Out of interest Greeny, how many beginners; that aren't sons and daughters of existing customers; or aren't revisiting their youth; come through your doors wanting to buy their very first board and rig? For these guys, what's their expectations of budget required to get a beginner board with a basic rig?

Start of a new page is a really good place to start with that question Paddles and to give a bit of history......I helped unwrap a windsurfer at a yacht shop that I worked for in East Brisbane part time in 79 and was told that we could learn this new sport that weekend at Southport Yacht Club at Labrador.......can of worms opened , that virus spread like we were chucking one design windsurfers at $899 out of 40 foot containers on Saturday mornings to cashed up families who didn't want a Hobie cat like a religious rally....the sport was red hot

Just imagine that there was footy, cricket, bike riding, boy scouts, girl guides and shortboards at the points...far canal and it sort of became almost mainstream in the eighties but never really got media attention....imagine Fred Hayward riding the biggest wave in the world today at Hookipa and the worlds media being uninterested

This will never be a mainstream sport but every now and then someone sees a sail and a board and a person with a smile on their face who looks fit and healthy and asks them the question..........where can I get into this? .......then I get to be the drug dealer for our magical way of life.

Last weekend here in the U.S. was what we call "Labor Day" weekend, which amounts to a 3 day weekend. Where I windsurf on the coast of central California, it's usually only us locals, between 5 and 10, depending on who shows up. Last weekend we had 21 windsurfers out there on the water, with us regulars standing there wondering who let the dogs out? It was crowded, hard to find a place to park, and a place to rig up, most were from out of the area. So part of me really does wish it was really dying, we have been getting very spoiled not having to share the waves with anyone.
Shrinking, yes, dying, definitely not.

That's exactly how it is up our way Greeny, we are a bunch of mates who go to the beach and have a sail. Every now and again someone asks how hard it is to windsurf .................. and every now and again one of those people will get back in touch (usually here) and they start windsurfing on something owned by one of us (usually Jeff) and get hooked. Your call that it will never be a "mainstream" sport is right I reckon, but can it knock off the SUP or the rotomolded kayak as a family watersports toy?

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Mastbender said..
Last weekend here in the U.S. was what we call "Labor Day" weekend, which amounts to a 3 day weekend. Where I windsurf on the coast of central California, it's usually only us locals, between 5 and 10, depending on who shows up. Last weekend we had 21 windsurfers out there on the water, with us regulars standing there wondering who let the dogs out? It was crowded, hard to find a place to park, and a place to rig up, most were from out of the area. So part of me really does wish it was really dying, we have been getting very spoiled not having to share the waves with anyone.
Shrinking, yes, dying, definitely not.

Yeah, we have to careful what we wish for

Early 80's crowded breaks and wall to wall kooks?

Great to have the crew around to sail with. But fangin around not having to worry about having a collision is 'Top Shelf '.

No worries about collisions in Edinburgh - I don't think its in decline its been pretty stable for a while here although we could definitely do with new blood as some of us will start to die of old age

When the gales arrive everyone comes out of the woodwork

I do think its going through a transition into an established sport. When I started out everyone was the same age there is more variety now. And windsurfing IS the best sport in the world. But I look at sailing in boats and I just think wow imagine I was a moth sailor or something if I was lucky I might get to sail with someone once a decade.

I watched on YouTube windsurfers sail in Edinburgh sailing on that inlet the Firth of Fourth I think it's called.

Lovely grassy area to rig up and the water looks fairly flat too.

Scotland is way too cold for windsurfing though.

Id need to fatten up considerably to even think about sailing there.

