the spot in sydney for westerlies is Kurnell.
By the way, if you have an old wetsuit, the UNSW windsurfing club will be happy to get it. In that way, you can contribute to have more people coming into the sport. Our aim is to provide a cheap way to discover windsurfing to student, so that they keep doing it after their studies.
Let me know if you have one of these wetsuits lying around...
Cheers
olivier
I guess thats my point, you dont need lots of gear and you dont have to live in the windiest place in the world for windsurfing to be a good sport.
Appreciate your explanation albers. It's not my intention to be down on any windsurfer. We all do it at our own levels, and for our own reasons. We do what suits our personalities, and one mans meat is anothers poison.
As a long term enthusiast myself (till the final curtain, as they say) I do worry that the continual raising of the standard and the specialization of gear, which the magazines, manufacturers, and adverts are 'pushing' at us all, distorts the picture, and deters 'ordinary' people from taking up windsurfing. The sport is now portrayed as too elitist! Ordinary people no longer see it as applicable to them.
That's why I'm happy to see signs of renewed interest in long boards. (Exocet new models, and Starboard too.) I really do have fun on my Kona, in the same way as I used to in the 80's on the older longboards. We used to have a competitive club racing scene with scores of people entering races, and a social afterwards. It didn't matter what the wind did, gale or near calm, we were all on the water. The rush exclusively to short boarding killed that stone dead. It became a high wind only sport for too many years, and only now is the balance starting to be brought back.
Of course there needs be high end 'super' gear for the relatively few who can get the best from it, and surf Jaws or where ever, but continually pushing that kind of image won't bring 'normal' folk into the sport. Neither will experts sneering at the notion of 'poodling about on longboards'!
It's significant that the only time strangers come up to talk, and ask about the sport, is on light wind days as I'm derigging the Kona on the prom. They will probably have watched me having fun out on the water, while they've just been mooning around on the beach, and you can see that they are thinking, I could be doing that! I'ts never the same response on a high wind surf day on derrigging the waveboard. Rather you than me, is the norm!
One of the scenes is reality to average folk, the other they see as make believe! There is still an untapped market out there, and if the sport is to survive it really must cater more for 'average' people.
The idea that only the picture of a top PWA guy jumping waves can attract new blood is crap. Admittedly it is sometimes the case that local "pros" appear to be turned on by magazine images and high-tech gear. I.e. those who have sailed for a number of years and perhaps have learned a few things, but without getting competitive ever.
All of my students are happy to get going first. They all understand that it'll take time, that they may or may not become pros. I redirect the brats (I want it and I want it now) towards kiting. This way we all win.
I began surfing in the late 1960's Barn,( just an average Joe), when dropping out and sticking two fingers to conventional society was all the rage. They thought they were really 'living the lifestyle', including illegal substances. In your language, they didn't give a f..k!
Some of us managed to fit in surfing with a responsible career and lifestyle and, you know what, some of us are STILL surfing but, funny thing is, not ONE of the drop outs is anywhere to be seen! I wonder why?( I have heard from others about how a couple are now living, and it wasn't pretty.)
I won't add further to the topic because I think you, single handidly, have demonstrated what has gone wrong with OUR sport. I only hope no 'kids' who would like to take up windsurfing, as well as working towards a responsible career, listen to you!
Wind was cracking all arvo........not a poledancer in sight
I guess they were all on here pushing the topic to 15 yawn
pages.
And again Barn,,,,I have red thumb jealousy of you.
At least you are getting them from your peers though,,I guess.
I had a good sail today, on elitist, planing gear, and while I was packing up, I was pondering the idea that that kind of gear was the "downfall" of the sport.
I came to the conclusion that it is a rubbish notion, as all the supporters of long-boarding in this thread have convincing shown that long-boarding gear is available and affordable.
But no-one cares. Really. No-one cares. You could deliver a brand new Kona One, or Wally to every home in Australia, and no-one would use them. It's yesterdays yo-yo.
Further, am I supposed to not buy or use high performance gear, just because a beginner can't use it ?
What is the thrust of those arguments, really ? I can't see the point being made.
no, your gear is not the downfall of the sport.
the problem is/was 12-15 years ago, you could not walk into a shop and buy equiptment suitable for families/beginners.
now there are not as many people windsurfing as there once was.
i like windsurfing.
started today really powered on a 5.2m and 100l board...
finished the day on a 7m and longboard.. kona 11 5.,
picking up the last few waves in a dying wind.
actually liked the kona session as much as the shortboard.
its all good.
Its funny that in 14 pages no-one has mentioned that sailboarding is a form of sailing, and that the natural market for sailboarding is and always has been sailors.
^^^^ but of course that is not true. Sailors sail ... boats, of various kinds.
Sailors look down on sailboarders and kiteboarders as children playing with silly toys.
This is the thread that'll never end,
It keeps going on and on my friend.
Somebody started posting it not knowing what it was,
And now we all just post here and troll just because...
This is the thread that'll never end,
It keeps going on and on my friend.
Somebody started posting it not knowing what it was,
And now we all just post here and troll just because...
wow barn...for a second there i thought we were on the same tack (and i had mast abeam)
As a young lad, I had looked at windsurfing but got into kiting. Way cheaper and you can go huge.
I'm not sure if too many youths are going to follow the windsurfing trend with the other options out there these days.......
