Is Windsurfing Still in Decline

Enable JavaScript to get the best experience.

Search Subscribed Topics Active Topics

Created by

cammd > 9 months ago, 18 Apr 2017

KA360

NSW

803 posts

15 Feb 2018 4:10pm

Wow 20 knots on a WALLY.

Here is a photo of an 8 year old girl with a GPS (orange pouch at boomhead) and doing 20.5 knots. The difference is she is able to footsteer and even carve into gybes because her modern board doesn't have half a centreboard hanging underneath it.The 11 year old boy with the orange sail over 31.I have heard of Techno riders getting near 35 knots.

Here is what modern ONEDESIGN looks like.

You say that the old boards will still remain competitive. So either the new board is pathetic or that statement is BS.I am sure the new board is superior.A handful will buy the new board. Because WALLYING is about racing those that haven't upgraded will lose interest. Your days are numbered. The wise ones will instead spend $2000 on a wicked used modern WINDSURFING setup. Many will just call it a day.The suckers that buy one be mindful of it's resale value,A Wally is a Wally and they're only worth 50 bucks
It's game over and not ONEDESIGN if the board is upgraded.

Isn't 40 years long enough? 5 more? or do you want 40 more?

Shouldn't we(for the good of the sport,WINDSURFING) have an upgrade from something that resembles WINDSUPPING to something that represents modern WINDSURFING ?

Chis said
In other sports, do people get to take away the original name of a discipline and re-define it,

over time the meaning of words change. In the 60's windsurfing described an activity where one stood on a board that had a sail and the gentle breeze would push you along. Now in the new melleniun it is referred to as WINDSUPPING.
WINDSURFING is now classed as an extreme sport .Man against the wild elements of nature for the purpose of that exhilarating feeling of planing.

Give you another example of how words change meaning over time..

People in the 60's had a gay time WALLYING.
Today WALLYING is still gay.

Both statement are true,yet the meaning of the word gay has changed

Chris 249

NSW

3531 posts

15 Feb 2018 4:39pm

Select to expand quote

Belly25 said..

Chris 249 said..

Faff said..
To me windsurfing is a planing sport.

One designs plane; so does every windsurfer I've ever seen. Here's Tim Gourlay at 20 knots, definitely planing.

Waveboards and speedboards don't always plane. If you drop off the plane in a lull or after doing a double loop, do you suddenly stop windsurfing?

In other sports, do people get to take away the original name of a discipline and re-define it, against the wishes of those who do it? Windsurfing came out of sailing and surfing. Sailors and surfers don't rename the old style when new styles come along, so why do it with our sport?

To get back to the thread - maybe the decline in windsurfing will turn around when we stop putting down the various types of windsurfing and just let people enjoy whatever board they happen to prefer?

I think the term Windsurfing is very dated. Sorry to say this to the purists (whatever style you enjoy). When I got into the sport 10 years ago my mistaken assumption was that Windsurfers "surfed" a sailboard, most likely on waves in an ocean, and all other categories fell under Sailboarding.
I encounter the same problem when talking about our awesome sport to people who are not into it. If I state that I enjoy Windsurfing they usually ask which beach I go to. I have only ever sailed off a beach a few times, the rest of the times its on a lake. To them Wind-Surfing implies surfing of some kind.
Perhaps it is time to move on from the original (now ambiguous) name of the sport. The "original" form of Sailboarding (windsurfing) was sub-planing. Once Sailboarding evolved to include the potential to "plane", the name became dated perhaps.

I agree with you to a point Chris, it's horses for courses (pun intended). Live and let live to enjoy all variations of our sport, but if we are concerned about perceived or real declines in participation in our sport then we need to attract new and most probably younger enthusiasts.

I can only speak from my point of view but I couldn't wait to progress off the Wally I learnt on and get onto a faster more nimble planing short board. I didn't sit on the shore of the lake watching 2 of the best sailboarders in NSW (Walshy and Byron) screaming all around the lake thinking "why don't they use the same board as me"? It was pretty obvious what I wanted to try to emulate.

To attract people to our sport I believe we need equipment that allows for a less steep learning curve but also better demonstration of our sport, particularly at the Olympics. To suggest that One Design (or any other variation of it) best represents the best of our sport, to me is massively selling our sport short and thus will continue to see our sport attract fewer people to it.

The sport wasn't sailboarding originally - the term "windsurfing" referred to using the original Windsurfer. Sure, the use of words changes but for some people to unilaterally decide that they can change the language and decide what words now mean is a bit crap. Imagine telling Nat Young or Joel Tudor that it's not "surfing" when you're on a Mal, or Cadel Evans that he's not on a bicycle because that now refers to BMX....

The sport hasn't been represented by the One Design for decades. During those decades, it's been marketed as an extreme sport - and it's been declining. If marketing the extreme side works so well, why the decline? That's why the company that makes most of the boards, and therefore gets more information on what's selling and why, is backing the new LT.

