The point Fletch makes about supporting the local guys is important too.
You may pay slightly more to get your board locally, but that means you are supporting the guy that will be there on Saturday to sell you a new boom when you broke one on the morning session, or will be down the local spot offering you a ride of the new 2009 version of that sail you would love to own. The convinience of a local guy means that you might not miss that epic session, or you just have somewhere to go when your wife wants you to mow the lawn.
I am surprised we still have these guys that run shops, and thier love for this sport needs to be supported. I was involved with a shop a few years ago and there certainly is no gold mine in that...I now work in IT and am just another consumer.
Jamie is right on the money - the local shop should always be supported. Regarding the prices, my local has just listed the new 09 price list and the boards look to be within $50-100 of last year. So a $2600 last year up to $2700 this year is a 3.8% increase. My electricity and rates have gone up by more!
a 3.8% price increase in aus and 20-30% increase in maui prices,i dont reckon the maths are right there, and a country in recession or heading there,they would be keen on giving any tourist a good price and the diff covers the air fare..almost
Comparing the prices between here and the UK it looks like they are just over 10% higher here, although as VAT is 17.5% compared to 10% GST the difference is actually larger.
e.g.
Starboard Kombat (Technora)
UK GBP929 ($1923)
AU $2199
JP FSW (FWS)
UK GBP1059 ($2192)
AU $2400?
The most frustrating thing is that once the 09s come out the surplus 08 stock in the UK will be reduced by far more than it is here due to the quantity available. The size of the market here is probably one of the main factors; there is so much more nearly new kit available in the UK that they can't afford to charge too much for the new stuff or nobody will buy it.
Every year the same cry goes up 'its all so expensive', so Here we go again with real figures.
Even the most expensive sails on the market have only increased by $10 a year for the last 15 years, only 25% in 15 years. There are plenty of brands on the market for the same price as sails in 1993 in current models or last years stock.
In 1988 there were 44 Gaastra dealers in austraila and 38 pryde dealers. Now all could be counted on one hand, so there is no market increase to help keep prices down.
Here are a few comparisons to boards sold in 1993 and equivalent ones today.
1993 prices
Hotworks slalom carbon kevlar '93 $2400 - (CPI adjusted to todays $ value $3240)
F2 sputnik wcup edition '93 $2600 - (CPI adj $3504)
F2 axxis 268 $1799 - (CPI adj $2292)
Mistral energy chs $2195 (CPI adj $2797)
Bic veloce $1899 (CPI adj $2415)
Wave scaple polyester wave customs $1150.
2009 prices
pro model Jp $2700, exocet $2500, Mistral $2499, starboard wood $2499 w/carbon $2849.
Technora/ sandwich construction boards 2009 - Naish $1899-$2199, starboard, $2199, Mistral $1899- $2099, exocet $1999- $2150, JP $2499,
Bic techno 118 $1850, Tiga $1850.
Sails
1993
pryde combat 5.5 $720 (CPI adj $943) - 2009 price $950ish
WC race 7.0 $1095 (CPI adj $ 1395) - 2009 price $1300
Gaastra wavefoil 5.8 $625 (CPI adj $796) - 2009 $940
Gaastra racefoil 7.0 $999 (CPI adj $1273) - 2009 $1180
Fiberspar Tidal wave mast
2pce 255 carbon $545 (CPI adj $656) -
2009 Powerex 55% carbon $490 or 75% carbon $545
From the shops still in business you can buy sails from $650 for 2009 models and 2008/7 models for the same price .ie no more expensive than 15 years ago.
SO we are paying no more for most products, some are cheaper and others have increased only slightly. If you like to sail you will find the money for your enjoyment. What you spend your money on is your business alone, but the price of windsurfing gear is not contributing to your lack of finances any more than nearly 2 decades ago.
You are paying more for most all other things in life but not more for sailing gear.
$3.50 for 375 mltr water, $2.50 can of coke, $9.50 small popcorn and coke at the cinema, $16.50 cinema ticket, $500 000 median house price. How many people have 2 or more cars in the household, a boat, 2 or 3 tv's, dvd/video players, computers and 3 mobile phones, ipods etc?
Good point Paul,also for those who cannot afford new gear,including myself,wait a year and you can pick it up alot cheaper second hand or demo
From the Uk and USA mags and websites I've found Aussie shops are as cheap as anywhere
Regardless, new boards are expensive.
I think I'll pass on changing my 2006 board for a new board that weighs 2 ounces less and might make me go .1 knot faster, and might make me plane with .3 knot less wind.
Even though the magazines' yearly board reviews (which is all they do after all) said so.
Good news for all those worried about price rises on boards.
the new 2009 pricelists for Mistral and Naish have been released and guess what?
There has been a price reduction on most boards - about $100 on average.
So it is not all doom and gloom as some of the free ride boards start from $1799. Oh and the naish sails are the same price as last year, so no increase there either.
$3.50 for 375 mltr water 
....the biggest robbery of all.......paying to put air in your tyres a close second, corkage 3rd.
everything is going up 
....except for my wages
....the biggest robbery of all.......paying to put air in your tyres a close second, corkage 3rd.....except for my wages
....the biggest robbery of all.......paying to put air in your tyres a close second, corkage 3rd.....except for my wages
> doing a CPI adjustment on the board prices makes little sense
> as the technology has dramatically changed in the past 10 to 15 years.
