You have to wonder what keeps long term windsurfers motivated?
The average windsurfing population is ageing, and numbers are declining, so what satisfaction are we now getting from it? Has it just become a habit because we can't think what else to do? (Everyone's got to be somewhere!)
Looking around our local beach the other day and comparing it to how it used to be 15 years ago, was depressing. Then, swarms of windsurfers all full of enthusiasm couldn't wait to get onto the water. (Into the car park, into wet suit, rigged and out before the exhaust had cooled and stopped ticking.) Furthermore, they stayed in for two or three hours whatever the wind was like.
Last week, on a good day, only a handful of regulars were out. The rush to get out had gone, replaced by an hours talking in the vans before even startingt to rig.When they did hit the water it was for a twenty minute blast followed by another car park talking session.
I don't know what others do to keep motivated, but I find that variation is a key element. I've always kept my older boards and currently have eight to choose from, and some older ones in reserve. So there is blasting, surfing, longboard cruising and kayaking if I need a change.
I don't imagine ever stopping windsurfing, but sometimes it is difficult to overcome that feeling of having done it all before, so why bother? How do others keep the juices flowing?
I do it for the physical activity, plus the thrill of freestyling. I find freestyling (short and long boards) keeps me real fit.
When I get to the beach, I rig as quick as I can and run like crazy to the water. I still do after 25 years on... Everyone finds me weird. I don't wear wetsuits cause they take too much time to put on. And I get real angry when I misrig, because of the wind time wasted to fix it.
You're right, lot of w*nking nowadays: comparing gear forever, derigging the rig that just re-de-unrigged because the wind picked up by half a knot. Discussing forever of equipment, wind never good enough, etc. I don't think they have such a good time.
It's a Tupperware party - good on them, doesn't get in my way.
Here's the opposite: I was at a freestyle comp 2 years ago. The wind picked up to a nice consistent 20-22 knots. The guys were so into sailing that they went on for hours overpowered, rather than come back and waste sailing time.
Crazy, and I nearly died in the process, but that's windsurfing !!
Great Pierrec 45!! You,ve cheered me up no end. Thanks.
It's the talking sneering moaning clique who've taken over our local beach. Like you, I'm the odd one out. The steady drip drip drip of negativity was getting me down, but I see I'm not alone. Cheers.
I'm not the odd one out at my joint, fortunately.
There are several die hards enthusiasts here, new young freestylers, and guys with really old boards that have a good time all day.
Yes there is a clique, but they're more like those kiters with the spotted shorts than windsurfers. They don't go out much anyways - too much time changing fins.
I also teach newbies at a club here, brings really nice people too - new blood.
It is the actual sailing time, the freedom and the enjoyment of being with the elements and getting speed, movement out of it!
Still use my old gear and do not care if it/I look odd, old or whatever!
Recycling should be Cool??
The marketers and sales pitches trying to sell the latest (peer preasure) and the small/fast if you can sail the buggers Boards, have discoraged the average potential customer from buying a windsurf "floater" and having a cruize.
Back to basics will be the way for expansion like, Longboard/SUP's with windsurf ability.
It has to be relatively easy to use and learn for Windsurfing/SUP ing to have a broad apeal
Just my oppinion!
I think a bit of variation and mixing it up helps me. Last summer all I did was GPS sail and towards the end of the season I was beginning to tire of it, it felt more like a chore to get out and get in some numbers than just enjoy blasting about.
This summer I bought a SUP and was superstoked to be getting out in small surf on light wind days. The board is so basic with no footstraps, but to be sailing on such different kit in light wind was unreal, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. Then last weekend went out in a good seabreeze on the fast kit and was superstoked to be flying along again. I even chucked my race sail on the SUP for a bit of a laugh to see how it would go.
So for me, I find the motivation by getting out in all sorts of different conditions and not taking things to seriously. 
Laff 77 said
So for me, I find the motivation by getting out in all sorts of different conditions and not taking things to seriously.
Thats what I need to do. I was crook for 4 years & didnt think Id ever sail again. I was SO glad to sail when I first got back 
but now I think I'm trying to recapture my youth & all I do is concentrate on how I can't do this or that.
.cripes just get out & enjoy falling off!
I suppose I'm motivated by trying to get back my gybing & jumping skills but need to back off a bit & realise Im 15 years older!
Maybe its because its so cold where you are, sitting around in vans and chattin sounds like a good idea!
IMO, windsurfing is back in vogue, more people doing it more often, 20 people out on a good day all with big smiles is not uncommon, lots of hooting and carrying on, there has never been a better time to be a windsurfer? :)
Just being on the water is enough motivation for me......going to work ...now that requires motivation.
