pls. check out neilpryde.com and voila! us 3 southern guys relatively unknown to 60% of the fleet with me giving the victory sign..am bewildered as to why of all them dashing and photogenic guys including the pro's and top finishers were we chosen as one of the closing pics..am guessing you guys might be wondering so what?!?not a really windy week as a low pressure not normal this time of the year was clogging the northeasterlies but nevertheless a great event for us so called 'provinciano's' or from the province but were all stoked to get into a cool website and that is good enough for me....regards
Why do I windsurf?
As a famous mountaineer said when asked why he climbs mountains, "if you have to ask the question, you wouldn't understand the answer".
Also, it's that "planing feeling" (said to tune of some song I can't remember - maybe "loving feeling"?)
because i like to spend my life waiting for the perfect day, checkin sea breeze 20 times a day, buying gear i hope i will need for this perfect day, i threaten to quit at least once a week when there is no wind, but am stoked when i get to bear away on a decent wave...
Why did I start? I wanted to try it but at the time (many years ago) there was nowhere you could get lessons in QLD. My mum suggested I buy one so I did... a Bombora Funboard complete with the heaviest 6m sail and tie-on boom (called a wish-bone back then), and an instruction book... you couldn't get much better than that in those days! Well... I spent one afternoon uphauling and falling off with my dad reading the instructions from the bank of Lake Samsonvale. Good old dad even sailed out in the family Heron to tow me back to shore. I was in agony the next day but having bought that #$@% equipment I couldn't just quit. Best investment I ever made! Got my brother addicted as well.
Why do I still do it? There's just something about that feeling that makes you want to drop everything to go windsurfing. I've even given up dates with very attractive (but unfortunately non-windsurfing) guys because the wind was cranking and I needed my fix 
. And you guys think you have it tough!
Coz it's gives me a kick and with surfing it's the perfect combination when you want to be out there all the time.
Cheers
René
Well i know i had a smart ass answer previously but really when i started in about 1984 it was just that planning feeling that was so easy on a windsurfer compared to a dingy.I had a break from the sport for 10 years Then i saw the R.I.P. video and well that inspired me again
I wanted to jump...
But now... after 14 years straight well there is so much more that keeps me doing it.The people i have met ..all so strange.. every windsurfer i know is just that little bit different..if you know what i mean But we're all connected...like a big family
Apart from being stoked every time i go out and it don't matter if it's flat or prefect DTL ..If there is another windsurfer to share the stoke..Thats the essence of the sport.To see that look in their eyes,their hands shaking and the stutter in their voices ...Nothing else i have experienced can offer that..But then again i may be biased
i dont think its a simple answer,for me i worked ,lived played in the ocean all my life so being on,in the water feels natural but there something magical about gliding over the water with no noise and every time you advance theres a feeling satisfaction within and because every time i go sailing i learn somthing new, and enjoy seeing the same feelings in other sailors and have made new friends 
I took it up because i couldn't (no skills) surf, now I cant windsurf..........
I do however have a unique style, some may say its a skill, of putting various body parts through sails!
There's a huge range of experience that's part and parcel of windsurfing.
I have to say that one of the sensations I treasure is just that first bit of a session on a sunny moderately windy day (5.8) when you carry your kit to the water, drop it in, step up and glide off hooked in suspended from the sail. I love the sensation, the release. It strokes the animal in me. It's pure sensory pleasure. I kn love it.
The next one would be the sensation of speed you get being close to the water. And the way your board and sail respond to everything you do, and to the water shape. Getting to know it is all somatic learning, touchy feely, like a child learning to walk.
The next would be the striving for gybes et al. Getting a good one, just a gybe I mean, always gives me a frisson of glee.
The next would be learning something new - the struggle and finally bloody getting it provides a buzz that's hard to beat.
You can cruise easy or clench your bum and blast. You can putz about with light wind freestyle or bump and jump in 30 knots or charge down the line or jump in any number of ways. mmmmmm.... more jumps.
The point is that there is something for everybody with an able body of whatever age or inclination, mood or proclivity. Why it isn't more popular is mysterious.
I've never been able to answer that question well. Whenever I try to describe what I love about windsurfing, the words miss it completely. All I know is I want to get back on the water.
Cause im addicted. To be honest I dont think I could give up even if i wanted to.
And the people.
Hey all, I'm pretty much a newbie to the forum. I've been an avid reader but not much of a poster...
I started windsurfing because it looked like a hell of a lot of fun. I'd had enough of sailing/racing dinghies & yachts, committing to crew etc. I started on an old 13ft bombora, but didn't really get into it until I moved to WA.
I love mastering each of the challenges that windsurfing offers. Never a dull moment as they say
As for being cool?? (Was this the sub-theme behind this thread?) I don't think any sport is 'cool' as such, but being passionate about what you do and helping/encouraging other people to participate and enjoy it, that is cool.
I windsurf because every day of sailing lets me put off "doing something with my life" just a little while longer. One day at a time...
I started cos I was lazing on the beach in Singapore and I saw these guys on Formula gear whizzing along, about 1km offshore, and it looked so cool. Then I had lessons and found I was totally crap at it, but the sight of decent sailors planing past me kept me motivated...
Let's face it, windsurfing absolutely farkin RULES, and we are all so lucky to have found that out! We should all spend one morning a week doorknocking like Mormons, spreading the good word to the benighted masses.
*knock knock*
-Yes?
-Hello, I'm Wet Willy and I want to ask you a question: have you let windsurfing into your heart? Have you been saved?
*slam*
...who's up for it??
1. speed.
2. speed.
3. speed.
4. freedom.
5. no fossil fuels just natures sustainable power.
6. fitness with maximum fun.
7. shiny kit syndrome - new toys.
8. food and beer doesn't get any better than after 2 or 3 hours on the water.
9. comradery.
Just off to buy some Yak hair undies and a collection plate.
Back in a little while.
I bought my first board, a Tyronsea falcon an 1984 when my mate bought a Windsurfer one design and sailed at St Georges Bay at St Helens Tas. What a sense of freedom, sail all day then a few beers and a counter tea, fantastic.
Now living on the Gold Coast 20 years later that sense of freedom still prevails. Beats Heroin hands down mon.