Agreed. Consumers should expect volume production (since people keep renewing), market competition and tech/production improvments to bring prices down, even taking CPI into account. I.e. flat screen TVs, MP3 players, memory, etc. Of course this fails where there is no competition (petrol), made-up demand (skiing, windsurfing, fashion). See www.storyofstuff.org/ but that's besides the point.
I don't know that we can infer the manufacturers' margins from estimated shipping costs and the price of resin. However there is no doubt that the image marketing surrounding our sport does all it can to perpetuate renewed sales and prices.
How many will benefit in their day-to-day sailing from a 2-ounces lighter new board, or buying gear recommended by recordmen speed sailors? I know I don't see it at none of my sailing spots.
Not saying gear prices are any more than before but i do believe that the prices of new gear are the reason for a decline in our sport. I am a young windsurfer myself and without the help of first my parents (thank god dad was a windsurfer) and now my sponsors I can afford gear. But for your average young person 6000 to get a full set of kit to sail in all conditions is a **** load more than a pair of rugby boots and a ball or even a surfboard or 2.
I don't really think that cost is the main issue with the uptake of windsurfing. I have recently gotten into mountain biking for the off-season and see many people young and old dropping $4000-$8000 on bikes. The MTB scene is much bigger than windsurfing and is growing rapidly.
Granted, you can get on a $100 bike and start to get the feeling for the sport, but you can get an old windsurfer for the same, right?
More interestingly, I have 3 mates (from different circles) who are pestering me to teach them to windsurf (yes, they know what it costs) but I can't convince anyone to come and try mountain biking....
Comparing 1993 prices with those of today CPI adjusted DOES prove the point that gear is cheaper, simply because of the fact that the modern boards are made with much more exotic materials, are lighter and perform better than in 1993, yet they are cheaper.
The $1799 board of today is the high tech equivalent of the '93 $2000 plus models.
Stehseglar's point about stuff being cheaper in Europe is a valid arguement, but only in regards to questioning why different regions have different price structures for products. We could all name a product we have seen much cheaper in another part of the world. But the price of windsurfing gear in Oz has remained the same or decreased over 20 years despite the massive increase in costs in almost all other aspects of Aussie life.
The mountain bike example is a perfect example of what price increases in an industry has occurred over the years for two points.
First it shows what people will spend on a hobby (probably as they can use it regardless of weather) when they want to.
Secondly it shows the massive increase in bike costs in an industry that must be 50 plus times larger at least than a windsurfing market. In the early 1990's you could get a good bike for $199 and great bike for $399. Now not much in the stores are under $500 except for the cheap chinese made stuff, and as has been said before Good to top of the range bikes start at $1000 and go to $5-8-9000.
Bikes should be cheap if so many are sold in an expanding market. Are the bike companies over charging us making too much money???? 
Are the store owners all rich??
Are the store owners all rich??
MTBs have got much cheaper. I used to race in the late '80s early '90s without shocks (like most people). This was because front shocks then cost $800+ and aluminium frames were rare too because of the expense. Now try to find a $1K+ bike without an aluminium frame and front shocks...
when I was buying my first short board I went the cheap option with a Bombora Exit! over the $2,200 Mistral option. The year was 1995.
Could the plastic board make a comeback! :)
Hasn't the perceived value of boards changed enormously? When I got into the sport, you bought a board and didn't think of having to sell it at a big loss within a year or two to get this year's model; you spent your dollars and went sailing. Second-hand values were (I think) a lot higher for a long while, so the upgrade to new gear wasn't too expensive.
And the gear was designed to sail in all winds, so you got a lot more sailing done, and therefore arguably you got many more hours-per-dollar.
I still find the price of sails to be very high. For much less than the cost of a 12m sail, I can get a 17m sail for the cat and (IIRC) a 20m sail for the yacht. Both will be in more expensive cloth, the cat sail will have more and longer battens, both will be designed by a multiple world champ who is an Olympian, and you will be able to ring them up, talk about trim, and almost certainly arrange to meet them and get them on board to show you how to tweak it. It's just a factor of dealing direct rather than through a retailer who brought it from an importer who brought it from a manufacturer who employs a design team and a marketing team.
PS; I remember mountain bikes as being damn expensive when they were new; my first MTB was a Repco (?) "Mountain Bike" (they were so new, that was all it needed as a name) and I think it was $3-500 or so second-hand in '89. As a courier in the '90s I trashed a few bikes and they all seemed to be a lot more than modern gear.
I know what you mean, but while the Laser sail costs a fair bit ($850), a lot of that goes to keeping dealers alive and paying for the 150 boats or so that have to be built every time we get a worlds. And partly because of that, you get to race your $850 sail against hundreds of other sailors. When it gets old, you pass it on to someone else who gets another season out if it.....it's not like junking good sails because they were '04 models, which is the way the boards market it.
Personally, I just have one good sail which comes out for titles and is never allowed to flap; seems to work well.
ok... so the aussie dollar just dropped below 90 cents... that's almost 8 cents less than a few weeks ago... does that mean board manufacturers will drop their wholesale prices to cut the shops and ultimately consumers some slack?
If the answer is no we know who the greedy people are in the supply chain...