If you're from Lake Mac it's understandable you'd want to sail shortboards most of the time, just as I did sometimes when I lived there; to be honest lake sailing on B&J or slalom kit bores me but if you like it, that's great. Not a single thing I have written said that people like you shouldn't. But most people don't live there, and if we look at other sports we see that most of them don't do 'extreme' sports. More young kids in Oz are sailing Laser 4.7s and Radials than Nacra cats, boards, kites or 29ers. Lots of them sail in places where a shortboard or hybrid board is way slower than a Laser Radial, because the wind is light. Such people can't heed the "extreme" call, so why not promote the non extreme windsurfing?

I didn't say that One Design best represents the "best of the sport", whatever that is - I said we should let people sail what they want to sail without insulting them or their gear.

windsufering

VIC

1124 posts

15 Feb 2018 5:09pm

Um is there going to be a lottery system set up to see who can get the new boards ?

Chris 249

NSW

3531 posts

15 Feb 2018 5:15pm

Select to expand quote

windsufering said..
Um is there going to be a lottery system set up to see who can get the new boards ?

Call Windgenuity; I think people who have been supporting the class will get one from the early loads.

Al Planet

TAS

1548 posts

15 Feb 2018 5:15pm

I admire the enthusiasm for modern gear KA360 but windsurfing is a diverse sport which presents many different conditions and gear possibilities. Here are a couple of photos of the locals here enjoying both Wally sessions and Short board sailing. For many of us the Wally fills a niche perfectly.
The Gemini is another way to have fun, which is in the end all that really counts.

windsufering

VIC

1124 posts

15 Feb 2018 5:22pm

We better hurry up our days are numbered !!!

windsurftom

NSW

401 posts

15 Feb 2018 8:12pm

Select to expand quote

Give you another example of how words change meaning over time..

People in the 60's had a gay time WALLYING.
Today WALLYING is still gay.

Both statement are true,yet the meaning of the word gay has changed

Does applying homophobia to upsell modern windsurfing make it cooler? Apt you used a clown emoji

Thank you Al planet for your pictures showing why windsurfing is a great sport

Dag

QLD

720 posts

15 Feb 2018 7:53pm

I feel "Old, Fat & Gay" now.
I had to make myself feel better again by watching "Windsurf Rap" on youtube, (Again!)

Swindy

456 posts

15 Feb 2018 6:04pm

Ok, I'm bored. I have been windsurfing for forty years and have never owned a windsurfer but will always be a windsurfer. If I was new to this sport reading this thread I would be selling all my gear now and going to kiting. Windsurfing in any form should number one be fun. With all your boring self opinionated crap you are all spouting why would anyone think it is a cool sport to do. Get off this thread and get out on the water and promote the sport whatever you want to call it. I left England to get away from whinging.
Ok I'm done.

Dag

QLD

720 posts

15 Feb 2018 8:08pm

^ +1

remery

3709 posts

15 Feb 2018 7:55pm

I started Windsurfing in 1982. For me it will always be Windsurfing. There was just an embarrassing period when lawyers got involved with talk about copyright which resulted in stupid terms like sailboarding and boardsailing.

Guru4

42 posts

15 Feb 2018 10:06pm

Despite having some of the best conditions and climate for windsurfing, very few Australians are in the top 50 rankings in any category. A bit alarming.

Subsonic

3384 posts

16 Feb 2018 6:16am

Select to expand quote

Guru4 said..
Despite having some of the best conditions and climate for windsurfing, very few Australians are in the top 50 rankings in any category. A bit alarming.

We do have some notables, eg Steve Allen/JP. As best i can work out, it's the tyranny of distance that causes our lack of presence at the top.

Most of windsurf competition (PWA level) happens in europe/other side of the globe.

Much easier for "Pierre" from south France to drive down the rd with his van full of gear and watch/sail with/ race against A2 and other quality circuit sailors and get good at it than it is for say, "Subsonic" from perth western australia to jump on a plane with 3 boards and some carefully selected sails (and a complete lack of talent) and do the same.

We should start our own circuit here that'll help get the numbers up

Chris 249

NSW

3531 posts

16 Feb 2018 9:23am

Select to expand quote

Swindy said..
Windsurfing in any form should number one be fun.

That's what some of us are trying to say. We're trying to be positive about ALL forms of the sport.

Paddles B'mere

QLD

3586 posts

16 Feb 2018 8:27am

I'm too busy having fun windsurfing with my mates to be alarmed at a lack of Aussie talent in the top 50 of any category

Faff

VIC

1394 posts

16 Feb 2018 10:07am

Select to expand quote

Agrid said..
I started Windsurfing in 1982. For me it will always be Windsurfing. There was just an embarrassing period when lawyers got involved with talk about copyright which resulted in stupid terms like sailboarding and boardsailing.

