sail, for example, on a Kona longboard, it is close to $ 2000. And what about the sails? Some sell for close to $ 1500.. Every manufacturer tries to justify these prices by a grandiloquent marketing ploy which portrays them as if they had reinvented the wheel ..

I am not a beginner. I have been windsurfing for more than twenty years, but I still use a NP 6.2 Garda sail from the 90's..It is perfectly OK with me..I have tried more recent sails, but honestly , I can't see the difference..I am sure if you gave me a $ 1500 sail I wouldn't see the difference either..

There must be one, but it is probably noticeable only in the extreme conditions of racing and competition. Yet, if you want to buy a sail, beginner or not, you have to pay $ 1000 or more.If you can't afford, you stay away or buy a $ 500 kayak.

Certainly, materials have dramatically improved, but, for God's sake, a sail is a sail! Why should they be so darn expensive? Sure, manufacturers have to recover thousands of $$$ invested in R&D for sails and other equipment.

Perhaps this huge outlay of money for R&D was not necessary for sails and we pay the price.The number of features that can be changed or improved in a sail, is after all limited, as sailing is based on the laws of physics, which have been known and applied to navigation for centuries, sometimes intuitively, since antiquity..

Manufacturers make money also and above all by creating or changing perceptions..Nothing wrong with it. Business is business. What is more questionable and deplorable is the lack of discrimination of so many buyers, who believe in the reinvention of the wheel and are willing to pay sometimes disproportionate prices for windsurfing gear and lifestyles, simply because they are.. trendy, " cool" , fashionable and set them apart from the oldtimers and their lifestyles. Perhaps old windsurfing will come back one day, , one hopes, once kitesurfing reaches its zenith..And it will, probably faster than windsurfing, because the sheer number of kitesurfers on a given spot in a windy day is making it a dangerous sport .It also takes almost an airfield to rig and deploy them..

Francone