Is windsurfing popularity still declining?

alright my 2c worth.
I started windsurfing after a 20 year absence. My first board was a 330 tyronsea i was given by my neighbor. After the first sail I bought a 2nd hand 140 JP board and stated buying sails!!!!
After 4 month. I by then managed to get into the harness and regularly into the straps I bought a 120 X-Cite. And 3 more sails. And A mast. That was actually four sails.
And now comes the point. It's alot harder for me to get the transition from the 140 to the 120 board then I thought. This board is so much faster and more difficult that I started to question the wisdom of my purchases. Yesterday I went down to Kyeemagh again - I live in the mountains - and struggled. My 6.6 was to large and my 5.3 to small. On the 6.6 I got so fast that it almost -well it actually did- scare me and on the 5.3 it was just a bit hard to get and stay on the plane all the time.
Now luckily for me this guy came up to me and gave me a head up. His encouragement made me do another tack and I feel much better about continuing until I get it.
Out of these experiences I conclude that the equipment is almost too good, too specialized and sensitive and that it is a really hard sport to learn.
Maybe expectations have risen to much. everyone wants to get planing and if that doesn't happen one quits.
And to all you good guys. Maybe stop once in a while and give a tip to the likes of me who are struggling and obviously beginners. It goes a long way re encouragment and joy.



And lotsofwind!!!
Whats a good beginners Kite set up. My son reckons windsurfing is too hard and wants to start kiting, go figure

You did get planing in the 80's but it was on a long heavy board and with a sail with only one tiny batten at the top, so the top speed wasn't that high. The plastic fenced fin on my board hummed a different note for different speeds when planing. Even at those speeds, it was exciting.
Then boards without daggerboards was the next step, and a bigger sail with several battens, which would S-bend when you got overpowered and it was like trying to wrestle a bull by its horns.
Now you can blast at high speed in relatively light winds, and everything feels so light and nimble as you create a smooth path through the chop.

Hi,
I'm from Germany and do windsurfing lessons at a small school at a quite large lake. We do have a lot of kids for windsurfing classes and offer "surfpool" for those who want to stick to it after they've received their licencse. This is, they pay a certain amount for the whole season and can come for windsurfing as often as they like.
In addition there a quite a few kids who are very enthusiastic about windsurfing and "earn" their windsurfing by helping at the school, carrying stuff etc.
Some even end up being windsurfing instructor themselves.

Begs me to ask the question that I was thinking of last week when reading others comments about improving the image of windsurfing, particularly with young people, can anyone name any high schools or universities in OZ that are actively involved in encouraging and teaching their students to master watersports like windsurfing and (dare I say it in this forum) kitesurfing?

I thought it was just me..

Yep..I think a lot of people on the forum have forgotten how hard it is to learn especially if you don't get much TOW or ideal conditions..recommending boards + 20 or not much more of your weight!?I've been sailboarding 20 years and get out regularly but relearning how to gybe has been a real dedicated effort.I still haven't got there..When you stack every gybe and have to waterstart it really drains your energy. You need to be pretty fit to stick at it..or a stubborn pig like I am..

Looks like this thread is going for 8 or even 9 pages.

We definitely got planing on the original Windsurfers in the '70s, and regularly. I've only had a GPS on a Windsurfer One Design once, with a top score of 25.4 knots and 22.5 for 10 seconds in crappy conditions. I'm sure that in the right conditions, an original Windsurfer would be able to top that, so it's DEFINITELY planing.

How did it compare? It felt amazingly good in those days... I'm talking screaming, yelling, hooting good.

It doesn't have the same feeling as planing on modern gear. Most modern gear definitely has a much better top end speed - it has to 'cause it's taken a massive hit on light wind speed. And it's designed for that lock-in and go feeling; older boards feel very, very loose and heavy.

But it's all relative. That locked-in feeling can feel a bit restrictive and repetitive from some perspectives, while desperately dancing on a wobbly strapless deck can seem to be either a pain in the arse or a challenge that is deeply satisfying to master - it depends on the way you look at it.

Is the One Design I sail now pretty slow in planing conditions? Sure, but who cares? Everything is relative. The stuff people now think is dog slow was once leading edge and breathtakingly fast. If something felt amazingly good in 1985 it can still feel amazingly good now - the wind and water haven't changed. All that is changed is our perspective, and that's under our control. I regularly find myself amazed how much I still love sailing something very close to the first board I ever got onto, back in 1978.