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KA360 said..
I said they are my definitions and the opinion I have formed from doing all the windsurfing disciplines and have riden every type of board since 1978 ,
I see it as 2 different sailing sports. SAILBOARDING and WINDSURFING.
You always use the biking analogy(or sometimes canoes) so like BMX and road cycling=they are not the same.
I guess it may be a bit snarky laughing you old WALLY's or at the fat 50 year olds,with there fancy,expensive carbon road bikes,all dressed in lycra and sipping on their soy latte at the coffee shop on a sunday morning. I;m sure your not 1 of them,either Malvin Star or an Apollo2 is more your style. snarky laugh emoji
I also disagree with you views like "best around board","great for teaching beginners",":largest wind range" and that old chestnut "biggest windsurfing sailboarding class in the world".
It"s now 2018, its time to say say goodbye to the old 76 model.
How many people spent $1900 of their retirement payout to buy a new WALLY in the last 5 years? 5? 10? I dought it.
I know for a fact that Bic got 50 delivered in November. They were for people who had prepaid a deposit. Yes Techno ONE DESIGNS are $3000. But for the extra $1100 not only do you get a design from this millennium ,you get a real rig with a carbon mast and the booms even adjustable. Its hitech with on the fly outhaul and downhaul making the sail so powerful they had to supply footstraps to cope with the speed WINDSURFERS can achieve. The KIDS that bought these wouldn't want a WALLY
Don't by a new WALLY.
Make the Techno the new Australian ONE DESIGN,thats what the youth are doing. Old-timers share your wisdom with them and have fun mastering new challenges and bring the generations together.
I have risen both the Wally and the Techno Chris so you will have to trust me ,for $1000 more than a Wally,it's a no brainer cause your planing.
The techno is really a fun board to ride and very versatile.

SAILORS rig steer,WINDSURFERS steer with their feet as well. It's not a putdown ,it's fact. You gotta crawl before you walk.






PS Spoke to Jessica 2 days ago.We are meeting up this weekend to go WINDSURFING at Gerroa. I guess she already knew I wouldn't be down with going schlogging on a Wally.
PPS I can confirm she is an actual WINDSURFER, 2x World WINDSURFING Champion in the Waves even,but in the very beginning,like all of us back in the old days, she started as a SAILBOARDER on a WALLY

You said "The KIDS that bought these wouldn't want a WALLY
Don't by a new WALLY." Well I am a kid and i do have one of the new wally as well as a bic. And I would just like to say i enjoy my wally just as much as my bic in all conditions.

Good for you William.
Have you ever tried a freestyle board? Would Windsuffering even let you own a shortboard? Would he take you wavesailing if you wanted to ?

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KA360 said..
Good for you William.
Have you ever tried a freestyle board? Would Windsuffering even let you own a shortboard? Would he take you wavesailing if you wanted to ?

WTF is wrong with you KA360?
This thread is called 'is windsurfing still in decline'.

Is it any wonder when you choose to name and shame a 16 year old who is totally stoked on windsurfing but happens to have a different point of view to you.

How pathetic for a grown man to pot a kid.

What are you trying to say - that if he (or anyone else) doesn't shortboard or wavesail he is somehow is not worthy or really part of the sport?

I live up the beach from his family and this kid is out on the water atleast 5 days a week and has been all through winter.
He sails his Bic, his LT and, shock horror, his slalom and waveboards depending on conditions.
He is now part of the instructor team teaching other kids in the Yacht Club learn to windsurf program.
At the Club he races alongside 4 other kids under 17 at the Club who have both Technos and LT's.

He loves it and is giving something back and getting more people involved in the sport, all the while improving his skills and having fun.

His or my or your choice of board or type of equipment is just that, a choice. One that everyone who windsurfs can and does make.

Why you want to belittle someone or his family based on this choice makes no sense. What's your actual point?

Oh boy, another triggered wally,Wally !

I know him, he knows me.
He entered into dialogue with me ,I responded, courteously too.
I know his involvement in the sport and he is very good at it.