I do get a buzz from inviting friends and relatives to the beach who sailed "back in the day" and loaning them modern gear. To see them look so excited and re motivated is a buzz. Teaching their kids to sail is also a real buzz. Watching the anxiety in the eyes of their partners as they spend the whole day on the water and not on the beach is pretty funny too. ( the last bit is not true)
I plead guilty, your honour! 
In spite of what's been posted here, I think the social interaction is what's holding it together in most places now.
This has long been recognised as an important factor in almost all other sports.
I guess the closest one to windsurfing would be sailing clubs and they seem to have a very big component of the social interaction side with their clubs gatherings and social bashes. It's these things that hold a group together for the long term because it allows other peoples enthusiasm to fire up your own.
It's really hard to keep a fire burning with just one stick. Once the outer soft wood is burnt the fire goes out.
Two sticks is better.
A bundle of sticks will make a blaze.
Windsurfers don't usually form clubs but the local gathering gabfest is a rough equivalent.
I don't see anything wrong with that. In fact I see it as a positive element.
www.gpsteamchallenge.com.au/
Since I joined GPSTC my motivation to sail has never been stronger. And I've been on an incredibly steep learning curve because there are so many facets to the comp...outright speed, endurance, gybing ability, ability not to fall off etc.
GPSTC emphasises the team aspect of sailing, which wasn't really there before.
And fantastic conditions on offer in WA certainly helps
Freestyle - the never ending challenge of landing a never ending series of new tricks - and the stoke when you land something new.
I'll be sailing for another 30 years and will never have mastered this sport.
Since getting back into the sport about 4 years ago the only down side for me is that I now have trouble just enjoying being near the water without thinking "is that a breeze I can feel... oh please just a little more and I can head home and grab my gear.."
I also find myself constantly distracted at Uni or work if I can see trees bending outside and then distraction turns to frustration.
So motivation is not the problem, it's being able to focus on other things.
You can imagine what I was like when I did a campervan trip from Perth down past Margaret River the summer before last (with no intention of sailing). The wind was that good that I never found a decent place to swim because I would be wind plastered with sand the moment I got out.
Yes, the social side is an element, but the tone is set by the dominant clique at any beach. If they are tribal (as ours has developed) and you don't want to join their gang, it spoils the vibe.
Thinking back, I know that a lot of our once locals have moved elsewhere because they didn't like the atmosphere.That, clearly is my solutionan also. There is a much more friendly place a bit further away, where the social side is better balanced with the need to sail.
Incidentally, we see the cold as normal because we know no differently. I don't think some of us could cope with hot non wet suit conditions. I'd keep falling off in surprise!
I'm with pointman here, my sailing time has probably doubled since becoming part of the GTC.
I'm lucky enough to live on the beach where a nice wave breaks every once in a while. Good wave sailing days where and still are fantastic, but there are plenty of days in summer when it's just dead flat. I was getting bored with that, and only bothered to go out when I started to twitch from saline withdrawal. Now I've bought a surf wagon so I can get my speed gear to the estuary, and try and help our team move up the ladder, any time the winds up.
And there are now a few UK teams, no excuse to not be in it.
I'm surprised your problem with the local clique got to be that bad.
Just ride around them, they're usually not the alpha males anyways. Plus they're always under-rigged - after all, that's why they carry so much equipment.
So, how can it be that bad?
We have the same here (and at a few other US spots I go to), but the good guys and the fun guys and the freestylists get on anyways.
Over time here, I have convinced a lot of people to get on even in lighter winds, to practice freestyle moves. When some w*nker told me that he didn't bother going out in those winds, I told I didn't want my windsurfing to stagnate.
Simple as that.
Thanks for the invite Divaldo, but they aren't all 'pillocks' in the U.K. (N.E. England.) I think those who have become so are trying to compensate for the fact that they long ago reached their peaks, and have nowhere left to go.
From what I see, they buy the latest, fastest boards and rigs each year in an effort to convince themselves that it's not so, and only use them when the wind is just right, so that they aren't made to look stupid. Why else would they all be left lying around the beach for the better part of any session, while they endlessly pose and prattle in the car park cum promenade?
Me, I'm out whatever doing silly tricks if it's non planing. As Pierrec45 says, the next board will be a Freestyle, and to hell with whether I make myself look daft! I'll have a huge grin on my face.
Yes, I've found a new spot Flipper 11. I'm not tired of windsurfing, (no way), just the lousy atmosphere at what was always my favourite beach. Have fun mate.
Never really needed motivation to do something I love to do, but I do require motivation to go to work to pay for the little extras I like. New board, 'nother sail etc.
Maybe, they're inspired by what they do 