I used to go to events with 2 or 3 longboards and 4/5 longboard sails, a stack of slalom gear and three waveboards. We'd regularly have three rigs rigged up at once, and due to rapidly changing winds I found myself unrigging 7 rigs on afternoon. Now I use one board and one sail unless I'm going for a wavesailing weekend in the country.

That feeling of having specialised gear that is perfect for its conditions is wonderful, but the feeling of having incredibly simple gear that will handle everything is also wonderful. It's just a pity that these days the sport only wants to promote one kind of wonderful.

As Robby Naish said in a US mag, only if we could get the sport back into light winds, lakes (or bays) and longboards will it really grow. With modern designs, we can do it much better than in the old days - I can't believe how much better the Barracouta sails we use for Junior One Designs is compared to an old 4.5.

We've even taught my mother-in-law to windsurf, and we got a pic of three generations sailing side by side. Sure, she can't plane or loop, but she loves getting on the board every time she visits. She's an example of how the sport CAN be made accessible if we want it to be.

BUT the people you talk about are highly skilled and could probably sail anything. In my opinion the problem is when you have relatively limited sailing experience like myself you probably need more kit. The reason i say this is that we don't know all the tuning tricks and don't have the high skill level of the more experienced sailors. So in turn if we go out on something that is not right or out of the wind range we get beaten to a pulp. I can sail in conditions now that i would have had no chance in maybe 3 months ago but i have used the mindset that i would jump in the deep end and learn to swim while learning. If on the other hand my wife tried to do the same she would have given up from being scared and said it was too hard so i think that people with limited knowledge and ability should be on the closest to right gear as possible while they are learning. If they aren't it will make what is quite a hard sport to learn even harder and if they don't get a glimpse of the good side (fun) of windsurfing early then they won't stick with it. I got hooked early and loved it but if your doing nothing but catapulting and having trouble uphauling, before you can water start, then getting dragged out with the tide then why would anyone want to subject themselves to that. It's not fun and they won't persevere in a lot of cases. You can't just have one sail and go out in all conditions it just won't work. All that means is that you will only be in the right conditions maybe 10% of the time if that and then then end up not going out when it's wrong and you learning curve will be VERY slow. This in turn could make newcomers think that it just takes too long. I started in March this year and have had 3 new boards, 3 new sails and buying another one in a couple of weeks, 2 new masts and 1 new boom. I think that i have learnt pretty quickly but i have had the right gear for a wide range of conditions so i go sailing alot in just about anything. I still have HEAPS to learn but it's my gear that's got me where i'm at now and maybe a bit (alot) of effort. I must also give credit to 1 very good lesson that i had before i bought anything and a shop that has given me good deals on gear and good advice on what to buy and don't seem to mind me annoying the crap out of them on a weekly basis with constant questions. Maybe they do mind but they don't show it.

I think Perth being Australia's windsurfing Capital is doing better than other places in Australia it would be great if we had those kind of numbers on the water in South Australia..

When I go on holiday, I can only take one board, one mast and two sails. That was planing from 18 knots to 30 knots covered, which I would say is the ideal range for a large waveboard, and the wind range I enjoy the most. With the same amount of kit aimed at lighter wind, I could get more time on the water but a bit less enjoyment.

With 2 boards, 2 masts and 4 sails, I could cover 12 knots to 35 knots, which would be 90%+ of good conditions.

I actually have 3 boards, 3 masts and 6 sails, and if its between 13 knots and 45 knots, I'm covered for any water state.

Having more gear means you can sail more often on ideal gear, and as a result you enjoy the session more, but its a law of diminishing returns from one board and two sails onward.

Having more gear just means you have to waste time deciding what gear to use!

And then if that's not bad enough you spend the rest of the session wishing you had rigged something else !

Am I right?

I think he is right on the money with a lot of his comments too, just not when he says that windsurfers are more gear focussed than other sports.
That's just plain crazy talk.
Seriously, you I didn't even get started about audiophiles or doof-doof drivers or golfers.
I've not forgotten the pain of learning. i got chucked around the mast yesterday for the first time yesterday in 40 kts as a reminder if i needed one.

This is the knot of the question: some think that numerous gear will make it easier. I disagree, but it's only an opinion. Those who persevere with a wider range of conditions, rather than buy and buy again, become more versatile, once passed the learning hump.

Frankly, I have seen little to no improvement in the last 10+ years with the guys that have kept renewing the trailer - some are mesmerized still that new gear will buy them skills. (Plus their constant whingeing that windsurfing is expensive...)

Got a point there: If you have 2 boards to choose from then you have a 50% chance of being right.
If you have 5 boards to choose from then you only have 20% chance of being right.
One way to look at it.