Is windsurfing popularity still declining?

Surely you would have to agree that someone who is learning and i mean early in the piece is going to have an easier time on a 5.0 if it hits 20 knots than the same person on a 6.5 in the same conditions. You could get by on one sail but you wouldn't spend as much time on the water if the wind gets up and that's when the real learning took place for me and the only way to learn this sport is to spend time standing on that board. You could buy the smaller sail i suppose but most of the time the wind seems to be on the lighter side and you wouldn't have enough power. I have found that having more stuff allows me to cover more conditions which in turn has meant more time on the water which has helped me learn quicker maybe it's not the same for everyone. It's just the way i see it and have done it. Doesn't mean i'm right like i said in my post it was just my opinion.

i'm guessing your perfect quiver is a w/s onedesign and a bombora newtoy ontop of a vw kombi!

Hey Chris
I used to have a Nacra but i sold it and started windsurfing because it was too hard to get reliable crew and thought it would be easier to go windsurfing. Well it is as far as getting there and setting up and being able to go whenever i want to instead of relying on other people it's just a lot harder to do.
I was more replying to pierres' post but i do agree that you don't need 3 or 4 boards and 8 sails. You can get away with one board in the beginning but i still think you need more than one sail or else your learning curve will be slower because you will be on the water less. I found this when i bought my first lot of gear. I only had a 6.1 and a 130 litre board. If the water was white capping it was to hard for me. That was before i was planing. So i didn't go out. It only took me a few weeks to buy another sail, a 5.5 which meant i gave it a go in the stronger stuff. It also meant that more time on the water meant i learnt quicker.
You don't have to spend big money as there is plenty of pretty good 2nd hand stuff around but i do think that you need to buy at least 2 sails initially so you confidence bubble doesn't get burst by being overpowered and not knowing how to handle it.
Scared people don't continue to pursue something that scares them they need to be coming in wanting more not going home with a negative feeling about the whole experience. That's the way i see it anyway

As a complete noob, (and I'm talking not planing to just starting to get it happening - looks ugly though) I reckon you must have a board big enough to comfortably float you (with a centre board too preferably) and a sail roughly the correct size for your weight for a typically good day for sailing. For much of the west coast that'd be around 18 to 22kts. With a sail small enough for the 18 to 22kt range I can still bob around in 8 to 10kts (or less) quite happily, learning technique and confidence along the way. So, for me, weighing embarrassingly too much, I picked up a 205l board, a 5m sail, an old 30% carbon mast, a boom and all the necessary sundry items, all either very cheap 2nd hand or scrounged for free from Seabreezers (many thanx to those who helped me get going). I'm very happy with what I have to learn on for about $700. You could do it cheaper if you wanted to. You really don't need a heap of gear or money if you want to learn to windsurf.

However, I believe there have been some valid points made by others.

1. The industry does appear to aim almost exclusively at the bleeding edge market, and I think this turns many more people away than it attracts. I set out knowing what I wanted, so was not deterred, but most are not like that. I'm also open to being swayed later, but for now I'm doing what I want.

2. Taking into account point 1. above, the price of new gear is horrendously expensive in the eyes of a prospective noob, and whilst there is a little, there's not a lot of beginners' gear out there in the 2nd hand market. The only special item a noobie really needs is a big enough (and wide enough) board. Almost any 2nd hand sails (of appropriate size), masts, booms etc will be fine. I know I couldn't even pick the difference between a wave sail, or race sail or any other sail.

3. Good advice. Noobs need good advice FOR NOOBS. I watched and laughed at much of the advice given in a thread a month or 2 back on precisely this topic. Windsurfing does have a long steep learning curve, and it seems that many/most who've been doing it for years have completely forgotten what it was like. Give a noobie some early success to get him/her hooked, and that's achieved with noob gear. - big board, small(ish) sail, light wind and a uphaul start. Start by showing them that they can do it - on day 1! Lesson 1 (or at least the 1st hour or so) should be in very light wind - 3 to 5kts would be ideal. Just enough to uphaul, sail, tack, sail back - success already.


Any'ow that's from someone just getting into the sport now. When I'm semi competent I'm quite sure I'll want to extract more and more out of my windsurfing, but for now all that great gear would do for me is convince me that windsurfing is way beyond me. I think point 3. above is the vital point. From that the other 2 should flow.

That'll be 2 penneth please, pay as you leave

I think i need to win lotto a few times so I can get a place on the water with a big shed so I can have all my sails rigged and ready to go and have a few different sail ranges to suit the type of sailing I want to do. Have multiples of the same boards just with different size fins in so i don't need to mess around changing fins. I am sure that would increase my time on the water!

At the moment I only take 3 or 4 boards with me 8 or 9 sails 6 masts 3 or 4 booms and I have lost count of the number of fins I have in my fin box in the car.

My wife's board, an RRD Easyrider L is not exactly a board people would expect to plane on. Its a big wide thing with a bolt in centreboard. I've had it on the plane a few times though and its a wild ride.

The board lifts up in the centre. Once its up it is very difficult to control and is very tipsy. Not exactly fun to ride as its all over the place.

So probably most board can plane as long as they get enough speed though some are not designed for planing.

Its quite good to have a big board like this. If we are going away for the weekend up or down the coast then we are guaranteed to go windsurfing. I've taught a few people with it too. I probably wouldn't mind selling it though and getting something like that JP SUP that is good for windsurfing too.

KenHo wrote: "I'm still pretty sure that windsurfers are no more gear obsessed than any other sport, which is the only thing the "what planet" comment was directed at."

Yeah, other sports are just as gear obsessed, and I didn't mean to say they weren't. The point (which I could have made more clear) is that in all the other sports I do (and I think in just about all major sports) the gear is more accessible to the average user and less specialised - even top-end stuff.

Gazman wrote "Part of the problem I think is that many Seabreeze regulars who have been windsurfing for a long, long time (including myself) have really forgotten the frustration and anguish they went through learning to windsurf!"

Yeah, I'd forgotten it until I taught my wife and then started running courses and coaching. That really brings home how hard the sport can be, if we assume that "being able to windsurf" means being able to do stuff like carve gybing in 20 knots.

That "basic" stuff like waterstarting and carving is bloody hard for the average person who doesn't get to sail all that often.

QLDNACRA, it sounds like you're progressing really well and have ideal conditions for the sort of sailing you're doing. Like you say, different strokes and for different people sailing in different areas, going to a smaller board can mean spending time schlogging instead of learning.

But board size doesn't have to hold you back!