I was just wondering (This has been the worst lack of wind winter for me EVER! I have way too much time on my hands) How many people windsurf in Australia ?
When I drive along the coast in summer I see different amounts at different spots I tried to add them all up then doubled it to cover for people at work or not there with other commitments, I reckon by my crazy visual calculations we would have 500 in Perth.
What do you reckon Perth people? am I close or way off with 500
What about other cities around OZ ?
Dunno, but it would be a valuable exercise for the industry for it to do a census. Not sure how would capture everyone though.
gpsteamchallenge.com.au
Lists 107 registered for WA
I reckon there are at least twice that number that sail on the river that aren't in the challenge. Add in the ocean and I think that sounds reasonable.
Anybody up for a game of Scrabble?
Only 500 in Australia's windiest city of 1.47 million people! That's only 1 in every 3,000 people.
I think Australia's least windy city Canberra (pop 345,000) would run to a similar ratio. That proves wind does nothing to attract windsurfers.
Haven't been here long, but the Illawarra with a pop of 278,000 doesn't seem to even match that ratio.
^ lol 
there was 686 people registered with the AWA last season.
6 of those were windsurfers and the rest are sailboarders
its more than you would think..
about 800 -1000 new boards are sold in oz each year - with most windsurfers buying a board every 2 or 3 years i would say that makes for around 3000 or so.
Plus casual die hards on old gear.
Where did you get those figures from ?
thiers a list for all the registered sail numbers in aus . also shows how many for each state
There would prob be at least 1000 in W.A i think, if you add all the guys that sail a few times a year or even once every 2 years but still call them selves sailors..
think about the different hubs in this massive state esperance, Margs, Perth, Gero etc.. then the other states would all add up to a bit..
How many people windsurf in OZ?
When my favourate places are going off I wish it was only me and a few good mates that windsurf
Wow 1000 would not be much. The registered count cannot possibly be indicative.
But let's say there are 1000 new buys a year, at say $5k a pop (with rigs, bits, etc.), that's only a $5 million industry. That's a very small volume of business. Spread amongst 5-8 different makers, it's no wonder new equipment is expensive...
I dunno, I think it an on-line census would be more achievable. An incentive to participate would help. Most people who sail are tech-savvy enough to have computer access for that and word-of-mouth might help catch the few who don't pay attention or care.
seriously guys out side of metro areas a one armed man could count the windsurfers and still have fingers left over so 500 world wide would be a stretch
Next time the Govt does a census, they should include the question "How many people in your household consider themselves to be windsurfers?"
...I don't see any other way
you'd also be surprised at how small the percentage of the market of windsurfers in Oz actually participate in this forum- it seems to be around 200 regulars
- plus the 5 - 10 or so die hards that make up 80 % of the posts (anyone with a number of 2000 or higher on their avatar) here
The actual market is much bigger than the presence here. You wont get a good idea of the number of sailors by surveying on here. Those who work in the industry have a rough idea of the number of boards sold in oz - which leads to a guess at the number of sailors in OZ.
Yes, I agree that most are "invisible".
Still curious as to where you got your sales figures from. Not saying they are not accurate, but it sounds like a lot of boards per annum to me. I would not have guessed so many.
I used to work in the industry and have a rough idea how many boards the various brands sell in OZ.
Fair enough. It's good to see that it's that healthy still.
I did my bit and bought 2 new boards last year, and might buy another this year. None for years before that though.
There's 385 boards just for sale in the buy and sell section. Being fairly conservative I reckon this may only account for say 20% of windsurfers actually selling their wares at any one time. So maybe 2000+ at a minimum ???????
Of course I could be completely wrong like a lot of other things. 
Half of those are from the one shop though.
Still, it's indicative of a lot of activity.
that "6 degrees of separation" Idea could be applied.. so maybe seabreeze emails everyone on their database a form with organised fields (age, car type, equipment description) and we fill in as many windsurfers as we know.
so i could enter, say, probably 100 windsurfers i could describe from memory or from sailing over the season.
eg,
"that old guy in the pink seat harness who uses a yellow 6.9 NP 1999 sheertip, and the DROPS slalom 296, who always crashes his waterstarts, owns a jack russelXdalmation, and drives the blue 1985 volvo wagon, and gets angry at the modern world such as Ipods, kitesurfing and female PMs"
and somehow if this guy gets entered once, everybody recognises him and doesn't repeat the entry..
this data gets calculated somehow and we get a total!
thinking about it, this wouldnt work because that one description represents a fair chunk of the windsurfing community XD
This is actually pretty funny.
You would need to cross reference this info with all the known nick-names.
I'm always amused that no-one actually knows anybody's names at most sailing spots, instead relying on a bunch of nick-names and random descriptions.
It would probably work though.
The number of boards sold doesn't equate to the number of windsurfers. I have eight of the buggers in use, and half a dozen old ones up in the loft!!
Neither do shop keepers necessarily tell the truth. (Would they admit to selling just a couple of multi fins only?[}:)])