Dunno why, but "sailboarding" always irks me... even when uttered by expert sailors (or is it "riders"? or even "surfers" ? Euros call it "surfing", BTW. Australians - "sailing tonight?", Euros - "surfing tonight?")

RichardG

3761 posts

16 Feb 2018 7:09am

Select to expand quote

Let's not forget a lawyer was one of the owners of Sailboards Australia the original Windsurfer licensee, distributor and manufacturer here, that is Roger Dulhunty and the other being Greg Kelly. The instructors, owners or clients had legitimate business interests to protect which these "owners" who first introduced windsurfing in Australia wished to protect including by enforcing the intellectual property including patents (subsequently found invalid), copyright and trademarks.

RichardG

3761 posts

16 Feb 2018 7:28am

Select to expand quote

windsufering said..
I cried when aust yachting voted for kiting in the Olympics
and I hope now that Condie prick has left Aust Yachting things have changed

www.sailing.org.au/australian-sailings-sarah-kenny-elected-world-sailing-council/

windsufering

VIC

1124 posts

17 Feb 2018 6:30am

You bust your arse and qualify for the Olympics , you go

peguin

276 posts

18 Feb 2018 10:08am

I'm loosing interest in windsurfing but for another reason.
When i surf or sup in waves i paddle the shortest route to the where i need to be to catch wave. The more i surf & SUP the more i'm frustrated I'm getting when i wavesail with how i have to sail the long way round to get to the point I want to be at for the waves. Yeah I tack upwind etc but WA wind & swell directions tends to mean a sail round.
Watching kiters they seem to point closer and get back to the break with less distance traveled. So reckon I'll be changing to kiting next season as i just want to ride waves. Flat water and gybing back and forth never captured me.
Its a personnel complaint and blocked by physics. I do enjoy the jumping on the way out though and will miss that.

Imax1

QLD

4926 posts

18 Feb 2018 8:47pm

Select to expand quote

peguin said..
I'm loosing interest in windsurfing but for another reason.
When i surf or sup in waves i paddle the shortest route to the where i need to be to catch wave. The more i surf & SUP the more i'm frustrated I'm getting when i wavesail with how i have to sail the long way round to get to the point I want to be at for the waves. Yeah I tack upwind etc but WA wind & swell directions tends to mean a sail round.
Watching kiters they seem to point closer and get back to the break with less distance traveled. So reckon I'll be changing to kiting next season as i just want to ride waves. Flat water and gybing back and forth never captured me.
Its a personnel complaint and blocked by physics. I do enjoy the jumping on the way out though and will miss that.

All that kiting talk , your a bad bad boy.
Next you'll want mango flavour in your beer !

peguin

276 posts

19 Feb 2018 7:57am

Select to expand quote

Imax1 said..

All that kiting talk , your a bad bad boy.
Next you'll want mango flavour in your beer !

mango beer, mmm...coming from someone with a cute fluffy cat as their avatar...

Richoa

NSW

478 posts

19 Feb 2018 11:24am

put a foil on it.

Imax1

QLD

4926 posts

19 Feb 2018 11:02am

Select to expand quote

peguin said..

Imax1 said..

All that kiting talk , your a bad bad boy.
Next you'll want mango flavour in your beer !

mango beer, mmm...coming from someone with a cute fluffy cat as their avatar...

Its not cute , i see it as rather macho.

berowne

NSW

1555 posts

19 Feb 2018 7:47pm

Decline??? I don't think so....

DunkO

NSW

1147 posts

19 Feb 2018 8:04pm

www.instagram.com/p/BfVQVOMAf3m/?hl=en

windsufering

VIC

1124 posts

26 Mar 2018 6:05pm

Dag

QLD

720 posts

27 Mar 2018 8:22am

Windsurfer LT
Length: 3.659 m (12 foot - same as Original Windsurfer)
Width: 73.9cm (65cm Original)
Volume: 229 litres (~200 litres Original)
Weight: 15 kilos (~21.5 kilos Original)

Dag

QLD

720 posts

27 Mar 2018 8:27am

Apparently 45 are already ordered of the 50 coming.
Seems like a pretty positive response.
Can't wait to get mine.

kato

VIC

3513 posts

27 Mar 2018 9:47am

Select to expand quote

Dag said..
Windsurfer LT
Length: 3.659 m (12 foot - same as Original Windsurfer)
Width: 73.9cm (65cm Original)
Volume: 229 litres (~200 litres Original)
Weight: 15 kilos (~21.5 kilos Original)

Why ???
The issue with our sport is that it's still torn in two. YA still promoting triangle racing and WA the other side dealing with slalom, freestyle and waves. Most people sail for fun first, results second. This is why GPSTC works but neither organisation has show any interest in progressing it further other than a once a year G Island for those with $$$.
How about a national approach to promoting all branches of windsurfing ?

Loading more posts...

Please Register, or first...

Topics Reply