It would be interesting take a survey of 16 yr old Techno kids who were each given $2000 to spend of their own choice.

a - Laptop
b. - $2000 towards first car
c. - iPhone X with 2 yr plan
d. - mountain bike
e. - formula board and foil(put techno rig on it)
f. - slalom board rigged with 2 sails
g. - 2 wave boards +3 sails
h. -freestyleboard and 2 sails
I. - windsurfer lt

I will ask the techno kids next time I'm with them.
I put them in the order I unfortunately think the outcome would be.
What would you do Sailor99 if you didn't already have a new laptop or windsurfer lt ?
With your passion for windsurfing my guess is you will pick "e" cause you can always borrow your dads LT when you want
But each to their own and genuinely interested in what your choice would be.

A look at Google search volume for the keyword "windsurfing" from 2004 - present day. Ouch.

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=windsurfing

(or maybe we all know how to do it, so we don't look it up online as much anymore?).

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KA360 said..
Oh boy, another triggered wally,Wally !

I know him, he knows me.
He entered into dialogue with me ,I responded, courteously too.
I know his involvement in the sport and he is very good at it.

It would be interesting take a survey of 16 yr old Techno kids who were each given $2000 to spend of their own choice.

a - Laptop
b. - $2000 towards first car
c. - iPhone X with 2 yr plan
d. - mountain bike
e. - formula board and foil(put techno rig on it)
f. - slalom board rigged with 2 sails
g. - 2 wave boards +3 sails
h. -freestyleboard and 2 sails
I. - windsurfer lt

I will ask the techno kids next time I'm with them.
I put them in the order I unfortunately think the outcome would be.
What would you do Sailor99 if you didn't already have a new laptop or windsurfer lt ?
With your passion for windsurfing my guess is you will pick "e" cause you can always borrow your dads LT when you want
But each to their own and genuinely interested in what your choice would be.

Agreed KA360, another triggered WallyWally.

Me thinks you protest too much WallyWally. Enjoy the stoke, regardless of what your preferences are. I think it is great that our sport offers so many opportunities for people to enjoy it. Whatever keeps you in the sport, go for it.
However... other than out of necessity (injury or age) or people reminiscing, I know of no other sport where "vintage" classes are promoted within the sport as way of reducing declining participation.
I'm not having a go at anyone but does anyone seriously believe that in 30 years time all current forms of windsurfing boards will be in production?
Formula is close to dead since the advent of foiling, just as long boarding declined with the advent of short boards. Its inevitable that people will gravitate towards lastest designs and technologies that allow a sport to have easier access with greater rewards.
I had a interesting experience yesterday where I sail, me on a 210cm Naish board having a great B&J session, an experienced kiter, a windsurfing foiler and a regular long boarder all on the water at once. Who do you think the kids on the shore were watching, not me and definitely not the long boarder.
I am as addicted to our sport as most of you are are but we have to accept the reality that if we want to address the decline in our sport we need to get inside the heads of young people and appeal to their insatiable need for dopamine hits.

Belly, you're dead right that we should all enjoy the stoke. With respect, what you're missing is that 360's attitude is exactly the opposite. He throws hate, contempt and insults at anyone who dares to like boards he dislikes. He will walk up to you on the beach and sling **** at your gear - he's done it to me just because I happen to sail lots of different types of craft and couldn't be bothered buying new wave gear because I don't use it often enough. He throws abuse at those who dare to have a different stoke, or a bunch of different stokes.

Kids don't actually all have an insatiable need for dopamine hits. Kids actually like to be sociable and to have laid back fun. Most kids don't do extreme sports. Smart, highly trained, highly motivated people have been finding out what kids really like for years, and most of them aren't actually into extreme stuff. Just look at what really kids do. They play soccer and similar games. Only a minority surf or do "extreme" sports. More kids sail Optis and Laser 4.7s than freestyle or shortboards. If kids were into extreme sailing, that wouldn't be true.

It's not "inevitable that people will gravitate towards latest designs and technologies". Most sailors don't sail foilers, catamarans or canting keel yachts. Almost no cyclists ride streamlined recumbent bicycles despite the fact that they are much faster than a normal road bike.

