Why? Because i'm a self centered selfish barstard[}:)]
And yes this is the reason i started[}:)]
Edit:- It was really so i could avoid family BBQ's[}:)]
Its an addiction I need to feed. 
Nothing compares to blasting about in 20-25 knots on a sunny day. That total buzz you get when you nail a carve gybe. Nothing can wipe the smile off my face. I just love this sport, I will never stop windsurfing so long as I am physically capable of doing it. 
I had sailed boats and had seen the windsurfers zooming round. thought, that looks like a lotta fun. I was right. Now ? Well, you'se know how it is.
It was something to do in the summer in Austria, there was no waves to play in, no sea just a lake and everyone was trying it. Now I do it cos its fun, it makes me feel good, I like the really exhausted feeling - fall into bed and sleep like a log, I love the water, I love going fast, I love learning, if I don't I turn into a blob, it keeps my knee strong, my fellow windsurfers are all fun to hang around , I like the taste of salt water, I like being scared (mostly), and bottom line, I'm addicted.
Needed to do something to regain fitness after illness and always wanted to try it. After only about 3 or 4 weeks I am hooked 
Still not fit yet though lol
25 years ago my best mate went to buy a Hobie Cat, came home with a BIC Dufour Wing. First time I went out and tried it I was so hooked it wasn't funny.
I still do it now because once I'm on the water planing I am a million miles away from any stress or work or issues in my life.
I hope to one day be buried in an epoxy sandwich coffin with a wide luff pocket speedsail draped over the top 
When I met my wife (who windsurfed) i really couldn't see the point of floating around on an incredibly large and heavy plastic door in 3kts of wind; I could swim faster!
Once I saw that it was supposed to be a fast, action, adrenalin rushing sport I was hooked.
I suppose that is the difference between "sail boarding" (how I hate that term) and "windsurfing"!
Having taken a couple of years out due to various crap reasons I couldn't wait to start again, and now everything takes second place; even if it involves beer. After all what would a days sailing be without an esky full of beer in the back of Divaldo's car; cheers Dave 
, it must be my turn to bring the beers on Sunday
Although i started cos it looked like it would probably be fun; the addiction just seems to grow and grow such that a day off not windsurfing is just a waste of a day off!
I was immersed in the northern beaches "Puberty Blues" lifestyle back in the 80's, just surfing all the time, drinking and watching a lot of mates get into drugs etc so I decided to try something different.
I saw a guy windsurfing at Palm Beach one day, asked for a go and the next day went out and bought a second hand One Design and was totally hooked.
Havent really stopped since and just love the "free" feeling, going fast, jumping and catching waves with my mates. Travelled to a truck load of places to sail and met some great people.
A super healthy outdoors sport that is SO nicely addictive.
Coz I enjoy fishing!
(WTF I hear?)
3 years ago, I had 2 weeks off over Xmas, (1st time in years...self employed!
) I couldn't get the boat on the water because of the f@#%ing wind!
About the same time, a mate bought a windsurfer, (GO), and asked if I wanted to try it, thought "might as well, crappy weather for fishing anyway"......long story short - best of both worlds....
winds up = windsurfing
no wind = fishing.
Started coz I used to surf and got sick of the waves being blown out by the seabreeze.
A mate started windsurfing and I thought cool, it means we're still at the beach and can use that pesky wind for an advantage.
For various reasons, never really got a lot of time on the water, probably only got 4 or 5 sails a year for the most of the last 18 years (never mastered gybing etc.). Then two years ago decided .... bugger it, I'm gonna get serious.
Bought some new kit and have been properly hooked BIG time ever since.
I used to rock up down at Gearies on the tail end of a storm looking for a surf, seeing it blown out and all the windsurfing crew having a ball.
Got chatting to one of the locals who talked it up with huge amounts of enthusiasm, decided to give it a go for when I couldn't surf.
Haven't looked back, only surf on rare ocassions now.
Thanks Waveslave you were right
I am not sure that this is really the question. I agree with so many of the sentiments already mentioned. I was hooked in 1982 on a "sailboard". The question should be "Why don't people windsurf?"
I used to sail on a skiff, that was cool - but I realised that I could go faster and have more fun (do some jumps etc as well) without having to bother about having a crew organised to do it
Used to race dinghys and crew on yachts and windsurf when i had time.
Got posted to WA and have not sailed a yacht or dinghy in 4 years.
