This is the second of two interviews with Mr. RRD. One of the main themes -- let's keep winging relatively simple and real and not let the extreme/radical part of the sport take over and discourage the "normal everyday enthusiast".

Yes, fully agree. And let's not let the windsurfing companies dictate the cost of the boards. I have a Tabou pocket air which is lovely but is it really worth ?1400 uk ? I have looked at the Aztron falcon recently, that costs about ?600 and the shape and construction looks fantastic. They need to bring out a range of sizes and that price point needs to become the normal. We don't need a repeat of the way windsurfing went......

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nimo1972 said..
Yes, fully agree. And let's not let the windsurfing companies dictate the cost of the boards. I have a Tabou pocket air which is lovely but is it really worth ?1400 uk ? I have looked at the Aztron falcon recently, that costs about ?600 and the shape and construction looks fantastic. They need to bring out a range of sizes and that price point needs to become the normal. We don't need a repeat of the way windsurfing went......

Seeing you bought one it seems you answered the question yourself....Most companies add 20-30% mark-up and the rest is down to the distribution model. There is really no room in the market for companies that price-gouge as there are enough suppliers to prevent monopoly pricing. Believing a 600 board is equal to a 1400 board is most times wishful thinking. You pretty much get what you pay for and If someone could make it cheaper, I can assure you someone would.

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PeterP said..

nimo1972 said..
Yes, fully agree. And let's not let the windsurfing companies dictate the cost of the boards. I have a Tabou pocket air which is lovely but is it really worth ?1400 uk ? I have looked at the Aztron falcon recently, that costs about ?600 and the shape and construction looks fantastic. They need to bring out a range of sizes and that price point needs to become the normal. We don't need a repeat of the way windsurfing went......

Seeing you bought one it seems you answered the question yourself....Most companies add 20-30% mark-up and the rest is down to the distribution model. There is really no room in the market for companies that price-gouge as there are enough suppliers to prevent monopoly pricing. Believing a 600 board is equal to a 1400 board is most times wishful thinking. You pretty much get what you pay for and If someone could make it cheaper, I can assure you someone would.

You have missed the fact that most brands are from the same factory. Cobra.

most wing boards are not made at Cobra AFAIK. Cobra is too $$ and has limited floor time that's spread among SUP, Windsurf, etc.. would be interesting to see a list of where different brands are made.

I wonder if James..Kinetic...has acquired the foresight to make wing boards.
He has always resisted change, since we met in 1994.

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PeterP said..
You pretty much get what you pay for and If someone could make it cheaper, I can assure you someone would.

Although you are mostly right for manufacturing costs (quality is not cheap), the total cost of a board is at nearly three times the manufacturing costs, when you add taxes, distribution and retail fees.

If a board is made for $400 at the factory, you must then add very roughly:
$400 for the distributor (brand, importing)
$400 for the retail (shop and country-level expenses)
$200 in taxes, tariffs, VAT, custom fees...
For a board at thus $1400 retail price.

And these can vary quite a lot without any relation to the quality of the board. Brand that sell direct, or on the opposite, boards manufactured locally can save a lot on the final price.
Even the amount of taxes can vary: For instance, C4 Waterman had their Europe distributor in ... Switzerland, which is NOT in the EU (and has not a big SUP market anyways). So to import to the EU countries they had to go through the customs twice, with the associated costs. So brands can save on these non-manufacturing costs (sponsorhips, demo centers, ...), but also inflate them with no added construction values.

PS: Also boards made in the same factory may not have the same build quality. It depends on the brand requirements (quality of components), how much they want to pay for having enough time allowed to back shape / glass / sand each boards for quality jobs.