People do move to gear that allows "easier access", but you don't get easier access by sailing boards that only really work on the minority of the time and places where you get medium to strong winds. And finally, the "greater rewards" are completely relative, subjective and personal. Put me back on a slalom board and I'm bored ****less within 30 minutes most of the time although I may be going twice as fast. When I've done foiling I haven't felt the rewards were greater - just different. Other people love slalom and foiling and good on them, but the point is that different people have different ways of experiencing "greater rewards".

With respect you're wrong about the claim that windsurfing is the only sport that promotes vintage classes. Sailing promotes classes like the Opti (a 1947 design, I think), the Flying 11 (designed about 1965), the Cadet (also 1947), the Laser (1969-ish) as well as the more modern but low-tech Bic. Cycling, the most popular gear-intensive sport, promotes what is basically a 1934 design in essence. Windsurfing has been promoting new gear for years and the sport in Australia has declined dramatically.

What kids look at has very little to do with what they actually get into. Sure, kids may look at a quick bit of kit. Kids looked at me when I was on a Div 2 board in 1983 - the class died. Kids looked at me on a raceboard in 1985 - the class crashed in numbers. When I sailed my International Canoe, kids love it - but none of them sail them. The kids love our fast racing cats - but almost no kids actually sail them. Kids look at me and you when we get on shortboards - the sport is now about 5% as big as it used to be. The lesson is that we can't learn much from what kids just LOOK at. We need to learn from what they DO, and the sailing they normally do is not extreme.

The big issue that no one seems to really address (and by 'really address', I mean by showing anything other than personal opinion) is why, if the "extreme shortboarding" way was the best way for windsurfing, it is now about 1/20th as big as it used to be. We have been trying that way for 30 years, and it hasn't worked. Why believe it will suddenly start working now?

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SeanAUS120 said..
A look at Google search volume for the keyword "windsurfing" from 2004 - present day. Ouch.

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=windsurfing

(or maybe we all know how to do it, so we don't look it up online as much anymore?).

Do the same for kiteboarding and kitesurfing and you'll get the same trend. Windfoil does not but for some reason was insanely popular in early 2004

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Belly25 said..
However... other than out of necessity (injury or age) or people reminiscing, I know of no other sport where "vintage" classes are promoted within the sport as way of reducing declining participation.

L'Eroica in cycling - enough that Bianchi came out with a "vintage" bike ( a new bike that qualifies under the rules).

eroica.cc/ There are similar events all over the world.

https://www.bianchi.com/it/bikes/bikes_detail.aspx?rangeIDMaster=417664&categoryIDMaster=417670&bikeIDMaster=418360

Not sure if windsurfing is in decline but i certainly am.

Two days in a row sailing - i wake up on the third day with next to no energy and my 53 year old legs are stiff as.

Of all the sports ive tried,windsurfing is near the top for energy loss.

You tend not feel it till the next day though.

Normal kitesurfing has dropped hugely evidenced by only a few out there recently at Melville.

Windsurfing takes a lot of time to organize - pack your gear,rig up,de-rig etc- so its never going to be that popular.

Its way,way too much for your average dishwasher is a must crowd

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Chris 249 said..
Belly, you're dead right that we should all enjoy the stoke. With respect, what you're missing is that 360's attitude is exactly the opposite. He throws hate, contempt and insults at anyone who dares to like boards he dislikes. He will walk up to you on the beach and sling **** at your gear - he's done it to me just because I happen to sail lots of different types of craft and couldn't be bothered buying new wave gear because I don't use it often enough. He throws abuse at those who dare to have a different stoke, or a bunch of different stokes.

Kids don't actually all have an insatiable need for dopamine hits. Kids actually like to be sociable and to have laid back fun. Most kids don't do extreme sports. Smart, highly trained, highly motivated people have been finding out what kids really like for years, and most of them aren't actually into extreme stuff. Just look at what really kids do. They play soccer and similar games. Only a minority surf or do "extreme" sports. More kids sail Optis and Laser 4.7s than freestyle or shortboards. If kids were into extreme sailing, that wouldn't be true.