And i feel the need for speed
I grew up sailing dinghies and only started windsurfing because my family moved to the North West and there was no sailing club. Windsurfing replaced the thrill that the race provided.
Windsurfing has become a big part of my life - most of my family windsurfs and I have made good friends on this web and at the beach. Nothing like sharing a grin with your bro's as you pass them or cheering them as they go for that move they're trying to crack!
The feeling of planing, with the water speeding past under my feet soothes my soul.
Windsurfing always provides a new challenge - whether it's the next sick trick or bigger winds/waves than you've sailed before - that's addictive. Learning to harness the power of the elements makes me feel alive. I'm always thinking about the next session.
i saw some guys about 1982 who were windsurfing duranbah. they were sailing out to the reef off from the headland.
i was about 10 or so. it blew my mind. i vowed that one day i would learn to windsurf.
around 1988 my school offered windsurfing as a sport so i jumped at the chance.
very very happy i did.
A) Because kiting is for little girly boys 
(flame on).
B) I remember when I was a kid around 1980 Coca-Cola had one of those bottle cap competitions. If you collected 3 windsurfers you had won one. I found 3 but when I called they told me the competition had already closed . I have wanted one ever since.
C) Power boat was too expensive and friends/family showed limited/feigned enthusiasm in coming out on a catamaran so I thought "bugger it, I'll get a one man boat". Maybe the best decision I've ever made (except for marrying a Ruski ).
I started this topic for 2 reasons.
1. To find out why you windsurf, what drives you.
2. To test a theory. I suggested in another topic
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=34180&whichpage=1 that people don't windsurf because it makes them look cool. After 21 replies no one has said they windsurf to make themselves cooler!
Not surprisingly, some of our kitesurfing brothers have different motivations. I asked them why they kite, here.
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=34212
To the kiters who do it for the stoke, respect.
To those who are trying to be "cool", you're pathetic!
I used to do a lot of sailing (raced dinghies and then cats competitively) and after a while the whole carting boats everywhere, rigging time, tuning etc because tiresome. Our sailing club had an old windsurfer one design and one day I just started mucking around in it, got the basics of rig control etc. Then I bought a short board and rig off some bloke in the paper for $50. Lets just say it was plastic, had 3 fins and was PINK! Anyway the whole shortboard thing proved a little challenge initially, however that first time a gust hit me perfectly and it burst out onto the plane is forever etched into my memory. Never looked back. Sailing became less and less of a priority and windsurfing more and more of a priority. Then I moved to the coast for Uni and started dabbling about in waves and that was it, totally and utterly addicted, no more sailing :P
What keeps me windsurfing:
1) The endless pursuit of my skillset....some of those freestyle moves are just impossible
2) Days when you perfectly powered on a 4.7 and the waves are logo+ :D
I sold my commodore 64 computer back in 1987 to buy my first gear at 14...I just wanted to jump waves and not have to paddle through the surf like my mates...oh yeah and pick up chicks
Reality is that is was at least a year of fumbleing around on the old waveboard (yes I bought the wrong thing to learn on) before I hit the surf at Currumbin and then realised that when I was windsurfing the surf was blown out and none of my surfing mates were anywhere to be seen.
Why do I still do it?? well my wife won't let me have a girlfriend.
Really, I have tried lots of different sports, rock climbing, white water kayaking, down hill mountain bikes, snow boarding and even the forbidden K word, and none of them came close to windsurfing for me.
Was at a go-kart race meeting, one of the blokes racing J's at the time said he was selling up, moving to Safety Bay and windsurfing more.
No idea what he was on about until a few years later I was crewing on a race yacht , a windsurfer went hooning past
Thought now there is some fun.
First go, hooked
Wished I had followed up with the guy getting out of Karting those four or five years prior.
I hate going near windsurfing lolly shops, I always buy more stuff[}:)][}:)]
- I do it because its heaps fun
- I have always LOVED the water from an extremeily young age and wanted to do some watersport.
- Go fast, faster than i do skiing anyway and you dont even have to keep a boat running.
- Something a bit different not many do it, in SA anyway. I don't know any other young sailors in SA mainland.
- My dad also used to do it many years ago. So he got my brother and i into it and now he has started it again aswell.
I'm hooked anyway. Doesn't take long to catch the bug and get a lot of money tied up in windsurfing for sure.
Cheers
Bubs