It's not "inevitable that people will gravitate towards latest designs and technologies". Most sailors don't sail foilers, catamarans or canting keel yachts. Almost no cyclists ride streamlined recumbent bicycles despite the fact that they are much faster than a normal road bike.

People do move to gear that allows "easier access", but you don't get easier access by sailing boards that only really work on the minority of the time and places where you get medium to strong winds. And finally, the "greater rewards" are completely relative, subjective and personal. Put me back on a slalom board and I'm bored ****less within 30 minutes most of the time although I may be going twice as fast. When I've done foiling I haven't felt the rewards were greater - just different. Other people love slalom and foiling and good on them, but the point is that different people have different ways of experiencing "greater rewards".

With respect you're wrong about the claim that windsurfing is the only sport that promotes vintage classes. Sailing promotes classes like the Opti (a 1947 design, I think), the Flying 11 (designed about 1965), the Cadet (also 1947), the Laser (1969-ish) as well as the more modern but low-tech Bic. Cycling, the most popular gear-intensive sport, promotes what is basically a 1934 design in essence. Windsurfing has been promoting new gear for years and the sport in Australia has declined dramatically.

What kids look at has very little to do with what they actually get into. Sure, kids may look at a quick bit of kit. Kids looked at me when I was on a Div 2 board in 1983 - the class died. Kids looked at me on a raceboard in 1985 - the class crashed in numbers. When I sailed my International Canoe, kids love it - but none of them sail them. The kids love our fast racing cats - but almost no kids actually sail them. Kids look at me and you when we get on shortboards - the sport is now about 5% as big as it used to be. The lesson is that we can't learn much from what kids just LOOK at. We need to learn from what they DO, and the sailing they normally do is not extreme.

The big issue that no one seems to really address (and by 'really address', I mean by showing anything other than personal opinion) is why, if the "extreme shortboarding" way was the best way for windsurfing, it is now about 1/20th as big as it used to be. We have been trying that way for 30 years, and it hasn't worked. Why believe it will suddenly start working now?

Sorry to hear about your experiences with 360. Thats just sad and not good for anyone.

Just a few observations;
Have taught and coached high school aged kids fro the last 30 years I personally believe our the internet age has had a massive impact on us all, with kids being particularly vulnerable to its addictive tendencies, most junior sports are struggling with participation rates. It's a bit naive to say kids are as active as previous generations or that they are as "social".

I don't know anyone that goes to the shops and asks "can you please sell me last decades version of this product, I prefer old school technologies".
We all gravitate towards our preferences while embracing new designs and material sciences.

To me, short boards were a progression that allowed more diversity and easier entry within our sport (wave, speed, freestyle, bump and jump, cruising). It was inevitable, you can't stop progress for the very reason you don't short board (or short BORED for you), people get bored doing the same old and want to try new and more challenging things.

I have never walked up to anyone at the beach and "sling **** at their gear" and nor have done that to you. I have only seen you at the beach once since I was about 16 (now 52) at Gerroa. After sailing (only 3 out You ,me and my son) we chatted about old times. My family was cold and wanted to go home but we spent well over an hour and a half catching up after not seeing each other for nearly 30 years. We were not talking about equipment choice of the day.
The only other time we have run in to each other was a few years later for a movie showing at a windsurfing shop. No problem there either,Chis and I didn't watch the movie with everyone else .I had already seen it ,just there to support my great local shop. We were out the front talking all things windsurfing. I wasn't slinging **** and he wasn't arguing either.

Later on after one of your long winded arguments on the forum I did comment on your old wave gear you used that day at the beach.
You reply was classic.

I was using an old waveboard last time I saw you because I do a lot of different things (racing cutting-edge yachts, catamarans, an inaugural bike nationals, etc etc etc) and gave up wavesailing until I dragged that gear out. The day before, I was using brand-new wave gear and tbh I didn't see that it was a vast improvement.

You couldn't see the improvement between late 80's waveboards and one from 2013 I think says more about you than waveboard development

I will give you a small window of opportunity to retract that slander. If not I will be releasing a new" Windsurfer LT- Chris Thompson" special T-shirt that I will post hear and all the many other forums around the world that you argue on. I'm sure your friends will love it

Belly, I've had kids of my own for most of the last 30 years. One of them is a massive gamer, another worked for Google and then moved into robotics and now another job in Silicon Valley. My wife and I ran a successful University windsurfing club a few years back. I also sail the most popular youth class in the world (Laser Radial) and was studying a PhD in technology and its effect on sports participation. You can't call that being naive about kids!

As already noted, in sailing most people DON'T gravitate to new stuff. Thousands of people DO basically go to the shops every year and say "please sell me 1940s, 1960s or 1970s version of this product (Optimist, Laser, Hobie 16) I prefer old school technologies". It's the same in other sports. In surfing, lots of people sail mals. The standard road bike is designed to a rules created in 1935 and tightened since then in the Lugarno Charter etc. Old games like cricket, running and football are still enormously popular.

None of us have ever tried to stop anyone shortboarding. The mainstays of the Windsurfer One Design class over the past decade or so have sailed shortboards to World Cup and world championship level (and victories), they've boardsurfed on the national master's team, they've won the 18 Foot Skiffs and sailed high performance boats and boards - we're not ignorant of shortboarding and high performance. When I first kicked off the Junior One Design, the written concept specifically included getting kids into shortboarding, and I lent out my own shortboards to the kids.

When there were some of us promoting the juniors in One Design we had a fleet comparable in size to that of the Techno. The Windsurfer Class Association is not putting down the Techno, Sup-sailing, slalom, foiling, waves, or anything else to do with windsurfing - they are all fantastic. All we are asking for is to basically be allowed to do our own thing without people telling us we don't know what we are doing.

One thing that's really interesting, if you actually research participation factors, is that the experts these days are computer game designers and they DON'T diss old games - in fact that respect them and try to learn why Chess, Go and similar games have lasted so well. They don't have a negative attitude towards old stuff, and they are booming while we are shrinking. If they are doing better than us than surely we should learn from them!

The other thing is that most modern windsurfers are actually a lot slower in light and fluky winds than the old boards, so in some ways windsurfing has gone backwards. An RSX, Formula board or Techno is slower most days in the places many of us sail. If high performance is good, why should some of us go slower most of the time?

Sure, lots of people sail in places and at time when shortboards are faster. Cool - go and have fun. Please just don't sling **** at the way we have fun.

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KA360 said..
I have never walked up to anyone at the beach and "sling **** at their gear" and nor have done that to you. I have only seen you at the beach once since I was about 16 (now 52) at Gerroa. After sailing (only 3 out You ,me and my son) we chatted about old times. My family was cold and wanted to go home but we spent well over an hour and a half catching up after not seeing each other for nearly 30 years. We were not talking about equipment choice of the day.
The only other time we have run in to each other was a few years later for a movie showing at a windsurfing shop. No problem there either,Chis and I didn't watch the movie with everyone else .I had already seen it ,just there to support my great local shop. We were out the front talking all things windsurfing. I wasn't slinging **** and he wasn't arguing either.

Later on after one of your long winded arguments on the forum I did comment on your old wave gear you used that day at the beach.
You reply was classic.

I was using an old waveboard last time I saw you because I do a lot of different things (racing cutting-edge yachts, catamarans, an inaugural bike nationals, etc etc etc) and gave up wavesailing until I dragged that gear out. The day before, I was using brand-new wave gear and tbh I didn't see that it was a vast improvement.

You couldn't see the improvement between late 80's waveboards and one from 2013 I think says more about you than waveboard development

I will give you a small window of opportunity to retract that slander. If not I will be releasing a new" Windsurfer LT- Chris Thompson" special T-shirt that I will post hear and all the many other forums around the world that you argue on. I'm sure your friends will love it

Yes, it was good to chat about old times at Gerroa - and then you started slinging contempt around on this forum. You photoshopped up T shirts about LLT sailors being "Losers" and "Sissys" , you said people should get a Techno instead for $150 more, you talked about the "scummy Wally Inc company" (which as far as I know, sponsored your kid) and that the only "proper windsurfing" is without daggerboards, and threw many other insults around. In other words, you have been slinging **** for years. To complain about "slander" when you have been throwing insults is surreal.

As far as the waveboard gear goes, I have my own preferences in waveboards. I don't care about having a light back hand, early planing speed or better lateral stability, which are areas where modern gear excels. But it's a classic example of your approach that you choose to use that to throw lame insults around, instead of respecting the fact that we all have different tastes, desires and situations.

It's sad. I'd much rather we could talk again. All that it would take is for you to respect people and the boards they choose, just as you expect to be respected. Anyway, enough of this, I'll just go searching for the ignore button.

EDIT - my recollection of what you indicated that day at Gerroa is pretty good - and it also tallies with all your behaviour on this forum

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Chris 249 said..
He will walk up to you on the beach and sling **** at your gear - he's done it to me .........

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Chris 249 said..

Yes, it was good to chat about old times at Gerroa - and then you started slinging contempt around on this forum.

Oh,so I didn't walk up to you or anyone else at the beach and start slinging **** about their gear.

And as far as Wally inc. - I am sick of seeing ads or media saying Hoyle Schweistzer "inventor of windsurfing" or here is Matt Schweitzer,his dad invented the windsurfer. That is such a disgusting rewrite of history considering what they did to Jim Drake.


Alex has never had any dealings or even contact with Wally inc and you also claimed Windsurfer class raised money for him also not true .These falsehoods may have gained you some sympathy green thumbs by demonising me.You have already lost the debate if thats all you have got. I may not have Phd but I don't resort to making up lies .

Get a room.

Just had a Weekend Comp and gathering at our home spot with 30/40 other sailors. It was a change from the week before's event at Jervis Bay with 8 sailors.
The sport is still in decline and without direction from our TWO governing bodies, AWA and YA.
Despite this we put through 10/20 kids and a few adults in a 2 hr Come n Try session. Ran a bit of fun racing on the Saturday with wave\freestyle against slalom boards. Great fun , but there was no great appetite for serious racing . Bit crowded on the water with all the sails .
As I have said in this thread unless we fix the issue of having a divided sport then it's dead as WV is in Victoria

All this bitching.
Kiting is an option.

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kato said..
Just had a Weekend Comp and gathering at our home spot with 30/40 other sailors. It was a change from the week before's event at Jervis Bay with 8 sailors.
The sport is still in decline and without direction from our TWO governing bodies, AWA and YA.
Despite this we put through 10/20 kids and a few adults in a 2 hr Come n Try session. Ran a bit of fun racing on the Saturday with wave\freestyle against slalom boards. Great fun , but there was no great appetite for serious racing . Bit crowded on the water with all the sails .
As I have said in this thread unless we fix the issue of having a divided sport then it's dead as WV is in Victoria

Had a great time at an Inverloch Windsurfing Club "come an try" day a couple of years ago when I was first learning. A very well run day, well manned and supervised by the club with heaps of interest from the public. Men, women and children. Would be a great template for other clubs. Middle of summer holidays. Get em while they are idle!

So much negative energy , enough to power a small village .
why come here to bitch ?
Sail what you want ,
The reason I do it is because it makes me smile , it's not a ego competition .
Sailing a door with a G,clamped fin has to be better than digging a stump hole .
If that doesn't make sence go work for airport security .
Infighting has to stop , remember who we are .
ps: I love new gear , but Also thinking of aquireing a free old D2 for ****s an giggles. Why not , RB s have recently tickled my pink.